by CJPat
Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:12 am @Charlie If MDL is gonna get service again now is a pretty good time to start working on it. Conrail will eventually have to restore service to Lakehurst for Seashore Lines, if not to turn around there. The MDL Siding is really not in terrible shape and could likely be fixed for cheap. Just needs a good cleaning, new ties, and better signage at the grade crossings. Depending on how often they’d get service, maybe replace the rails too? Might not be necessary.Bracdude, you realize that the Lakehurst siding is not in a useable location for the base? It was situated there to allow for the removal of contaminated soil from the Bomarc Cleanup 1999-2001. For it to be of any use to the Navy, it would have to be rerun like it used to be about a mile and a half north of there to go to their supply warehouses.
As I’ve mentioned I’d like to see them get boxcars full of those crates they get in by truck. Not sure what the crates are for but satellite images show lots of them inside the base, stored near two aircraft hangers.
If you look at www.historicarials.com and pull up the Navy base, then access the topo maps to 1972, you can see where the original railroad sidings that ran to service the base back in the days that it needed it. It had one long siding that went to Hangar One and the rest of the line ran along Hope Chapel Rd and then turned north to get out beyond Hancock Rd to their supply area. Hangar One siding was left over from WWI to help service the dirigibles.
Bottom line, only McGuire AFB has a real-time function and they get their bulk supplies via pipeline. Lakehurst is nothing but R&D and Ft Dix is now nothing but a minor support facility for the part time Army Reserves and National Guard. None of these bases requires any bulk supplies to make having and maintaining a rail line of any use.
The only time I thought there would've been a shot of re-establishing rail was back during the '91 Desert Shield operation as they were using Ft Dix as a mobilization post to get units ready for deployment before the troops were put on board transport aircraft out of McGuire. It would have been useful to have the rail line to bring in empty flatcars to load out vehicles for Savannah Harbor instead of trucking the vehicles out to get loaded out elsewhere. Maybe if that level of operations went longer than Feb '91 and they actually need the larger deployment of troops (I was a Company Commander in the Reserves waiting on activation orders for my unit), they may have thought to rebuild the tracks from Pemberton.
If any of these bases were home to a combat type outfit, it might be a different story. Earle Naval Depot (totally disassociated from MDL) has more use since they deal in bulk supplies of ammunition for the supply ships that dock out at the Leonardo pier. That is why they have maintained their rail connection.