The Raritan River Freight Station is the only surviving station of the

Raritan River Railroad The Raritan River Rail Road was a shortline railroad in Middlesex County, New Jersey U.S., Founded in 1888, it was based in South Amboy, from which it ran west as far as New Brunswick. It served both passengers and freight in its heyday and op ...

and is located in

Milltown, New Jersey Milltown is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is nestled within the heart of the Raritan Valley region, with Lawrence Brook (a Raritan river tributary) flowing through the center of the community. As of the ...

. It is privately owned by James Curran who has agreed to sell the station to the Raritan River Railroad Historical Society for one dollar if they can find the means of moving it off of his property.

History

The freight station was built in the early 1900s, it was a shelter that had been renovated to a station. The first passenger train had reached Milltown in 1891, possibly because at that time, the Meyer Company had the Lawrence Brook Mill running day and night. And with the railroad, the industry of Milltown flourished. On March 24, 1934, the station had gotten an express system and a Railway Express agent to ship mail and cargo through the

(RRRR). As

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

hit the

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, the station became busier, with an average of 22 passenger trains running per day. And with the ammunition plant in Sayreville, about 9000 passengers came through the station per day. But in the 1930s, the Depression hit Milltown and the station hard. The Michelin Tire Company (the former Meyer Company) left the mill, making freight volumes go down by nearly 50%. The freight station was almost abandoned in favor of buses, and fewer passenger trains stopped there. By 1938, there was only one passenger train left that stopped in the station. New Brunswick and South Amboy also had services choked off. By April, barely anyone would enter the station. Even the express freight would not pass through the station again. Though the station was in business, the trains didn't move as fast; not much would change over the next 30 years.

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

brought a temporary surge of traffic to the station, as well as dirt and sand for the construction of the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not consi ...

in the 1950s. Steam engines were replaced by diesel engines in 1956, and the Lawrence Brook Mill was rented to a few other companies. It kept the line connected, but rarely used. After that, only packages would go in and out of the station; the freight used was called less than car load (LCL) freight. But this service was discontinued in the 1960s. There was a transition from an industrial based to a commercial based economy in New Jersey. In the early 1970s, the RRRR had been subsequently owned by the Central Jersey Railroad Company, which had been bankrupt since 1967. In 1971,

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

also went bankrupt. The Consolidated Railroad Company (Conrail) was created by the US government to acquire all of the bankrupt companies such as Penn Central; it was necessary to keep freight moving for the economy in 1976.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

was created for the same goal in 1971; only it was to move people from city to city. The RRRR would not join the 1976 Conrail system, not until April 1980 was it absorbed into Conrail because all of the freight's parent companies had been absorbed. The Raritan River Chapter of the NRHS have raised for funds to for the process of moving and restpring the freight station. Minor setbacks have occurred such as the rapid deterioration of the station as well as the main freight door being broken into. However these events haven't deterred the Raritan River NRHS and with an agreeable price for a concrete foundation with Milltown-based Brown and Glynn.

References

{{reflist Raritan River Railway stations closed in 1980 Former railway stations in New Jersey Milltown, New Jersey Railway stations in Middlesex County, New Jersey 1980 disestablishments in New Jersey