First major ROW work on LV Perth Amboy Division since...

David Hutchinson wrote:Is the original track still in place between Perth Amboy and Raritan Junction? Is the original track also in place from Raritan Junction to Raritan Center? Also, I have not been to Perth Amboy for quite a few years, but there used to be an interesting chemical plant that was serviced by the LV that had trackage in the streets........... anyone know the status?

Hatco Chem still receives tank cars

Hatco is in Raritan Center, correct? I was talking about an operation that was right near the LV yard/roundhouse in Perth Amboy, that had a track running down the middle of a street. I took pictures of it around 1978. Doubt if it is still there.

The line from perth amboy to raritan junction is intact. The line from raritan junction to the industrial avenue track is intact.

railroadcarmover wrote:The line from perth amboy to raritan junction is intact. The line from raritan junction to the industrial avenue track is intact.

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I hate to be a ball buster (especially after just getting home from a succesful singles dance I helped run), but isn't the trackage from Raritan Junction to Industrial Avenue a buried in mud mess? I admit I haven't been on Crows Mill Road in a number of months, but the track crossing looked rather bad and unused. In other words, IIRC, no train could be passing through Keasbey on that trackage (which, as I said before, looked Penn Central bad)...
Also, did a recycling complex replace a steel distributor east of that road within the last 2 years?

WHat traffic is there on the east end of the LV Perth Amboy branch.
(east of the NJCL)?
There is some plant or warehouse east of Parker St just south of
the Outerbridge, and from the Outerbridge just on the south side you
can see some kind of tank farm by the water with ship loading/unloading.
Do these or anything else out there get rail service? How often?
JS

I understand that most of the tanks at Raritan Center were shipped out to Vietnam. Were there piers for loading of armor right there?

David Hutchinson wrote:I understand that most of the tanks at Raritan Center were shipped out to Vietnam. Were there piers for loading of armor right there?

There were two "deepwater" piers in WWII. I think there was only one left by the '60's and that might have been unusable because the river had not been dredged in a long time. Plus, I suspect that the biggest vessel that ever tied up there was a liberty ship or similar-sized vessels. Not big enough to handle heavy armor.

However, my guess would be that armor for Vietnam departed from the Pacific ports. If Vietnam was the destination, they probably left the arsenal by rail via the PRR. I know I have seen a photo of flatcars carrying tanks in Waverly yard. If I find it again, I'll post it. Units destined for Europe left from Bayonne and the Hudson waterfront for the most part.

The last time i saw a train use that connection was back in the mid 90's when an empty ballast train left metuchen and took the "back way out" to leave raritan center. It was also used more recently ( i think ) to bring a conrail maintence crane on the property to install the new conection switch on the heller park lead for the RCRY Northfield lead. This was done last year.

I believe there still is a steel company at the old AJ Ross site in Keasby. They have a lead track but it is not used. The steel transloading is done on the Northfield lead on the RCRY.

Little trivia for you.....AJ Ross logistics purchased a bunch of former PBR Baldwin S12's that had emd prime movers back in the mid 80's for scrap .
The units were shipped by rail to Keasby and cut up. The prime movers were resold. Also they received barges of subway cars and a few boxcars for scrap from NY.

My mom used to live in Perth Amboy as well as some of her relatives. I remember by the 7-11, I saw two Conrail locos sitting there. I assume that this is the same line that goes to Raritan Center.

I've posted this before, but you might be interested to see a photo I took of the Port Reading/ Lehigh Valley Camp Kilmer connection at Route 287 where the Durham Woods apartments now are. The pictures were taken early in 1963 before Route 287 was finished. This was called "LR" Junction and some of the LV trackage remains to this day buried in the woods behind some houses.

http:/www.jhalpin.com/metuchen/where63.htm

Saw an interesting article in the latest B&O Historical Society magazine. It traces the 1957 route of the visiting Queen Elizabeth and her party going into Camp Kilmer. The E units and train went in via the Port Reading Branch and went out via the Perth Amboy Branch of the LV. Thence out to the SIRT. She wanted to go to NYC on the ferry.

Was told that the right of way through Metuchen, between the old PRR connection and South Plainfield, has been brush cutted. Could be that the rail, what is left of it, is going to be extracted or that a new bike path is coming or maybe that something else is brewing............. anyone out there heard anything? Will be in Metuchen on Saturday and will personally check out the crossings between the PRR and down to the Port Reading crossover bridge.

Railtrail I believe. Railtrailbiker will know for sure.

Yes, it's going railtrail pretty much from Crows Mill Rd., across Woodbridge Ave. and through Metuchen. I don't think it goes all the way through to South Plainfield, though. The rails are long gone except for a few hundred feet in South Plainfield.

It's possible that cable is being laid along there. Last week I noticed a telco-type cable-laying truck was parked behind the A&P off Amboy Ave. facing down the access road to the ROW.

There might be a few pieces of rail along the way at Metuchen. The west leg of the wye is still in at the old Valley Tower sight and runs to the actual wye switch and then contimues for a short stretch in back of the houses towards Camp Kilmer. I think the old Premium Plastics siding is still there.