abandoned ROW south and east of Camden

I fly into PHL airport frequently, and have been wondering about
an obvious abandoned row that you see when landing toward the
west at PHL. ROW seems to extend from the ex PRR atlantic city line
(now PATCO), southwest, crossing the ex-reading ACY line, with connecting
track in the southeast quadrant, and then down to an obvious connection
to the Woodbury line, south of the rte 168/rte 42 interchange, and a few
miles north of Valero. All the track connections are to the south or east, like it was a bypass to get from woodbury to Haddonfield without having
to go thru Camden

Can't find this line on a map. what was it.

Thanks,

beth

pdtrains wrote:I fly into PHL airport frequently, and have been wondering about
an obvious abandoned row that you see when landing toward the
west at PHL. ROW seems to extend from the ex PRR atlantic city line
(now PATCO), southwest, crossing the ex-reading ACY line, with connecting
track in the southeast quadrant, and then down to an obvious connection
to the Woodbury line, south of the rte 168/rte 42 interchange, and a few
miles north of Valero. All the track connections are to the south or east, like it was a bypass to get from woodbury to Haddonfield without having
to go thru Camden

Can't find this line on a map. what was it.

Thanks,

beth

That should be the PRR Westville CUtoff. Originally proposed as a way to route hazmats from the Penns Grove branch around Camden, it was never completed, because money on the PRR ran out before it was done.

Some others here will have further info, I'm sure...

Mike DiMunno

JJMDiMunno wrote: That should be the PRR Westville CUtoff. Originally proposed as a way to route hazmats from the Penns Grove branch around Camden, it was never completed, because money on the PRR ran out before it was done.

Some others here will have further info, I'm sure...

Mike DiMunno

That is correct. It is the Westville Cutoff: a route proposed by the PRR as a bypass around the Camden terminal area. Most of the route was graded and even some bridges were installed (one still remains where the former Reading ACRR crosses the cut-off RW). Except for a short section of tail track on the far western end, tracks were never installed.

Much of the right-of-way was later purchased by PSE&G for power line occupancy. With the RW largely preserved by the power line use, the route is still clearly visible to those sitting on the left side of aircraft on final to PHL 27R: the prime arrival runway.

The following aerial, centered over Haddon Heights, shows the cut-off RW extending west from the Brooklawn area to east in the Haddonfield area. The RW is the line running more or less horizontally through the middle of the photo.

local.live

It is now Brooklawn and bridge abutments are still there at Timber Creek.
There was even a tower built there.

Interesting....

This thread now moved to NJ Railfan forum, where it is more appropriate...

Mike DiMunno