CNJ mainline-west of High Bridge

Jtgshu wrote:A paved over crossing is not an "offical" way to take a track out of service - things can be done in an out of service track, that might prohibit train movement, like rails removed or things like that, but just paving over a crossing is not necessarily a good way to take a track out of service. Because a train could go to that point and derail once it hits the pavement, especially if the crossing or work done (whatever it was) was done without the permission of the railroad.

There was actually a Thomas episode that addressed this issue.

Tom, I got the photos uploaded on RRPA. Here's the album link: http://rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThu ... x?id=76062

Jt, I never thought about it that way.
Also, a question (may seem somewhat out there, but bear with me...). When we were at the tunnel a month ago, talking to those guys doing the work, I know that they said that the tunnel liner was older than the rest of the tunnel. Would you happen to remember what year they said that the liner was built? I would like to say that they said 1895, but I'm not positive. I know that the rest of the tunnel was built in 1911, though.

NJB, no one is sure on why they're doing the brush clearing. The fact that they're using Transit equipment makes it even more of a mystery...

R36, I actually remember which episode you're talking about! Talk about bringing back childhood memories...


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Oh, one more thing. A few pages back, I vaguely remembered seeing a NJT No Trespassing sign along the old CNJ in Bloomsbury. When I went by yesterday, I discovered that I was correct in that remembrance. There is a very old and faded sign on the east side of the Church Street crossing. It is possible that it is there from when there was still service to Phillipsburg; I'm not sure. However, this could be a clue as to the ownership of the line west of Ludlow Station Road...

There is a norfolk southern no trespassing sign on that segment where the brush hog was sitting near the asbury-west portal bridge. It's mainly to keep people away from the bridge because the ties that were in place on the bridge when the cnj was double tracked are missing.

I thought it was much earlier than that, I was thinking 1865 maybe?

Id assume it was from when the line was very first built, which IIRC would have been about that time (I don't know the history of that line too well, but i think i remember seeing that somewhere) I know they said tunnel liner, but I believe he was referring to the original stone tunnel, (I guess it would technically be a liner, but I wouldn't think of it that way) which was probably built as a single track ROW. They probably double (or even more I dunno) tracked it around 1911 and needed to expand the tunnel outward for the wider base, and built it with concrete instead of the cut stone of the original one.

Now that you say it, that sounds like it could be very possible. I'm pretty sure that it was built in 18something5, but I'll try and look into it.

Totally guessing here, but perhaps the work is being done is general property maintenance. Much easier to cut trees and brush on a 5 year cycle or so than to let everything grow for 20 years and then go clear cut it.

As far as paved over crossings, a little story...On the Middletown &NJ the County had paved over crossings from time to time. The railroad was sometimes told about it, sometimes not. They would be travelling at a slow rate of speed regardless. As they approached the crossings they would slowly run the little 44 tonner over the asphalt and most times the weight of the engine would depress the asphalt enough that they could make it over the crossing and stay on the rail. A couple of times rolling over the crossing and the asphalt would fall off the rail head and the flangeway would be clear enough. Works well in the summer when the asphalt is softer. Other times they had to get the road dept to chop out the asphalt.

I spoke with one of the men working on the project who may have been a foreman. He explained that they are just clearing the brush to expose the tracks for inspection. One issue he mentioned is that when tracks are totally overgrown for long perids people think that it is abandoned and steal track plates and rails. NJT wants to avoid this. As far as he knows there are no near term plans to put the line back in service. He said that they do run a high railer out past High Bridge once a month and that they may be running it out as far as the NS boundry in the future. He also said that there's a couple of sections of track missing which they will probably replace. He explained that one of the gating factors with putting this and other lines back in service is the lack of tunnel capacity going under the Hudson to Penn Station. Nice fellow- he was happy to chat about the project.

cjvrr wrote:Totally guessing here, but perhaps the work is being done is general property maintenance. Much easier to cut trees and brush on a 5 year cycle or so than to let everything grow for 20 years and then go clear cut it.

As far as paved over crossings, a little story...On the Middletown &NJ the County had paved over crossings from time to time. The railroad was sometimes told about it, sometimes not. They would be travelling at a slow rate of speed regardless. As they approached the crossings they would slowly run the little 44 tonner over the asphalt and most times the weight of the engine would depress the asphalt enough that they could make it over the crossing and stay on the rail. A couple of times rolling over the crossing and the asphalt would fall off the rail head and the flangeway would be clear enough. Works well in the summer when the asphalt is softer. Other times they had to get the road dept to chop out the asphalt.

CNJ example is the Avenue A and West Second Street Branch in Bayonne. It ran from Ave A east to almost Ave C. The last several years only the customer at the Ave C end remained. And got cars infrequently. Residents complained to the City and the City filled the flangeways. Eventually a train would go down the branch again starting the cycle again.

Ok, I did a little research on the Still Valley Road tunnel. It was originally built in 1852. This would be the "cut stone liner" that the workers mentioned. In 1911, the tunnel had large amounts of work done to it, giving it the date of 1911 that is on the portals.

Here's a little blurb about it on the Pohatcong Township website: http://www.pohatcong.com/EZ-PhotoAlbum/ ... unnel.html

And a few articles about the restoration:
Fate of Still Valley Road tunnel uncertain (September 2008)
New Jersey Transit's grant for Still Valley tunnel improvements to expire in four months (May 2011)

Just an update of the CNJ section off Asbury-West Portal Rd. I took this quick shot yesterday of the Line looking east from the Valley Station road crossing. The crossing itself is partially cleared as the pavement has been cleared a little and the rails are exposed. On the opposite side of the crossing where Norfolk Southern takes over there is a derail in place. I did not get a shot of it however.

Photo101 by whrhs2010, on Flickr

I was out riding my motorcycle today and wandered up this area to check out the work done.

Excuse me if I get some of the street names wrong, im not too familar with the names....

I started at Person Road, and the tracks were clear in both directions. The rails looked like something moved over them probably within the last 6 months or so. Not fresh, but not unused for years either. IIRC, there were cars stored on both sides of this Xing a few years back, correct?

Then made my way back to Valley Station Road. There was still pavement over the one set of rails, but you can tell the hirailer went across over the pavement. The east side of it the ROW looks very clear, seemingly all the way to the property lines, they cut back ALOT. And a lot looked like fresh cuts too. There was a derail just west of this Xing and a DCS sign it looked like - "DS" maybe? (I don't remember totally, i didnt' stop and look around, just slowed down) This was about the end of the car storage line, right?

Then I went east on Asbury West Portal Road, and you could easily see where the ROW was, as there was brush cleared and some trees removed. I never noticed the ROW this clearly before from that distance. Im assuming the private Xing closest to the bridge was the one that the farmer doesn't like people going back there? It looked like to the west of the Xing, many trees were cut down and the ROW REALLY cleared. However, I couldn't tell from that distance if they were trees on his property or on the ROW, but it opened up the view to the ROW.

The bridge over the road, there were blocks on either side of it, i couldn't tell if there was any thing on the intact track, as a large truck and I were converging on the underpass at the same time.....!!!!

Then went to Ludlow station road, and there is a derail on the east side of the Xing, but the entire west side is totally cleared - so cleared that from the Xing you can see the switch that is down there, i guess by where the freight house was? as well as the curve down the tracks. the last time I was there, it was a jungle, and it was even impassable at a few spots. It was a chore to make it to that switch

Now that its cleared, it looks like ATV'ers and Dirtbikers are doing their part to keep the path alongside the tracks clear

Like i said above, i might have mixed up a few locations, but thats how I remember it. But Im not too familar with the area, so I was kinda paying more attention to what I was doing and where I was going while riding

Good report!

Jtgshu wrote: The bridge over the road, there were blocks on either side of it, i couldn't tell if there was any thing on the intact track, as a large truck and I were converging on the underpass at the same time.....!!!!

Then went to Ludlow station road, and there is a derail on the east side of the Xing, but the entire west side is totally cleared - so cleared that from the Xing you can see the switch that is down there, i guess by where the freight house was? as well as the curve down the tracks. the last time I was there, it was a jungle, and it was even impassable at a few spots. It was a chore to make it to that switch

Now that its cleared, it looks like ATV'ers and Dirtbikers are doing their part to keep the path alongside the tracks clear

Like i said above, i might have mixed up a few locations, but thats how I remember it. But Im not too familar with the area, so I was kinda paying more attention to what I was doing and where I was going while riding

The cnj was at one point a double track main line which was later cut down to a single track main line. The Blocks that are up there on the bridge are there because the ties for the second set of tracks that used to be there are gone. They help to keep the ATV'ers and Dirt Bikers you mentioned from riding off the edge. There isn't anything on the intact tracks.

I work in Asbury restoring an old mill and drive Ludlow Station Road a few times a week. Yesterday I noticed fresh wheel flange groves at the crossing and they weren't there in the morning when I came to work. It's probably just the monthly hi-railer, but it's always encouraging to see activity out there.