Woodbridge Express

[Billi Plancarte]

Amulti-city arts festival, the NJ Art & Music Express, will offer a variety of events, most of which are free, in Avenel, Rahway and Woodbridge, May 4, with free NJ Transit transportation (see schedule HERE) offered to help people get from city to city.Here is the city-by-city rundown. For information, visit woodbridgenjmusic.com or rahwayishappening.com/NJAMX.AVENEL6 p.m.: Bill & Andy (acoustic duo Bill Hadam and Andy Hladek) at Curtains Restaurant at Avenel Performing Arts Center.

8 p.m.: Jeff Leeson (comedian) at Avenel Performing Arts Center.

NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, does not have a paywall, but asks its users to become voluntary subscribers, providing funds needed to keep the site going. You can do so by making a donation of any size, here.

Located within walking distance of Avenel NJT Station, Holiday Inn Express Woodbridge offers guests an ideal base while in Avenel. Some of the popular features on offer at this 3-star hotel include a Jacuzzi and an indoor pool.

There are a range of amenities available to guests of Holiday Inn Express Woodbridge, including an express check-in and check-out feature, laundry facilities and a 24-hour reception. A fitness center is available to those wishing to keep active while away.

On February 6, 1951, a Pennsylvania Railroad train derailed on a temporary wooden trestle in Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States, killing 85 passengers. It remains New Jersey's deadliest train wreck, the deadliest U.S. derailment since 1918 and the deadliest peacetime rail disaster in the U.S. history.[1]

Around 5:00 pm. on Tuesday, February 6, 1951, Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) Train No. 733, nicknamed "The Broker", left Exchange Place in Jersey City. An express train to Bay Head via the North Jersey Coast Line, No. 733 was crowded that day due to a labor strike on the nearby Jersey Central Railroad. It carried over 1,000 passengers[2] in eleven cars drawn by PRR K4 4-6-2 steam locomotive No. 2445.[3]

That afternoon, rail traffic through Woodbridge was being diverted onto a temporary wooden trestle and a shoofly near Fulton Street, allowing laborers building the New Jersey Turnpike to work on the main line. A notice had gone out to train engineers in late January: after 1:01 pm. on February 6, they were to proceed through Woodbridge not at the normal 60 mph (97 km/h) but at 25 mph (40 km/h).[4] However, the PRR at the time did not require any signal to be in place to warn approaching trains about the diversion, believing the verbal notification to be sufficient.[2]

Before "The Broker" left Jersey City, conductor John Bishop reminded engineer Joseph Fitzsimmons about the speed restriction. It was not the railroad's practice to install warning lights in such cases, and Fitzsimmons failed to slow the train as it approached Woodbridge. Bishop, alarmed at the train's speed, tried to pull the emergency cord, but the crush of passengers made this impossible.[2]

The train was traveling faster than 50 mph (80 km/h) when it reached the curve approaching the trestle, according to a subsequent inquiry. At 5:43 pm, the tracks, which were not secured to sleepers but resting in shallow grooves on the top of the trestle, shifted under the massive locomotive, and eight of the train's eleven passenger cars derailed. The first two cars fell on their sides. The third and fourth cars crashed into each other as they hurtled down a 26-foot-high (7.9 m) embankment. It was in these two cars that most of the 85 deaths occurred. The fifth and sixth cars were left hanging in mid-air over a street that glistened from rain. Some passengers may have jumped to their deaths, believing they would land in water.

Although Fitzsimmons initially claimed that he had been traveling at only 25 mph (40 km/h), the inquiry estimated that "The Broker"'s speed was between 50 and 60 mph (80 and 97 km/h). The report concluded that the wreck was caused by "excessive speed on a curve of a temporary track". Fitzsimmons continued working for the PRR, but never operated a train again.[2]

In the prologue to his 1976 novel Slapstick, Kurt Vonnegut references the death of his brother-in-law, James Carmalt Adams, killed in the derailment of "The Brokers' Special", but Adams died in the 1958 Newark Bay rail accident.[8]

Drivers can now get to the express lanes via a reversible ramp from Courthouse Road/Route 630 in Stafford County, and a northbound exit from and southbound entrance to the I-95 general purpose lanes near Marine Corps Base Quantico. Access is also available at the southern terminus for northbound traffic entering from Route 3 and Route 17, according to Transurban North America, which operates the lanes.

"The access point here at the Courthouse Road Park and Ride lot, as well as the direct acess to Russell Road near Quantico means all of the workers going into the city and coming out everyday have easier travel times and a more reliable trip," Corporate Communications Manager for Transurban Jacqueline Woodbridge said. "Especially for those 28,000 workers at the Marine Corps base, you know, they have an easier way to get in and out."

The average cost for a trip on the 95, 395 and 495 express lanes is about $11, according to Woodbridge. Drivers with three or more people in their car can put their E-ZPass into HOV mode for a free ride.

As some of you will already know, I published my book, "Man Failure: The Story of New Jersey's Deadliest Train Wreck," in 2017, telling the story of the February 6, 1951 Woodbridge train wreck. A Pennsylvania Railroad express passenger train known as The Broker had derailed by the Turnpike construction site, resulting in the deadliest in state history with 85 dead and hundreds injured. An expanded second edition was released in 2021 for the 70th anniversary.

Early in 2023, I was contacted by Steven Schwankert, a distant relative through marriage of The Broker's engineer, Joseph Fitzsimmons, who had told a friend about wreck, Thomas Lynskey, who runs a history documentary channel on YouTube, "Part-Time Explorer." Featuring high quality documentaries about various historic disasters, from forgotten ghost towns to sunken ships, Steven suggested the Woodbridge wreck as an obvious subject for railroad disaster documentary.

The result was "Wreck of The Broker: The Woodbridge Train Disaster," produced by Tom's HFX Studios. A major feature is a digitally animated reconstruction of the wreck, created by Alex Moeller, and sponsored by the Historical Association of Woodbridge Township. Hours were been spent reexamining the photographs of the scene, trying to work out the most likely way the cars went from being in a nice neat line to the jumbled, deadly mess where they landed. Rail historian John Turkeli was invaluable, bringing his experienced eye to the process, picking up on clues we might have otherwise missed. Using this technology, we have pieced together what happened in greater and excruciating detail than was possible in 1951.

Related NewsPolice to target aggressive, impaired drivers during Memorial Day getawayMetro: 3 stations closed, work on all lines Memorial Day weekendNorthern Virginia OmniRide users to face new schedule, higher faresTransurban, which operates the lanes, expects increased volume Thursday and Friday afternoons from noon to 6 p.m. Last year, it says express lane delays were worse on Friday.

With the increased volume, drivers using those lanes should expect to see higher-than-average tolls. The lane operator suggested avoiding those peak times to see the greatest benefit of the toll lanes.

Thursday and Friday lane reversals begin an hour earlier, with lanes turning southbound at 10 a.m. The lanes will close around 7:30 a.m. Sunday for the Rolling Thunder event and reopen to northbound traffic at 11 a.m.

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