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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

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 #1574408  by CJPat
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:31 am @CJPat I had been wondering about restoring service to Chatsworth for Ocean Spray. They get a whole lot of trucks in there and supposedly all the cranberries going through that place get trucked all the way up to Boston. Maybe load the cranberries into insulated boxcars and have CSX take them to Boston from Oak Island?

Aside from everything else that’s been mentioned there could be railcar storage from Woodmansie to Chatsworth, as that part of the line isn’t completely destroyed. The bridge over RT 72 would be the hard part to fix. Anything south of Chatsworth is in horrible shape until about 1 mile north of Winslow.
Bracdude181 - Let me start with these couple of disclaimers: 1) "Never say never", and 2) I am not associated with the Rail industry.

My background is in engineering, construction, supply & logistics.

This is my take on Chatsworth, Ocean Spray, and the Southern. Ocean Spray, if you notice, doesn't have any significant facilities. Just a sorting house and a few other support structures. That's all they need in Chatsworth. Cranberry production is based on a seasonal basis (not sure how many weeks it really lasts). The various farmers harvest their crop and sell it to Ocean Spray, who sort it and pack it out via truck to head up to their main processing plant (I believe you said in Massachusetts?) transport is probably occurring only 1-2 months a year. Even if there was a mainline running through Chatsworth, just building a siding to load out on wouldn't probably be worth the cost of install and maintenance for the two months per year much less rebuild an entire 5 mile route (assuming Clayton takes care of everything north of his facility.

As for car storage, I think a track owner (like CMSL) only gets around $18-$22 per car per day. It's nice steady revenue if you have a useable and sturdy enough track and the market is such that the Main Railroads need to store unused cars. But that small revenue stream is not going to justify spending (at least) several million dollars to clear out and completely rebuild a line that has been out of service for around 45-50 years as well as spend regular money to maintain that bridge over Rt 72. The Owner must insure a bridge remains safe to the motoring public below and active rail, relatively, requires a lot more maintenance due to added stresses than just aesthetically repainting rusted metal. NJT couldn't charge enough lease money to justify the work required. And for someone to outright buy the ROW on top of the rebuild money would never recapture their expenditures in any sort of reasonable time frame.

On Youtube, there is a channel called East Terminal Railroad ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZDPxl ... 7BQ/videos ) that shows a father/son team rebuilding a section of track in Ohio (I think) for the purpose of using it for car storage and more importantly, for rebuilding/refitting cars. I think he said this section of tracks has been out of use since the mid 1990s(?). Takes a whole lot of work just to clear/rebuild 1.5 miles of track that has been out of service for only around 25 years.

This is Jersey. You need a lot of money to buy/lease property, pay taxes, file permits, push through the New Jersey National Pineland Reserves (that is why oil trains would never been allowed to run on these tracks through a highly sensitive environmental area responsible for providing a pristine aquifer to feed Atlantic City & Camden and all towns in between) and maintain all that for year after year.

Just don't ever see it happening. Too many factors and market conditions completely against this.
 #1574410  by Bracdude181
 
CSX 4408 leading and CSX 4432 trailing.

Permission on Church 2:52 PM
Permission to open up 3:40 PM

Looks like 12 cars for Woodhaven today.
Lined and Locked normal 3:51 PM

Clear of BANK Interlocking On the Southern Secondary 4:34 PM

Through Farmingdale 7:03 PM
Last edited by nomis on Thu Jul 01, 2021 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #1574421  by cx4storm
 
Just heard on the New Jersey State Marine Police Talk-group:

A vessel has struck the railroad bridge in Shark River. The vessel is reportedly on it's side, and there are 4 to 5 persons in the water.

Update 1706 Hrs: All people are out of the water and accounted for.
 #1574433  by pumpers
 
Regarding cranberries, Ocean Spray already had a regional processing plant served by rail in central NJ, on the Robbinsville Secondary (the old C&A) in Bordentown.. I believe it was one of the major customers on the line. It shut down 5-10 years ago. So, as they say, "been there done that". I don't know where the work is done now - maybe some one here knows...
 #1574436  by Bracdude181
 
@Hear my train a comin they went straight through and stopped on the bridge just south of Squankum Rd. They are currently working Woodhaven.

If they don’t come back tonight, they will likely will come back tomorrow as either SA31 or PR19

PR19 should show up at Woodhaven around 10 AM and leave within half an hour. If not, SA31 should show up in the afternoon and take the train back.

Regardless of what happens I’ll check out Woodhaven tomorrow and report back on what I see.
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