Street Running

Nah, except for that and my conductor getting into a near-brawl with a truck driver who wouldn't move his rig, it was a good night. I don't get out much on the mainline, so it was fun running those yard goats at 50+ MPH. Beats working in the yard any night of the week.

Here in NJ we have the New York & Greenwood Lake RR that operates the former Conrail, EX EL, Exx Erie Dundee spur which runs down the middle of Monroe St. in Garfield NJ.

slotcanyoneer wrote:Has anyone observed street running first hand? This type of operation fascinates me. I guess the reason of my fascination with it is that it seems quite dangerous simply because the sharing of streets with trains, motorists, pedestrians, etc. I am guessing most street running happens out west simply because of pictures I have seen of the UP, Bnsf, etc. Does anyone know of any rr's (no trolleys mind you) that do street running on the east coast?

On Philly's Delaware Ave, you can still see street running...and if you're lucky and catch some night action, you'll see 'em set out the flares.

There was a spot on Conrail, where we used to run down the middle of a street, in northern NJ. Also, on the UP, in Houston, we serviced a customer at the end of a very long street, running down the center of the road, with stopsigns at cross streets. This road is so tight, you cannot pass a car, in either direction, due to side of the road parking. You are looking into peoples houses, on this narrow, suburban street. , Upstate NY, on the Suzy, there was also a decent run, down the middle of the road. The running I am mentioning is NOT like the photo above, you are actually running down the center of those roads, with the rails set in pavement. Pretty cool stuff, when you get it....

Prior to the 1960's, the PRR operated Baltimore- Harrisburg segment ( actually the Northern Central Railroad) had some street running in York, Pa. Trains operating over this segment would have included the Washington section of the Broadway Limited which met the New York Section at Harrisburg.

Right here in NYC there is some street running trackage. Along First Avenue in Brooklyn(near Bayridge) NYCH runs down First Avenue near the Brooklyn army terminal for a good mile. You should see the look on the New Yorkers faces when this occurs! Just recently they hit a car down there and no one was injured, but it made all the local papers. Even more dangerous is the NYA in Brooklyn and Queens. It isn't technically street running, but the Bushwich lead goes for 4 miles across sections of Brooklyn and Queens. Brakeman and flagman have had guns waved at them down here, been solicited by women of the night, and of course almost run over on a nightly basis! Around this time last year a LIRR engine broke free and run down this lead with unprotected crossings smashing into a bunch of cars at crossings along the Bushwich lead. Someone from a company down there called and started ranting to the president how a crew came down and didn't even stop after hitting a car, lol. The engine finally came to rest at the end of the lead with a truck on fire on the front of it. It looked like something you'd see in a movie

we have one section, thats about 4 miles. We use it for box traffic and auto racks. Mostly residential and light industry, in the area, except for 2 pubs. And of course we always get some jack ass pulling draw bars, when we're about to pull after doubling 3 tracks of auto racks together ( always seems to be Fridays?! hhmm?! ). One night we we're just about to pull after getting everything together, we dynamited, so i started walking to find the hole. It just happened to be in front of one of the pubs. it had rainned for a week, and there was a 3 ft dip in the ground right where the gap was, I also found the culprit in the dip, that was full of "water" . i guess he did'nt realize or know about the air lines. so when we blew he was surprised by the air, and slipped. I re-made the joint, waited for the air to come up, and then helped him out of the water and then back into the water., while explainning the danger of messing with things that people should not touch.

Street running in downtown San Diego, Ca...

The San Diego, Arizona and Eastern rr runs freight at night over the SD Trolley"orange line", which runs during the day. This section of track runs smack down the middle of Commercial st, with no seperation from traffic, from 12 & Imperial station to Euclid Ave station.

map of route location:
http://www.sdcommute.com/Rider_Informat ... leymap.asp

One addition to what has already been posted. Amtrak's Auto- Train runs down the middle of Main Street in Ashland, Virginia. Since the Auto-Train is the "World's longest passenger train" ( according to an on-board announcement) this must cause considerable consternation for Ashland's Main Street residents, since the southbound train passes through around 6:30-7:00pm, and the northbound train around 6am ( if it is on time, which is rare).

Where I'm at now, there is actually a lot of "street running", with todays trip, caught on my cell phone. At Junction City, Oregon, we run about 15 blocks, down the middle of the street. At Harrisburg, it's about 18 blocks. In Albany, it's a half a mile, then at Salem, about half a mile, again. Here's some shots, from the run, taken every 2 blocks, from start to finish. Enjoy........


















The second to the last shot, shows a van, who thought he was bigger than a train. He decided against trying to push his way past us, and quickly pulled into the curb.................

The old C&S, now BNSF MT runs down the middle of Mason Street, Fort Collins, CO for several blocks. Quite a sight to see the twin stack trains rumbling right through the middle of the downtown area.

The old Erie Rochester Branch in Painted Post, NY went up West Chemung Street.

The Newark & Marion Branch in Newark, NY operated on the side of Pearl Street. The Marion Local used to stop for the red light at the intersection of Pearl Street and NY Rt. 88.

golden-arm, is this the street you are referring to? Its in garfield and i believe was serviced by conrail.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=178367

Here's a couple more street running examples:
Clearwater, Florida - East Avenue the CSX (former Seaboard) line to
St. Petersburg runs down the middle of this street through downtown and
although now only local freight trains use this trackage, not too many
years ago Amtrak trains still used it.
St. Marys, West Verginia - Again CSX but this time former Baltimore and
Ohio trackage on the line that follows the Ohio River. This line as some
freight traffic and I had an opportunity to ride it in 1963 on a passenger
train that was detoured because the main line (now abandoned and torn
up) was undergoing track and tunnel clearance work.
I might think of some others down the road.
Noel Weaver

I have read about the old timers runing into all sorts of critters liveing under thows plates that protect the switch stands in a few of the Trains magzines. Hopefully no one has been bitten or stung by any of them.

There was a stretch of street running in Warren PA on the old DAV&P, later operated by Allegheny RR. I think it was Fourth Street but might be wrong.