Although railroads in Central & South Jersey are just about defunct nowadays, there are still several reminders of their presence and significance – Winslow Junction, the track that once ran next to the Freight Station, the trestle behind Hebrew Park are just a few examples. Here is another.
The ruins of a coal dump for the Tuckerton Railroad can be found along Memorial Drive in Barnegat. I lived in the area for 25 years and never knew it was there. Kind of amazing, seeing that it’s just a block away from Route 9.
There were two coal dumps in the area. the older dump was to the west of the current ruins and on the other side of the Tuckerton RR main line that was located under what is now Memorial Drive. Several piers were still in place in the 1950s. Boxcars were spotted on the ramp to the current ruins and lumber was unloaded at that location as well as on the tracks of the TRR main line, which terminated at the creek just south of the coal dump. The reason the corner of the coal dump is angled was to give clearance for those tracks. There was an additional siding just north of the coal dump at the corner of Brook St and Railroad Ave that served a feed mill and store, running between the two buildings of the feed mill.