CR on the Southern Secondary

Passed by on my way back from my son’s hockey practice and the cars are upright in the rails.

@hazmatmess Thank you for the update. The centerbeam wasn’t too banged up but I’m surprised they got the boxcar back on the track. It was really messy there!

I took pictures of the wreck last night if you’d like to see how it was before they came in with the crane.

NY&LB wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 3:51 pm I also would love to see more trains on the Southern Secondary.
BUT a significant amount of sand was needed for the Goethals Bridges (2013-2018), yea there are two now as well as for the replacement for the Victory bridge (2002-2005) (Rt 9 over the Raritan). I have no idea where that sand came from but it was NOT by rail up the Southern Secondary. WHY are we assuming that ANY of these future projects will be using Clayton sand transported by rail?

I agree 100%. It does not guarantee any of the sand will be hauled by rail. Clayton may very well supply the concrete, as they have a lot of concrete plants in NJ. Usually concrete is bought from a concrete plant like one of Clayton's and delivered to the job in trucks, rather than mixing on site. So the sand will be delivered to the plant, not to the job site. I think rail is a very economical way to haul sand, but millions of yards of it are moved by truck.

CharlieL wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:09 pm
Since construction contracts will not be let until later this year, is it a certainty Clayton "has the contract" for the sand? They are the most likely as far as I can see, but certain?

No, it's not certain. Whatever contracting company gets the job can buy concrete from whatever concrete plant they want, the inspectors will inspect it to make sure it's up to specifications. Any jobs that are far from a Clayton plant will probably be from whatever concrete plant is close to the job.

Word was the Lakehurst to Woodmansie line was being reopened so Clayton could provide the sand for a new tunnel into NY Penn Station. Many have told me that’s why they will reopen the line.

Looking back, maybe there was a bit too much certainty that the Gateway Project was the reason why Clayton was re opening the line.

I’m sure Clayton will find a customer for their sand or otherwise find a way to move their sand by rail versus truck.

Clayton a has location at 119 Smith St, Keasbey, NJ 08832 . It looks to be in an idustrial park, no rail lines!

@Tanker1497 Was that always there? Now I’m starting to wonder where that rumor that the ROW was being rebuilt for the Gateway Project came from.

Maybe that won’t be the case. Guess we won’t know where the sand is going for sure until service starts...

And there is an aggregate mixing plant on that site, very convenient for a barge, maybe a mile from the Raritan River bridge. There used to be a LOT of rail in that area.

@CharlieL how close is the Clayton facility to either the Raritan Central Railroad or Conrails OOS Perth Amboy Industrial Track?

Not far - look for yourself N 40.51320 W 74.29583

But the area is very heavily built up. No way to get rail to the Clayton site

And it's labeled greenway now. Closest would be across Raritan River bridge and then by truck down Smith St. Not very likely. would need a dropoff point along the ROW for which there is plenty of room AND NJT OK.

Raritan Central is 3 - 4 miles(?) (guess) upstream and goes right to river's edge.

@CharlieL Thanks. Yes I do think they’d have to unload there on the old steel plant siding. They probably won’t now because Smith Street is now a road to a distribution center. They likely need to keep that clear.

Will be interesting to see how things go.

CharlieL wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:09 pm And there is an aggregate mixing plant on that site, very convenient for a barge, maybe a mile from the Raritan River bridge. There used to be a LOT of rail in that area.

I believe that's the old Weldon Concrete plant. You could see it from the bridge driving North. I think they did get sand and stone by barge at one time.

@bracdude181 Yeah. Great pictures.

The portable crane was already folded up and on the trucks on the side of the tracks when we passed by earlier. Only saw from the street side but the box car didn’t look too bad. Both cars were coupled up and looks like they were waiting to be hauled off.

@hazmatmess I can’t believe they fixed that boxcar. It looked really bad when I saw it. The coupler was torn from the frame and the rear truck was ripped off as well. The underside of both cars looked damaged. More so with the boxcar.

Pray the next derailment doesn’t happen at one of the dangerous areas on this line. If you ever get the chance check out the tracks from County Line Rd to Squankum Rd.

Good lord, it’s a miracle there hasn’t been a major accident on that stretch! The bridge is falling apart and the entire train leans to one side for about 200 feet. At Squankum, one rail is floating freely and it takes almost nothing for the gauge to widen. Also the train has run over and severed the circuit wire for the lights three times since I started railfanning this line. (1/10/2019)