Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad

The Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

The Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad was chartered in 1864 and completed in 1868; it linked the towns of Pemberton and Hightstown, a total of 24 miles (39 km). Most of the stock was purchased by the Camden and Amboy Railroad, and as such they were the owners of the line. The line was first leased to the Camden and Amboy in 1868, then the PRR through its acquisitions. In 1888 the Union Transportation Company was created to run the line, and the lease was terminated with the PRR, although they still owned the line. In 1915, the PRR merged the Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad into the Pennsylvania and Atlantic Railroad, a holdings company which included other local lines. By 1942, the UT was unable to operate the line, and contracted with the PRR to run the daily operations again. Eventually the PennCentral ran the line until 1976, until the PC merged into Conrail. The Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad, and the Union Transportation Company as operator, was not to be included in Conrail, and thus was independent and on their own. The line lasted until 1977, when due to financial problems, they ceased to exist. The Monmouth County Park System opened a 2.0 miles (3.2 km) section of the Union Transportation Trail on the right-of-way on September 25, 2010.

The line started in Pemberton, New Jersey, in 1868 where it had a connection with the Burlington and Camden County Railroad (1867). This gave them a connection to Mt. Holly and Camden.

The next stop it passed through was Shreve, which had a passenger shelter measuring 6 by 8 feet (1.8 m × 2.4 m), as well as a smaller milk shelter and platform..

Then Lewistown, where a wye and crossover allowed interchange with the Columbus, Kinkora, Springfield RR (1872). This would become the Kinkora Branch of the PRR many years later. There was a large freight house here, measuring 14 by 23 feet (4.3 m × 7.0 m), as well as Cattle Pen, and storage tracks just south of the wye.

Continuing on, the line ran through Wrightstown, which exploded during World War I when Fort Dix was built. This location had a big wire fence around the station grounds, with two milk platforms (one large, one small), large coal trestle, and a cattle pen. The Wrightstown freight station measured 16 by 40 feet (4.9 m × 12.2 m), while the passenger station measured 16 by 32 feet (4.9 m × 9.8 m).

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