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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

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 #1581851  by JohnFromJersey
 
OCtrainguy wrote: Mon Oct 04, 2021 8:04 pm
Bracdude181 wrote: Sat Oct 02, 2021 7:24 am @OCtrainguy You ever see some of the power we had down here in the 90s? Conrail used literally anything for power on the Southern back then! A friend of mine once caught Conrail 7510 at County Line in a blizzard. There was also one time where 5074 came down and that engine had some sort of logo on the front about government labor or something.
I only saw the train stopped at Agway in Lakewood once. I caught the tail end of a move on the Glidden spur once, and once on the Toms River branch at Manchester, so not a lot of luck on my side as a kid going to/from my grandmother's.
When was the last time Glidden and Agway were serviced? I know both are no longer around, but that was before my time...
 #1581867  by CR7876
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Sat Oct 02, 2021 7:24 am @OCtrainguy You ever see some of the power we had down here in the 90s? Conrail used literally anything for power on the Southern back then! A friend of mine once caught Conrail 7510 at County Line in a blizzard. There was also one time where 5074 came down and that engine had some sort of logo on the front about government labor or something.
Image - The logo

The Glidden Spur was last used in the early to mid 90's. It was ripped up in the late 90's early 00's.
 #1581869  by Bracdude181
 
@CR7876 Yep that’s the logo! Thanks for the picture. We just called them “Government engines” because of that logo lol.

Just on the Glidden Spur I believe it was ripped up around 2004. Ive heard several different stories/reasons as to why it was ripped up, but how come that spur stopped being used at a certain point?
 #1581897  by Bracdude181
 
@exdirtbiker The property on the right side of the picture is all developed now, but there’s not much development along the Glidden Spur at all. The ROW continues on into Claytons Jackson Sand Pit.
 #1581909  by GSC
 
The Glidden Spour was used to access deposits of ilmanite, (sp?) aka black sand, used in Glidden paint products. My brother-in-law and his crew used to use that sand pit for running dune buggies.

The spur connected to the Southern inside of the Houdaile (later Stavola) sand pit. I hauled many a load of sand out of there in my dump trailer days. Houdaile sand was used for concrete. There are many forms of sand in this area, used for concrete (C-sand), asphalt (A-sand), glass (several grades of G-sand), even play sand used for kids' sand boxes and bagged sand for various uses.
 #1581927  by Bracdude181
 
@GSC When you say Stavola, are you referring to the rectangular shaped sand pit directly west of the tracks in exdirtbikers screenshot? That part is owned by Stavola.

Claytons pit is further to the west by about a few miles, with an entrance to it on Ridgeway Road. (County Route 571)
 #1581970  by OCtrainguy
 
GSC wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:49 pm The Glidden Spour was used to access deposits of ilmanite, (sp?) aka black sand, used in Glidden paint products. My brother-in-law and his crew used to use that sand pit for running dune buggies.

The spur connected to the Southern inside of the Houdaile (later Stavola) sand pit. I hauled many a load of sand out of there in my dump trailer days. Houdaile sand was used for concrete. There are many forms of sand in this area, used for concrete (C-sand), asphalt (A-sand), glass (several grades of G-sand), even play sand used for kids' sand boxes and bagged sand for various uses.
You were very close. It is ilmenite. I looked it up in my Trail of the Blue Comet book. Also, according to that book, the reason for the closure of the pit and spur was because deposits where exhausted.

Sand was a big commodity along the Southern in the final days of the CNJ. There were also two sand pits along the Toms River Branch in Berkeley (Bayville) and Beachwood, and one in Lacey that trucked the sand from their pit to the train station, but I don't recall reading or seeing photos of unit trains on that line, so the loaded cars would've been tacked onto the local freight train.
 #1581976  by Bracdude181
 
@OCtrainguy I live in Lacey. No sand pit in town, but there is one on Lacey Road about a few miles west of the parkway entrance. I assume this is the pit where it was trucked from? I wonder if they would transload their sand onto trains today if given the option...

Also, sand was indeed a big commodity towards the end. Outside of JS-1, SJ-2 and the locals there was at least two dedicated sand trains and I’ve heard there was up to eight sand trains a day at one point! Imagine the traffic in Lakewood today with that many trains. The traffic already builds up with one train!!
 #1582030  by GSC
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 2:36 pm @GSC When you say Stavola, are you referring to the rectangular shaped sand pit directly west of the tracks in exdirtbikers screenshot? That part is owned by Stavola.

Claytons pit is further to the west by about a few miles, with an entrance to it on Ridgeway Road. (County Route 571)
When I hauled out of there, it was still owned by Houdaile. I thought Stavola bought that parcel, although could've been Clayton. Big barriers block access to it now. The sand pit I'm referring to was east of So. Hope Chapel Road, but most of the pit, even the exhausted portion, was immediately west of the Southern. There were sand loading machines that straddled the tracks in that pit, although they didn't appear to be used when I was going there. Have to find these things on Google maps. Wish I took pics back then.
Last edited by GSC on Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #1582032  by GSC
 
Back in '72 I believe, I was the official transport division (I had a pickup) for my mother's Girl Scout troop who camped at Camp Sacajawea in Howell. I stayed overnight (guard duty) and just after midnight, I heard three trains heading south (west) through Farmingdale. Each had a distinct horn and quilling pattern. A couple hours later, three trains returned, about twenty minutes apart, each with the same distinct horns and quills.

I watched quite a few sand trains of that period and witnessed the final days of beat up old L&NE and L&HR covered hoppers. Broken couplers and drawbars weren't uncommon. Power could be anything, mainly CNJ SD35s and RS3s. Sand was still a big deal.

More times I wish I had a camera with me.
 #1582041  by GSC
 
Current Google maps show the old Houdaille (I think it's two Ls) / Stavola pits immediately east of the Southern is now covered with houses. You can still trace the Glidden Spur from the Southern across South Hope Chapel Road (crossing at Bil-Jim's asphalt plant) all the way into Clayton's pits. No houses there yet.
 #1582043  by Bracdude181
 
@GSC You aren’t the only one who regrets not filming the trains when they were still good. My friend has been on this line since the early 90s but didn’t actually start taking pictures until the early 2000s, and didn’t start taking videos until 2007. (I don’t have copies of them on hand)

Here’s some of his pictures from 2002 onwards.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Hv8eQJDdixuD2MVJ8
 #1582079  by JohnFromJersey
 
GSC wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:03 pm Back in '72 I believe, I was the official transport division (I had a pickup) for my mother's Girl Scout troop who camped at Camp Sacajawea in Howell. I stayed overnight (guard duty) and just after midnight, I heard three trains heading south (west) through Farmingdale. Each had a distinct horn and quilling pattern. A couple hours later, three trains returned, about twenty minutes apart, each with the same distinct horns and quills.

I watched quite a few sand trains of that period and witnessed the final days of beat up old L&NE and L&HR covered hoppers. Broken couplers and drawbars weren't uncommon. Power could be anything, mainly CNJ SD35s and RS3s. Sand was still a big deal.

More times I wish I had a camera with me.
Hopefully C&D can bring us at least three trains a week. I don't think we'll see three trains a day or more unless MOM starts or C&D is able to attract some pretty large customers
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