BR&W Lambertville-Ringoes

Jtgshu wrote:

wolfboy8171981 wrote:

PVRX1 wrote:Yeah, the southbound engineer was really cool too! And without Brakeman Wolfboy too.

Andrew and friend, did you get enough photos? Send me one of me if you got one.

What can I say. I havent had this many engineers fighting over me in a long time....At least its over me and not about me I guess.

You kidding? RVL engineers damn near had a memorial service when you left North Jersey desk hahhahah

Great pics of the trains out there, seems like it was a great time!

Well the "Donations for a Better Move" jar at CP-NK was always empty so I saw it as a sign.

Wolfboy meet and greet tickets are still available for a reasonable fee...

I just did a google satelite maps view of the trackage in Lambertville. Thru town and behind the station there are huge trees over the tracks. If you follow the row from behind the station to where it diverges from the Bel-Del east to Flemington it appears as though several business owners have decided to make the row their own private parking lot and it looks paved over in some parts.

It's unfortunate, but in addition to thinking they own it, look how many times people dump their garbage or cars etc. on or alongside the ROW. I've seen waste oil and fueloil soaked sand dumped there as well. Build ramps over it and so on. They have no consideration or respect of others property.
But then on the other side of the coin, I have also seen where some people will maintain the ROW that runs past their property, except for the slow deteriation of the ties and rusted rail, it looks like it's well used.

PVRX1 wrote:Yeah, the southbound engineer was really cool too! And without Brakeman Wolfboy too.

The southbound engineer rocks!

It is a pleasure to work the ground drilling Ringoes yard with him at the throttle.

Rail cars in and around Lambertville, NJ on the BRW.

Will/Can the BRW even get these cars anymore? Are they landlocked?




Railcar near the switch near the canal

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&F ... &encType=1



cars at the end of the line:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&F ... &encType=1

Actually back a number of years ago the BR&W had let a speeder group I belong to cut brush and re-open the line for speeder use to the end of track in Lambertville. This was probably in the 2002-2004 time frame. There were some places that trees were growing adjacent to the rail that had to be removed, but not many trees were over the tracks. The BR&W crews used to hyrail the line south of Ringoes a few times per year to check the line.

There was some encroachment in Lambertville specifically by the building material supplier. He had steel beams and other items stored on the rails themselves. We asked and he gladly removed them allowing us passage and ability to cut the brush between his parking lot and the canal. We had a few problems with vehicles parking too close or blocking the tracks when we gave rides at one of the Shad Festivals, but all in all there were few encroachments across the right of way.

carajul wrote:I just did a google satelite maps view of the trackage in Lambertville. Thru town and behind the station there are huge trees over the tracks. If you follow the row from behind the station to where it diverges from the Bel-Del east to Flemington it appears as though several business owners have decided to make the row their own private parking lot and it looks paved over in some parts.

The canoe rental place is going to convert the old CNJ coach into an office, teaching room and move it a few feet off of the tracks.

This round roof CNJ coach and the one on the Bel Del were acquired (for parts) by the Vermont Rail System last year. I don't have the numbers in front of me but I want to say 1318 and 1324. In turn, the Lambertville one became property of the canoe / raft folks, and I believe the one on the BDRV will be scrapped or trucked off site if it is rebuildable.

The coach and hopper in Lambertville can both be gotten to with (a) brush cutting; (b) eviction of unauthorized encroachers; (c) relatively minor washout repairs; and (d) inspection and perhaps a little bridge work over the canal by niece lumber. Big trees over the tracks are better than big trees growing through the tracks. :>)

PVRX1 wrote:The canoe rental place is going to convert the old CNJ coach into an office, teaching room and move it a few feet off of the tracks.

This round roof CNJ coach and the one on the Bel Del were acquired (for parts) by the Vermont Rail System last year. I don't have the numbers in front of me but I want to say 1318 and 1324. In turn, the Lambertville one became property of the canoe / raft folks, and I believe the one on the BDRV will be scrapped or trucked off site if it is rebuildable.

The coach and hopper in Lambertville can both be gotten to with (a) brush cutting; (b) eviction of unauthorized encroachers; (c) relatively minor washout repairs; and (d) inspection and perhaps a little bridge work over the canal by niece lumber. Big trees over the tracks are better than big trees growing through the tracks. :>)

I think your numbers are right PVRX. It should be added that both those cars were purchased by the BR&W for the same reason as the VRS, parts. I was told the CR hopper was a Bad Order from the quarry, and Conrail never came to repair it.
I beleive around 2000 or 2001 the BR&W went to Lambertville to retreive some URHS (#418 and a coach) equipment. I do think that that was the last time equipment other than speeders operated down that far.

wolfboy8171981 wrote:

PVRX1 wrote:The canoe rental place is going to convert the old CNJ coach into an office, teaching room and move it a few feet off of the tracks.

This round roof CNJ coach and the one on the Bel Del were acquired (for parts) by the Vermont Rail System last year. I don't have the numbers in front of me but I want to say 1318 and 1324. In turn, the Lambertville one became property of the canoe / raft folks, and I believe the one on the BDRV will be scrapped or trucked off site if it is rebuildable.

The coach and hopper in Lambertville can both be gotten to with (a) brush cutting; (b) eviction of unauthorized encroachers; (c) relatively minor washout repairs; and (d) inspection and perhaps a little bridge work over the canal by niece lumber. Big trees over the tracks are better than big trees growing through the tracks. :>)

I think your numbers are right PVRX. It should be added that both those cars were purchased by the BR&W for the same reason as the VRS, parts. I was told the CR hopper was a Bad Order from the quarry, and Conrail never came to repair it.
I beleive around 2000 or 2001 the BR&W went to Lambertville to retreive some URHS (#418 and a coach) equipment. I do think that that was the last time equipment other than speeders operated down that far.

The last time a train ran to Lambertville was done, as Wolfboy points out, to retrieve the URHS equipment back in October/November 2000.

The last revenue passenger train to run to L'Ville was a charter in December 1998.

So there were no public trains between Ringoes-Lambertville at all in the 2000's? The last train rides on that stretch were in the 20th century? 1998? How is it that the track all of a sudden became unsuitable for passenger trains in 1999, or into the 21st century? I would love to see #60 do a Flemington-Lambertville special run, or even a Lambertville-Three Bridges run. I guess #60 is returning to service this year, 2009 isn't it?

I took my family on the run from Lambertville to Ringoes in 1998. As I recall, they had to operate the train at real low speeds for the first few miles out of Lambertville. We were rocking and rolling pretty good so I wouldn't say "that the track all of a sudden became unsuitable for passenger trains in 1999".

I too, miss the Lambertville section. It was a real unique set up to have the BR&W in the Lambertville Station and the NH&I across the river at their station.

rwk wrote:So there were no public trains between Ringoes-Lambertville at all in the 2000's? The last train rides on that stretch were in the 20th century? 1998? How is it that the track all of a sudden became unsuitable for passenger trains in 1999, or into the 21st century?

There have been no revenue passenger trains to Lambertville since December 1998. The last regularly scheduled trains to Lamberville were the Saturday Night Specials during the summer of 1998. Regularly scheduled Sunday service ended after the 1997 season due to inability to meet connection times in Ringoes. So basically, my point is that the track didn't "suddenly" become unsuitable. The beginning of the end came when the team track business in L'Ville disappeared sometime in the late 80s - very early 90s. No freight, little passenger revenue, and seven miles of track to maintain. It was a matter of time before passenger trains stopped.

In early 1999 there was talk of dirt trains resuming, only this time, the loadings were going to be split between Baer on the BDRV and Trap Rock on the BR&W. It was thought that 2500-3500 or so carloads of fill would be coming out of Trap Rock for the GM/Hyatt remediation project in Clark. It was a fairly certain thing, and the railroad sunk money into rehabbing the track and got about 3/4 of the way down to L'Ville until the EPA or DEP stepped in and said the soil that was going to come out of there was unsuitable for fill. End of that; all trackwork on that end was stopped cold. Oh well...

I can remember in the 90s you could make a whole day of train riding by driving to Lambertville. First you'd take the New Hope & Ivyland for a close to 2 hour excursion, then the BR&W's short trip north across the switch to the small amount of trackage left on the Bel-Del along the river. You'd be back in time to do the final round trip to Flemington and back. Now you're down to the Ringos-Flemington round trip and a much shortend New Hope ride.

The Saturday night special was a favorite of mine... I rode it once in 1997 then a few times in 1998.. The atmosphere and the dark historic coaches made it quite a treat for me.

For some reason, whenever I ride tourist lines anywhere they seem to cease operations a year or 2 after.. If Im a jinx, I better stay away!