The Black River and Western Railroad is a

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

and

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

operating in

Hunterdon County, New Jersey Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. At the 2020 census, the county was the state's 4th-least populous county,Flemington, Lambertville and Ringoes. The railroad operates vintage

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

and

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

powered locomotives. The railroad also owns and operates the

Belvidere and Delaware River Railway The Belvidere & Delaware River Railway Company also known as Delaware River Railroad or Bel-Del, is a class III railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1995 when the Conrail Delaware Secondary line was purchased by the Black River Railroa ...

Phillipsburg, New Jersey Phillipsburg is a town located along the Delaware River that is the most populous municipality in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan statistical area. As of the 202 ...

History

The Black River & Western Railroad was started by William Whitehead in

Oldwick, New Jersey Oldwick is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Tewksbury Township in Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP Code 08858. As of the 200 ...

, 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 Branch of the

Central Railroad of New Jersey Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

with the hope of starting a railroad there. Passenger train at Flemington

BR&W was officially incorporated in 1961. The railroad's name is derived from the Black River, a river near Chester and the original name of the borough. The "and Western" is standard railroad nomenclature. Following a brief stint of test operations on CNJ's Chester Branch, equipment was moved to

Flemington, New Jersey Flemington is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in and the county seat of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

that allowed a tourist train to operate from Flemington to Lambertville on the original

Belvidere-Delaware Railroad The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad (Bel-Del, 1851–1871) was a railroad running along the eastern shore of the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey north via Phillipsburg, New Jersey to Manunka Chunk, New Jersey. It became an important feeder l ...

(PRR Belvidere Division) Flemington Branch (originally the Flemington Railroad & Transportation Company) in 1964. BR&W paid $5,000 a year and rehabilitated the railroad (PRR operated freight service on the line during this period). Steam engine No. 60 operated its first passenger test run on April 25, 1965 and pulled the first trip out of Flemington on May 16, 1965. Weekend and holiday schedules were devised. BR&W assumed ownership and operations of the Flemington Branch from the CNJ connection in Flemington to Flemington Branch Junction in Lambertville on March 16, 1970, purchasing it from PRR successor

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

. With the acquisition of the rail line and its freight operations, on top of the existing tourist passenger service, a true shortline railroad was born. Base operations were established in Ringoes, New Jersey, and remain so today. Freight interchange after the 1970 purchase was made with PC at Lambertville and CNJ in Flemington. PC filed for bankruptcy that June. Flemington Train Station

PC continued to operate freight under bankruptcy protection until April 1, 1976 when

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 busine ...

assumed operations (the last PC freight train to operate on the Belvidere Division was on March 31, 1976). BR&W then 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 from the bankrupt CNJ. Although coal, iron ore and general freights were rerouted to other lines such as the North Penn Branch, CR continued operating smaller interchange freight trains to Lambertville. In March 1977, a new interchange was built at Three Bridges, New Jersey with the former

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad in the Northeastern United States built predominantly to haul anthracite, anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania to major consumer markets in Philadelphia, New York City, and ...

mainline.

Freight service to Lambertville ended by 1995 with tourist operations ceasing by the end of 1998, when the

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce railroa ...

prohibited operations south of Ringoes due to poor track conditions. There was talk in 1999 of Trap Rock Industries quarry using the stub-ended section north of Lambertville for unit stone trains, resulting in a frenzy of track repairs taking place on the Ringoes-Lambertville segment to accommodate the anticipated traffic. The quarry ultimately backed out with the final work train operating in June 2002 to retrieve all remaining rolling stock. In 2004, the railroad leased 10 miles of trackage to their sister short line, the

. In 2017, the railroad began running freight service for its parent company,

Chesapeake and Delaware, LLC Chesapeake & Delaware, LLC, sometimes known as "C&D", is the of several shortline railroads within the state of New Jersey in the United States. It comprises the * Dover and Delaware River Railroad (DD) * Dover and Rockaway River Railroad (DRRV ...

Black River Railroad Historic Trust formed

In 2001, a separate non-profit entity known as the Black River Railroad Historic Trust (BRRHT), was formed to take over the tourist trains on the line. BRRHT does not own most of the passenger cars and until 2011, fees had to be paid to the BR&W for their use. BRRHT owns one diesel locomotive switcher, an SW9 numbered 438. It currently leases some coaches from the railroad and has use of several locomotives. In 2014, the BRRHT started to clear the line between Ringoes and Lambertville for passenger trains. In 2016 the first passenger train went down the first mile of the newly restored line in almost 20 years. In 2017, the BRRHT restored the first 2.5 miles of the line which is where Bowne Road Station is and Black River have been doing special events. In 2019, the BRRHT opened a further 1 mile towards Mount Airy Road.

Recent history

In 2014, BRRHT announced that it was looking to reinstate service along the dormant Ringoes-Lambertville section now called the Alexauken Division. In May 2017, the first two and a half miles was re-introduced to passenger service. The in-service track reached Bowne Station, just over 4 miles north of Lambertville. Bowne Station included a picnic grove co-constructed with Woodsedge Farm and the railroad. Special picnic and farm trains were scheduled year for this new portion of the line, along with an evening departure from Ringoes every Saturday and Sunday that special events did not operate. Sadly, in 2021, the remains of

Hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive tropical cyclone in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In terms of m ...

caused disastrous flooding that washed out portions of the restored trackage. In addition, an entre section of embankment was destroyed near Lambertville.

Stations

Equipment

Locomotives

Visiting units

Former units

Former leased units

Rolling stock

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control New Jersey railroads Railway companies established in 1961 Heritage railroads in New Jersey Spin-offs of the Pennsylvania Railroad Flemington, New Jersey East Amwell Township, New Jersey