Black River and Western Railroad

History

The Black River & Western Railroad was started by William Whitehead in Oldwick, New Jersey, in the late 1950s. A portion of the defunct Rockaway Valley Railroad went through his back yard. He and his sons started collecting rolling stock and an engine (Lackawanna #565). They started laying tracks but then the expansion of I-78 halted their dream of building a railroad at that location. They moved their equipment to the Chester Hill Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey with the hope of starting a railroad there. The section of railroad they were scouting soon became landlocked by the construction of I-80.

The Black River & Western Railroad (BR&W) was incorporated in 1961. The railroad's name is derived from the Black River, a river in Chester, and the direction that the river flows. The cars were moved to Flemington, New Jersey and the search for a place to start their tourist train was continued. A leasing arrangement was created the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) that allowed a tourist train to operate from Flemington to Lambertville on the original Belvidere-Delaware Railroad (PRR Belvidere Division) Flemington Branch (originally the Flemington Railroad & Transportation Company). BR&W paid $5,000 a year and rehabilitated the railroad (the PRR operated freight service on the line during this period). Steam engine #60 pulled the first trip out of Flemington on May 16, 1965. Weekend and holiday schedules were devised. On March 16, 1970, the Black River & Western Railroad took over the ownership and operations of the entire Flemington Branch from the CNJ connection in Flemington to Flemington Branch Junction in Lambertville purchasing it from the Penn Central. With the acquisition of the railroad right of way and its freight operations, on top of the existing tourist passenger service, a true shortline railroad was born. Their base of operations was, and still is, out of Ringoes NJ. Freight interchange after the 1970 purchase was made with Penn Central at Lambertville and the CNJ in Flemington. Not long after the purchase, Penn Central filed for bankruptcy on June 21, 1970. At the time it was the biggest corporation in the United States to file for bankruptcy. Penn Central continued to operate its freight trains under bankruptcy protection until April 1, 1976 when Conrail took over operations (the last PC freight train to operate on the Belvidere Division was on March 28, 1976). The BR&W purchased three miles of trackage in the Lambertville area that was part of the Belvidere Division mainline on March 31, 1976 before Conrail took over. BR&W also purchased the Flemington-Three Bridges portion of the CNJ Flemington Branch from Somerville on this date. Although the major freight trains that hauled coal, iron ore and general freight were rerouted to other lines such as Reading Lines' North Penn Branch, CR continued operating smaller interchange freight trains to Lambertville. Since April 1976, a new interchange was being planned at Three Bridges, NJ with the ex-Lehigh Valley mainline and construction started on this in January 1977, opening in March of 1977. CR and BR&W hosted a train trip on the Flemington Branch, Belvidere Division and former Lehigh Valley Railroad mainline in late March after the interchange in Three Bridges was opened. CR stopped regularly using the Belvidere Division south of Milford after the event since interchange was being handled through Three Bridges instead of Lambertville, although they operated a service maintenance train on November 12, 1978 between Milford and Lambertville to check the line for washouts and fallen trees. That would indeed be the last train to operate on that section of the Belvidere Division and trackage was soon removed north and south of Lambertville to Milford and Trenton between 1979 and 1982. The right of way today is the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park Rail-Trail. BR&W continued serving customers such as Trap Rock Industries Quarry, Nieces Lumber, Finkels Hardware and Belmont Packaging in Lambertville throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

As time carried on the freight customers slowly dwindled. By 1995 there was almost no freight service left in Lambertville. Scheduled Sunday passenger train service from Ringoes south to Lambertville ceased in 1997 because of an inability to keep the schedule, which was due to many speed restrictions on that segment. The last special passenger trains to Lambertville ran in 1998, when the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) demoted the poor trackage south of Ringoes to "excepted", prohibiting the operation of passenger trains over this segment. During the second half of the 1990s, there was talk that the Trap Rock Industries Quarry, which stopped getting rail service years prior, would win a contract to supply ballast to Conrail. A frenzy of track repairs occurred on the Ringoes-Lambertville segment to accommodate the anticipated traffic. However, the quarry did not renew its contract, putting an end to the track repairs. The line was put out of service shortly after the announcement of the quarry's decision not to renew its contract, and the last train operated in June 2003 to pick up some remaining rolling stock in Lambertville (a few hopper cars from the quarry operation, two NYC baggage cars, a flanger, a CNJ coach and an EMD F7, all were taken back to Ringoes). Currently, Freight and Passenger service continues on the line from Ringoes north to Flemington. In 2014, small portions of the line from Flemington to Three Bridges was demoted to "excepted", thus temporarily halting passenger service on that part of the Black River & Western. However, freight still runs 1-2 times a week on that line.

In 2001, a separate non-profit entity known as the Black River Railroad Historic Trust, was formed to take over the tourist trains on the line. The BRRHT does not own most of the passenger cars and until 2011, fees had to be paid to the BR&W for their use. The BRRHT owns one diesel locomotive switcher, an SW9 numbered 438. The Trust currently leases some coaches from the railroad and has use of some of its locomotives.

At the end of 2014, the Black River Railroad Historical Trust announced that it is working on reactivating excursion service along what is now called the Alexauken Division of the BR&W (Ringoes to Lambertville), along the Alexauken Creek. The first two and a half miles, from Ringoes to a point south at what is called Bowne Station (at Bowne Station Road), is slated to start sometime in 2017. Track work is still in progress. Track crews have already brought track up to Class I standards to MP6 (just south of Boss Rd.) and use it on select departures of BR&W's summer excursion trains in 2016.

Roster

The Black River Rail System has approximately 19 locomotives, most of which are leased to other companies that require in-house rail switching services. As of 2012 three locomotives are on BR&W property. In fall 2012, BR&W's steam locomotive, former Great Western 60 returned to service after a 12-year overhaul. Several pieces of equipment are owned by the Trust. The Black River Railroad Historical Trust owns and operates ex-Erie Railroad / NJDOT / NJT / URHS SW9 #438, leases BR&W 2-8-0 # 60, and leases PRR LLC's exLV SW1 #112, restored as BRW 400 for the 50th anniversary, and exPRR 9206. 9206 is currently under restoration to be used on BR&W passenger trains. Freight trains on the line are currently handled by BDRV SW1500 1596 and SW1200RS 1259.

Locomotives carry BDRV (Belvidere & Delaware River) reporting marks except #60 and #752.

Equipment owned by the Black River Railroad Historical Trust shown in Italics.