Hike #245 10/24/6
10/24/6
Flemington-Three Bridges-Clinton with Cathy Fisher
Lost the original journal to this one to the fire as well...oh well.
Me on a pier where the LV Railroad crosses the South Branch near Flemington
For this hike, just Cathy and I started in Flemington and wandered up to the former CNJ Railroad's South Branch heading east. We walked the line to Three Bridges, passing over a great old truss bridge, a well, and through tons of Osage Oranges.
Along the former CNJ south Branch near Three Bridges
I think we stopped at Three Bridges Deli and then turned around and walked the parallel, very much still active Lehigh Valley Railroad for a bit. It was straight as an arrow for a while, and somewhat boring, but along the way some truck pulled along the tracks with lights on. We waited off in the weeds for it to go by when it got close.
As we got closer to Flemington we crossed over a nice huge truss bridge, and before going under Rt 31 we passed by an old station site where people were working. I was a bit weird about walking right by them, but we did and there was no problem. We continued on the tracks up past Stanton Station site and beyond all the way to Landsdowne where we turned right on the former Clinton Branch of the CNJ, now Landsdowne Trail. I'd walked this back before it was a trail and no bridges were decked, but I don't think I'd come back since...maybe I'm remembering wrong...I don't know.
Former Flemington Fair Grounds before it was developed into stupid storees.
Former Flemington Fair Grounds before it was developed into stupid storees.
Along Rt 31 in Flemington. These buildings on the left were all torn down shortly after I took this.
Former Flemington Fair grounds and race track site. It soon became Wal Mart, Hope Depot, and other crap.
This house would soon be torn down too. Flemington NJ
House that was soon torn down adjacent to the Flemington Fair Grounds.
Houses that were torn down soon after I took this picture, Flemington NJ
Houses that were torn down soon after I took this, Flemington
Trestle over Rt 31 for former South Branch of the Central Railroad of NJ
Former CNJ South Branch in Flemington
OLD mile post on former CNJ south branch
CNJ south branch in flemington
CNJ line in Flemington
Bridge over the CNJ south branch out of Flemington
Old well from the cnj tracks outside of Flemington
Trestle over the South Branch of the Raritan east of Flemington
Trestle over South Branch of the Raritan east of Flemington
Trestle over South Branch of the Raritan east of Flemington
Whistle marker on CNJ tracks east of Flemington
Osage Orange in Three Bridges NJ
Former CNJ line in Three Bridges
Approaching Three Bridges on former CNJ line
Former Lehigh Valley Railroad in Three Bridges
Former LV railroad bridge over the South Branch near Flemington
Trestle over the South Branch near Flemington
Trestle over the south branch near Flemington
Treslte over the South Branch near Flemington
Trestle over the South Branch near Flemington
Trestle over the South Branch near Flemington
Wooly caterpillar along the tracks in Flemington
Former bridge site at the Wings section of the South Branch Reservation
Old road up to Rt 31, Flemington
Former LV tracks north of Flemington
On former LV tracks near Stanton Station
LV railroad bridge near Stanton Station
Near Stanton Station
Near Stanton Station
Former LV railroad tracks near Sunnyside
Former Clinton Branch of the LV railroad at Landsdown
Abandoned Clinton Branch at Landsdown
Beginning of the Landsdown Trail, former Clinton Branch
Landsdown Trail. This Old rail car was taken out between 2010 and 2011.
Landsdown Trail crossing Capoolong Creek
Landsdown Trail at the old Clinton railroad station
Near the Wal Mart in Clinton
Once we reached the end by the Fox Lumber place, we turned left down the main street, went under Rt 78 and climbed a high hill back up to the Wal Mart and Shop Rite plaza to finish the hike.
THERE'S ALWAYS HOPE!!! Everyone lent me discs I had made them, and the original journal has been recovered!!!
Hike 245; 10/24/6
For this next hike, Cathy and I scouted out a missing piece I had never walked of railroads between Flemington and Clinton.
We parked Cathy's car at the Wal Mart in Clinton and shuttled my car down to the BJ's in Flemington. We began walking down Rt 31 south toward the former CNJ Railroad, I think it is, leaving Flemington eastbound. This was not the main line, but a spur. Cathy was not happy with walking along the highway, but felt much better once we got on the tracks. We ascended to them from behind some business on the north side of the overpass of Rt 31.
We started walking east, and it appeared the railroad was rarely used. We walked by some sort of industrial spur, saw an old well on a nearby farm, and eventually crossed a through style truss bridge over the South Branch of the Raritan River. From here, we continued east passing old whistle signs and mile markers. We soon paralleled the active Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks on our way into Three Bridges. We stopped in at the little deli there and had some food. I think Cathy had a cheese steak, and I had some sort of sub sandwich. We left the deli and continued, turning around and following the former Lehigh Valley Railroad's very active tracks westbound back toward Flemington.
This was a very straight section, and we were very visible from the road we had crossed. As we walked, a vehicle pulled up onto the tracks far behind us. We could see it driving toward us for a bit. It could'nt move too fast because of the terrain, but we had to begin looking for a place to get off of the right of way before it came. I did'nt want to get in trouble for trespassing where the railroad had clear signs forbidding it.
There were some fields owned by the State Department of Fish, Game, and Wildlife to the south of us, so we went into them and laid down waiting for the car to pass. It went by, and we waited for it to get out of sight. It stopped ahead at the next road crossing, but soon moved on. We continued walking towards Flemington.
As we reached the Flemington area after passing through a place called Holcomb's Mill, we crossed the South Branch of the Raritan again on a large wide truss bridge. I climbed down onto the piers, and we had a look around. When we got to the edge of the bridge, I could hear a train coming in the distance. We ran over the edge of an embankment on a path and laid down as the train went by. We then walked back up to the tracks and continued west. We soon neared the old LV Railroad station on the north side of Flemington, and there were people working on the tracks and a parked Norfolk Southern vehicle there. We decided to just walk by and say hello. Fortunitely, no one gave us a hard time and we continued as the tracks turned in a more northwestern direction. We passed along the Assiscong Marsh and then under Rt 31. We crossed the Hunterdon County park trail we'd used the previous summer, and continued on. Just before coming to the bridge over the South Branch of the Raritan where the trail crossed again, we could hear a train coming. We went up on the hill along the tracks to wait for the train to pass by. We then walked along the abandoned piece of the bridge through Stanton Station area, then north through Sunnyside.
I could not quite place where we were exactly on the section from here till we crossed the river again because there were'nt many landmarks, but it was'nt long before we reached that last crossing in Hamden. We were soon in Lansdowne and we turned right on the former Clinton Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The tracks were in at first, though very overgrown. The connection with the active track had long been severred.
We soon crossed Lower Landsdowne Road where there were a bunch of school kids running, apparently part of a cross country team. From the road, the remainder of the railroad was now part of the Lansdowne Trail, a Hunterdon Park. There was an abandoned rail car parked on a piece of track to our left at the beginning. We continued and crossed a bridge over a brook that had been decked. I walked across it once before it had been decked by myself.
We continued north parallel to the South Branch of the Raritan River and passed under Rt 78. We soon came out along the lumber company in Clinton at the old station which had a kioske explaining the history of the railroad, and how a train called the "Doodlebug" operated on it.
We turned left at the main street in Clinton and walked back under Rt 78 on Rt 513, then turned left toward the Wal Mart. We climbed steeply up the grassy hill to the parking area which was situated at a high elevation, with a bit of a view. From the top we could see Cathy's car, which was a welcome sight. We continued back down to Flemington and stopped in a tee shirt place to find out about making T Shirts to advertise the hikes before heading home.
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