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  • Movement of NJT in metuchen

  • Discussion related to New Jersey Transit rail and light rail operations.
Discussion related to New Jersey Transit rail and light rail operations.

Moderators: lensovet, Kaback9, nick11a

 #1751  by Mudvalve
 
Today while in metuchen I watched a NJT train (after standing in the station for approx 10 minutes) do a reverse move to go from track one to track three. (Not rear sure of the track numbers, but the train was heading towards new york). Just wondering if anyone knew what was going on further up the line.

 #1823  by nick11a
 
Don't know but I have been on trains that had to back up and switch tracks because of a stalled train ahead of it. The one time I was on a train in Elizabeth and we had to back up all the way at a reduced speed to Union at Rahway to switch to another track. This may be similar here. Luckily though, they had switches at Metuchen and was able to switch right there. As to the reason why it was standing was probably because they were waiting to see if the problem was going to be rectified (if there was a stalled train ahead of it.)

 #1847  by Mudvalve
 
Not sure if it was a stalled train or not. A LD amtrak train went by a good 5, maybe ten minutes prior on track 2 (heading towards NY). Something could have happened with that train or some switch problem up the way. It did make for some interesting railroading, however i doubt all of the passengers felt that way.

 #1858  by nick11a
 
I always enjoy a good delay or two. Makes everything real fun. :)

 #1868  by Sirsonic
 
There was another eastbound train disabled ahead in Metro-Park. Rather than cause a delay by having all the Metuchen passengers use the low platforms on the west end of the station, they decided to bring the train in on track one. This allows for the train to be adjcent to the platform, however, it also routes the train behind the disabled train. Therefore, after the station work was done, they pulled east of Lincoln, and reversed back through the interlocking west on track three. They then proceeded east on track three. This would allow the train to be routed to track 4 at Menlo, adjcent to the westbound platform. While the passengers at Metro-Park would have to cross over to the westbound side, it is quicker than using the low platforms. The train would be routed back to track 3 at Islen, and all the way over to letter A track at Union. Making the move the way they did probably saved a good deal of time and was rather smart thinking by the CETC-8 dispatcher.

By the way, the eastbound Amtrak train that passed through on track two straight through Lincoln most likely does not stop at Metro-Park, and therefore did not need to access the platform at the Park.

 #1889  by Mudvalve
 
Thank you for the information sirsonic. Sounds like the dispatchers had their hands full for a while.

 #1917  by Jtgshu
 
Wow, that was smart thinking....im impressed!!!

The only thing that could be a problem wiht this whole senario would be if no announements were made at Metropark until right when this was happening.....then dozens of poeple would have to make their trek all the way down stairs and up to the ohter side, and would cause a delay for that. But Metropark usually has pretty good annoucements, so I bet that they made the announcements with plenty of time, and that train made a "normal" station stop at Metro.

BTW, this is the reason for the track rules in effect at Metropark. West and East of Metropark, the outside tracks (1 and 4, A and 1 and B and 4 between Union and Elmora where there are six tracks) are signaled in one direction only (251) and the middle tracks 2, and 3 are 261, meaning signaled in both directions, EXCEPT between Menlo and Iselin interlockings (interlockings surrounding Metropark station). Between these two interlockings, interlocking rules are in effect, which means that you can go in any direction on any track, as long as the dispatcher tells you to and lines the switches and pulls the signals up. No form D's are required. This allows eastbound trains to make platform stops on the westbound platform and vice versa.

 #1935  by nick11a
 
About 6 months ago on a weekend, they had some major track work being done at the Metropark bridge. To save time, our Eastbound train was brought onto the westbound platfrom. It was certainly a different experience pulling into on the Track 4 platform from Trenton!

 #1957  by Mudvalve
 
Thanks to the bridge work at Evergreen Rd (AKA the hole in the wall) there were two weekends where trains were using eastbound or westbound platforms for both directions. Made for some interesting traveling.

Jt, thanks for the tid bit about menlo interlocking...didn't know about the signaling directions.