JCRR photo and some info

[Teegate]

All,

I have found another photo that I took of the JCRR bridge over the Batsto river, and you can view it at the link below. It was developed in May of 1978. I believe I have not posted it before. Also, I believe it is mirrored properly and the view is toward High Crossing, Pine Crest, and eventually Chatsworth.

http://homepage.mac.com/teegate/.Pictures/BatstoRiverJCRRBridge.jpg


It is interesting to mention that while doing some research on Geodetic Markers, I found out that in 1938 there was some sort of station at Pine Crest which included a shed. Near that shed there was a semaphore. Now I had no idea what a semaphore was, so I punched it into my trusty American Heritage Dictionary and here was the results.

1. A visual signaling apparatus with flags, lights, or mechanically moving arms, as one used on a railroad.


In the base of that semaphore there was a Geodetic Marker that by 1995 was considered lost. One can assume that the semaphore was taken just like all of the mile markers. The location was a short distance toward Chatsworth from Pine Crest. Here is the 1995 results of the USGS search.

RECOVERY NOTE BY NEW JERSEY GEODETIC SURVEY 1995 (FAC)
THE STATION WAS SEARCHED FOR AND NOT RECOVERED AFTER A QUARTER HOUR
SEARCH BY A TWO MAN PARTY. REMAINS OF ELECTRIC CABLES WERE FOUND IN
THE APPROXIMATE AREA OF THE STATION. THE SEMAPHORE BASE WAS NOT
FOUND. THE STATION IS CONSIDERED LOST.

Guy

 

[JeffD]

I walked the tracks from Quaker Bridge Road towards Chatsworth about a month ago, Guy, and came upon a bridge that I believed crossed the Basto River. What I saw was a small stream of water that went through two large pipes, barely large enough to craw through that ran under a bridge. The bridge was covered with vegetation except for each end at the edge of the water. I had walked at least half an hour from Quaker Bridge to get to this point. So, either what I found was not a bridge over the Basto River, or in 24 years the vegetation colonized the bridge and the Basto River got smaller and more vegetation grew around it, or the photo you took was of the bridge crossing the Mullica River. About a ten minute walk on the other side of Quaker Bridge Road if you follow the tracks you come to a bridge tht crosses the Mullica. Actually, the photo you posted looks like that bridge over the Mullica today.

There are creeks that run in that area which are not on the Wharton State Forest map in that area. One example is Sleeper Creek, which we discussed on The Woods Are Full of Surprises, which the maps you and I found showed but was not on the Wharton State Forest map.

Also, just before what I thought was a bridge over the Basto, as you walk from Quaker Bridge Road towards Chatsworth, is a small clearing where there are bushes on the far end of the clearing which looked like they were put in by humans.

All of us Pine Barrens Enthusiasts keep finding clues. Maybe we could get Sherlock Holmes to solve some of these mysteries!

 

[Teegate]

Jeff,

The photo is of the bridge over the Batsto river. But I have now realized that the photo is facing toward Atsion. I compared it to the photo below and noticed the boards under the vehicle. They are on the Chatsworth side of the bridge, so the photo was taken from the Chatsworth side.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/teegate/Bridge.jpg

There are other areas between this bridge and Atsion that you probably were at. This bridge is large and has a large volume of water flowing under it.

Guy

 

[JeffD]

So, Guy, the bridge I found then was probably not over the Basto but over a smaller body of water. I guess I didn't walk far enough to reach the bridge over the Basto. One reason I thought it was the Basto was that the Wharton State Forest map shows the Basto flows under the railroad tracks and looks like it is more or less in line and not to far from the Old Forge Wilderness Campground. The one thing that puzzled me and did make me think the water flowing under the bridge I was on was not the Basto was that in recent years I saw kayaks and canoes paddling past Old Forge. The channel of water where I was looked narrow and choked with vegetation from the railroad tracks towards the direction of Old Forge as far as I could see. Maybe the Basto bridge is closer to Carranza than it is to Quaker Bridge.

One of these days I'm gonna walk the tracks on the other side of Quaker Bridge Road, cross the Mullica River bridge and look for Parkdale. Someday I may get a digital camera or scanner and take a photo of the cornerstone on the bridge over Sleeper Creek. One of you may beat me to it though.

 

[Teegate]

Jeff,

Here is a photo of the water going under the bridge.

http://homepage.mac.com/teegate/.Pictures/WaterBatstoBridge.jpg


Guy

 

[JeffD]

Wow!, Guy. You did a great job of documenting that RR bridge over the Basto, artfully showing different perspectives. There's no way that could have been the bridge I walked across!

You've peaked my interest in this bridge, as you and others have about the abandoned railroad tracks in general. I tend to focus more closely on familiar areas, such as the tracks between Quaker Bridge Road and Carranza. But that RR siding switch I read about on another thread has also gotten my attention.

I grew up near railroad tracks. During my very early years, when I was between five and seven, when I lived in the far northeast, the Somerton section of Philadelphia, my dad used to take me and the dog through the woods where an abandonded railroad tracks magically appeared. You wouldn't recognize the area today (the woods are mostly gone) after Korman and others grossly (both quanity and quality) developed the area. When we moved to King of Prussia there was a nursery behind the house and a few hundred yards across the fields were railroad tracks which ran through the woods. One was the Reading freight line, which only had one non-electric track and the most trains came were twice a day. The other two were electric, and ran much more frequently and faster than the Reading line. I still have a small scar on my hand where it hit a rock as I landed and braced myself as jumped from the Reading train I hopped. The train had started picking up a little too much speed. There was also a bridge where I walked under the tracks on my way to my little league baseball games as I walked dirt roads through the nursery and through the woods.

When I was a teenager, my brother, some neighborhood kids and I would walk the tracks to a place we called FRANKENSTEIN'S. It was a fairly
remote section where we saw the fenced in area of an electric substation where we hear the wires faintly humming and the faint sound of dogs barking and yapping in the distance.

I'm glad there are abandoned railroad tracks I can walk.

 

[Teegate]

Jeff,

If you want to get to the bridge in your car, here are some ways you may want to try. If you are on Carranza road heading from Chatsworth toward Carranza Memorial, look for the state juvenile building on your right. Turn around and head back about 100 yards on your left and turn in the dirt road. You can drive this in your car. You will come to the Hampton Furnace warehouse and you will turn right and cross a bridge. The road will then make a 90 degree left turn. Go for about 50 to 100 yards and a road will be on your left. This takes you to the bridge. I am not sure how good that road is since I have not been down it in years. But in the past a car could access it going slow.

From Atsion heading North on 206, pass the lake and Quaker Bridge road, and just at the curve past the guard rail turn right onto a dirt road. Again, I am not sure how good this road is but in the dry season it was passable for a car. Following this will take you to Hampton Furnace. So follow this until the road makes a 90 turn to your right and there is a bridge. Turn around and follow the directions above from the 90 degree turn.

Guy

 

[ed]

Jeff, Guy

Both of these roads are in excellent shape. The one from Rt 206 to Hampton Furnace was just graded last week.

Ed

 

[Teegate]

Ed,

Thanks for that info. I may come in off of 206 now that I know that.

I don't know if remember what that road was like in the 70's, but it washed out all of the time just before the first curve heading in from 206. I had to pull quite a few people out from there. I was never one to worry about going through water because I had a winch on my vehicle, but there was one area that made me even think twice. The state seems to really want to keep the roads in good condition anymore. There has been a 180 degree change in their policy. High Crossing is another example. That keep most cars from going through, but they took out the track and lowered the rise enabling more people to access that area easily. Then again maybe that isn't a good thing...

Again Ed.... Thanks.


Guy

 

[JeffD]

Thanks for the information, Ed and Guy. I have mixed feelings about making areas more accessible. It allows someone who doesn't have an off road vehicle to explore more places in the Pine Barrens. But, it seems that making places less accessible keeps out the undesirables who trash places out and cause damage. But then again, if it is just a matter of a graded sand road that allows passage to some place of nature where one still has to walk a little to get there this may be a good thing. The problem with places such as East Forked River Mountain is that you can drive right up there to a potential party place. There is always riff-raff who litter, etc. I've even seen a little litter on the Batona Trail near where you enter from Apple Pie Hill. Just a little, but it is annoying. Overall, the Batona and other areas I've visited is quite clean, and the few people I've run into tend to be mellow, cool.

 

[ed]

Actually High Crossing wasn't lowered becauce of the benevolance of our state, but to allow access to a big fire there a couple of years ago. Walk the trail that parallels the south side of the tracks from Medium Crossing (maybe it should be Uncrossing)to the Batsto river. It's all burned out, and they bulldozed the hell out of it and left one of the prettiest trails in the pines a mess. There's also a forest of dead standing pines that looks like a lot of fuel.

I would very much like to see motorized access to the whole forrest eliminated. Every week I pull bags of trash out of there on my hikes. An interesting note, almost all of the old bottles and cans are beer, the new stuff I'm finding is 50% soda bottles and plastic water bottles.

 

[Teegate]

For some reason I never photographed High Crossing, but there is a photo at the link below from a website I found. Comparing then and now it definitely should be called Uncrossing or Low Crossing.

It is sad to see the removal of the tracks there, Carranza road, and even in Chatsworth itself. It seems so final.


http://mywebpages.comcast.net/batsto/Towns/HighCrossing/HighCrossing.html


Guy

 

[ZippySLC]

Hey, that's my picture.

I should dig out my Pine Barrens pictures and put my site back up...

 

[JeffD]

Yesterday I took the road off of route 206, just past the Atsion Ranger Station if you're heading north and I turned right. I stayed on the main, graded road, and I drove over a small bridge over a small running body of water, which I believe was the Basto River. Continuing on the best road, I beared towards the left, passed what looked like a good-sized lake on the left side of the road, and further down came to a clearing in the woods. There was a natural ramp that went down towards the Basto. I think I was facing an island. Through the woods on my left, as I faced the Basto, I thought I saw some kind of building. I guess that must have been Hampton Furnace. I had stopped in the Atsion Ranger Station, where I got verbal and written directions to Hampton Furnance. The handout said the Hampton Furnance canoe launch was three miles from Route 206. I clocked it and the stop where I stopped was three miles from 206.

The roads sand roads that were on my right, as I drove from 206 towards Hampton Furnace seemed a bit tricky, so I didn't chance any of them. I didn't walk any of them because I was already tired from earlier walking from the railroad tracks and Quaker Bridge Road to the railroad bridge in Parkdale. More about Parkdale when I get to THE WOODS ARE FULL OF SUPRISES.

Come to think of it, I should have driven a little further towards the actual furnance and maybe I would have found a drivable road. At the time, I didn't even speculate that the building I saw was the Hampton Furnance. On my way out, I looked around the bridge where I drove over the Basto but found not even the semblence of a trail. Oh well, maybe next time.

 

[ZippySLC]

There's really not much left of Hampton Furnace besides some foundations and some small walls. It was a bit of a letdown when I found it.

 

[Teegate]

That is the Hampton Furnace warehouse. The reason it was probably a let down is as we have discussed before, vandals. It was quite a bit more impressive just 24 years ago when I took the photo on the left.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/teegate/warehouse1978-2002.jpg


Guy

 

[Teegate]

Jeff,

That was not the Batsto river you crossed. The Batsto only crosses that road at the warehouse building you saw. I am rushed for time so I hope this help. Go to the link below and notice the 206 on the left. That is the road you are coming in off of. The red cross on the right is where the building is. Notice the intersection between the words Hampton Furnace and Batsto. You make the right there and follow the road next to the red lines that I have added. This road ends at the tracks where you can park and walk up to the bridge next to the number 44. This road may be tight. I have not been there in years but will give it a go this weekend.



http://homepage.mac.com/teegate/.Pictures/206.jpg

Guy

 

[JeffD]

Thanks, Guy.

Man, there are so many streams, bogs, and roads that you really have to have exact measurements and directions to find things in the Pine Barrens! I think I know where I went the other day and where I sat down for awhile. I see on the map you provided the Basto running parallel to the sand road. Near there is the T where I need to turn right to find the railroad bridge over the Basto River. As I said, I remember some of the sand roads looking impassable for a car. Maybe I could hike the sand road from the junction near Hampton Furnace next time.

 

[Teegate]

Jeff,

I drove all roads leading to the Batsto bridge including the road along side the Batsto river, and had no problem in my car. There is one puddle on the road parallel to the Batsto that leads to the bridge. I stayed to the right on the way in and went right through it.

When you park and walk up to the tracks. go to your left for the bridge. Just be careful for ticks when you cross the little stream. My daughter and I had at least 5 each on us when we got back to the car.

Walk across the bridge, and within a hundred feet of the bridge on the left side down in the gully you can see the cement remains of the mile marker for the train. I cleaned it off to take a photo of it, so you should be able to find it. I had a tough time finding that one. It took my daughters young eyes to locate it.

Keep your eyes out for lizards on the bridge. There was one running around when I was there. Photo below.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/teegate/lizard.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/teegate/bridge_again.jpg


Guy

 

[JeffD]

Great photos, Guy! Good detail and framing on the lizard and the bridge photo clearly shows it's a fairly large bridge. It's got me interested in visiting it. Maybe this week.

When I visited the Parkdale railroad bridge I too picked up ticks and found lizards. I sprayed a little "Off" that day, but still when I got home I picked a few off of me. I had a formula for a home made non-toxic spray but I lost it. It was a mixture of white vinegar, eucalyptus oil (I pulled the leftover bottle from the medicine chest for the correct spelling), water and Avon Skin So Soft. I'm hard pressed to remember the porportions of the ingredients. Anyway, you put this in a spray bottle (ones used to spray water on plants works well) and you spray your clothes and skin. Bugs don't like the smell of it and it repels them so they don't bug you. I remember spraying myself with this mixuture and walking into a swarm of nats as I walked along a trail. They quickly moved out of the way when I approached. Once some kind of bug was ready to land on me after I sprayed myself and just before it landed it changed its mind.

Thanks again for the information and the good photos, Guy.

-Jeff