Delaware and Raritan River Railroad-General Discussion

JFJ, the grant request is in PDF format. I tried to PM you, does not seem to be working.

If tou can get PM to work, send me your email, I will send you a copy.

CR7876 wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2023 9:59 am

AceMacSD wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2023 6:32 am

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 10:57 am No new track has been laid on the Southern. Only new ties and crossing rigging.

Lakewood is the end point for now which is weird because they said they would open the Lakehurst.

Why open to Lakehurst when there's nothing there. No business means no need to rebuild anything.

Because the person running the railroad that cannot be named, has polluted the people who know not whats going on, thinking a certain aggregate will move " Soon"

Of course it all comes back to those mythical, mystical sand trains. For a moment I was thinking about all these businesses along the line that want rail but Conrail so on and so on.

I would like to thank @CharlieL for emailing me the PDF that contains C&D's/DRRR's application for the rail freight grant program from 2021. I wonder if 2022/2023 is out there somewhere.

Anyway, this application mentions that they would like two new turnouts, and mentions 10 miles of vegetation clearing - 5 between Farmingdale and Freehold, 5 between Lakewood and Lakehurst.

This page, page 8, mentions that DRRR intends to clear the vegetation between Lakewood and Lakehurst, to re-establish a connection with NJSL.

Page 9, says that the total vegetation clearing to be done will be 10 miles, not just the 5 miles between Farmingdale and Freehold

Specifically mentions the mileposts in question for both Freehold-Farmingdale and Lakehurst-Lakewood Also mentions the turnouts they want to install, which I am assuming is the wye for Farmingdale.

Page 15, has links to stuff, one of those links is about the Whitesville Rd crossing, which is a crossing on the overgrown 5 mile segment that needs vegetation clearing between Lakehurst and Lakewood

As for the "mythical sand trains," whether or not they are happening, DRRR has stated in their application that they want to re-connect with NJSL. I doubt that the actual grant excluded this section of track, but it's possible. I also assume that they have not touched this section of track yet, if it was included in the final grant, due to the Farmingdale-Freehold connection probably being more important, and if those "mythical sand trains" were to run, they definitely would not be able to use the Coastline north of Red Bank

“In 2017 Conrail began the process of seeking out a qualified shortline to operate the lines”

It was actually in 2003 they started looking. At least for the Southern.

It says 10 miles of vegetation control. Hmm. Well they cleared more than enough for Farmingdale to Freehold, but the Southern? They cleared away the excess brush between Lakewood and Farmingdale (for the most part) Lakewood to Lakehurst, minus C&D putting their emergency info on the crossings and NJSL partially assembling the Union Ave lights, has had nothing done to it.

I’m not 100 percent sure if C&D is obligated to follow what they say in the grant request to the letter. Only that the money they get can only go towards the project with no exceptions. I’ve heard the state gets really pissed off if so much as a cent of that money isn’t spent on whatever they applied for.

As to phase 2, we only got a glimpse at the phase 1 request due to R&DB filling an FOIA request with the state back in early 2021. (Thanks R&DB!) I imagine that’s the only way we will see phase 2 as well.

In this grant, it was stated that they would do half of the Freehold-Farmingdale connection in Phase I, and then do the other half in Phase II.

As I said in my last post, if there is any traffic potential on the line owned by NJSL once the reconnection is done, I'd imagine it can't run until Freehold-Farmingdale is done. Gondola cars breach the 263k weight limit on the Coastline between South Amboy and Red Bank. No point in clearing any vegetation etc. if nothing can run after it's cleared.

Also, the grant said that this entire connection project was to take 2-ish years. The grant's application was in 2021 and was awarded in 2021, but they didn't start operations until 2022 for some reason. I assume that the ~2 years mentioned in the grant was not extended, which is why they have been moving so fast with this project.

In addition, here are some videos from RB-1's rather late run yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bu9BH78A0-E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nMBJW6CTGc
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MBojBpRh8gI

They wouldn’t move sand with gondola cars, but with 2 or 3 bay hopper cars, which to my knowledge are allowed down here provided they are loaded to 263k and no more.

I would only point out it's 5 miles Freehold-Farmingdale, and 5 miles Lakewood-lakehurst, brush to be cleared as stated in the grant request

Also the 2-1/2 miles in phase 1 is what has been done so far, or is currently underway. The latest rfp was put out immediately after the latest grant announcement, and covers just shy of 2 miles Fairfield-yellowbrook and another approx 6/10 mile 524 to Southard. Sounds like they were waiting for the latest grant to begin phase 2.

While the grant request is clear on what material is to be used in each phase, it is not so on which work is to be performed when.

@Bracdude181 Good luck carefully making sure aggregate sand doesn't go over the 263k weight limit in the hopper cars, especially if they load it directly on the main with regular construction equipment, lol.

@CharlieL Correct, I was saying that in the grant, there was strong emphasis on a total of 10 miles of brush clearing, divides between Farmingdale-Freehold and Lakewood-Lakehurst. Grant didn't specify which would come first, but I'd imagine logically speaking, it's better to work on the route that will definitely have traffic on it when it opens up first, and put the one that MIGHT have traffic on it on the backburner until the first one is done.

Speaking of Farmingdale-Freehold, I made a quick trip out today to check the progress. Steel ties are placed down all the way to just before the crossing at 524, which I assume they stopped placing since that will be where the wood ties will go, and it appears that they have placed rail down to that point as well. I assume within the next week, they will place down the wood ties + the remaining rail, and the segment will be completed.

@JohnFromJersey There is a way to ensure proper loading with restrictions on weight but I’m not sure how it works. Most cars have a thing on them that says “for restricted loading see equipment roster”

“for restricted loading see equipment roster”

That means commodity restricted, not weight restricted., afaik

Is it? If so, my bad.

How many daily freight trains will be removed from NJT's Coast Line when phase 1 is completed?

There won’t be any removed until the project is 100 percent done and the line is open.

It will remove SA31 from the Coast Line between Red Bank and South Amboy. After that, only the Browns transfer will remain.

Little off topic, but when did freight service stop on the Coast Line, south of Red Bank? I remember Builders General in Little Silver receiving lumber cars back in the day, then it just stopped. Think there were a few other business further south that also used freight service. Did NJT shut this down or just the lack of business?