The Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Inc. is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the preservation of New Jersey's rich railroad heritage.
I lived in NJ 1982-4 and one of my great regrets is that I never got to see what was then left of the RVRR. However, my O-scale line has a Thomas 2-8-0 numbered "13" and two passenger cars built from Railchief kits and lettered "Rahway Valley".
Thanks for sharing this great presentation covering the phenomenal photos by Donald W. Furler -> and thanks for Collins (aka Hoffman's) Curve "steam-era" pictures. I lived in Waldwick in the early sixties and fondly remember the many trains passing through the famous S curve. In particular, on hot summer nights with my window open, I remember hearing the diesel locomotives hi-revving to make the grade out of Ho-Ho-Kus with their freight trains.
Brick Church? One of the major stops ! Restricted too. Unless the dispatcher ordered it. No passengers on the Morristown Electric line could ride it., You could if you had a Blairstown ticket. Plus Lackawanna was all about New Jersey NOT New York City. It was very heavy loading at New Jersey stations to go to and from the west! The business was from New Jersey suburbs west. Newark was heavy loading from Pennsylvania RR passengers from the south. It saved hours going west , not to have to go to NY first! Then up around the Hudson River at Albany on the NYC or south to Philly and west on the Pennsy!
What a great video. I grew up in Riverdale with the Greenwood Lake branch just beyond our back fence. We moved there in 1957 when there were still a few mid day trains and the local freight. When the sand trains were running it was a real thrill seeing f7's in an ABBA set pulling south past our yard. When the big wreck occurred a huge crane passed by southbound, I assumened it was routed via the NYS&W to Pompton Junction. Great days for a young railfan. The book is great and this presentation adds to it.
I just stumbled on this. What a great video. I grew up in Riverdale with the Erie's Greenwoood Lake branch in my back yard. It did not take me too long to discover Pompton Junction and the Susquanna. My friends and I sometimes walked to Pompton Lakes via the Erie and NYS&W tracks, hoping for a train. Seeing and hearing 5 rs 1's passing by Federal Hill was also a great thrill. Standing at the crossing near the Pompton Lakes station the first time we Saw the GP 18's was a great surprise.n Thanks for bringing back some great memories.
watched this last night live, the interpretation of the images giving them a place within the overall context of the moment, great storytelling. thank you.
Funny coincidence: last summer I was getting orthotics at West Orange and I see the end of this line was at back of the parking lot of the building I was in.
great video i am a erie fan grew up in pompton plains one block from the greenwood lake line spent hours at the pompton plains station during the 1960"s
A little birdie told me you worked for Hawk Drilling in Jersey for a bit. Let me know if I'm wrong. I grew up I'm Union down the street from the "trussell"
I really enjoyed this program to the point I could listen to it all over again. I was a model railroaded from my earlier teams up to the present and belonged to the Cayuga Valley Modell R R Club, which used the Leigh Valley as their prototype. Freewill spike my interest having a 5 sided station and an angled "y". I did get a chance to photograph it before it was removed although my photos have disappeared over time. But, I did get to enjoy a piece of railroad history. I never worked for a railroad directly, but I did work for ALCO in management.
Fantastic stories. Yeah, how kids were raised back then was a different life. We were too busy being scared by Communist Take Over and Atomic Bombs. Although there were enough stories about strangers to be wary of, for the most part, we weren't afraid of the world in general like they are today.
What an amazing story. Reminds me somewhat of my experience hanging around the Harlem Division of the NYC back in the 1960s. I, too, was planning on working on the railroad, but being nearsighted, I knew I would be rejected due to that fact, so I never applied.
HI! My name is Jason Fennimore. I am writing a book, not so much on 'the Cut-Off', but all of the shady stuff that is going on around it. Circumstances have also forced me to start a local newspaper called 'The Northwest Jersey Times', which (hopefully) will be in print early next year. As you know we don't currently have a real local paper. I will try and be brief, but I don't think I can be..... Some of, if not most of those kids on dirt bikes that you talk about at 13:35 have been repeatedly exposed to Toxic Waste on the Cut-Off. In February (2023) I was riding my bicycle on Byram Trail in Byram, NJ. I got to the top of the hill and cut across the 'Cut-Off' (and through a thick fog) to Brooklyn Road. I rode about a half-hour away and got violently ill, started to lose my vision and almost went blind. I felt like I was going to die. It took me many weeks to realize what had happened. It turns out that there is a Superfund Site in Byram on the side of the 'Cut-Off' and Toxic Waste runoff has been spilling onto the 'Cut-Off' since at least the seventies. In the "Waltz & Reese Cut". The 'Cut-Off' in that section is so polluted with Toxic Waste that there is no way they can ever clean it up. It is so polluted with Toxic Waste that you can see the pollution from outer space. Check out page 101 of 162 (figure 4 Plume Map) in this EPA report.... semspub.epa.gov/work/02/541229.pdf I realized after getting poisoned that all of those kids on dirt bikes on the Cut-Off were being exposed to lethal Toxic Waste. Chuck Walsh is an evil person that knows all of this and suppresses this information. Chuck Walsh's Cut-Off grift is over. I made 240 signs, laminated them and stapled them to trees all along the Cut-Off. These signs say "Warning Dirt Bikers" and show the EPA's maps that show where the toxic waste on the 'Cut-Off' is. Also some of these signs have a picture of "Choo-Choo" Chuck Walsh and it has his contact info and tells everyone how he knows that kids are getting poisoned on the Cut-Off and doesn't care. If you don't believe me, take a walk on the 'Cut-Off'. I must have put 10 or 20 signs on the track (and connecting trails) right behind Greendell Station. Go look. I don't know any of you but I would like to think the best of people I don't know. I am trying to get this information out in any way I can. Now that I have stopped the Dirt Bikers from riding through the Toxic Waste by putting up the signs, I am notifying the public as I think the dirt biking kids' parents would like to know they are splashing around in Toxic Waste runoff. Please keep this comment public. It won't look good if you don't. Ask Chuck. I have been posting this in the comments of "Choo-Choo" Chuck's RU-vid page all year. He suppresses the information. Go look at those signs on the 'Cut-Off'. Do you think that's a good look? By the time I am done with Chuck, he won't be able to show his face in Northwest New Jersey. You have to understand that Chuck is a very bad person and he did all of this to himself. I have proof of Chuck committing serious crimes. I told him that I was going to report him to the authorities and coincidentally (?) he took his family on vacation... a short drive from the Mexican Border. For real. He stopped making RU-vid videos and nobody knew where he went. Watch his latest video. He talks about his abrupt disappearance and tries to explain it. Please keep this comment public as I don't want to make more signs. Those 3 'disconnected tracks' "Choo-Choo" Chuck talks about at 1:30:50,... one of those disconnections is a road. The other gap is because NJ Transit is so shady that they stopped the tracks on 1 side of the 'Toxic Distal Plume' and then started the tracks back up on the other side of it. This whole operation is sloppy. They are so incompetent, they can't even do criminality correctly. When I was laminating the signs at the main Sussex County Library in Newton, I was also making copies of the first draft of my book to send to my publisher. One of the librarians was reading the draft. She said; "You know what I think? I think they all hate you because you caught them all red-handed!!"...... Librarians know what's up. By the way, you did a good job on that station! I like the little lights going across the roof. I would definitely go to that museum. I love local history. That is what the 'Cut-Off' is; history. They are never going to run trains on it again. I guarantee it. If you knew all I know, you would agree!
This was a very funny read. The people who just rehabilitated the Roseville Tunnel need the newsflash that there won't be any trains on the cutoff again. How is your newspaper circulation?
As an interesting sidenote, there was a PSE trolley that ran up South Michigan Ave from Westfield Av(Rt 28) to Michigan Blvd (not sure where it terminated at). The trolley operated until approx1924 when it was shut down due to the conductor strike. The tracks remained in South Michigan Ave for another approx 10 years. Had your Milepost 0.87 photo been taken 10-20 years earlier, it would have captured the diamond where the Rahway Valley would have crossed the trolley line.
I worked for tyburn when 400 was still in service! I remember when they had the one motor rebuilt. Took forever. Was under power with both engines for a little while until the traction motors went. She was a powerful bird!
Fantastic presentation by Mr. Nemeth, especially with the stories and historical information! These recorded meetings are great for members like myself who can't make it across the river to visit. Thank you to Tri-State for all that you do!
I know everywhere you talk about here even though I only just discovered the RVR a year ago by accident when I discovered on a bike ride in Roselle Park some abandoned overgrown tracks and did some online research and thereby discovered the RVR. I didn’t know there were small railroad operations like this and found it pretty fascinating. I mapped it out and rode my bike from Staten Island over the new Goethals Bridge bike/pedestrian path and along the entire route of the railroad from Roselle Park to Summit as well as the Newark branch. I love that you know so much and go into such detail about everything about RVR.
Wonderful presentation. Thank you David for your lifelong love of trains. Like you, the train was a big part of our growing up in Dansville. Best wishes to you, with fond memories, Kathy Shay Carlson
Great video!!! Ive been searching for months for old railfanning videos from South Plainfield. That's one of my favorite spots. That concrete phone booth in the picture around 16:35 in the video is still there but pushed into the brush next to that 3rd line that is gone now. I actually took some video of the phone booth and included it in a recent video I posted. I was wondering how old that was. Thanks again for all the great information. A lot of my videos are shot from the exact locations are your videos. Have a great weekend. And just subscribed!!
I live in Edison nj I see old tracks along the river from mill road and Edison boat docks all the way past silver lake ave where there’s an old train tressel which line was this where did it come and go? Also there’s a giant smoke stack still standing and large ruins of foundations between the docks and turnpike what was this building ? You can see the smoke stack on google maps still the ruins I can go take photographs of that will help
@@fbm314 on google earth there is a building with solar panels on the roof, I believe that is Churchill furniture. Behind that building you will see a building that has two curved sides and has a addition off one side going in the direction of the side street. If you use the 3D version the the round house is currently red.
I find these facinating, probably because of the human end..............that seems to be missing from most rail discussions. Yes, cars/locomotives/infastructure is cool, but the people moving the freight are often the most interesting part.
