Becker Farm Railroad

After World War II, the C&S RR was extended to Peachtree Jct., approximately one mile from Centerville Station.

(Only the first runs in the morning would pull into the station empty since trains coming back from Peachtree Jct.

However, the lack of a long straight (tangent) track, and the risk of turning over a rail, were concerns that limited "high speed" running on the C&S RR.)

At the end of the Long Fill, the track entered a rock cut and then passed into the woods and approached Peachtree Jct.

A 1940 photo shows 1500 as an odd-looking shell of an engine with open seats and several long levers (brakes and throttle).

A 4-8-4 Northern-type steam locomotive based on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Q-1 class, #1501-1505, known as the "Poconos" on the DL&W.

Built as a dual-cab (bidirectional) engine, this was the only locomotive on the roster that didn't require turning on the turntable.

Becker, who was very much a railfan and live-steam enthusiast, went to great lengths and expense to create the feel of a real operating railroad.

A favorite snacking spot was at the banks of Roaring Brook where one could sip one's chilled drink, munch on freshly harvested carrots, and watch the trains pass over the nearby trestle, all this while cows mooed and pigs oinked in the distance.

In 1968, the Becker family was notified by the New Jersey Department of Transportation that it intended to condemn a large swath of its property on the southwestern edge of the farm for the right-of-way of Interstate 280.

The new line circled back in the general direction of Centerville, crossed over a pond on a new bridge (see photo below) and then returned on a new oval track.

Rumors of a business deal between members of the Roseland town council and land developers were never substantiated.

The two miles (3.2 km) of track, with ties attached, and all the rolling stock, as well as diesel locomotive #1503, a larger single-cab diesel locomotive that was built in 1959, and first ran in 1960, eventually made its way to Middletown Township, New Jersey and then later to Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

Originally, plans had been made to rebuild the entire two-mile (3 km) round-trip C&S operation at Phillipsburg as part of the NJ State Railroad and Transportation Museum (Heritage Center), but the needed 35-acre (140,000 m2) parcel of land at Phillipsburg was ceded to a townhouse complex and college annex.

can still be identified, particularly since the lead into the junction is through a rock cut (part of the oval right-of-way is still intact as well); the new bridge on the line opened in 1969 is still used by the business campus that occupies the Becker Farm land, where it passes over the same pond, with "C&S RR" still visible in the concrete abutment of the bridge.The business campus is situated on what became Becker Farm Road.

The Becker family's farm house still stands a short distance down the road from the business campus.

Engine #1501, a 4-8-4 live steam locomotive in 1972, the final year of operation for the Centerville & Southwestern Railroad. The engine has just been turned on the turntable (out of view on right) and has paused under the signal bridge near Centerville Station. The grade crossing runs between the ticket booth (adjacent to turntable, also out of view to the right) and Centerville Station (out of view to left). The engine is about to reverse direction and back up to couple with the train that is waiting with passengers in the train yard. The train will then proceed forward into the station to disembark its passengers and to await its next run to Paradise Valley. The railroad's roundhouse is located at the far end of the railyard.
Cover of the Centerville & Southwestern Railroad brochure published in 1955. The 52-page brochure, with C&S live steam engine #1501 on the front cover, described the railroad in its heyday during the 1950s.
The Centerville & Southwestern Railroad brochure for the 1969 season. This was the first year of operations over the new line to Paradise Valley over the Foulerton Brook high bridge. (See reverse side of brochure for a map of the railroad.) Although the railroad has been gone almost 40 years, the high bridge still survives today, shown in a 1990 photo below.
C&SRR Engine #1501, under steam, in the Centerville rail yard during the 1950s.
This 1990 photo shows the C&S's "high bridge", built in 1968 as part of the realignment of the railroad due to I-280 's encroachment at Peachtree Junction. It's probably safe to assume that most of the workers at the Becker Farm Road business campus have no idea that the bridge they are crossing once carried a miniature railroad. Note the concrete bridge abutment .
After the line to Peachtree Jct was abandoned at the end of the 1968 season, the recoaling stop for engine #1501 was moved to Paradise Valley, shown here during the final summer of operations (1972).
Peachtree Jct. in the winter of 1990, facing in the direction of the "loop" track. Note the "Y" arrangement of the still extant right-of-way. A switch track was located approximately near the bottom of the photograph.
The inside view of the 1969 C&S RR brochure. Note that the railroad, before it was abandoned to Peachtree Jct. (dotted line on map, with junction shown in photo below), actually went southwest from Centerville.