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Just a Short Line The Story of the Rahway Valley Railroad Volume II 1951-2009
Just A Short Line
The Story Of The Rahway Valley Railroad
Volume 2: History of the line, 1951-2009
Softbound 124 pages - copyright 2015
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Preface1
Chapter VINew Jersey's Streak `o Rust, 1951-19692
Chapter VIIThe Last of the Clarks, 1969-197551
Chapter VIII The Cahill Years, 1975-198674
Chapter IXEnd of the Line, 1986-1992106
Chapter XAn Attempted Rebirth, 1992-2009115
Notes & References120
Appendx ALocomotive Roster, 1951-1992122
Appendx BFinancial Analysis, 1951-1973123
About the Author124
Preface
"Being small, the Rahway Valley Railroad hasn't been as famous as its big time counterparts. But, then, it hasn't been broke either. In fact, the railroad with a dozen employees and only fifteen miles of track (including freight sidings) has been in the black for a long time." - The CRANFORD CHRONICLE, 1983.
Many people in the towns of Summit, Springfield, Union, Kenilworth, Roselle Park, and Maplewood in northern New Jersey can recall, with fondness, the tiny local railroad known as the Rahway Valley. The railroad had so many characteristics that befit every stereotypical short line railroad - a few colorful employees, a couple of locomotives, and a short mainline. Yet, in so many ways, the Rahway Valley had a certain charm that was all its own.
The Rahway Valley Railroad was a vibrant little freight line, measuring only 11.8 miles in length. After humble beginnings as a means to reach the golf course, followed by several years of financial instability, the railroad had secured a firm footing as a hauler of a multitude of commodities of a seemingly immeasurable quantity by the 1950's. The RV's bustling customers kept the railroad's single train crew
working hour upon hour of overtime - freight trains of thirty to forty cars in length were not uncommon.
With connections to three major railroads (the Central Railroad of New Jersey at Aldene, the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Roselle Park, and the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad at Summit), the Rahway Valley Railroad was a catalyst for industrial and economic growth in the region it served. During its years of operation, the Rahway Valley served coal yards, lumberyards, building material warehouses, liquor distributors, steel plants, cement plants, heavy equipment dealers, and many other manufacturers of a variety of products.
This book is the second of two volumes sharing the history of the Rahway Valley Railroad. This volume begins where the first volume ended, and the chapters are numbered in sequence with the first book. This volume covers the years 1951 to 2009, and is more or less chronological. It begins with the arrival of the railroad's first diesel-electric locomotive, No. 16, in 1951, and from there you will follow the course of the RV through its final days. Along the way you will encounter, as I did, many colorful and humorous stories, and meet the people who ran the line.
I sincerely hope the reader will enjoy the history of this little line as much as I have. So please, sit back and relax - don't let Bob Clark catch you slacking on the job (you'll earn the title of "Laziest Man on the Rahway Valley Railroad" that way) - and enjoy the story of "our" Rahway Valley Railroad.
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