I sure as hell grew up in a railroad family.  My father worked for the RRRR for 42 years… right up to the acquisition by Conrail.  He was the General Agent which, in the RRRR management chain, made him something like the number 3 guy.  My mother and her father also worked for the RRRR.

Further evidence of living in a railroad family was the dedication to model railroading.  Although that was “the thing” for kids in the late 50’s, Dad and I enjoyed this hobby virtually every weekend – we had half the basement occupied with our layout.  Of course, Lionel was the only train that mattered then.

Back to the RRRR… needless to say, I have deep experiences and fond memories.  Growing up, what could be better for a kid?  How cool to be able to hang out on a real, operating railroad and spend time on summer days with the working train crews.  Given the small size of RRRR, it was all like family.  Everybody knew everybody else – multiple generations of families and siblings worked there.  For example, I remember the Toth brothers.  Three of them worked for the road.

Being born in 1952, I have such dim memories of the end of steam, the images might be imagined.  It was 1954 when diesel entered the line and displaced steam after a brief overlap.  A vivid memory I have is that all the engineers I knew always shouted when talking.  I was always mystified by that until I asked my father.  He told me they were all from the steam days and their hearing was quite damaged as a result.

I traveled from one end of the line to the other, covering virtually every mile.  I loved riding with the crews – drilling freight for the big companies in central New Jersey like Dupont, Hercules, National Lead, etc.  Although they knew my name, the crew most always called me “Little Charley” because of my father, Charles.  I didn’t mind that much because I always felt rather privileged to be with these guys.  They always treated me well – sort of an adopted son – always wanting to share their lunches with me despite me having my own.  They would hand me some food item and say, “Here… sock that into you.”  To a kid, all these guys were bigger than life – like being surrounded by John Wayne types, without the swagger.

Thinking about how the current world is preoccupied with liability, I did things back then that would make an insurer faint.  I would ride on the outside of the engine, the freight car ladders, ends of tank cars, etc.  I only went on the box car cat walks when they were not in motion.  Even then, I thought that would be pushing the envelope and I had enough sense not to go too far.  It was more self-serving than being sensible – I didn’t want to get in trouble and jeopardize my future rides.

I remember one summer day when we had just drilled DuPont (specifically, the HiFax and ProFax yards – plastics that DuPont made), then broke for lunch.  We “parked” outside the DuPont sidings and feasted.  The guys had ice chests and someone brought an entire watermelon.  On a hot summer day, we sat in the shade of the box cars and enjoyed cool watermelon.  The crew did not seem to mind me – they were very kind and gracious – not like they were putting up with a son of a management guy.

Central NJ was rich with industry.  Considering the short length of the Raritan (something like 12 miles, end to end), the concentration of business was amazing.  The six engines on the roster were fully occupied and in constant service.  Even as the quintessential short line, I recall that when one of the companies called with a special need, the RRRR would respond and provide incredible customer service.

I also recall the many times I was in the Milltown station (off Washington Avenue).  There was a semaphore attached to the building that always fascinated me.  One day, I got my father to operate it.  Although not utilized for many years, it was still in good shape and I watched as Dad grabbed the chains that came into the office and yank them to operate the semaphore.  I went outside to watch the effects.  Wow!

Fast forward to the early 1970’s and my college days at Rutgers.  In summer jobs, I now worked for the companies that I had previously drilled – Sunshine Biscuits and Continental Baking, both RRRR customers.  It was interesting that I was now “on the inside” and finding myself unloading what the RR delivered.  Hoppers full of flour, sugar, and tank cars with molasses and other liquid cargo that the commercial baking business used.

Circa 1976, when the Conrail event happened, it was sad.  Even though American railroads were hurting at that time, the RRRR was still prosperous.  It felt like it was being sucked into a big, losing business.  Leave us alone!  Although my father kept a stiff upper lip, I think it was killing him.  He made a comment to me in his last months, observing how it felt working for a big company.  He said (paraphrased), “…it seems people spend more time at the copy machine, covering their butts, than actually working…”  And so, the RRRR identity was gone forever – the end of an era. 

Thankfully, one thing I did before the ultimate end was to take my future bride to see the RRRR in action.  We met in 1974 and, of course, she got an earful of “life on the railroad.”  In April of 1975, about a year before the merger, we went out for a few hours with the train crew.  My father even made it all official by issuing me a RRRR trip pass (an ancient document that was rarely used).  I was never really sure if this was a joke or it was my father being the “by the books” guy he actually was.

Of course, I loved this special outing given the big dose of memories it brought back.  I think Meryl liked it too, but maybe she was being polite.  A few pictures were taken to commemorate the event and I still treasure them.  One picture I always liked was Meryl posing by the #9 caboose.  It is incredible to me that nearly 30 years later this same caboose is being produced as a scale model by Atlas.

I had left central NJ in 1974 and was living in north Jersey.  The Erie Lackawanna ran right by my apartment, so the effects of the Conrail mergers were still very visible to me, beyond RRRR.  Another mighty line sucked into the conglomerate.  However, after a dubious start, Conrail became successful, despite having acquired about a half dozen nearly-bankrupt railroads (ignoring the prosperous short lines like RRRR).

Like so many things in life, memories preserve actual experiences and hopefully will last a very long time.