Lackawanna Cutoff Passenger Service Restoration

Passaic River Rat wrote:More of the same:
http://www.njherald.com/story/28735428/ ... in-station

It becomes almost funny. A family member once owned a house on a canal with ICW access in north carolina. It came to a point where the canal needed to be dredged, the responibility of the homeowners on the canal. The homeowners took a vote and the majority did not want the assessment for the dredging as the canal was "still usable". It eventually got to the point where the sediment and sludge built where boats could not traverse the canal, however by this time a family of racoons had built a nest in the bank of the canal. And it so happens the specific strand of raccon was deemed "endangered" and the entire canal was declared a habitat, prohibiting the owners from dredging..ever. What seeme like simple maintenence of a trackside drainage ditch turns into "protected wetlands" and a bat cave now means no trains... they should have just turned the entire 30 miles into a rail trail for bikers....

Does anyone know where I can find information about what the proposed operating deal is between PA and NJ for operations to Scranton?

You could try searching this thread. I realize it's many hundreds of pages long but there are links and quoted material related to many aspects of this plan.

Briefly the plan is (or was) for NJ Transit crews to operate and maintain the equipment, with Pennsylvania paying part of the equipment and labor cost, paying for the track in Pennsylvania and building a yard in Scranton. The operation would be similar to the arrangement NJ Transit has with New York and Metro-North on the line to Port Jervis.

I think this project probably belongs somewhere on this list!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f4mq9Wp0K0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Are there any plans for freight on the line (if they ever finish it)?

no

And besides, at present, if we are to believe the articles and news flashes, when they resume work on restoring the L.C.O. it would only be to Andover which isn't all that far from Port Morris.

Even if it gets finished eventually there won't be any freight because there is no eastern freight connection. In Lackawanna days they had the Boonton line which was a heavy freight line. That's gone now. The M&E is way too congested and has never been a good freight line. (That's why they built the Boonton line.)

and several people have stated that summit station has height restrictions. certain locomotives will not fit what so ever under the catenary.

Steve F45 wrote:and several people have stated that summit station has height restrictions. certain locomotives will not fit what so ever under the catenary.

Yes, a great deal of freight locomotives today won't fit through Summit.

Ok
Thanks!

nick11a wrote:

Steve F45 wrote:and several people have stated that summit station has height restrictions. certain locomotives will not fit what so ever under the catenary.

Yes, a great deal of freight locomotives today won't fit through Summit.

Bi -level coaches fit through there.Why wouldn't a locomotive?

CNJ Fan 4evr wrote:

nick11a wrote:

Steve F45 wrote:and several people have stated that summit station has height restrictions. certain locomotives will not fit what so ever under the catenary.

Yes, a great deal of freight locomotives today won't fit through Summit.

Bi -level coaches fit through there.Why wouldn't a locomotive?

Because many locomotives are oversize for the Penn dimensions the MLV's fit fine through. If it's taller than a GE Genesis, it's taller than the minimum Amtrak clearance and taller than an MLV. ALP-46 and ALP-45...okie-dokie, they fit in minimum clearance. F40PH...too tall to even dead-tow through the North River tunnels.

As for this spot, maybe NJT's entire diesel roster including Geeps and F40's are totally kosher. But the F59PH's that roam out west are taller than a Geep or F40 and *could* (I don't know for sure, but could) be a problem. And that's just one passenger example of a taller-than-usual make in wide use. On freight rosters, especially Class I's like NS, it runs the gamut. Some of their beasts definitely are no-go.

They could certainly meet clearance requirements by running HO scale freight trains though.

This thread is pointless anyway. It is all an episode of Fantasy Island.The cutoff was killed by Conrail.They ordered it dead and thus it was so.Remember, at the time, Conrail was still controlled by the US Govt. and they were slashing anything that was not needed,regardless of what railfans thought.There was no money in it. PERIOD! Nothing has changed. Commuter trains cost taxpayers A LOT of money. Read about what sped up the demise of our beloved pre-Conrail railroads. COMMUTER trains !!
Talk of reviving this line has been going on for at least 25 years that I know of. What have we seen? A couple miles of track laid to house out of service units on.
Given the current budget of NJT and The State Of New Jersey, don't look for anything for another 25 years(if you're lucky). It's no better "across the river". Pennsy doesn't even have a balanced budget yet. So any dreams of this line hosting ALP45 DPs with bi-levels is just that .......a DREAM.