Raritan Center

I noticed at Raritan Center in Edison towards the Expo center that there are RR Tracks.
Does anyone know what line these tracks connect to and what purpose do they serve in that vicinity?

I too have noticed them, although I always forgot to post about it when I got home. There is quite a bit of track there, but it all looks unused. I don't remember seeing any rail cars around either.

Check this out!

Raritan Central Railway L.L.C

http://www.raritancentralrr.com/index.htm

Enjoy!

Wow, I was suprised to see the company went into operation in 2001! Glad to see they are expanding and already have quite a few customers. Cool link, thanks!

james1787 wrote:Wow, I was suprised to see the company went into operation in 2001! Glad to see they are expanding and already have quite a few customers. Cool link, thanks!

I believe the business center railroad was run before by an outfit called Durham Transport - they were doing alright, but under Raritan Central traffic has really increased.
As I have found out myself from previous posts on the subject, much of that trackage was around from the Raritan Arsenal (well, the ROW anyway - much rail, tie, and ballest has been replaced).
I think much of the trackage in that area by the expo center up to northfield avenue (5 parallel tracks in effect, running behind and between the new business center buildings) once served the ammo storage/dumps bunkers (I swear I saw pictures to this effect).
Anyway, it is a very interesting area, I believe there are more plans to expand (Raritan is now serving Heller Industrial Park, on the other side of Edison College, so hopefully expansion will happen there too), and they seem to be doing things right...

Raritan Center is indeed a busy place for rail traffic. RCRY has rebuilt at least 80% of its trackage with New 130 lb rail and new ties. The yard itself has been rebuilt into a 6 track double ended one. There are also plans to rebuild about a mile of trackage on a ROW that has been out since the early 70's.

As far as railcars, there are at least 50 to 75 on the property.
When i was covering extra list a few years back we had inbound trains of 40 cars as the norm.

Since Durham Transport the business went from 1400 cars a year to over 4000 with RCRY.

Busy busy busy.

Sir Ray wrote:I think much of the trackage in that area by the expo center up to northfield avenue (5 parallel tracks in effect, running behind and between the new business center buildings) once served the ammo storage/dumps bunkers (I swear I saw pictures to this effect).

And people gripe about garbage trains running through Metuchen. There were serious ammo trains running in from the NEC to the Arsenal and off the LV as well to those bunkers and down to the docks.

You knew they were ammo trains because they were flagged by MPs AND railroad flagmen across Woodbridge Ave. on both the Bonhampton lead and the LV Perth Amboy Div. (crossed Woodbridge Ave. just before Amboy Ave.)

""There were serious ammo trains running in from the NEC to the Arsenal ...""

That is true, but the average citizen had no clue what was being moved back then. Today, everythng you do can be found out.

Today, in the information age, there are no secrets anymore. Everything seems to be everone else business. The phrase "none of your business" has no meanng anymore. Its a shame in a way, everything you do, even what web sites you looked at before you went to bed, becomes available to everyone else.

It's true that we've suffered a loss of privacy, but I wonder if local residents wouldn't have benefitted from knowing the true danger that they were in by sitting on top of a powder keg back in the day: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njmiddle/MidCo ... ntions.htm

My grandfather said that when this place went up, locomotives were blown off the tracks and pieces of shells (not sea shells) were raining down on the beaches from Perth Amboy to Keyport.

I can't find any records regarding destruction of RRRR property but there had to be some serious damage.

As a side note, there still are serious Ammo trains running down the USNWS Earle tracks in Middletown/Colt's Neck. These tracks run right next to people's houses, (4, 5, 6, 700k+ dollar houses i might add) and have been tehre for 60 years.

Armed guards at each crossing and police escorts aren't empty equipment moves!!!!!

Amazing how people in one area flip out about things, while in another area, its an acceptable, common, "normal" part of life

"[. There were serious ammo trains running in from the NEC to the Arsenal and off the LV as well to those bunkers and down to the docks."


Does anyone have photos of the trackage in these areas back in the 50's and 60's? I would love to see how things used to look back in the day.