The CNJ Seashore Branch in its final years (NATCO Secondary)

I was doing a little research today on the Seashore and Freehold Branches in and around Matawan and I came up with a few questions that I wanna ask some of you fellas (and ladies!)....

1) how long did MR tower last and when was it torn down? Was it remoted at some time or did it last until the electrification and reconstruction in 1982/3?

2) What kind of signals were used at MR? Ive seen a pic of signals coming off the Freehold Branch an the Main (current track 1 im assuming) where there is a mast with two signals (one for each track) was it a similar set up for the main tracks both east and west, or were they individual poles, or where they on a signal bridge? And what kind of signal came off the Seashore? Was it like the one coming off the Freehold Branch? In the "Trail of the Blue Comet" it shows all the tracks and industies that had service in the Matawan area (amazing!) - were they all part of the Interlocking and interlocked? What type of signals were used, all CNJ color lights with the veritcal colors (and verical heads for interlocking signals, and staggered heads for automatics) and the big black shields or semaphores or a combo of both? Ive seen older pics of semaphores, did any last or was everything changed to color lights?

I looked at Historic aerials and in particular, the 1979 pictures are amazing, still shows a lot of the old trackage, but the later shots show the major changes that took place in the area. Where those changes forced by the NJT reconstruction, or were they all just sort of occuring at the same time.

Im trying to design a layout for the Seashore and Freehold Branches and Matawan is going to be a major part of it, and Id like to get some more info of some of the changes, and how things were and how they got to what it is today. Of course, pictures and stories would be great as well

I too am trying to model the Freehold Branch. Attached is a file provided to me by Ex cnj employee Bob Hoeft. It diagrams the signal layout at MR. When I started hanging out at the station in Matawan in 1976 the tower had already been removed. My guess would be it was removed soon after passenger service ended on the seashore branch. As far the types of signals I am also assuming at one time they were semaphores. I do remember walking the seashore branch from MR towards the Parkway bridge and finding the mast of an old semaphore still standing. It didn't have blades but all the mechanical levers were still inside the base. This was in the 77 78 timeframe. According to Bob all the signals (excluding the dwarfs) were the the three head CNJ color lights much like the one that stood at BANK tower in Red Bank. The only one on a signal bridge was the one were the Freehold Branch tied in with the westward main. Bob also provided me with a drawing of the trackage in Matawan as it existed in 1950 with all industies labeled. He used the diagram from the Trail of the Blue Comet as a basis. I can provide that to you as well if you are interested. Most of the trackage he diagramed was still there in 1979 when I moved away. The only thing missing was the yard by MR. It had an unusual name and was called The Maxim. I never could find the reason it was named this. The yard itself was removed about 1955 when two hurricaines washed out the fill between the Maxim and Mohingson Jct. The rest of the trackage was removed about the time the electricfication project started.

CNJ 4104
Scott

Wow, thanks for the map! thats great! I love old maps and the hand drawn maps that RR'ers make, sometimes out of necessity, hahaha

I look at my handdrawn maps and don't think anything of them, but in the future.......

I was looking through "trail of the Blue Comet" last night and I too was surprised by the "Maxim Yard" name. I also totally forgot about Mohingson Jct - was that controlled by MR as well or in the early days, was there a tower there as well?

While looking for info on the signals, i came across this....

Various ICC orders required the installation of ATC on various lines by a certain date (just like the current PTC mandate - my, how history repeats itself....).

"The Central voluntarily equipped the Seashore Branch inbetween Matawan and Atlantic Highlands, which was put in service on January 28, 1929. This provided an attractive alternative to double-tracking the branch, which did a heavy business only during July and August. The use of cab signals rather than wayside signals was a plus in an area subject to frequent heavy fogs.
"The Seashore Branch and NYandLB were equipped with a continuous-coded system that was used by the PRR. this system was not compatible with the loop type used on the NJS Division Main Line and the AC Railroad. The Seashore Branch ATC was the first installation in the U.S. WITHOUT regular wayside signals. The only fixed signals were located at the leaving ends of passing sidings at Matawan, Keansburg, Belford and Altantic Highlands, and at Keyport, where the long single-end freight house spur could be used as a passing siding" (Trail of Blue Comet, P. 260)

Amazing to me that the current signal system (rule 562, cab signals, no waysides, except at interlockings) used on the NEC and NJT on Pascack Valley Line, and soon to be other places and other places in the area, has its roots on the lowly Seashore Branch!

Anyway, I always knew the Seashore and Freehold branches were unique operations, but as I do more research, the amount of interesting and unique things these lines had blows my mind - they are so rich in history and character, but largely overlooked by the much more famous NYandLB.....

That above map of Matawan would make an amazing switching layout, so would Atlantic Highlands, so would Freehold, so would Highlands..............hmmm i wish i had a bigger house

ahhhh thanks for the info on when the fill was removed on the "main" - trying to figure that out was a tough one - It looked too natural to be a manmade removal, and saw no evidence of a removed bridge, but I never thought about a Hurricane washout.....

Is that when the diamond was taken out too to get rid of the straight move from Freehold to the Seashore? I would guess by that time, the moves straight across were only for freight and were fewer and further inbetween - so the loss of that stretch of track was really no big deal and not worth the massive effort to rebuild it.

Mohingson Jct was not mechanically controlled from MR. Just a hand throw switch and a Mohingson Jct sign. No tower. All the wyes were within yard limits which stretched all the way to the RT 34 bridge.

Yes Hurricaine Connie and Diane effectively removed The Maxim in Aug of 55. It almost removed the NY&LB mains as well. There was at one time a trestle over Mohingson Run. If you walk down ther you can see the remains of pilings. At one time there was a 4 track enginehouse down by Mohingson Jct also. I'll check my Sanborn maps but I believe by the 50's the diamond was long gone as all freight switching was done on the MJ side. Guess there was no need for it since all passenger trains went to the station and the three times a week frieght didn't warrent the expense. I believe it was actually removed when the F&NY was absorbed into the CNJ. T of BC maybe? The roadbed of the original F&NY 1890 wye can be found as well if if go poking around where the Maxim was. I've attached that map that identifies the industries as they existed in 1950. You are correct, lots of switching possibilities.

I have noticed the rip rap and pilings at the base of the fill for the Coast Line, I always wondered if that was a bridge there at some time or if they were part of an old retaining wall. That fill through there has always been troublesome for NJT, the big steel bulkheads put in a few years go help, but there is almost always a sag in the track there and the fill is actually pretty high and very steep. They built an access road to that point for a reason!

I was looking for the old ROW of the original wye, but I didn't notice it.

I did notice some kind of remains of an old structure back across from where it say "Mosaic" for the Mosaic Tile Company - a lot of old bricks and tiles back there (makes more sense now, knowing that there was a tile factory across the tracks....) but it would have been inbetween the creek and the tracks. There were some kind of big tanks that were there, like propane tanks - was that a railroad structure and was that the engine house? Didn't notice any remains of tracks going into it, but rather one that would have come up near it, Im assuming the track called "Back track". Did'n't look like it would have been too big of building, but an engine house would really only have bricks on 3 sides (with doors on the front, obviously) and the debris field i guess maybe could fit that.....?

Thanks for all your info and this is quickly turning into a very interesting discussion

Mosaic used the Mohingson Run basin as a dump for old broken tiles. You can see the piles on the right in this photo.

http://godfatherrails.com/photos/pv.asp?pid=600

There are many other color photos of the Freehold Branch on this site as well. Some I believe are misslabled as being on the Seashore Branch.

The building you found is I believe an old pumphouse. Does it still have that little boiler in it? What is was used for I have no idea. The enginehouse was closer to MJ than that and was of a much older construction. I think it was wood.

The old 1881 -90 ROW is kind of hard to decern since it has trees a foot in diameter growing out of it. Much easier to see in the winter. There must have bees a substantial trestle across the Mohingson Run basin. I've attached a pic of the Grade I took a few years ago. The view is from the Maxim to the NY&LB.

Great pictures and amazing maps!

CNJ4104 wrote:Mosaic used the Mohingson Run basin as a dump for old broken tiles. You can see the piles on the right in this photo.

http://godfatherrails.com/photos/pv.asp?pid=600

There are many other color photos of the Freehold Branch on this site as well. Some I believe are misslabled as being on the Seashore Branch.

The building you found is I believe an old pumphouse. Does it still have that little boiler in it? What is was used for I have no idea. The enginehouse was closer to MJ than that and was of a much older construction. I think it was wood.

The old 1881 -90 ROW is kind of hard to decern since it has trees a foot in diameter growing out of it. Much easier to see in the winter. There must have bees a substantial trestle across the Mohingson Run basin. I've attached a pic of the Grade I took a few years ago. The view is from the Maxim to the NY&LB.

CNJ,

There was discussion upon finding the remains of the building that it may have been a pump house of some sort. However the tanks there were very large and there seemed to be some kind of fence running along side of where the tanks would sit. I originally had thought maybe it was some kind of heating oil storage and they may have received a tank car or two, but that seems unlikely with the info provided.

Yes the cardles are quite large and the fence that is trackside looks to be of fairly recient construction. Say from the 50's on maybe. Since there is no road to the site it seems that the only industry that could have any access to this side of the track would have to have been Mosaic Tile. Maybe it was thier fuel storage?

I went to the Historical Areals site and the tank is not there in the 1947 view but is in the 1953 view. In both the 53 and 57 views you can definitely see something (dirt road maybe) leading from Mosaic to the tank. So it looks like it was theirs but for what?

This is great stuff. Thanks to JT for asking the right questions, and the great answers you guys have given. I always wanted to know about the Matawan area. I knew it was a busy place, but didn't know the extent of trackage.

CNJ4104 wrote:I went to the Historical Areals site and the tank is not there in the 1947 view but is in the 1953 view. In both the 53 and 57 views you can definitely see something (dirt road maybe) leading from Mosaic to the tank. So it looks like it was theirs but for what?

There definitely seemed to be 4 large concrete cradles (for two seperate tanks) that would have been inside that white "cyclone fence" (with a very cool sign), and that it seemed the fence would have surrounded the tanks, not the building or at least where the brick debris were. there was a smaller, rounder tank still there, which was right next to the fence. That looked like it was for maybe propane, or at least something other than heating oil, which maybe the other tanks held.

I thought it might have been railroad related for the same reason, there didn't seem to be any real access to the site with no remains of an old road or parking lot or anything and it would have been on the far side of the tracks.

Ive looked through my own materials and didn't come up with anything which would lead to what it might have been there.

One thing that was curious was the types of bricks that were in the debris. There were regular, red bricks, (S&FBCo - Sayer and Fisher Brick Company? i believe they were marked as) but also yellowish bricks that seemed heavier and the only markings on them was "THERMAL" - so I wonder if they were firebricks for a Kiln or something? A few showed what could be heat/fire marks and none of them that I noticed had any mortar on them. I could see the tanks being power for a kiln, but the location of it doesn't make sense.....

the mystery continues.........

I asked my friend Bob that very question, were the tanks RR related and replied that he did not remember anything RR related on that side of the tracks and he did not know the function of the building nor did he remember it being RR served. Maybe Mosaic stored the fuel for the kilns away from the kilns as a safety measure. The bricks in the bulding itself were all of the same type so I do not think they were reused bricks. I too poked around the the debris fields and found bricks labeled
"MD Valenti...X X X Woodbridge" and another labeled "Star" along with lots of pieces of Mosaic tiles that looked like 2 inch square bathroom tiles. I found these closer to MJ Junction down in the gully. I also found what looked like parts of pianos. You know , the harp shaped metal innards of a baby grand. This through me for a loop but looking at old Sanborne Maps I found there was a piano manufacturer down by Church street and the M&T Chemical complex. Could this whole area just be a clean fill dump used by Mosaic and others? I know Mosaic used the area for their scrap tiles. It makes sense that Moasic would have had to use some sort of fire bricks in their kilns. Looking at these same maps showed that the whole Mosaic complex occupies the site of a "Peach Basket Manufacturer". This is the same map that shows the engine house so it goes way back.

Fun stuff. Lots of disscussion though about an industry that shipped comparitive little by rail. Mosaic that is.

CNJ4104 wrote:...There must have bees a substantial trestle across the Mohingson Run basin. I've attached a pic of the Grade I took a few years ago. The view is from the Maxim to the NY&LB.

I grew up in Matawan- but I'm not that old (was 3 when moved there 1973) so don't know much about it. But older friends of mine told stories of a large trestle that was back there "behind the new highschool" that they use to play on.