Work on Valley Road crossing?

Looks like work is being done on the OOS Valley Road crossing in Hillsborough, (the one that goes into the Hercules Enterprises plant). Anyone have any info? Is NS going to serve this business?

It would be interesting. That siding has never been active in my memory...no use since before 1983

What kind of work are they doing? Hopefully not paving it over? Hope it's something fruitful. Any pics?

I'll get a picture tomorrow. On the south side of the crossing, the brush has been removed, and some excavating has been completed.

Brush cut, and excavation on the South side:

The existing track on the North side:

That does not look like a good indication of future service.

Since these photos were taken, NS has now laid gravel on top of the dirt in the ROW that has been cut out of the woods.

908rails wrote:Since these photos were taken, NS has now laid gravel on top of the dirt in the ROW that has been cut out of the woods.

So there were no existing rails on the south side in the woods, unlike the rails visible in the north side photos?
Seems promising!
Jim S

pumpers wrote:

908rails wrote:Since these photos were taken, NS has now laid gravel on top of the dirt in the ROW that has been cut out of the woods.

So there were no existing rails on the south side in the woods, unlike the rails visible in the north side photos?
Seems promising!
Jim S

Correct, it appears the south side of this crossing has had the ROW completely excavated up to the Lehigh Line just west of CP Sully(old Royce Runner) and the Aeropres Corporation switch currently served by Allentown based local H74/76 delivering tank cars a few days a week.

The Hercules Enterprises Corp also has a sign at the entrance to the property on Valley Road that says Sea Box. Intermodal supplies/equipment are built/assembled here.

More to come?

I rode past there on my bike on Sunday and took a close look. I believe the ballast there is from the construction of the original siding. There was even an old tie plate laying in the middle of the ballast. So unless something happened on Monday or Tuesday, I don't think they are relaying the siding.

Hopefully I am wrong.

I also noticed some blue markings from the water company in the area, and was wondering if the track removal work was related to water pipework in the area.

The photos above don't show any ballast...

Sorry to disappoint, but the photo does show a de minimis amount of old, brownish ballast. That's what I saw on Sunday.

I would love to see that spur being rehabbed and used. I believe the facility repairs seagoing shipping containers, but I'm not sure.

"....I also noticed some blue markings from the water company in the area, and was wondering if the track removal work was related to water pipework in the area..."

I work for NJ American water in Hillsborough, and as far as I know we have nothing going on over there, although I`ll dig into it. The markout isn`t neccessarily for water work, any utility company could be doing work there, they have to call for a markout to know where all the utilities are. However if NS was indeed doing track/crossing work there, they too would have to call for a markout. We`ll see what happens I suppose....

CTL10D wrote:"....I also noticed some blue markings from the water company in the area, and was wondering if the track removal work was related to water pipework in the area..."

I work for NJ American water in Hillsborough, and as far as I know we have nothing going on over there, although I`ll dig into it. The markout isn`t neccessarily for water work, any utility company could be doing work there, they have to call for a markout to know where all the utilities are. However if NS was indeed doing track/crossing work there, they too would have to call for a markout. We`ll see what happens I suppose....

To supplement, NJ law, with a few limited exceptions none of which are applicble in this instance, requires everyone digging anywhere to a depth of more than 6 inches, a few days before starting the dig to call telephone number 811 to notify and requiring all utilities to prompty mark out any underground facilities using specific colors.

Ken W2KB wrote:

CTL10D wrote:"....I also noticed some blue markings from the water company in the area, and was wondering if the track removal work was related to water pipework in the area..."

I work for NJ American water in Hillsborough, and as far as I know we have nothing going on over there, although I`ll dig into it. The markout isn`t neccessarily for water work, any utility company could be doing work there, they have to call for a markout to know where all the utilities are. However if NS was indeed doing track/crossing work there, they too would have to call for a markout. We`ll see what happens I suppose....

To supplement, NJ law, with a few limited exceptions none of which are applicble in this instance, requires everyone digging anywhere to a depth of more than 6 inches, a few days before starting the dig to call telephone number 811 to notify and requiring all utilities to prompty mark out any underground facilities using specific colors.

6 inches? my dog digs deeper than that.