Embedded Files
The Springfield depot was located on Mountain Ave. (previously Westfield Ave.). Originally, the area was pastureland a short distance from the town center. The location developed and eventually hosted a coal yard, lumber yard, and a pencil factory. In addition to the depot and freight house, the RV had a runaround track, team track, water tank, and track scale here. In later years, the Springfield runaround was the only one on the railroad, which made it an important location for freight crews to sort their train.
Facilities at Springfield on March 29, 1958. (Gene Collora Collection)
Page Contents
Page Contents
Facilities:
Springfield depot
Freight Houses
Track Scale
Watering Facilities
Other Facilities
Team Track
Passing / Runaround Track
Industrial Sidings
Grade Crossings:
Mountain Ave.
Industries:
Union County Coal & Lumber Co.
Union Lumber Co.
Doggett-Pfeil Co.
Richard Best Pencil Co.
Sickley Coal & Lumber Co.
Union County Coal & Lumber Co.
Schaible Oil Co.
Springfield depot
Springfield depot
Postcard view of the Springfield depot, dated c.1906-1914. (Jeff Jargosch Collection)
The Springfield depot is located at 195 Mountain Ave. and is the only surviving RV building. Ground was broken for the depot in September 1905. “Ced” Silvers was contracted to construct the building. The station measures 16’ x 40’ x 13’ to eaves and 20’ to the peak. It was originally sheathed with clapboards and wainscoting inside. The building included a ticket office and waiting room. An eight foot wood platform, made of two inch planks on 2” x 6” beams that were two feet center on center, surrounded the depot. The shingled roof had a seven foot overhang all around the building. The waiting room contained benches worth $10. The ticket office contained one telephone and various pieces of furniture worth $6. At some point, the building’s roof alongside the mainline was trimmed back to accommodate larger freight cars.
The Springfield depot and second freight house, March 19, 1958. (Jeff Jargosch Collection)
The Springfield depot continued as a freight agency after passenger service was discontinued in June 1919. The first agent posted at Springfield was Peter Jackson Shaw (1874-1941) who served until 1911, when he left to work as a carpenter for the Submarine Boat Co. in Newark, New Jersey. L. M. Bright served as agent for a short time before being replaced by Christian Gottsleben (1874-1941) later that year. Gottsleben left the railroad in 1919 to take an agent’s job with another railroad in Newark. He was replaced by Walter E. Bowersock who worked for about a year. George A. Clark took the post in June 1920, upon arrival from Oregon, and held it until October of the year. Shaw returned to the railroad in July 1919 and held the Springfield agent’s position at various times until his retirement in 1941. Anton C. Glutting was agent from September 1926 until February 1934, when he was transferred to Newark Heights. W. J. Gilbert was listed as agent in 1944. Bernard Hopler (1902-1959) was the agent from May 1944 through June 1956. There were also assistant agents posted here over the years, including George I. Mitchell (1916) and I. Parsell (1918). The agency was closed in 1962. Thereafter, the building was leased to William F. Koonz and Wilpat Associates who dealt in Rain Bird sprinklers. The building is occupied by Hecht Chiropractic until 2024.
Rear of the Springfield depot, June 11, 1960. (Richard J. King Collection)
The Springfield depot and freight house, March 1975. (Daniel G. McFadden photo)
Freight Houses
Freight Houses
The original freight house at Springfield was located on the mainline on the westerly side of Mountain Ave., the opposite side of the street from the depot. The building measured 20’ x 40’ with a platform on three sides. It measured 10’ to the eaves and 16’ to the peak. It was made of clapboards and had a shingle roof. The building sat atop the platform. The platform was made of two inch planks and was 5’ high. The freight house contained a scale weighing 1,200 pounds and two 2-wheel hand trucks.
Several complaints were made to the township committee that the stopping of trains while discharging passengers and freight held up traffic at Mountain Ave. for prolonged periods of time. The township committee requested that the RV move the freight house to alleviate the problem. Rather than move the freight house, in August 1914, the railroad began construction of a new freight house alongside the depot. The old freight house remained and was eventually utilized by adjacent industries.
This was the original freight house, pictured in March 1974. The lean-to sections on the right were not original to the structure. (Walter A. Appel Photo)
The new, second freight house was located at the switch where the team track met the mainline. Constructed of wood, the freight house measured 20’ 7” x 40’ 9” x 12’ to the eaves, 15’ to the peak, and sat atop concrete piers. It had a freight platform that measured 5’ 6” x 18’. The freight house was demolished sometime in the mid-1990s.
The second freight house in March 1974. (Walter A. Appel Photo)
Rear of the second freight house, May 1983. (Richard J. King Collection)
Track Scale
Track Scale
The track scale at Springfield was located on the runaround track, opposite the depot. It was a Buda Standard rated for up to one hundred tons and measured forty feet long. There was a box containing scales 7’ 2” long and 10” thick and 5’ high with tongue and groove planks. It was constructed in about 1909 to weigh carloads of stone coming from the Commonwealth Quarry Co. and Interstate Crushed Stone Co. on the mountain in Springfield.
Watering Facilities
Watering Facilities
There was a water tank at Springfield to fill the cisterns of the RV's steam locomotives. The tank had a 12’ diameter and sat atop a 14’ high timber frame on concrete piers. There was an accompanying frame pump house measuring 6’ x 10’; it contained an electric motor and pump. The RV had an employee stationed at the tank who was paid ten cents a day to operate the pumps. These operators included George Pudney (1915-6), Frederick H. Gottsleben (1916), and Alvan G. Caldwell (1918). Gottsleben was the ten year old nephew of the Springfield agent, Christian Gottsleben. Caldwell was the fifteen year old son of the railroad’s General Manager, J. Spencer Caldwell. Water was pumped from the nearby Van Winkle’s Brook. In June 1916, the water pump was found to not be working well by Pudney. He took the water pump apart and discovered an eel about three feet in length had worked its way into the pump and became crushed. Pudney removed the eel and found the pump to be working alright again. The water tank’s exact location is unknown but it must have been near the Van Winkle’s Brook bridge. It was noted in a 1916 news article and in 1917 and 1919 valuations. It’s likely that this tank was constructed to replace the one in Summit.
Other Facilities
Other Facilities
In 1918, a coal box measuring 8’ x 4’ x 5’ was noted. This would have stored coal for the stove which heated the depot. It was built in 1913.
A toilet (outhouse) was noted in 1913. It measured 4’ x 3’ 6” x 4’ to the eaves and 8’ 6” to the peak. It had been built in 1903 according to the valuation.
The railroad maintained a macadam driveway to the depot. It measured 200’ x 16’ and was noted in 1918.
Team Track
Team Track
The railroad maintained a team track (C) at Springfield to facilitate freight shipments to offline customers. The team track broke off the mainline at MP 4.37. It was constructed in about 1906. It was noted in 1910, 1919, and 1923. It was extant at the time of the railroad’s abandonment in 1992. It had a length of 325 feet. It could accommodate about four cars.
In the mid-1960s, the team track served a few different customers. M&N Boychuk Stone Co., Inc. received flatcars of stone, pieces of slate stacked up and sometimes bundled and palletized fireplace stone. After Andrew Wilson, Inc. discontinued receiving shipments on their private siding, they took deliveries of pesticides at the team track. Columbia Lumber would receive carloads of 2” x 4”s or plywood in single door boxcars.
There was a bit of a grade on the team track right where it broke off the mainline. On one occasion, the crew spotted a boxcar up there, cut away from it, and it started following them back out. The crew looked and saw that the handbrake was cranked all the way on, and the pistons all the way out, but the brake shoes were still hanging loose. George Davis had to come up and adjust the brakes. In the meantime, the crew had to double and triple chock the car and leave a car ahead of it so it wouldn’t roll out.
Other customers served by the team track, over the years, included Doggett-Pfeil Co. and Millburn Feed.
No. 15 drills the Springfield team track, January 1951. (William S. Young Photo)
Two boxcars are spotted on the Springfield team track, June 11, 1960. (Richard J. King Collection)
Passing / Runaround Track
Passing / Runaround Track
No. 13 is on the main at Springfield, August 1938. The runaround track is to the right. (Richard J. King Collection)
The runaround (B) at Springfield originally extended between MP 4.28 and MP 4.18. The track was constructed about 1906. Sometime between 1910 and 1919, the track was extended eastward to MP 4.38 and the original eastern switch became a crossover (X 1-B) in the runaround. One of the switch stands for the crossover track was a Grand Lever with no lamp, target, or latches. The crossover was removed in 1937. The extended runaround had a length of 1,081 feet and could hold about fifteen cars or so. After the runarounds were removed at Aldene, Kenilworth, Commonwealth Junction, and Summit, the Springfield runaround became the last such track on the railroad. Cars for Best Pencil would be spotted two or car lengths in from the west end. The runaround was out of service and disconnected from the mainline by 1980.
The train crew uses the runaround to sort their train, January 1951. (William S. Young Photo)
No. 17 and train crew work at Springfield, c.early-1950s. (NRHS Photo)
Industrial Sidings
Industrial Sidings
MP 4.28 - This siding was constructed in 1937 when the runaround crossover was removed; it was gone by 1966. The siding was for the industries located behind the Springfield depot at 189-191 Mountain Ave., which included Union County Coal & Lumber Co., Union Lumber Co., and Doggett-Pfeil Co.
No. 17 drills Union County Lumber Co., May 1956. (Charles R. Griffin Photos, Richard J. King Collection)
MP 4.40 - This siding was noted in 1919 and was extant in 1980. It had a length of 165 feet. In the mid-1960s, the track was only good for a couple of car lengths. The track had gone in further at one time but stuff was piled on the track. Schaible always wanted their cars just barely past the clearance point, beyond the derail. This siding was for the industries located at 211 Mountain Ave., which included: Sickley Coal & Lumber Co., Union County Coal & Lumber Co., and Schaible Oil Co.
The Schaible Oil Co. siding, March 1974. (Walter A. Appel Photo)
Mountain Ave.
Mountain Ave.
No. 15 is eastbound across Mountain Ave., January 6, 1951. (William S. Young Photo)
Mountain Ave. (MP 4.38). This roadway was originally named Westfield Ave. One track (main), plank crossing, macadam road, vehicular traffic heavy, 2 P.U. signs (description from 1944).
No. 17 and Caboose No. 102 cross Mountain Ave., February 13, 1956. (Gene Collora Collection)
Industries
Industries
Union County Coal & Lumber Co. hosted a paper drive during the winter of 1944-5. (Springfield Public Library)
This building at 191 Mountain Ave. was originally the office for Union County Lumber Co. Photo taken August 25, 2019. (Richard J. King Photo)
Union County Coal & Lumber Co. (1925-1954)
Union County Lumber Co. (1954-1957)
189-191 Mountain Ave., Springfield.
Building supply yard; inbound lumber, building supplies, etc.
At some point, the Union County Coal & Lumber Co. (operating across the street) moved the lumber portion of its business to this location. A large lumber shed was constructed as well as a rail siding to serve the same. A large fire devastated the property in 1941. In 1954, Hamilton B. Wilmerding and Victor D. Shaheen acquired the company. They sold the fuel oil and coal division of the company, located across the street, to Schaible Oil Co. They retained the building supply and lumber yard at this location and renamed the business “Union County Lumber Co.” Wilmerding and Shaheen built a new, modern office building for the company at 191 Mountain Ave. Either due to closure or relocation, Union County Lumber Co. left this location in 1957.
Doggett-Pfeil Co. (1957-1964)
191 Mountain Ave., Springfield.
Insecticides and fertilizers manufacturer, inbound compounds and chemicals, cartons of spray materials.
Doggett-Pfeil Co. was formed in 1921 as a partnership between Sidney Doggett and Albert S. Pfeil. Doggett-Pfeil was an innovator in the tree and turf nutrient space during the advent of the commercial fertilizer industry. The company was located at 642 Morris Ave. in Springfield and patronized the RV’s team track. After Union County Lumber vacated 191 Mountain Ave., Doggett-Pfeil set-up operations at the location and made use of the old lumber siding for rail shipments until its use was discontinued in 1961 due to its unsafe condition. The company was acquired by Fisons Horticulture, Ltd. in 1963. After Doggett-Pfeil’s departure, the site was occupied by Aqua Fall Irrigation Co., a dealer of “Rain Bird” lawn sprinklers,” through the 1970s. They also leased the Springfield station from the RV. Today, in addition to Union County’s old office building at 191 Mountain Ave., two other small offices and their adjoining parking lots occupy the site.
Richard Best Pencil Co. (1945-1994)
211 Mountain Ave., Springfield.
Manufacturer of lead pencils, rubber erasers, metal parts (drawn); inbound cedar lumber.
The Richard Best Pencil Co. was founded in New York City in 1890 by two brothers, Richard and Frederick Best. The company manufactured a wide variety of different pencils, including colored pencils. The company relocated to 1120 Grove Street in Irvington, New Jersey in 1907. After Richard Best’s death in 1934, the company was run by his brother, Frederick, and the latter’s two sons Alfred H. and Leonard. The company was employing fifty people at its Irvington plant when it moved to Springfield in 1945, situated alongside the RV’s Springfield runaround track. Best received carloads of cedar sticks, perhaps measuring 1” x 2,” every two or three months. The cedar sticks would be stacked to the roof of a boxcar. Best had a doorway facing the railroad. The crew would spot cars for them at the upper end of the runaround track at Springfield. The boxcar could be there a week or so while it was unloaded. Their materials came from someplace in the Pacific Northwest, so their inbound loads usually came in 40-foot Great Northern or Northern Pacific boxcars or something similar. The company was employing twenty-five males and twenty-five females in 1952. Leonard E. Best was listed as President-Treasurer and Alfred H. Best as Vice President. E. G. Schenck was listed as Secretary and Purchasing Agent. P. Blackman was the plant manager. The company was noted as out of business in 1994. Best’s patents and designs were acquired by J. R. Moon Pencil Co., which still produces Best designed pencils at its plant in Tennessee.
Sickley Coal & Lumber Co. (c. 1905-1924)
Union County Coal & Lumber Co. (1925-1954)
Schaible Oil Co. (1954-1990)
192 Mountain Ave., Springfield.
Fuel & building supply yard; inbound coal, lime, lumber, building supplies, etc.
The Sickley Coal & Lumber Co., owned by Z. Elmer Sickley, received the first freight consignment shipped over the new extension of the Rahway Valley Railroad. Three forty-ton coal hoppers arrived on August 4, 1905. Coal pockets were constructed on a curved siding at the rear of the property. The railroad’s original Springfield freight house was constructed alongside Sickley’s property. In August 1914, a new freight house was constructed alongside the Springfield depot across the street. The old freight house was utilized by Sickley and successive occupants. The Union County Coal & Lumber Co. was founded by Nicholas Carroll Schmidt (1889-1943) in March 1919. The company established a coal and building supply yard, including a scale and offices, on Morris Ave. in Springfield. The company took over the Sickley property in 1925. At some point, lumber operations were moved to the property across the street. Coal continued to be handled at this location. Schmidt died in April 1953. The company was sold by Schmidt’s widow to Hamilton B. Wilmerding (1901-1965), former one-term mayor of Watchung, New Jersey, and his brother-in-law, Victor D. Shaheen (1916-1978), a year later. The new owners promptly sold the fuel oil and coal division of the company, at this location, to John A. Schaible of Schaible Oil Co. in 1954. Thereafter, the company was renamed “Union County Lumber Co.” and remained in business at the location across the street. The Schaible Oil Co. was founded by John A. Schaible as a distributor of automotive oils and lubricants in 1937. The company was originally located at 239 Millburn Ave. in Millburn before relocating to 638 Morris Ave. in Springfield. In 1954, Schaible Oil purchased the fuel oil and coal division of Union County Coal & Lumber Co. at 192 Mountain Ave. from Hamilton Wilmerding and Victor Shaheen. The company purchased the Millburn Coal & Oil Co. in 1957. Schaible brought in carloads of Pennzoil in 50-foot Pennsylvania Railroad boxcars and fuel oil in green and yellow GACX tank cars from Oil City, Pennsylvania. They would get a car every month or so. Schaible closed around 1990. The site is now occupied by the Springfield Fire Department. Cars moved for Schaible Oil via CNJ, Aldene: 1968 – 4 carloads in, 1969 – 2 carloads in, 1970 – 2 carloads in, 1971 – 3 carloads in.
Schaible Oil Co. (Jeff Jargosch Collection)
Google Sites
Report abuse