Ocean County, New Jersey
Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
seat of
Toms River, New Jersey
Toms River is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County.Ocean County Railroad Buff - Barnegat Branch The line was extended to Waretown in 1872 by the Toms River & Waretown Railroad.Central Railroad of New Jersey website /ref> In 1881 the
Central Railroad of New Jersey
The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...
(CNJ) purchased the line and in 1893 the property was transferred to the Toms River & Barnegat Railroad (TR&B) at that time the branch was extended to Barnegat.Northeast Rails website /ref> In 1893, TR&B acquired ownership of the property, and service continued under CNJ.
Passenger service was terminated in the mid-1950s. Freight service continued into the late 1970s: by that time CNJ was bankrupt and had been absorbed by
Conrail
Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
who abandoned the line in 1981. The former roadbed was converted for
rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
use in 2007 as the
Barnegat Branch Trail
The Barnegat Branch Trail is a rail trail in Ocean County, New Jersey.
The trail occupies a abandoned rail corridor in Ocean County, New Jersey, that
extends from Barnegat Township
to Toms River. The trail was built on the former Barnegat Br ...