Train graveyard in South Jersey

outskirts

outskirts

I ain't getting any younger.
If you really like trains and you find yourself passing through Philly, consider a little side trip into South Jersey to see all the trains at Winslow Junction. There are a hell of a lot of them! Just pull up Winslow Junction NJ on google maps(satellite image) and you'll see what I mean. Some are beyond repair while others are in various states of being refurbished. It's cool to walk around there and look at the trains, everybody does it. It's a nice place to spend the afternoon and get some pics.


Winslow Railroad Junction
Home of the Southern Railroad Company


Winslow Junction, the home of the Southern Railroad Company of New Jersey, is tucked into the agricultural center of the Pine Barrens, just west of Hammonton, "The Blueberry Capital of the World". Just a few blocks off Route 30, a.k.a. The White Horse Pike, are many old trains in various states of renovation. Here are photos of some of them. I hope to return for more in-depth photos in the near future. While driving by and taking these photos, I saw 3 or 4 gentlemen who looked like they were a part of SRCNJ, but unfortunately, I didn't have time to stop and chat. Next time....

Winslow Junction was once a busy place, as the number of tracks leading here will attest. Even the famed "BLUE COMET" stopped here! Currently, New Jersey Transit trains pass through (over the trestle, I believe) on its Atlantic City Line, which runs from Philadelphia to Atlantic City.

Regarding the sign's statement of the train wreck, "Wikipedia" reports: Winslow Junction Train Derailment, Winslow, New Jersey: on the West Jersey and Seashore's Line near the Winslow Tower, at 12:30am, a derailment of Train 33, the Owl, when the shore bound train going 90 miles per hour, sped through an open switch at Winslow Junction. Four passengers, the engineer, fireman and conductor were killed, 65 were injured. Blame was fixed on the switchman in the tower and the Owl's engineer. This crash is memorialized with a sign at Winslow Junction, which reports the date incorrectly as July 21, 1922, and refers to the train as the 'Midnight Flyer'. It appears from reports in the New York Times dated from July 3 - July 8 1922, that 'Midnight Flier' was a nickname for this particular route/time.


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Interesting Winslow Tower Information
Are you a railroad fanatic? Visit North Pemberton Railroad StationMuseum!

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The quickest and easiest way there from Philly is to take the PATCO train over to NJ, get off at the last stop which is Lindenwold, from there you have to get on the Atlantic City-Philly Line and take that to your second stop which is Hammonton, get off at Hammonton. As you leave the station platform turn right into the parking lot till you hit Line St. Almost directly in front of you is Front street, continue on Front St. until you hit 12th St. 54, turn right and in a few yards make a left onto 12th St. continue following this it will eventually merge with North Egg Harbor Rd. 561, which suddenly becomes South Egg Harbor Rd. 561. It sounds confusing but just keep walking as straight as possible in this direction along this road and eventually you'll come to it's intersection with Spring Rd. Make a right on to Spring, your here! Its about a 4 - 5 mile walk.
 

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Winslow is a strange place, it's also known for Ancora Psychiatric hospital and the Blue Hole.
The Blue Hole is a big round water hole just yards from the creek. Despite it being so close to the creek it lacks the reddish brown cedar water of the creek, instead it's water is reputed to be a crystal blue color and it remains cold all year round. Legend has it that it was formed by a meteor strike and is bottomless. But most likely its just an abandoned gravel pit which was dug deep enough that water from the aquifer seeped in, almost the entire Pine Barrens is sitting on a fresh water aquifer. I've never been to the Blue Hole, but have heard plenty of stories about it and even seen it written about in local books. However, I hear that it is difficult to get to and is getting trashed from idiots tossing stuff into it... like entire cars and shit!
 
There's not as many trains there now and the railroad workers don't seem to be so chill anymore. The place is full of "No Trespassing" signs
and they mean it! Best to just see them from the pavement now. The worker I spoke with was very tight lipped and mumbled something about people climbing all over the trains and getting injured. I don't think they want people coming around there anymore.
 
These trains are private property. There is a man who owns these trains and it is his business. People trespass and violate the property, and anybody caught in the premise will be arrested. I know of individuals who have faced these consequences, so please be curteous of the train owner and stay away.
 
Crank said:
These trains are private property. There is a man who owns these trains and it is his business. People trespass and violate the property, and anybody caught in the premise will be arrested. I know of individuals who have faced these consequences, so please be curteous of the train owner and stay away.
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...

This information actually makes me even MORE interested in seeing the place.

Basically, the only thing discouraging me from going there right now is that it's 2,000 miles away from where I am now, and I have more important things to do. Lol. ::eyepatch::
 
The train is private property do not go there. You can be arrested for trespassing. Respect the owner
 
Not sure Matt, good point though. Having grown up near this if I remember correctly some of the cars laid up there are on RR property and are not some private collection. That line is CSAO (Conrail) managed (possibly), along with a lot of the semi mouth balled trackage down in South Jerz. Conrail also keeps some of their track maintenance equipment nearby.

SEMI OFF TOPIC -> NS and CSX run a couple locals around those parts, one being slow coal to the coast. Southern NJ has a lot of untapped railroading potential the traffic just isn't there to justify regular riding though, it's very easy to get stuck for days or weeks. However it is still possible to get to the Jersey shore via cargo train, don't book your hotel in advance though. I am confused on who actually owns the trackage, I can't tell if the Southern Railroad of New Jersey is a functioning entity or just a name and Conrail is still in charge, the internet has conflicting information as to whether it is a functioning class 3 RR.
 
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Hello, if you see this, THE TRAINS ARE ON PRIVATE PROPERTY, AND ARE PRIVATELY OWNED. Do not trespass! If you don't get the owner's permission to be there, you can and will be prosecuted. Don't go on to other people's property.
 
emossblad said:
Hello, if you see this, THE TRAINS ARE ON PRIVATE PROPERTY, AND ARE PRIVATELY OWNED. Do not trespass! If you don't get the owner's permission to be there, you can and will be prosecuted. Don't go on to other people's property.
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You're the third person to join the site today with the sole purpose of warning others about this property. How'd you find StP?
 
emossblad said:
Hello, if you see this, THE TRAINS ARE ON PRIVATE PROPERTY, AND ARE PRIVATELY OWNED. Do not trespass! If you don't get the owner's permission to be there, you can and will be prosecuted. Don't go on to other people's property.
Click to expand...

MolotovMocktail said:
You're the third person to join the site today with the sole purpose of warning others about this property. How'd you find StP?
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I'm starting to wonder if there is another thread discussing content on squattheplanet on one of the foam forums like there was on railroadforums.com about the railbike video a few years back. This is just peculiar, it isn't even that interesting of a place to be honest there are private scenic railroads with more abandoned rolling stock on their property and like I said previously I'm not sure if any one guy even owns a lot of that stuff... EDIT A museum or group may own them now.

It's possible that whoever owns pineypower.com (the source of the content in OP) installed analytics on their website and have now seen that some of the content in OP has drawn traffic to their webserver with the source being StP and then came here to investigate. Most website analytics services have basic referring url information. That being said I don't see any reference to pineypower.com in the OP, however some of the other links may be on domains related or owned by the same guy.

Weird.

Edit;

Continuing research, here is a blog about a visit to this place; http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/new-jersey/nj-abandoned-train-graveyard/

Read the comments, there seems to be a little army of people commenting on a lot of blogs and articles about this place all with the same message, trespassing, don't go, vandals, private property, etc..

Em MossBlad has a youtube account where he comments relatively the same thing on a few videos of people exploring the cars. http://youtube.com/4vDH9I1x4jE

Seems to be the concern of supporters of the United Railroad Historical Society of NJ.
http://urhs.org/

Looks like they get graffiti on the cars...that appears to be the main complaint.
 
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@FrumpyWatkins, I looked around a bit as well. At the bottom of the piney power website, it states that the rail trail is open from dawn to dusk to the public. It is implied that the Winslow Junction is open to the public. So I would say it's OK to go have a look. I agree if these are indeed in a private collection, they may not appreciate the help with restoring them.
 
emossblad said:
Hello, if you see this, THE TRAINS ARE ON PRIVATE PROPERTY, AND ARE PRIVATELY OWNED. Do not trespass! If you don't get the owner's permission to be there, you can and will be prosecuted. Don't go on to other people's property.
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okay, i've had enough. these people obviously found this thread on google and are somehow associated with it and intentionally creating accounts just to post warnings of 'don't trespass' which i am going to consider as spam.

all of these accounts have been banned and i am going to encourage folks to go out there anyways just because ya'll decided to come harass our forum.

personally, i'm adding it to my list of destinations, so try and stop me :P
 
They must be cooking meth in those trains.

Winslow Junction is on state owned land.

Matt Derrick said:
okay, i've had enough. these people obviously found this thread on google and are somehow associated with it and intentionally creating accounts just to post warnings of 'don't trespass' which i am going to consider as spam.

all of these accounts have been banned and i am going to encourage folks to go out there anyways just because ya'll decided to come harass our forum.

personally, i'm adding it to my list of destinations, so try and stop me :p
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Ditto :P I agree with @FrumpyWatkins, it's probably a wingnut foamer.
 
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