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  • Abandoned railroad track from Long Branch to Eatontown

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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

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 #217316  by Eric Kreszl
 
I noticed on a railroad atlas a bandoned railroad track in Long Branch. What was it used for? Where does it go to? What were the customers on this line and when was it abandoned? If anyone has photos or information please let me know.

Thank You


Eric

 #217374  by NY&LB
 
Eric,

The line you are referring to went from Eatontown (Maxwell st) to Long Branch on the CNJ "seashore" line, crossing the NY&LB in Branchport (with a junction there as well. There is quite a bit of the junction and wye in Eatontown still visable, including 2 small bridges over streams back where the dirt piles are now, winter is a good time to explore in that area. It crossed Rt 35 at Throckmorton St and ran trhough Ft Monmouth, then crossing Main St (Oceanport) near a now closed Ft Monmouth gate, the ROW is a power line ROW and can easily be made out although in Oceanport near Main st to Port a Peck Ave it is now a drainage ditch! It then ran along the back of the Monmouth Park parking lot, look for the power line poles.
Fort Monmouth was a customer, line was last used to pull out 8 ex NYNH&H/PRR palor cars and sleepers which were converted to soldiers quarters during a housing shortage in the late '60s/early '70s. Also, PRR Braodway Limited obs car Mountain View was owned by two soldiers who stored and lived in it on Fort Monmouth. I will have to look up the date, a CNJ RS 3 came in to pull out the cars, probably around 1976-78. The line was cut from Eatontown to Ft Monmouth MANY years ago and what I am refering to was serviced from Branchport.
From Branchport, East, the line served a lumber company in Long Branch, there was a bridge over Long Branch Ave and the Lumber Co was right there, line went through a pretty rough neighborhood and service ended in the early '70s.
Back in the day, it was a link between the CNJ southern Div and the CNJ SeaShore Branch.
Hope this helps, if you want any more specific info, let me know and I'll see what I can remember. Somewhere I have slides of the CNJ RS 3 pulling the sleepers out of Ft Monmouth.

 #217387  by Diamond_D7
 
my grandparents live right near the old ROW in Oceanport, I'd love to see any pictures from that area people have!

 #218651  by E-44
 
It's funny how sometimes you can just "feel" an old ROW. I go up and down Rt. 35 thru Eatontown all the time and that gap at Throckmorton & West always made me think a line went through there. I'll have to go check out the wye some lunchtime. Thanks for the post.

 #218814  by Jtgshu
 
There are a couple of those "feeling" ROW's in the area, E44....

.........One day I too wanna check out the former wye and junction in Eatontown.

E44, go up to the Molly Pitcher, and park your car at the end of that street.....the name escapes me right now.......and look across the river, and follow the power lines - that is the ROW of the D adn RB - abandoned in the 1910's or 1920's. It connected with the Curretn Southern Secondary in Red Bank, and headed nearly due North to Port Monmouth. The D and RB was in a nasty war with the Camden and Amboy - that shows how hold that ROW is!!!

I think there is also a never built ROW in Rumson, down towards teh center of town, near the end of Black Point Road and River Road - From what I recall, the CNJ was seriously considering buiding across teh Navesink River from the Stone Church Branch to connected across Rumson and meet the Seashore Line in Sea Bright, and bypass the troublesome northern Sea Bright/Highlands section, which kept getting washed out with storms. In Rumson, there is a ROW, again, with power lines, that just gives the "feeling" of being something....I think that is the ROW that was purchased for the Railroad......

The line through Long Branch too was very interesting - There was a bridge over Long branch ave, and the 5 corner intersection at Broadway/Second Ave was teh site of a Railroad Station. Much of the present Ocean Blvd is built on the former Seashore Branch from the Monmouth Beach border to Broadway, where the line went inland, and split to go west to Eatontown and continue south to the junction with the NY and LB just North of Cedar Ave. If you take the road right behind the Getty (Riverside Ave i think it might be) at the Monmouth Beach/Long Branch boarder, there are still tracks in the road there. Follow riverside and you will see there are some interesting street intersections along the way - the railroad ran on what is now "Seaview Ave", again look for the power lines.

At the junction of the NY and LB, the former "Branchport" interlocking, you can see the typical CNJ/PRR brick building i guess housing various relays or whatever (not a tower, but like a switching station) that building still exists, and on the east side of the Coast Line, you can still see a 2 track bridge over a little ditch, just before the new school that was built next to the ROW. The Current Branchport interlocking is too far south - the Branchport area of Long Branch is were Joline ave (36) crosses teh tracks, and that surrounding area. NJT's Branchport is located next to the Police Station, between Broadway and Chelsea and 5th Ave.
 #219071  by John_Henry
 
Eric,

This ROW was the first railroad into Long Branch. The station was near where Broadway meets Ocean Ave today. Line was active into the 1970's. I remember watching CNJ RS3's as a kid.

JH


[quote="Eric Kreszl"]I noticed on a railroad atlas a bandoned railroad track in Long Branch. What was it used for? Where does it go to? What were the customers on this line and when was it abandoned? If anyone has photos or information please let me know.

Thank You


Eric[/quote]

 #493166  by OportRailfan
 
i've been trying to figure this out for a couple weeks now... I always wonder about the ROW that runs behind osprey and along the Track's perimeter, thanks a lot, you've shed a lot of light on this

 #493246  by RussNelson
 
E-44 wrote:It's funny how sometimes you can just "feel" an old ROW.
That's called "ferroequinoyance". It's a skill similar to dowsing.

 #493297  by CarterB
 
Russ.........ferroequinoyance!!! I love it!!!! Just added that to my vocab!!!!

 #493309  by John_Henry
 
[quote="CarterB"]Russ.........ferroequinoyance!!! I love it!!!! Just added that to my vocab!!!![/quote]

Not to be confused with ferroeqannoyance which causes the agita many buffs give others.

 #493310  by John_Henry
 
CarterB wrote:Russ.........ferroequinoyance!!! I love it!!!! Just added that to my vocab!!!!
Not to be confused with ferroeqannoyance which causes the agita many buffs give others.
 #493810  by 1st Barnegat
 
Eric Kreszl wrote:I noticed on a railroad atlas a bandoned railroad track in Long Branch. What was it used for? Where does it go to? What were the customers on this line and when was it abandoned? If anyone has photos or information please let me know.

Thank You


Eric
Here's a 1934 map showing the CNJ's route from Long Branch through Branchport to Eatontown and connection with CNJ's Southern Division.

 #494326  by E-44
 
Killing time before the playoff games today, I decided to set out to see how much of this ROW was still detectable and I was somewhat surprised at how could still be found - with Google Earth as my guide.

The bit through the Monmouth Park parking lot is amazing in that it is just sitting there as an island in the south lot. Amazing that the poles were left in place also - there and in other places as you head west back towards Eatontown where the roadbead was pretty much obliterated, the poles guide you along.

The place in LB where the junction was at University and Ocean Blvd. leading up towards New Ocean Ave. is a bit tough, but you can follow it if you watch the ground for fill differences.

Also walked the wye at the junction with the Southern Sec and, yes, there's still a lot to see at that end.

A very interesting ROW and a way to kill a few hours exercising (rather than drinking beer with your non-railfan friends).

 #498007  by GSC
 
In the 1860s, this line (Long Branch & Sea Shore) was part of an eventual continuous route from Sandy Hook to Camden/Philly. It ran south to Long Branch (you can follow most of the ROW south of Sea Bright), and the line soon went to Eatontown to connect with the Raritan & Delaware Bay RR (reborn as the NJ Southern) and south to Farmingdale, where a connection to the PRR's Freehold & Jamesburg went west to Jamesburg and then south over the Camden & Amboy to Camden and Philadelphia.

Pennsy trains had trackage rights to Long Branch via this route.

A later route had Pennsy trains coming from Camden via Pemberton and Whitings, then north over NJS to Eatontown, and then Long Branch.

When this route opened, the route from Eatontown via Red Bank to Port Monmouth lost a lot of traffic, so town fathers in Red Bank decided to have another rail line service them, and the NY & Long Branch came to be.
 #897668  by ChrisU
 
I understand that this line was active from where it crossed the NY&LB in Branchport to where it joined the Seashore Branch and then a small portion of the Seashore branch in Long Branch until around 1981 and I was wondering if anybody has pictures or any info of freights on the line in the conrail era on that small portion of the Branchport line in Long Branch and the small portion of the Seashore Branch by LB. Thanks in advance.