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With the end of passenger service, the death of Louis
Keller, and the coming of Robert H. England and Roger A. Clark, the
railroad began to look to cut corners. The railroad ditched the its
plush offices on Broadway in Manhattan and had the station remodeled
to serve as its headquarters. The second floor was expanded and the
breezeway was enclosed, allowing for more working
space.
The
enclosed breezeway eventually became living quarters for George A. Clark and,
later on, his son Robert
G. Clark
lived here for some time as well, to keep a watchful eye over the
railroad (the RVRR did experience some trouble with vandals over the
years). The area above the breezeway was attic space that the
railroad used to store all its old files, payroll books, bills of
lading, etc. The larger part of the building, closest to the
Boulevard, was where the offices were. On the first floor was the
Freight Agent's office, and upstairs is where the Clarks worked. In
George Clark's day, he worked on the second floor in his pine
panelled office and also had his own personal secretary, Pauline
Beirach. A news article from 1959 reveals what George Clark's
working quarters were like, "Besides a large desk and a couple of
easy chairs the president's office contained a diavan (occupied by
two nondescript dogs) a refrigerator with open cartons of dog food
on top, and a two ring electric range with jars of instant coffee on
a shelf underneath. The walls were covered by a collection of
vintage calenders---all bearing pictures of locomotives." (The Daily
Times, April 8, 1959) During Bob Clark's term as President and
General Manager, there were three people working in the office, him,
Charles Hunter the Freight Agent, and Corinne Clark (Bob's wife and
secretary).
The Clarks were dog people, and
a gaggle of mutts were always hanging around the station. "We
always had railroad dogs," as Patty Clark put it. Bill Young
in his article, "Short-Line Man," reveals more, "The progenitor of all the
dogs that hung around the Rahway Valley must have been
the dirty black-and-white stray that showed up at Kenilworth in the
early 1940’s. Lady belonged to nobody, begged lunch from the
train crew, hunted rabbits, presented the railroad with two litters of pups, and
had a habit of running onto the greens of a nearby golf
course and stealing balls. The police finally traced her to the Rahway Valley,
and took her away at the end of a rope. The next day
she was back" (Young). At other times, there was George
Clark's dog "Klondike," and later on Bob Clark went to a breeder and
came home with a large Newfoundland named
"Bolivar."
Over the years, the station wore a number of paint
schemes. A dull blue with yellow trim, bright yellow with dark green
trim, a quaint cream with a faded green trim, a dark mahogany color
with white trim, and even blue with pink trim! Why so many? If you
were a cash strapped railroad, wouldn't you buy off the clearance
rack at the hardware store? Or could it be that some at the RVRR
thought themselves artists? Whatever the cause, the Kenilworth
Station changed colors manys times as the years went on.
The old wooden building nobly served in its many
capacities until one fateful day in August of 1974. In an attempt to
remove some bee hives from the eaves of the station, the station
inadvertently caught fire and suffered some damage in the attic area
(see The Kenilworth Station Fire). The Kenilworth Historical Society
attempted to save the building. The plan was to move the building
and restore it as a museum. Unfortunately the funding to accomplish
this worthy goal was never found. The station was demolished in
1979.
After the fire, the railroad's general offices
were moved into a work trailer for a short period. After Bernie
Cahill became President and General Manager of the railroad in 1975,
the offices were moved into a Passenger Coach and Boxcar placed
opposite of the old station
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