Atsion Turntable

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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WHOA! Cool! What a great find!

Thats what I thought :)

Was it in the place you first suspected Guy, or was it closer to the supermarket complex.

I was 100 feet off :) It really did not extend into the road, but it would have come close and they have a large shoulder there so I guess they did what they had to do. I would love to remove the half that is destroyed and see what it would look like with just the one half and the center stone.

Guy
 
Nice find Guy,that site is pretty impressive,huge.I am wondering where jerseyman said there was another turntable in lakehurst(which is buried)has a historic sign depicting the site?


James:

No one has required the property owners to place historic markers at the turntable/roundhouse/shop complex site in Lakehurst, so none are present. If I understand correctly, the landowners have reactivated the condo project. The original plans for the project back in the 1980s was to place the entire shop complex under the parking areas, thus protecting the cultural remains from adverse intrusions.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
Thats what I thought :)



I was 100 feet off :) It really did not extend into the road, but it would have come close and they have a large shoulder there so I guess they did what they had to do. I would love to remove the half that is destroyed and see what it would look like with just the one half and the center stone.

Guy

Guy:

A most excellent job of finding the old Whitings Junction turntable. It has been many years since I last saw it, but it appears things have not changed all that much!. I think I indicated in a previous post that the turntable existed there primarily for the Tuckerton Railroad to turn their old and diminutive 4-4-0 American-type locomotives. The extra bulky sections of concrete in the circular wall represent where the running tracks approached the turntable. I think I'll have to provide you with locations for other turntables--or at least some other unusual railroad-related structures--to keep your winning streak going!

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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Guy:

A most excellent job of finding the old Whitings Junction turntable. It has been many years since I last saw it, but it appears things have not changed all that much!. I think I indicated in a previous post that the turntable existed there primarily for the Tuckerton Railroad to turn their old and diminutive 4-4-0 American-type locomotives. The extra bulky sections of concrete in the circular wall represent where the running tracks approached the turntable. I think I'll have to provide you with locations for other turntables--or at least some other unusual railroad-related structures--to keep your winning streak going!

Best regards,
Jerseyman

So you are saying the full turntable is there underground?

Guy
 
So you are saying the full turntable is there underground?

Guy

Guy:

I think you are taking my previous note too literally--when I say "the Whitings turntable" I really mean the remains of the turntable pit and retaining wall. The railroad scrapped the bridge girders that comprised the turntable itself many years ago. Sorry if I misled you with my verbiage concerning what remains at Whitings.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 

Teegate

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Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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Guy:

I think you are taking my previous note too literally--when I say "the Whitings turntable" I really mean the remains of the turntable pit and retaining wall. The railroad scrapped the bridge girders that comprised the turntable itself many years ago. Sorry if I misled you with my verbiage concerning what remains at Whitings.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

Well, my wording was incorrect also. I should have said the full circular edge of the pit.

The one half disappears into the ground, and it looks like it could not be complete. But I may be wrong. They could have just filled it in and the cement is what you say it is.

Guy
 
Well, my wording was incorrect also. I should have said the full circular edge of the pit.

The one half disappears into the ground, and it looks like it could not be complete. But I may be wrong. They could have just filled it in and the cement is what you say it is.

Guy

Guy:

The concrete retaining wall should constitute a complete circle; I have seen some turntables without complete pit walls, but these are generally for light narrow-gauge locomotives. I suspect someone has placed overfill at the site that obscures the original configuration.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Guy:

The concrete retaining wall should constitute a complete circle

That is what is uncertain. The second half of the wall appears to be gone. That is what made me think the cement was from that.

Guy
 

omega

Explorer
That's cool. reminds me of when I did a TV stand up in an old turntable, surrounded by weeds. its now back in service at the Steamtown National Historic Site. going back years later to see what that has become from what it had been (basically abandoned) was very interesting.

well, now after that excursion to Northeastern Pa, I return you to your normally scheduled trip thru the Pines. LOL.
 

GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,143
479
Little Egg Harbor
The remains of the turntable at Lakeurst may be covered, but there's other neat stuff to see there. A brick-lined well that I assume fed the water tower still exists just inside the tree line, between the mainline and the Barnegat Branch. If you walk south on the mainline and cross the trestle, the concrete supports of the old ashpit, used to clean out the steam engines, still stand.

Remains of another turntable can be found in Barnegat, along the old CNJ right of way. I believe the walls are intact, but it's filled in with soil, with only a portion of the walls showing. Another well is located nearby, allthough the adjacent landowner recently filled it with brush and debris. The old CNJ coal trestle (built and first used by the Tuckerton) is also a must-see if you are visiting Barnegat.

There are also remains of two more of the Tuckerton Railroad's coal trestles in Tuckerton. A bit of the old engine house foundation can still be found in the woods there, as well as the rotting pilings and wooden base of the freight house.

I assume some of you are familiar with these sites, but I'm a fairly new railfan, and still get excited exploring them.
 

Tom

Explorer
Feb 10, 2004
231
9
Very nice find Guy! Great pictures,too. It sounds like you had a real nice time. It was a great weekend for it.
 

Sue Gremlin

Piney
Sep 13, 2005
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Vicksburg, Michigan
We did, we looked around for a while, but all we could find was some mostly-buried timbers, I don't think that was what we were looking for. We did find the raised berm but nothing else. Did you find any other evidence?
 

Teegate

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Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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The raised burm is what I was referring to.

Guy
 

Teegate

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Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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I read about this site a while back and I never thought it would still be there until I talked to a friend about the place. I checked it out and sure enough, there it all was. Here is a link to my set of photos on it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinhooa/sets/72157607802209836/

Kevin

Kevin,

Your photo's also show the one location where the actual ties still show in their original location. And the ditch you photographed is no longer there. It has been repaired and the pipes have been pushed into the woods nearby. That is Salter's Ditch and is man-made. If you look on topo or aerial maps you can see how they used it to add water to what is now Atsion Lake.

Salters Ditch – "'In 1786, a canal was dug from the Mechescautuxen Creek to Atsion River a little above the ore lands belonging to the Batsto Furnace, in order to get a greater head of water over the dam from which Atsion forge obtained its power. Whenever the floodgates were opened the lands below the dam were inundated and the ore diggers were forced to stop
work.' A seven year-long lawsuit ensued. (Early Forges + Furnaces, p. 169)." Joseph Salter
M 83.90.568.


Follow it north and south.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.7373728237224&lng=-74.75945234298706&z=16&type=k&gpx=


Now you need to find the Whiting turntable which is half still there.



Guy
 

usafvet

New Member
Sep 15, 2008
27
0
40
Little Egg Harbor
Didn't the Tuckerton Railroad cross over to LBI shouldn't a turntable been on the island somewhere. Not sure it would still exist with all the over development on LBI?
 

usafvet

New Member
Sep 15, 2008
27
0
40
Little Egg Harbor
"1885-1886 Line is graded and trestle built from MANAHAWKIN to Long Beach Island. Long Beach Railroad is built with 60lb rail on the island connecting Barnegat City to Beach Haven, and leased to the PRR.

1887 Dissatisfied with the long route, a 32 mile shortcut is planned from Medford to Manahawkin to shorten the time to Long Beach Island. The line was never built. TRR purchases a caboose."

Source : Wikipedia

Not sure if this helps my above question?

I love this site... and something that old sparked my interest Great find!
 
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