RR Xing sign but no tracks?

[CLamb]

Here is a RR crossing sign on Berckman St. in Plainfield just NW of the RV line. https://goo.gl/maps/5BT45 But where are the tracks it is intended to be protect? Looking at old maps I can't find any sidings at that location. The existing tracks haven't been at ground level for a century.

[pumpers]

Take a look at the 1910 Sanborn maps for Plainfield, Sheet 4: http://library.princeton.edu/libraries/ ... field.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It looks like the tracks are already elevated over Berckman St. There is an industrial area with sidings between the main and North Ave, on the west side of Berckman. One siding just south of North Ave. (parallel to North Ave) looks like it reaches east nearly to Berckman but does not cross it, but it is in about the right spot. Maybe it was extended after 1910.
JS
EDIT. I have access to a 1951 update I just checked. The siding now extends east across North Ave to Plainfield Lumber and Supply which occupies the region between the main and North Ave on the east side of Berckman.
Maybe historicaerials.com (which now also has old topos) would be helpful too

[Traindad]

I grew up about a half mile from that spot, so I can certainly help you with your question. That old building at the corner of
Richmond and North was a CNJ freight depot with a very small yard, maybe 5 or 6 tracks. As of the early seventies, they still had an agent working there.
I know this because there was always somebody ready to catch us kids trespassing.
There were a series of switchbacks to get down to a street level track that ran parallel to the main next to North Ave.
That track ran out across Berkman to warehouses along the right of way. Those buildings in your photo were not there
at the time, which is why the sign placement looks so illogical.
There was also a siding that crossed North on the diagonal several hundred feet in from Richmond to a small business with a dock.
They'd get 1 box car at a time and load it with 55 gallon drums.
The track that crossed Berkman was embedded in concrete and I don't know if they tore that up or just paved it over.

[pumpers]

I grew up about a half mile from that spot, so I can certainly help you with your question. That old building at the corner of
Richmond and North was a CNJ freight depot with a very small yard, maybe 5 or 6 tracks. As of the early seventies, they still had an agent working there.

If you look at Sheet 3 for 1910 from the link I gave earlier, the freight house is on it. Still there on the 1956 update. JS