CJPat wrote:There is something I don't understand about the CNJ/RVRR Aldene Railroad Station shown on the postcard.
If the postcard is accurate and that is Westfield Ave (North Ave) in the background with the LVRR bridge that crosses diagonally over the CNJ, that means the direction of the artist's view is northwest (the station would appear to be on the east side of the Lehigh Valley and north side of the CNJ), then the station would be located on the site that is occupied by the old factory (I think it last processed rags and looks like it dates back to the 1910-1920 period) that stretches between the LVRR and Gordon St.
The Rahway Valley departed the CNJ to run north approximately 4 blocks (400-500 ft?) west of the station through what is/was the Horan Lumber yard. How would that support passengers for the RVRR? Maybe there was a Wye leg at the Horan Lumber location that turned the RVRR east on the CNJ? Since the 1970's, I have only seen the RVRR leg that puts trains in a west direction of the CNJ.
If that was actually 1st Ave (South Ave) in the background, then the station was on the south side of the CNJ and at the east end of the old CNJ/B&O/SIRT interchange yard. The RVRR would now only be about 100 ft west of the station. This still isn't properly placed to support passengers for RVRR.
Anybody have a good way to explain the placement of the Aldene station that makes sense? How would an RVRR passenger train (granted, a small train) access that station without doing several reverse moves to reach the station?
I've looked at the 1928 postcard. I've looked at a topographic map of Aldene Junction and a relief map of the RVRR. I even looked at some RR and municipal maps of the RV's southern connections.
So, here's what I can see:
#1. The RV's interchange with the LV just west of the Roselle Park station led into a small yard, with no direct connection to the LV itself. For an RV train to get onto the LV line, it would have to enter the yard moving eastbound, and then back westbound onto the LV.
http://www.trainsarefun.com/rvrr/images ... 20plan.gif
#2. The RV's interchange with the CNJ at one time was
eastbound to connect with the CNJ station(s) in Roselle
http://www.trainsarefun.com/rvrr/images/cranjunc.gif, and later (after the Aldene Plan, I suppose) westbound through a small yard
http://www.trainsarefun.com/rvrr/images/crjct.jpg. So, at one time the RV tracks came south across Westfield Ave. and turned
east toward the Aldene station. That is, "The Aldene Plan also relocated the trailing point (westbound facing) Rahway Valley connection to the CNJ to a facing point eastbound switch," to quote one source. The point where the RV used to join the CNJ heading eastbound is now buried beneath the Aldene Plan ramp.
#3. On the topo map, there's a large building to the east of the LV, just north of the CNJ
http://www.trainsarefun.com/rvrr/images/cranjunc.gif. This is Romerovski, the former site of the station in the postcard (west end of the Romerovski site) and the Marconi/GE radio factory and tower (east end of Romerovski). The Marconi radio tower was at this site until at least 1921, per the Roselle Park historian
http://www.rosellepark.org/upclose/history/history.htm, while Romerovski was founded in 1946, according to the company's homepage
http://www.romerovski.com/lngEnglish/default.asp. So, if Romerovski built that factory themselves, presumably in 1946 or afterward, the station and radio tower were likely still on that site until perhaps sometime during World War II.
#4. In the postcard
http://www.trainsarefun.com/rvrr/images/aldenerr.jpg, the CNJ is in the foreground, and the LV is in the background--farther away on the right, nearer on the left. Therefore, this shot is looking north from the south side of the CNJ mainline. The road is in fact North Ave./Westfield Ave. To the left is west towards Cranford; towards the right is east towards Elizabeth. The RV connected to the CNJ west of this site, heading eastbound, so the RV was somewhere beyond the LV bridge, straight ahead of the camera.