New Jersey Seashore Lines: was CNJ being cleard Woodmansie>N

What pound of rail is there? I think if rail service is going to come back a heavier rail might be used-135lb ?

You could have 200 pound rail laid there........but if the ties are shot, it aint gonna do any good

I beleive the CNJ (or was it conrail) did a fairly extensive rail and tie replacement from Red Bank down to Winslow around 1975 or 76 or so. But even so, even the "newest" ties would be 30 years old by now, and not having seen a train in over 15 years (down to Clayton at least) i would think a good amount of work would be needed for at least semi-regular service.

But maybe with the sandy soil there, there is pretty good drainage i would assume, and the ties wouldn't be as rotted or shot as in other places?

Unfortunately when I swung by the site at about noonish on Friday, the work crew was too distant from the crossing to make out any details with the naked eye. The picture taken by Roymickle allowed me to at least see what I was looking at in better detail than my own eyeball could. And as I said before, I was hesitant to "wander" over to the work area since I was unfamiliar with who owned what and did not want to tresspass.

Jtgshe wrote:You could have 200 pound rail laid there........but if the ties are shot, it aint gonna do any good

I thought I had read somewhere that Clayton finally shutdown the branch after suffering a couple of groundings in '88. It proved not worth the expense to repair the trackage for the diminishing rail loads they were shipping out.

Ashland Railway was the last operator of this line.
I used to work for Durham Transport and one of the engineers I worked with used to run trains on that line.
2 GP9's were the motive power.
Yes, there were a few derailments and the final derailment was the reason the line shut down.

There was talk ( back when i worked at Durham Transport ) to reactivate this line and run sand trains out onto CR territory and up the NJCL. This was of course before Durham Transport stopped serving Raritan Center.

I did speak to someone at Clayton 3 weeks ago ( before i even knew of this thread ) and he mentioned something about restoring train service on a line to service sand, but i am not sure this relates to this line or another project. If i get time, i will try and look into this.

I remember seeing trains pulling out of Clayton Sand with the lettering "Pine Belt" on a green GP with yellow lettering. Where did that name come from? This had to be in the early to mid 80's.

not to jump too far ahead....but i was just wondering, how many crossings are there between the Clayton facility and in-service track in Lakehurst? Are all of the crossings paved over or removed?

I'm taking a wait and see attitude. I'm sure the service would stay the same or be very simmilar to the pre 1988 service where the quarry shuttles cars to Union Ave and Conrail picks up and drops off. When Lakehurst built the new parking lot they also removed the switch around the same time to old #2? track. The Crossover however between Union Ave and the creek is still there and will need some attention.

crrnj878 wrote:how many crossings are there between the Clayton facility and in-service track in Lakehurst?

I believe the crossings are (from Lakehurst to Woodmanse):

1. Heritage Minerals - unimproved road(?)
2. Cnty Rt 530 - Whiting - improved road
3. Cnty Rt 539 - Whiting - improved road
4. Buckingham Rd. - unimproved road
5. Mt Misery Pasadena Rd. - unimproved road
6. Mt Misery Woodmanse Rd. - unimproved road
7. Mt Misery Rd. - improved road

I believe all improved roads had their rail pulled and the unimproved roads just had the rail buried.

CJPat; Insert School House road,Whitings after Heritage Minerals.This road is not paved over and sees alot of traffic from the various Crestwood(retiement) Villages yet the crossing is in good shape.Thanks for your posts on this clearing work on the former CNJ Southern Div.
VJH

CJPat wrote:

crrnj878 wrote:how many crossings are there between the Clayton facility and in-service track in Lakehurst?

I believe the crossings are (from Lakehurst to Woodmanse):

1. Heritage Minerals - unimproved road(?)
2. Cnty Rt 530 - Whiting - improved road
3. Cnty Rt 539 - Whiting - improved road
4. Buckingham Rd. - unimproved road
5. Mt Misery Pasadena Rd. - unimproved road
6. Mt Misery Woodmanse Rd. - unimproved road
7. Mt Misery Rd. - improved road

I believe all improved roads had their rail pulled and the unimproved roads just had the rail buried.

The other day, Wranglebrook Road crossing in Whiting had rails showing. It looked like the road hasn't had any improvements in a while.

Edit:

I was just looking a Google Earth. It looks like the rails in the crossing are visible at Heritage Minerals but there is about a half a mile of the track covered by sand. I hope the rails are covered and not removed, although is their competition. I believe the aerial photos supplied by the state on Google Earth are from 2002, not the 2006 copyright date.

It’s great having internet access at work!!!

not trying to sound skeptical at all here, but previously in this thread it was said that there would be roughly 13 miles of track that would need to be refurbished, plus crossings rebuilt. I was wondering if anyone had any idea on what the the cost of that type of project would run?? Obviously, they would run at slower speeds, but the costs have to be pretty substantial to rebuild, i would imagine. Could any of the county or state agencies be involved?...Just a thought. I guess we can only wait and see.



Thanks

You are right. I missed Wranglebrook coming out of Crestwood Village. Actually, I thought they did a paving job on Wranglebrook a couple of years ago. I assume Clamdiggers reference to Schoolhouse Rd is the lead in road to Wranglebrook?

Now Wranglebrook is a completely improved road and the crossing will have to have tie ins to the traffic light they installed. But I believe you are right. I think I remember the rails showing through the asphalt.

Hi all-

I believe Pleasant Valley Road also crosses the Southern past Heritage Minerals. Me and my friend checked it out a few months back. It actually still has a round yellow RXR sign protecting the crossing, even though theres trees completely covering the entire ROW on both sides. I also drove back in Heritage Minerals once to check out the crossing there. Still has crossbucks too. Take care everyone -Chris

Another think about Wranglebrook Rd. is that the light with Manchester Blvd. is set back from the tracks, as if it were an active crossing.