+ ABOUT THE RAHWAY VALLEY RAILROAD

Short-line railroads are small railway companies that operate over a relatively short distance when compared to larger, major systems. They form a vital component of the US transportation network, often providing a more personalized level of service that is more attentive to the needs of local industries and communities when compared to a larger railroad system.

One of these short lines was the quirky, ostentatious, and unpretentious Rahway Valley. For 95-years, this little railroad ambled trains down its 11.8-mile long system which its own President called just a “streak ‘o rust,” built originally to haul golfers to the famed Baltusrol Golf Club of Springfield, NJ.

The club’s owner and founder, Louis Keller, acquired the struggling The golf club’s owner and founder, Louis Keller, desired first-class transportation to and from the club. Keller was a man of inherited wealth and became well-known as the publisher of the Social Register, an annual list of society’s who’s who. In 1904, Keller banded together with the industrialists behind the recently-failed New Orange Industrial Association to charter the Rahway Valley Railroad.

These industrialists, all from Elmira, NY, had come to New Jersey in 1894 to build what they had hoped would be a model industrial town. Called “New Orange,” this town was to have large factories and be home to tens of thousands of people. Their elaborate plans called for electric trolleys, a yacht club, a grand city hall, and a dedicated railroad. Despite early success and the construction of a short four-mile railroad called the New York & New Orange, the project flopped. The railroad was foreclosed upon and renamed the New Orange Four Junction Railroad, but remained in dire straits. The town of New Orange was later renamed “Kenilworth,” the name which it still bears today.

After floundering financially through the 1920s, the line became a vibrant hauler of freight. Through the efforts of the Clark family, who came from Oregon in 1920 to manage the Rahway Valley, numerous businesses were attracted to Union County and patronized the railroad. The railroad hauled an endless variety of commodities, including steel, alcohol, cement, feed, coal, lumber, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, stone, and even telephone equipment. The railroad built Union County, hauling the asphalt that paved its roads, the lumber that built its homes, and the bricks that built its schools. A connection was forged with the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad in Summit in 1930, supplementing connections already made with the Jersey Central at Aldene and the Lehigh Valley at Roselle Park, which afforded the little Rahway Valley’s clientele competitive freight rates to all points in the United States and Canada.

Many who remember the railroad hold its memory close. Because it wa small, it was more reachable than the bigger roads. Its employees - who only ever numbered twenty-five at most at any given time - became familiar faces to the neighborhood children who would wait for the train to go past their street, crushing pennies they had placed upon the rails. Some kids were even fortuntate enough to get a ride in the locomotive. Some recall walking the tracks to get to and from school every day. Others recall how the railroad would snarl traffic on the infamous Route 22 at the most inconvenient hours of the day, as an unlucky flagman would attempt to halt traffic by wielding a small red flag. The little Rahway Valley was a part of the local character.

Much of the railroad’s success, and colorful charm, can be attributed to the efforts of George A. Clark, a man once described as “big, awkward, and disheveled” as well as “moody and tempestuous, reflexively profane, and ribaldry humorous.” Having worked for the Rahway Valley for nearly fifty years, many referred to the Rahway Valley as Clark’s railroad despite his owning only one share of stock. Clark succeeded his father as the railroad’s President and General Manager. Despite dropping out of high school, his exceptional managerial and business skills earned the Rahway Valley profits during the depths of the Great Depression. Clark believed that his railroad was “the best barometer in the world for getting a line on business.” Clark believed diversification was key to the Rahway Valley’s success. He stated “We don’t look for big industry. Instead of a few big fellows we have dozens of little ones. In slow times the big ones shut down and everything stops. If you have little fellows some of them are sure to keep on.” Three generations of the Clark family managed the Rahway Valley from the pine paneled offices inside the Kenilworth Station, which stood on the Boulevard.

As asphalt was strewn across the Rahway Valley’s right of way and more people relocated to the suburbs, the railroad began to struggle. Industries were squeezed out of the area as Union County became increasingly residential, hurting the railroad’s bottom line. The real blow came when heating oil began supplanting coal as the preferred home heating fuel. The railroad once served dozens of coal yards along its tracks, but by 1971 there was only one left. The Rahway Valley abandoned its rails in Maplewood when I-78 came through, and continued to eke out an existence for itself in the face of dwindling business and revenue.

Beginning in 1975, through the efforts of new President & General Manager Bernie Cahill, the railroad began to reinvent itself. The railroad’s two diesel locomotives, built by General Electric in the 1950’s to replace steam power on the Rahway Valley, abandoned their individual red/yellow and green/yellow paint schemes in favor of a homogenized maroon and white paint scheme. Tracks were repaired and upgraded with heavier rail. A new logo was introduced. A fleet of seventy-five boxcars was acquired, to accrue additional revenue. The railroad even operated a special passenger train when the U.S. Open was hosted at the Baltusrol Golf Club in 1980.

Despite these efforts, business did not recover for the railroad long-term. The railroad lost its liability insurance coverage in 1986 and the Keller family, after owning the railroad for four generations, sold the line to Delaware Otsego Corporation. The new owner, a large railroad holding company with several lines in the northeast, did little to rejuvenate the line or keep a hold on the little business which remained. With only one customer remaining, the Rahway Valley Railroad operated its last train on April 21, 1992.

+ THE NEED FOR SIGNAGE

The Rahway Valley was officially abandoned as a railroad in 1992. Since that time, portions of the railroad have either been removed, encroached upon, or overtaken by nature. While the railroad is still remembered by many, much of the local populace are unaware of the railroad’s presence or historical impact in Union County. The Foundation’s greenway project will open portions of the Rahway Valley right-of-way to the public for the first time since the railroad ended passenger service in 1919. This presents an opportunity to install signage to help preserve the railroad’s history, in the minds of the public, in its original space.

+ ABOUT THE SIGNS

The signs are designed by Tri-State volunteers, utilizing photographs and information at the group’s disposal. The signs are then manufactured by Vacker, Inc. in Minnesota. The high-pressure-laminate, vandal-resistant panels measure 24” x 36” and are mounted in custom fabricated, black powder-coated, steel, National Park Service-style sign mounts. Each sign, including materials utilized in the installation, costs approximately $1,200.00.