The Toms River Railroad was a railroad in Ocean County, New Jersey, established in 1866 with a stop at the county seat of Toms River, New Jersey.[1] The line was extended to Waretown in 1872 by the Toms River & Waretown Railroad.[2] In 1881 the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) purchased the line [2] and in 1893 the property was transferred to the Toms River & Barnegat Railroad (TR&B) at that time the branch was extended to Barnegat.[3] In 1893, TR&B acquired ownership of the property, and service continued under CNJ.
Passenger service was terminated in the mid-1950s. Freight service continued into the late 1970s: by that time CNJ was bankrupt and had been absorbed by Conrail who abandoned the line in 1981.[1] The former roadbed was converted for rail trail use in 2007 as the Barnegat Branch Trail.[4]