The M&NJ's Puzzle Switch

Photos and Text by Dan Myers

    The M&NJ's famous puzzle switch (single slip switch) is no longer.  Despite efforts on the part of the railroad to salvage key components of the switch, Boyce Excavation turned the puzzle into a pretzel.  Please also note that the old Agway office has been rotated 90 degrees and moved back so that a foundation can be poured on it's original site.  "Rita's Ice Cream" (Agway) will end up facing Dolson Ave. about where the building originally stood. Photos by by Dan Myers.

---

    Construction crews tearing down the old Middletown Agway complex have  unearthed the marvel of the MNJ--the "puzzle switch".  The puzzle switch is  a single slip switch designed & installed in the early sixties by LB Foster. The slip switch allowed the MNJ to turn a single passing loop into long  and short passing loops with a crossover option that allowed them to access the (bag) feed store.  Agway purchased the sidings from the MNJ as a part of a deal to build their main "break bulk" complex in Middletown and that's  part of the reason why they were abandoned years ago.  When the bulk plant closed Agway bulldozed dirt over the switch and their other sidings.

    This week crews cut the trees and bulldozed the dirt away.  Railroad personnel are madly unbolting the rails in an effort to save them but the fate of the puzzle switch is uncertain at best.  This morning I cleared away the rest of  the dirt and debris so that I could photograph the site. The attached
photo  looks toward Middletown with Dolson Av. in the background.  Survey tape  marks the location of the two switch stands.  If you are coming to the O&W  convention the "puzzle switch" is about 200 yards west of the Dolson Av. (17M) crossing. Update and photo by Dan Myers

Note: THE M&NJRHS DOES NOT CONDONE TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. 

This is a shot taken by Ray Brown of the switch still in use and sent to us by Doug Barberio.