The LVRR was initially built to transport coal from the fields in the Lehigh and Wyoming regions of Pennsylvania (freight and passenger service was developed later). America relied on coal as its principal source of energy for industry, transportation (steam locomotives), and for home heating. As the demand for coal grew, the railroad extended its routes and consumer base. The LVRR expanded into New Jersey, reaching South Plainfield in the mid-1870s. The first coal train steamed through town in 1875 on its way to the coal docks at Perth Amboy. From there the anthracite was shipped by boat to New York, Long Island and New England. Thirteen years later, the LVRR constructed a coal depot (the dumps) in South Plainfield to assure a readily available, year-round supply of coal for east coast consumers.
The railroad owned 125 acres in South Plainfield that were set in an angle between the Valley�s main line to Rahway (running parallel to Oak Tree Ave.), and the Easton and Amboy branch to Perth Amboy (running parallel to Metuchen Rd.). On 50 of those acres would rise14 dumps. Five miles of track was laid within it to deliver and ship the coal. At full capacity -- 300,000 tons -- its net worth was $1,000,000. The coal storage yard employed about 50 men who could load 2,000 tons for shipment a day. Local residents who were known employees of the dumps included A.A. Phillips, George Niemczyk, and Samuel Pyatt.
In 1891 the LVRR hired at least 2 professional photographers from Plainfield to photograph the coal storage yard after it was built, and before a single lump of anthracite was dumped. A particularly impressive photograph taken at ground level looks up at one pair of simply-designed, self-supporting steel trusses set in an obtuse (pyramid shape) angle, the largest of which was 85� tall with a 250� spread at the base. Set in 2 rows of 7 dumps, the railroad ran through the center on raised tracks. The coal was unloaded from the bottom of the coal car into bins below the tracks. From there, steam-operated conveyors carried the coal up the trusses where it was dumped at various distances to form a cone. The loading/unloading equipment was powered by 4 boilers in the engine house.
The photographs also capture images of laborers, some of them clearly children, buildings on the property, and steam engine #1113. A few may not have been taken in South Plainfield, but are clearly the same era and almost certain to be the LVRR.
The photographs were stored in a cardboard box in the Flaherty family home at the corner of Church Street and Hamilton Boulevard. The boxes� contents traveled with family members when they moved, coming to rest at Marybeth (nee, Flaherty) and Bill Nagy�s residence on Cherry Street. The box never revealed its secrets to contemporary eyes until 2004 when it was nearly tossed out on the curb for the town-wide trash pickup.
Mrs. Nagy was unaware of the origin of the box, so it came as a surprise when she opened it. The first discovery was a photograph of a firehouse and horse-drawn fire equipment. Thinking it may be South Plainfield�s Fire Department, she contacted members of the Historical Society and invited them to examine the boxes� contents. The firehouse picture, unfortunately, was not taken in So. Plainfield. The dozens of well-preserved old tintype portraits, probably Irish relatives of the Flaherty and McDonough families and possibly LVRR employees, could not be identified a century later. The box also contained an interesting scrapbook of magazine and newspaper clippings from the 1920s, and an old bible. At the very bottom of the box rested the greatest find -- the LVRR photographs. The original owner of the photographs was probably Marybeth�s aunt, Alice McDonough, from whom her father purchased the house.
The next step in the odyssey of the railroad photographs is that of finding grant money to clean and restore them. In the meantime (for about a month), visitors can step back 115 years to a bygone era when coal was king and steam powered the world.
