Toms River Railroad

The Toms River Railroad was established in 1866 with a stop at the county seat of Toms River. [http://octrainguy.com/barnegatbranch.html Ocean County Railroad Buff - Barnegat Branch] ] The line was extended to Waretown in 1872 by the Toms River and Waretown RR Co. [ [http://jcrhs.org/cnj.html Central Railroad of New Jersey website] ] In 1881 the Central Railroad of New Jersey purchased the road [ [http://jcrhs.org/cnj.html Central Railroad of New Jersey website] ] and in 1893 the property was transferred to the Toms River & Barnegat RR Co. at that time the branch was extended to Barnegat. [ [http://www.northeast.railfan.net/cnj.html Northeast Rails website] ] In 1893, the Toms River & Barnegat RR Co. acquired ownership of the property, and service continued under the Central Railroad.

Passenger service was terminated in the mid 1950s, though freight service continued through the early 1970s before the line was taken out of service and eventually absorbed by Conrail.

Today

The right of way is now being converted into a rail trail for use by the Barnegat Branch Trail. Construction is slated to begin in the fall of 2007.

References