Freight on the NYLB

AceMacSD wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 1:48 pm If I remember correctly the last freight deliveries beyond Asbury Park were a lumber load to Belmar or Spring Lake then there was a piece of power generation equipment brought to either Spring Lake or Point Pleasant. After that one of the locals that drilled the lumber yard in the Middletown Red Bank area would occasionally run to Bay Head and loop the train before heading back. Finally in the slower months, Conrail would run a pair of engines out of Browns to Bay Head and back to keep crews qualified. This stopped just before takeover.

Have any estimated years on those, especially the lumber loads? Also, is there any chance that we will ever see businesses on the NJCL south of South Amboy, allowed to have a siding built and have freight come off of the NJCL again? Or is that history now?

I spoke with one of the guys about this. The lumber yard in Red Bank or Middletown that i mentioned was in Little Silver. They got their last car in 2001 or 2002. Before split date, when they serviced the Little Silver lumber yard, if the crew did not have any other work, they would go to Bay Head to loop the train, time permitting. This would also be done in cases when they only had one engine. The last time this happened was during a snowfall in early 1999.
Freight can come back if theres a demand for it. NJT may dispatch the line, but they can't prohibit freight service. If it got to that point the business can challenge NJT. This happened at one point where a passenger railroad tore out switches and imposed a ban of freight. They lost and had to replace everything they tire out. It may have been the Long Island, Metro North or Amtrak. I don't remember which railroad.