Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Black River & Western RR in the movies

Received the following via email about the BR&W Railroad (New Jersey).

While channel surfing last night, I came across the 1962 version of "The Miracle Worker", starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. It had apparently just started, and Anne was on her way from Boston to the Keller's home to take up her assignment as a nanny for Helen Keller.

When she arrived, somewhere in the South I think it was, as she was getting off the train, I noticed that the coach was marked "Black River & Western RR".

Curious, I just did some searching, and found this on the Railway Preservation Society web site:

"Property owners along the Chester branch opposed the operation of a tourist railroad and got the town of Chester to help block the BR&W. The CNJ ultimately abandoned and tore up the Chester branch. Then the BR&W leased a 12-mile Pennsylvania Railroad branch line from Flemington, NJ to Lambertville, NJ. Whitehead and other businessmen, including Nicholas Burenga, incorporated the BR&W in 1961. Whitehead traded ownership of #565 for shares in the new corporation. The BR&W moved #565 and its other equipment out of Chester in 1962. Initially, a CNJ switcher pulled #565 to High Bridge, NJ. The locomotive sat at the Taylor Wharton Foundry in High Bridge for over a year. Then, in late 1963, the BR&W parked #565 near Flemington Lumber in Flemington, NJ. Finally, in 1965, the BR&W moved #565 to its operating headquarters in Ringoes, NJ. During the move from High Bridge to Flemington, an individual involved with the BR&W removed and kept the number board. The BR&W made and installed a new number board. The number board in the Steamtown collection is this replacement number board.

Prior to leaving Chester, the BR&W moved some of its equipment to Gladstone, NJ for use in filming "The Miracle Worker", a movie about Helen Keller starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke (both of whom won Academy awards for their roles). The producers wanted to use #565 in the movie, but, because the CNJ would not transport the locomotive out of Chester, only some BR&W coaches appear in the movie."