Vineland Secondary

Last updated
Vineland Secondary
Vineland Secondary
Map
Overview
StatusActive
Owner CSAO
Locale South Jersey
Termini
Connecting lines Salem Secondary
Penns Grove Secondary
Winchester and Western Railroad
Service
Type Freight rail
System CSAO
Operator(s)CSX, NS, CSAO
History
Commenced1853
Technical
Line length37 miles (60 km)
Number of tracks1
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map

Contents

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River Line to Walter Rand TC
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PATCO to Broadway
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Lanning Square
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PATCO to Lindenwold
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South Camden
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Camden Beltline/Beesley Point Secondary [1]
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Newton Creek
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Grenloch Ind. [1]
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Gloucester City
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Siding
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Little Timber Creek
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Big Timber Creek
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Westville (future Crown Point Road)
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Branch to Wheelabrator Gloucester incinerator
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Red Bank Avenue
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Broad Street Lake/Stewart Lake
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Woodbury
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Penns Grove Secondary
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Salem Secondary
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Woodbury Heights
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Woodbury Heights Vehicle
Maintenance Facility
(proposed)
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Mantua Boulevard
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Sewell
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Mantua/Pitman
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Pitman
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North Glassboro
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Glassboro station (pre-1971)
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Bridgeton branch
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Glassboro Vehicle
Maintenance Facility
(proposed)
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Glassboro–Camden Line to Glassboro (2028)
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Newfield [2]
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Former line to Atlantic City [1]
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Out-of-service continuation to Winslow [1]
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Winchester and Western Railroad
Vineyard Ind. to Bridgeton
[1]
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BSicon CONTf.svg
Conrail Milville Industrial [1]
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BSicon STR.svg
F&S Fresh Food, Vineland [3]
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Milville Rail Yard
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Winchester and Western Railroad
Manumuskin Industrial [1]

The Vineland Secondary is a rail line owned, operated and maintained by Conrail Shared Assets Operations for the use of CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway. It begins at Pavonia Yard in Camden and heads south, with a spur serving the Port of Camden. At Woodbury it junctions with the Salem Branch and Penns Grove Secondary, and continues to Millville, passing through namesake Vineland. [4] [5] At its southern end it connects to the OmniTRAX-owned Winchester and Western Railroad. The line is used exclusively for freight, however, the northern portion is planned to be used for the proposed Glassboro–Camden light rail line. [6]

History

The West Jersey Railroad (WJ) was granted its charter by the state on February 5, 1853 to build a line from Camden to Cape May. The line was built with the backing of the Camden and Amboy Railroad from Camden to Glassboro, with the first 8.2 miles of the line using the abandoned right-of-way (ROW) built by the Camden and Woodbury Railroad to Woodbury.

In 1896 the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) consolidated all its railroads and several smaller properties in southern New Jersey into the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (WJ&S). In 1932, the PRR and Reading Company (RDG) merged their southern New Jersey railroad lines into one company, the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL). The line was electrified between 1906–1949. [7] In 1968 New York Central Railroad was merged into the PRR becoming Penn Central, which was bankrupt by 1970. The last passenger train ran on February 5, 1971. [7]

The line came under the auspices of Conrail. Following the purchase and division of Conrail it was designated part of the South Jersey/Philadelphia Shared Assets Area, becoming known as the Vineland Secondary. In 1995, Conrail refurbished the Vineland Secondary and the connected Millville Running Track.

The original station house Glassboro station was restored in the 2010s.

In 2012, New Jersey Department of Transportation determined the ROW should be preserved and could expect expanded future use. [8] In 2019, level crossings through Vineland were upgraded or eliminated. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Route 47 is a state highway in the southern part of New Jersey. It runs 75.20 mi (121.02 km) from Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood, Cape May County, north to U.S. Route 130 in Brooklawn, Camden County. It is also referred to as Delsea Drive, as it connects the Delaware River near Brooklawn to the Atlantic Ocean in Wildwood. This name was assigned by the New Jersey Legislature in 1933. The route runs through rural areas of Cape May and southern Cumberland counties as a two-lane road. Traffic jams along this portion of Route 47 are commonplace in the summer vacation season and can stretch for miles due to the missing southern section of Route 55, where all Jersey Shore-bound traffic enters the small two-lane road. North of here, the route runs through the cities of Millville and Vineland before entering Gloucester County, where it passes through more rural areas as well as Clayton and Glassboro. Past Glassboro, it heads through suburban areas in Washington and Deptford townships before running through Westville and Brooklawn. Route 47 is the longest signed state route in New Jersey.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavonia Yard</span>

Pavonia Yard is a Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) rail yard in Camden, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Railroad of New Jersey</span> American railroad

The Southern Railroad of New Jersey is a small short-line railroad company based in Winslow Township, New Jersey. The railroad operates freight trains in two areas in Southern New Jersey. In the Winslow area, trains operate between Winslow Junction and Pleasantville, and between Winslow Junction and the Winslow Hot Mix asphalt plant in Winslow Township. In Gloucester County, the company operates on the Salem Branch between Swedesboro, New Jersey and Woodbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey Southern Railroad</span>

The New Jersey Southern Railroad was a railroad that started in 1854. It would continue under this name until the 1870s as a separate company and the lines that it had constructed or run continued to be run in the New Jersey Southern name until the early 2000s.

The West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (WJ&S) was a Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary in the U.S. state of New Jersey with a connection to Philadelphia. It was formed through the merger of several smaller roads in May 1896. At the end of 1925 it operated 379 miles (610 km) of road on 717 miles (1,154 km) of track; that year it reported 166 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 332 million passenger-miles. The railroad became part of Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penns Grove Secondary</span>

Penns Grove Secondary is a rail freight line in the Delaware Valley in the southwestern part of New Jersey. Part of Conrail's South Jersey/Philadelphia Shared Assets it runs for approximately 20 miles (32 km) between its southern terminus at Penns Grove and Woodbury at the north where it joins the Vineland Secondary about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) south of Pavonia Yard in Camden. At its southern end the Deepwater Point Running Track continues another 3.7 miles (6 km) through Carneys Point to Deepwater.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salem Branch</span>

The Salem Branch is a rail freight line in the southwestern part of New Jersey in the United States between the Port of Salem and Woodbury Junction where it and the Penns Grove Secondary converge with the Vineland Secondary, approximately 8.5 miles (13.7 km) south of Pavonia Yard in Camden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodbury station</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glassboro station</span>

Glassboro is an inactive train station in Glassboro, New Jersey which served passengers from 1863–1971. Its station house was restored c. 2015. It is located at the edge of the Rowan University campus. Listed as the West Jersey Rail Road Glassboro Depot, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 2020, for its significance in architecture and transportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westville station</span> Former railway station in New Jersey, United States

Westville is a defunct commuter railroad station in the borough of Westville, Gloucester County, New Jersey. The station served trains on the former Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line branch between Millville and Camden. Westville station contained two side platforms located next to U.S. Route 130 and Station Avenue. The next station to the north was Brooklawn, while South Westville served as the next station to the south.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "NEW JERSEY'S RAILROAD NETWORK" (PDF). Government of New Jersey . Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  2. "1 Rena St · 1 Rena St, Newfield, NJ 08344". Google Maps.
  3. "F&S Fresh Foods · 500 W Elmer Rd, Vineland, NJ 08360". Google Maps.
  4. "South Jersey Regional Rail Study" (PDF). South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization. 2002. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  5. "Whatever happened to Millville train service by 2019?". Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  6. "Rail and Road To Recovery" (PDF). Clean Water Action. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  7. 1 2 Gambardello, Joseph A. (February 12, 1999). "The End Of The Line For A 1906 Landmark Conrail Has Decided To Tear Down The Five-story Westville Building. It Was Erected As A Power Plant". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved July 22, 2013. Electric service on the line ended in 1949 when the state banned the use of wooden passenger cars, Schopp said. The last passenger train – a diesel-powered Budd – ran from Millville to Camden in 1971.
  8. "Non-Passenger Rail Right-of-Way Assessment for Preservation" (PDF). Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  9. Smith, Joseph P. (July 16, 2019). "Conrail closing Vineland rail crossing". The Daily Journal (New Jersey) . Retrieved April 3, 2021.