Robbinsville Industrial Track

[colincrow13]

If you go to the link http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... &z=17&om=1

you SHOULD see Park Street and Ocean Spray. Note the cars on the siding.

P.S. How old are Google Maps?

[Badfish740]

Badfish, are you sure that lumber company is out of business?

On second thought, no I don't think so. I had thought that the lumber yard and the Georgia Pacific plant were all one operation (they may have been at one time) and had totally shut down. I asked my dad about it and he said as far as he knows the lumberyard is still open. Funny though-I found a Yellow pages listing for them and called it just now (about quarter after 11) but there was no answer at all. I guess they don't believe in answering machines.

And oh yeah, I remember Lou's! And recall right across the street on the other side of the grade crossing was "Stauffer Chemical" (now Clayton Block), which always had long strings of chemical tankers and covered hoppers lined up south of the crossing. (I have a bunch of pictures from the mid to late 70s of trains right at that location that I'll post here once I dig them up and scan them.)

I'd love to see those pics. My grandfather was a foreman for a long time at Stauffer which eventually became Kalex plastics before they closed for good and Clayton bought the property. When I was 14 or 15 we used to sneak in there via the ROW and poke around in the old plant. That is until one of the guys from Clayton ran us out of there after they bought the place. Oh and just for Boosie some more Yardville memories-when my dad was a kid my grandfather had to be flown in to the factory via helicopter once during a strike. They landed the helicopter in what is now Dover Plaza, back then it was a just a field...

So all in all the Robbinsville Line still has:

Ocean Spray
Agway
Clayton Block
Yardville Supply
Apex Lumber
Possible warehouse customer

I would think that Agway, Clayton, and Yardville simply couldn't do business without the line. It would cost a fortune to ship the kinds of bulk materials they deal with via truck. Let's hope they keep the line open.

[colincrow13]

Hi!
Does anyone have any old pictures of the line? If yes, pleast upload them!

Thanks!!!

[Boosie]

I scanned some old slides of the RIT, back in the day when it ran all the way to Windsor. So you RIT fans, take a stroll back to the Summer of '78. Big Blue was brand new. Atlantic City's first casino had just opened in May. The Yankees were buried 14 games out of first, but would come back to win the World Series in October. AM radios were blaring the Bee Gees' Night Fever, the Stones' Miss You, and John Travolta and Oliva Newton-John's You're the One that I Want.

The RIT was staging its own comeback, as M of W work was kicking in, and the traffic volume was probably as good as it could get. Here are some shots just south of the Broad St. crossing in Yardville:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/5701 ... t=outdoors

30 years later, the world is a very different place, but the RIT endures: Here are a few shots from this past Summer, at about the same location:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/5701 ... t=outdoors

Any news on remaining customers? I was in Yardville this past Summer and saw a spine car getting hauled north of Yardville (at like 3 a.m.), so there's at least one customer in that direction (the lumber company on Rt. 130?). Clayton had a long string of hoppers, and the former Agway plant in Bordentown had about 20 cars spotted in its sidings extending almost to Rt. 130 (has the redevelopment at that property actually closed the facility since then?). I'm guessing that Ocean Spray in Bordentown is still a customer. Anybody know what's still going on on this surviving stretch of fhe Camden & Amboy?

[JADes718]

Thats great! I love the old pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[amtrakhogger]

It looks like the line will be severed north of the Rt33 overpass that NJDOT replacing with a fill just north of the current location.

[JimBoylan]

I looked 3/14/9 and the track is removed for about a block on either side of the N.J. Rte. 33 overpass.

[TSP5-TSP6]

On Monday May 11, 2009 at about 8:00 PM, an empty Conrail welded rail train was running from Yardville to Bordentown after unloading used welded rail on the entire in-service portion of the Robbinsville Branch. Any comments??

[wolfboy8171981]

welded rail is used welded rail from the CR Lehigh Line between CP-Aldene and CP-NK

[Off Pending]

On Monday May 11, 2009 at about 8:00 PM, an empty Conrail welded rail train was running from Yardville to Bordentown after unloading used welded rail on the entire in-service portion of the Robbinsville Branch. Any comments??

Drove over one of the crossings today, and sure enough they dropped rail along the entire in service portion.

Interesting that they're investing money in this track. Must be something on the horizon where they feel that much work in replacing the stick rail is worthwhile.

[Jtgshu]

the Robbinsville Industrial Track is one of the "10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey"

10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey, by County

Bergen
--The Fell Thompson-Ackerman-Cable-Taylor House, Allendale

Essex
--Maplewood Police Headquarters, Maplewood

Gloucester
--The Cope Building, Mullica Hill, Harrison Township

Mercer
--First Presbyterian Church of Ewing, Ewing

--The New Jersey Historic Trust, Trenton

--Princeton Battlefield Site, Princeton

--Robbinsville Industrial Track, Robbinsville and Hamilton Townships

Monmouth
--The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks Lodge 128, Asbury Park

Union
--The landscape of Liberty Hall, Union Township

--Lampkin House, Plainfield

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/20 ... ed_hi.html

[cr5290]

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to give a little update on the RIT. Last week, a CSAO work train was tied down about 20 feet south of the Klockner Road grade crossing. They had CSX GP40-2 #4450 for power, a few CR MoW flats, and a lengthy string of CSX flats.

http://rrpicturearchives.net/pictures/5 ... %20071.jpg

The other day I was informed that the work train left the RIT and ended up going north to South Kearny, NJ. Today I decided to go do a quick survey of the line. There are large sections of rail laying trackside from about a 1/2 mile south of the Klockner Rd. Crossing all the way as far as I could see past the Acme crossing in Robbinsville. At the Clayton Block facility (where they have two hoppers being loaded on their siding), it seems like a LOT of progress is being made. Several stacks of ties, a few piles of plates, and a heck of a lot of ballast are all lumped up down near the switch for the siding. It seems as though they've already replaced all of the spikes in this area, also -- they are all shiny silver spikes. A rented back-hoe is also sitting trackside with mixed equipment in it's loader, including what looked like a variety of spike-driving and spike-pulling tools. Additionally, the crossing at Yardville-Hamilton Sq. Road has had it's Conrail crossing information sticker updated.

If all goes well, I hope to see the local working Clayton this week. I hope this information was helpful to anyone

- Kyle

[wis bang]

Driving down Rt 130 past the Agway last week, I noticed there were no cars on the sidings and the field along the highway had signs referencing a new shopping development...

[cr5290]

They'd still have Ocean Spray, Clayton, and (I think) the warehouse past Yardville Hamilton Sq. to service, though. Are you sure that was for the Agway plant? I've seen their sidings empty all the time -- I have to pass them to go grocery shopping.

[wis bang]

They'd still have Ocean Spray, Clayton, and (I think) the warehouse past Yardville Hamilton Sq. to service, though. Are you sure that was for the Agway plant? I've seen their sidings empty all the time -- I have to pass them to go grocery shopping.

There were two signs in the large grass field south of the bumpers; it may not affect Agway...hard to tell.