Robbinsville Industrial Track

I'll call up the guy there and see if they're still getting deliveries. I'm also going past the Klockner Road crossing this evening.. I'll check to see if there's a new work train there or not.

Just a quick video from the Yardville/ Hamilton Sq. Road grade crossing and the grade crossing near the Acme (the name escapes me just now).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD63e3Zwa2Y

I'm planning on catching the WPBU-20 operating next week, so I'll post a follow-up with that.

- Kyle

cr5290 wrote:I'll call up the guy there and see if they're still getting deliveries. I'm also going past the Klockner Road crossing this evening.. I'll check to see if there's a new work train there or not.

Drove by today & stopped to get pictures of the bumpers @ Agway. The track closest to the silos was full of cars all the way to the bumper. Just to the south therre is dirt and gravel piled up along w/ signs for a new fitness center.

I was on Rt 130 this past weekend and saw the abandoned track alongside the road, wondering what line it was. This forum is certainly a great resource! I did notice that there was a grade crossing or two where the rails have been removed or paved over.

Hi all.
Passed through Windsor this morning on Church Street on our way to church. There was a road/rail truck and a small backhoe at the crossing. The backhoe was on the rails and some of the right of way both north and south of Church Street was cleared. The truck was on Main Street. There was also some rail on the ground nearby. It would seem that they are preparing to start pulling the rails. Oh well. Didn't get any pictures and I won't be back there for at bit. I guess this is it.

Dean

Hi All,
I made my weekly trip through Windsor this morning and saw that the rails on the abandoned section of the Robbinsville Industrial are being pulled. From what I could tell they are up for about a 100 yds or so south of the Church Street crossing. Still in place going north. Also while heading south on Route 130, there was a small backhoe on the tracks by the plant alongside the tracks across from about the new bagel place. Just wanted to mention this. Take care.

Dean

Bump...

Backhoe was still parked on the track at 7:30 a.m. 4/25/11.

Today's Trenton Times reports Ocean Spray will close the Bordentown plant within two years and move to the Lehigh Valley. Ax one more consignee from the RIT. Also there is an on track crane with a dumpster on flat car in tow near
UPE Company on 130 (presumably to remove ties and rail.)

Anyone know what industries they work between the switch at the Bordentown RiverLINE station and the Clayton/Block on Broad Street in Yardville, NJ? I heard them working last night around half past midnight in Yardville. Nice RS3L on CSX unit 2725, which was leading the return trip back towards Burlington Yard.

I've been following this thread on the Robbinsville Industrial Track with interest, since many years ago I spent a couple of years at the Peddie School in Hightstown. At that point, only a short piece of the former Camden and Amboy was gone, from a feed mill just south of Hightstown down to Robbinsville, maybe two miles of track total.

I just spent some time looking at Google aerial photos, and while the track is in as far north as Klockner Road, the last shipper appears to be Clayton Block on Broad Street in Yardville. There's a run-around track just south of the Broad Street grade crossing, and I counted about eight covered hoppers on a long siding into Clayton Block. I noted the comments about the Ocean Spray plant as well. Those appear to be the only two shippers left on the spur, which is really now only a couple of miles long.

It's sad to follow the abandoned ROW north of Klockner Road and see the factories and distribution centers that used to be rail shippers.

In Hightstown, all the rail infrastructure is now gone -- the feed mill has disappeared, and most of the ROW now appears to be a bike path. The site of the former passenger station, which was still visible when I was at Peddie, and even had a platform, has vanished altogether. The bridges and the elevated ROW through the middle of Hightstown have been dismantled. Even the abutments are gone, and there is no longer any sign of the railroad bridge over the end of Peddie Lake.

Since this was the first railroad in New Jersey, it's a shame to watch as it vanishes so completely.

Nelliebly,

The bridge abutments still stand in Hightstown.

Regards,

Art S.

An update to the RIT is most (if not all) of the rail from NJ 33 north to Meadowbrook Rd has been lifted. However, most of the rail at the north end of the line from Windsor to end of track is still in place with a few sections removed. The rail crane being used for removal is isolated on a short section of in front of UPE Co. (visible from 130.) It will most likely be moved north in the near future to remove the remaining rail.

Sometimes it's easiest, rather than speculating, to just go to the STB Web site and search the filings. Conrail filed to abandon north of MP 32.02 in 2006. The Board attached some environmental and historical preservation conditions which prevented removal of some of the track, but in January of this year vacated those and allowed removal of all track north of MP 32.02 except for a tenth of a mile within the Windsor Historic District.

So it's gone, and the former Camden and Amboy is now reduced to a couple of two-mile industrial spurs.

NellieBly wrote:Sometimes it's easiest, rather than speculating, to just go to the STB Web site and search the filings. Conrail filed to abandon north of MP 32.02 in 2006. The Board attached some environmental and historical preservation conditions which prevented removal of some of the track, but in January of this year vacated those and allowed removal of all track north of MP 32.02 except for a tenth of a mile within the Windsor Historic District.

So it's gone, and the former Camden and Amboy is now reduced to a couple of two-mile industrial spurs.

And I would suspect the line from Bordentown to Hamilton is not far removed from the endangered list. If the grain elevator in Bordentown goes, so does the rest of the line I would imagine. The big drawback to the line, is the restricted clearance through Bordentown that cannot be increased. It's what has kept larger box cars off the line, which means less likelihood of any new business in Hamilton being developed.