CR on the Southern Secondary

Box is hard on the ground. Drove by lots of people in safety vest. Looked like it was push back too far and off the rails. It looked like scrub pine trees were under box car? Just what I could see on drive by. Could be different result.

The car ran past the derail, and would've been fine without the section of missing rail after the derail which caused it to tip over. There's also trees wedged in the brake gear under the centerbeam. A crane is in sight now and they're begging the cleanup process.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QvVbjg9oiJKvkjdK6

This is the worst accident on this line since Conrail 8128 derailed at Second Street in Lakewood back in 1997!

To my delight I caught the freight train heading north at the Maxim Rd crossing. It was awesome

@ChooChooCharlie Nice. A daylight return run is always a treat.

Was that derailment last night? On Thursday night, the train moved along quite a bit faster than normal when it passed through the Maxim Rd crossing.

A local Lakewood media outlet posted some more images of the derailment.

https://www.thelakewoodscoop.com/news/2 ... ewood.html

"This is the worst accident on this line since Conrail 8128 derailed at Second Street in Lakewood back in 1997!"

Would love to see photos of that!

SA-31 signal indication at BANK at 9:45 in the pm...

RailsEast wrote:"This is the worst accident on this line since Conrail 8128 derailed at Second Street in Lakewood back in 1997!"

Would love to see photos of that!

I 2nd....... that too.

@CR7876 and Railseast I do not know if pictures of that accident exist. My friend was there the day it happened and will know more about it than I do. I’ll ask him more about it tomorrow.

Fun fact, the damage from that wreck can still be found at Second Street. Go to the switch for the third track where Dinaso used to be, and look at the scores in the pavement. That damage was done when the wheels and plow hit the road.

I’m honestly surprised that yesterday’s derailment happened where it did. Some sections of this line are downright dangerous and I honestly can’t believe the train makes it through these spots every time. Truth be told, I think it’s a miracle this didn’t happen sooner.

I remember a sand train derailment by Conrail that closed Whitesville road for a week or more back in the 80's. I think 23 cars. And it was a derailment that essenially ended the sand trains on Claytons section. Its a costly proposition to get even one car back on the track. This will surely be a game changer in some way... if even just making the main longer to allow more head room. But perhaps something better or even worse?

@Tanker1497 That was the derailment that killed the sand trains back in the 80s? I know they stopped because they kept derailing in one spot and one certain wreck was one too many. However, I could’ve sworn that this spot was in Woodmansie, just a few miles north of the Clayton pit...

Hopefully the accident from Thursday night is a big eye opener that something has gotta change down here ASAP. Management has been letting this line rot for 14 years now and this really should be the straw that breaks the camels back.

Train crews and residents have been complaining a lot lately about what goes on at Cross Street. The crews don’t like turning larger trains around there and the locals are more than fed up with the trains blocking the road for extended periods while they turn around.

Closing Whitesville Rd to Lakehurst is probably the stupidest decision that current management has made for this line. It was it an unnecessary decision made to cut costs, and it hurt Seashore Lines in the long run because they were already fixing the line south of Lakehurst at the time. All of that just so they wouldn’t have to fix three bridges. Now they have to fix that whole section just to set up an interchange and have a siding big enough to turn around on, while also repairing any damage from the crash on Thursday night once service to Lakehurst is restored.

Bracdude181
Sat Jan 16, 2021 8:46 am

Conrail, by their lack of action, has shown they have no interest in improving the infrastructure of the Southern Secondary. That is probably a purely financial decision based on $/ time. Since they seem to have no interest in growing business in the area they should give it up to a short line operator. NJSL may be an obvious choice, but others such as BRW or SRNJ may be good alternatives.

@R&DB The sad part is this line was really good under old Conrail. Longer and faster trains and customers everywhere. They cared for this line until the very end. All that got thrown out of the window under shared assets. Putting an ex Penn Central manager in charge of this religion was a colossal mistake and it shows.

They have already tried giving this line away. That’s why we heard so many rumors about Chesapeake and Delaware taking over for a while. However, NJ Transit owns the line from all points north of Cross Street, and for some inexplicable reason they will not authorize a sale or give up Conrails trackage rights on this line. I believe this has to do with MOM but I’m not sure.

Seashore Lines might be the only hope for this area. Conrail wants nothing to do with anything south of Woodhaven, so Seashore Lines should seriously consider taking over the whole area south of Cross Street.

I think they should at least consider the following after they get Lakehurst to Woodmansie running:

1: Reopen the TRIT and serve anyone who may want rail service. Fortunately I hear that Amerigas and Builders General want rail service again so get that going first, then get some more customers and open a rail transloading facility.

2: Work out a “shared trackage” agreement from Lakehurst to Cross Street. Seashore Lines works the customers while Conrail transfers cars to and from Lakehurst. A similar example of this exists in Metuchen between Conrail and the Raritan Central Railroad.

3: Find out what can be done south of Woodmansie. If Ocean Spray doesn’t rail service then do rail car storage from Woodmansie to Chatsworth.

4: If the operation gets big enough, build a small freight yard in Lakehurst just north of the Route 70 bridge.

5: Passenger excursions from Lakehurst to Woodmansie and back with CNJ 1523 and some coaches.

6: Local freight service from Red Bank to Bay Head. Pulling this off is possible, but it would be very difficult.

What do you guys think? Personally I’d love to see the aforementioned things happen! It could be very profitable for Seashore Lines and Conrail, and it would take a lot of trucks off the roads.