High Bridge Branch / CNJ

Those are nice shots Mike but the derailment I was describing happened right at the crossing by the old Crestmoor station (btw- is that structure there part of the origional Crestmoor station?) and as I recall It wasn't much of a wreck given there speed thru the crossing. I haven't seen the pictures I took in many years but I believe they just showed some boxcars on the ground and tipped but not on there sides. Rt 513 was totally blocked and probably for a long time until it was cleaned up. I've moved a number of times since then but I think those pics I took might be up in folks attick. If I can find them I'll try to figure out how to post them here.

Oh the memories I have of the CNJ at High Bridge between '74 and '76. My grandparents lived in Solitude Village and from their front deck you could see the long freights coming and going from High Bridge over the double arches. I'd spend countless hours waiting for something to show.Truth is I heard more trains than I saw. In summer when the windows were up you'd hear the rumble of the diesels going up through the branch. I really don't recall seeing any trains on the branch itself,just on the mainline coming into High Bridge.
One time we were visiting my aunt's parents near Hoffman's Crossing. The tracks ran right next to their backyard. Oh if only a train had come by in that short time we were there.
I do remember the derailment in High Bridge in April '75. I think it was right after Easter.My dad drove up there and I remember seeing cars still on their side and a crane working to get them on track.
It's sad that the line is gone. I have driven past many parts of it and envisioned what it was like. I even mowed grass at the old Califon depot ,including where the line once was,in my brief stint as a landscaper.
I was lucky enough to get a very brief video shot of the M&E switcher crossing Bartley Rd. after dropping cars at TRU in 2000.
I'm always looking for pictures of the old pool trains ES 99 and SE 98 in and around High Bridge. Has anybody ever seen movies of these trains? That would be something.

Question why is it called High Bridge, NJ. ?

Len.

Schuylkill Valley wrote:Question why is it called High Bridge, NJ. ?

Len.

The Town got it's name from a High Bridge the CNJ built across the South Branch of the Raritan River. It was later replaced with a fill that exists and is used today. If my memory is correct, it was just South of the Station.

I have been walking around the High Bridge yard and branch the past couple of weeks. I took some video shots of the yard area and where the branch crossed Main St. real close to a home that is still there. I pretty much figured where the crossover and switch was from the eastbound main track and also where the switch from the west bound main track came into the yard. In fact there is still some track still there,believe it or not. That was the switch they used to bring the pool trains up the branch I believe.The yard itself is a park/composting site. The gates were open to the compost site so I hiked back to the main where the afforementioned crossover/switch was.
Two weeks ago I hiked the trail to Lockwood Gorge bridge. It was pretty amazing walking where some of my favorite CNJ trains once were. I even saw the backside of Lake Solitude and now see why I could hear the trains for a long time. There is a hillside on one side and the river on the other. The sound of them EMDs really reverberated off the
hillside back in those days. I'm going to do a little more re-tracing of the CNJ HB Branch to Lake Jct. if possible.

Also there was a spur they came off the branch in downtown HB and went across Main St and squeezed between two houses, went in a NE direction across a metal bridge and served the steel/metal/scrap factory on the east part of town. They had like 8 tracks going into the factory. The factory is still in biz and all the spurs are still in place (albeit connected to nothing). I don't know why CR stopped serving them but the line was still in tact in the late 80s. The factory looks like it's doing a lot of business and would make a good rail customer.

They have split the old Taylor-Wharton up into several businesses. On the far south side is a metal works of some kind.I think it is Custom Alloy. I don't see any tracks back there. That is where they had a shop goat at one time. It was gray and sat there in the mid '70's.The bridge was torn down probably over 20 years ago now. I remember the track going across the street and between the houses. That too has been gone along time. I don't know when a train last ran over that section. I never saw any in the '74-'77 period when I was around High Bridge. Given the condition of the CNJ back then I would have been worried if a train had to run only a few feet from my house. There were a few derailments on the branch right there in town. In one in '73 cars landed just feet from people in their swimming pool. The one I remember was in '75 where a tank car with benzine derailed and they evacuated part of the town. We saw the cleanup a couple of days later.

The 1988 arials show the tracks in place at Taylor and I just checked live maps and the spur tracks are all still there. At least 8 spurs.
The HB yard tracks were in as late as 1988 but just stub ended at the road xing. The park that occupies the yard site only takes up 50% of the former yard area. The other 50% of the yard nearest the CNJ main is just mud. There was also a wye track that formed the south end of the yard it was there with a spur into a coal trestle until 1988. But between 1988 and 1995 CR tore out all the tracks in the area. The spur across the bridge into Taylor was a switchback off this wye leg. The bridge was there until 1995 but gone by 2002. Where the spur went between the houses is now used as a driveway and the ties are worn down to the ground.

If you look at High Bridge find Washington Ave there is an unnamed road that runs north by the baseball park (Union Forge Park). The branch to Taylor ran parallel to this road. There is an old factory building about .5 mile along the road with tracks going into it. You can also still see the main track in the driveway of the house just north of this building. Also going east you will see a trestle over the river just as the track went into the Taylor property. Taylor must have been one heck of a customer at one time to warrant those bridges and row.

I wonder of NS still owns all that land or if they sold it to the municipality.

Here's some old photos/postcards of High Bridge....... http://westjerseyhistory.org/images/hun ... ighbridge/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;