Winslow Junction, Hermann, Parkdale

[Jerseyman]

Jim:

Nice report on your trip and I’m glad you made it Winslow Junction. While most folks not familiar with local railroad operations would not readily recognize the significance of the Tex-Mex coach, it is a former Pennsylvania Railroad P70 coach, a once very common sight on the rails in and around Philadelphia and in South Jersey. I believe the Southern Railway of New Jersey owns the coach and had plans to restore it at one time; It’s not clear what their plans are now.

Regarding the broken marked brick that you found at the sawmill site, I can’t be certain, but it appears to be a no. 1 fire brick made with Raritan clay from the Salamander Works in Woodbridge. This firm operated between 1825 and 1896, so the date seems to fit.

Welcome back and I will be in touch with you soon regarding that book signing and your questions.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[bobpbx]

Jim: Regarding the broken marked brick that you found at the sawmill site, I can’t be certain, but it appears to be a no. 1 fire brick made with Raritan clay from the Salamander Works in Woodbridge. This firm operated between 1825 and 1896, so the date seems to fit.

You have a talent Jerseyman. That you certainly do.

Do you know what month it was cast?

 

[Ben Ruset]

I just did a google search on Crowleytown and it took me to ancestry.com with a great write up on the place, it also talks about an old tavern supposedly there, and a hill house in the Buttonwood Hill Campground on the other side of Rt.42.

I would post it if you like, but, not if a copyright is involved.

Jim

There were two taverns near there. One was at the campground site (on the top of the hill) and one was further down the road towards Batsto (but before the bend in the road.)

It's pretty clear where both places are, even though there's not anything in the way of ruins.

Heart of the Pines goes into it as well.

I don't think there'd be any copyright issues if you just paste the link to the article on Ancestry.com.

 

[james ungehajer]

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~batsto/Towns/Crowleytown/Crowleytown.html

The above link has a lot of info concerning Crowleytown, i find it to be very interesting, how accurate the info is i do not know, hopefully some members on the site can relate to how accurate it is.

Jim

 

[Jerseyman]

You have a talent Jerseyman. That you certainly do.

Do you know what month it was cast?

Thanks, Bob! I appreciate your confidence in me!! :eng101:

Frankly, if the brick remained whole and its ends still featured the maker’s code number, we might be able to determine when the works produced the brick. Remember, however, that the bricks made at this time were not “cast.” Rather, after a pug mill mixed and tempered the raw clay, a conveyor belt dumped the mixture into large hopper and an automatic brickmaking machine extruded the bricks in a continuous ribbon. Wires set on a slight angle would cut the moving ribbon of clay into square-edged individual bricks as the ribbon traveled down the conveyor. Then workers placed the bricks on to narrow-gauge rack cars for movement into the drying chambers. Once dried, brickmakers stacked the bricks in the kiln for firing. So, no real “casting” work ever took place.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[james ungehajer]

Jim:

Nice report on your trip and I’m glad you made it Winslow Junction. While most folks not familiar with local railroad operations would not readily recognize the significance of the Tex-Mex coach, it is a former Pennsylvania Railroad P70 coach, a once very common sight on the rails in and around Philadelphia and in South Jersey. I believe the Southern Railway of New Jersey owns the coach and had plans to restore it at one time; It’s not clear what their plans are now.

Regarding the broken marked brick that you found at the sawmill site, I can’t be certain, but it appears to be a no. 1 fire brick made with Raritan clay from the Salamander Works in Woodbridge. This firm operated between 1825 and 1896, so the date seems to fit.

Welcome back and I will be in touch with you soon regarding that book signing and your questions.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

Thank you Jerseyman, as always with your knowledge you fill in the missing pieces, it was disappointing that we could not find the rest of that brick.

You are a very busy man, when your ready, let me know when we can meet, i am also looking forward to viewing your library.

Jim