We jumped in the car on a day off from school and work, and headed over to Ringoes, N.J., just to catch a few steam shots. When we arrived, unannounced, the BR&W put the passengers on hold in order to do some freight work. We were the only camera guys around. The show did not disappoint. These are some of my favorite steam shots from that era, but they might have been shot in any of the previous three decades.

Dick -

A really neat "vintage freight"! Love those MP "Route of the Eagles" and GN (Rocky Mountain Goat herald) box cars.

Les

I witnessed the BR&W continue this practice of handling freight if it was waiting for them at the interchange even into the 1990s. It was grabbed and added onto a "whole line" photo charter I was on back in that era.

Neat photos of Flemington prior to much of the building of "Turntable Junction" shopping center and its parking lots.

Also neat is the switch lantern on the lead to the CNJ Three Bridges Branch....the 60s were better times, but still...

I am pretty sure that PC still operated the freight during the week in 1969; the block operator in Trenton (I forget the tower name) would take the Flemington Branch out of service from 1159 pm on Friday night until 1201 am on Monday, thus permtting the BR&W to have exclusive use of the track during that time, via a lease arrangement. Someplace, I have one of the train orders that was issued on a Penn Central order form doing this.

I think it was 1970 when the BR&W Corp. actually purchased the branch from PC.

Really nice pics of 60 and those freight cars. Just think how much today's photo freight fans would have paid for that "charter"!

Howard P.

I'm going to take a wild stab at it and say that, it looks like 60 arrived in Flemington with a 4 car Passenger train and found the passing siding blocked with 3 cars... 60 broke off, moved the 2 boxes and a covered hopper up onto the other siding, then coupled back up to its train and proceeded into the station and then ran around its consist for the return to Ringoes.

Reason I think this is based on what Howard said about PC still owning the branch, and the fact that in the 1st and 6th photos, you see a 4 car passenger consist with CNJ coaches on the North End, complete with person standing in the vestibule, then later, in photo #3, you see a passenger consist sitting down by the station with what appears to be a Boonton coach on the South End, again complete with a person standing on the vestibule platform.

To the left of that consist, in photo #3, you can see the wood coach they used as a ticket office.

That would put the sequence of photos as #2, 4, 6, 5, 1 then 3.

I could be wrong....

Junior is correct in that the passing track was blocked. The first move on Saturday, arriving in Flemington, was to clear the passing track, putting them on the Purina siding, and the last move Sunday afternoon was to put the freight cars back.

That coach is not the ticket office, however. It is the passenger consist, sitting on the main in front of the PRR station. The coach ticket office came later, after Burkett Brothers applances moved into the station.

EDM
(BR&W volunteer, 1967-1973 or so-)

EDM....I was talking about the wood coach that is sitting to the west of the passing siding, nearly across from the station (you have to look closely - its appears to be sitting on what was later - re: 1980s - just a stub siding/team track).

Wasn't the coach eventually moved onto a panel track, just south of the station building?

Now that I'm on a bigger monitor at work I do see one of the BAR center door combines in the weeds in front of Stangel Pottery. It was later moved to a piece of disconnected track across the main. Years later they built the new station out in the 'burbs, away from most of the shoppers-- (Gotta get a bigger monitor at home-)