by GSC
When I first got my driver's license (1971) I drove around railfanning, as many of us did. I loved checking out Farmingdale.
The CNJ had a two-track yard and a connector spur to the Pennsy. The curved spur split into two tracks, I think one was a siding into a fenced yard. Pennsy had a passing siding just west of the diamond.
The diamond was still in place. An occasional hopper was pushed into Frequency Engineering's coal trestle. That's where the east end of the PRR line ended then.
The CNJ had a tall three-head 3-3-3 signal at the diamond. It usually was lit and showing absolute stop (3 reds). There was another single-head signal to the south with a "take siding" lamp. Why there was a "take siding" indicator AFTER the diamond, I have no idea.
Around 1988 or so, I was there and "found" a Conrail Geep hiding on the old Pennsy approach to the diamond, in what looked like a tunnel of trees. Gold Lumber had service then on the former PRR and I imagine the Geep was parked there, shut down, until the next run was scheduled. Well hidden!
F'dale was such a fascinating place to poke around back then.
In the Doodlebug pic above, the block signal would have been the distant signal for the diamond at F'dale. There was another one on the other side of the junction near Hurley Pond Road. We walked to see that one around 1973. The mast was there but no signal head. A few years later, the mast was gone, leaving just the concrete base.
The CNJ had a two-track yard and a connector spur to the Pennsy. The curved spur split into two tracks, I think one was a siding into a fenced yard. Pennsy had a passing siding just west of the diamond.
The diamond was still in place. An occasional hopper was pushed into Frequency Engineering's coal trestle. That's where the east end of the PRR line ended then.
The CNJ had a tall three-head 3-3-3 signal at the diamond. It usually was lit and showing absolute stop (3 reds). There was another single-head signal to the south with a "take siding" lamp. Why there was a "take siding" indicator AFTER the diamond, I have no idea.
Around 1988 or so, I was there and "found" a Conrail Geep hiding on the old Pennsy approach to the diamond, in what looked like a tunnel of trees. Gold Lumber had service then on the former PRR and I imagine the Geep was parked there, shut down, until the next run was scheduled. Well hidden!
F'dale was such a fascinating place to poke around back then.
In the Doodlebug pic above, the block signal would have been the distant signal for the diamond at F'dale. There was another one on the other side of the junction near Hurley Pond Road. We walked to see that one around 1973. The mast was there but no signal head. A few years later, the mast was gone, leaving just the concrete base.
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