CR on the Southern Secondary

NJT4149 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 19, 2021 4:45 pm Wayside Road 5:44 PM

Don, nice to see you on here again, been a while.

Has anyone heard anything on Farmingdale to Freehold? Wasn’t work supposed to start up by now? The last thing I heard about t project was that C&D were thinking of backing out and that was almost 2 months ago.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 1:49 pm Has anyone heard anything on Farmingdale to Freehold? Wasn’t work supposed to start up by now? The last thing I heard about t project was that C&D were thinking of backing out and that was almost 2 months ago.

They can't start until the project is filed witth the STB. I just went to the STB site and looked at every filing back to July 1st and C&Ds isn't there. So I assume they haven't done it yet.

I don't know if there is a "use it or lose it" time on those grants. It may be the business climate is changing for the worse as far as they are concerned, and they will either wait and see or abandon their plans. I suspect they are looking at significant cost overruns and re-evaluating.

They sure are taking their time then. Still wondering about why I was hearing that they were thinking of backing out.

@CharlieL Just on cost overruns I was also hearing that C&D may have discovered that the 7.4 million they were originally gonna ask for is nowhere near enough to bring the Southern up to Class 1 standards and reopen the Freehold to Farmingdale section at the same time.

Never got confirmation on that, but considering the current track conditions on both lines it would not at all surprise me if it were true.

CharlieL wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 3:51 pm I don't know if there is a "use it or lose it" time on those grants. It may be the business climate is changing for the worse as far as they are concerned, and they will either wait and see or abandon their plans. I suspect they are looking at significant cost overruns and re-evaluating.

I don't remember seeing UIOLI clause, but it may be there. The grant to Clayton a couple of years ago definafely had it.

I’m wondering if insurance is another problem. As I’ve mentioned the Southern is in bad shape. Maybe insurance doesn’t cover them running on a track that’s prone to derailments?

As some of you may be aware that the crews have been changed.

The usual guys that do 31 have been put on SA3 for at least 30 days. It’s unknown if it will be permanent.

But just a heads up that this new crew isn’t friendly at all! So be careful when taking pics of the train!

Anyways be safe!

"But just a heads up that this new crew isn’t friendly at all! So be careful when taking pics of the train!"

And I'm not surprised! Nobody wants to go to work and have their whole day on video, that's walking on egg shells! Do one thing wrong and its all over the internet. Now some of you will say then just do your job by the book you won't have to worry. Most of you never had someone watching your every move, today camera's in trucks GPS checking your speed if you back up turn right close your door ect. I had a Postmaster tell us be careful out delivering today it snowing, Don't go up any walks or driveways that aren't shoveled to make a delivery... don't bring back any mail or your suspened!
People got suspended it was grived and they were paid months later!
I see post on here saying these train stopped for a 1hr for no reason, theses guys are going at a crawl tonight, or these guys are flying must be 25 mph I thought it was 10 mph. Why did they do this or that.
Take your pictures enjoy the trains and think about what you say and what pictures you post!
15 years back I answered a question and the next week a crew tried to prove me wrong . ( they read these post) and so do there bosses! Some one snaped a picture and posted it, the crew got suspended. Loss of pay and didn't break a rule, just a bad RR practice and paid for it.

SA-31 on Church 17:00 , 6159 and 4421.

It is 100 percent understandable that a crew does not want their pictures taken and posted online. However, this crew (mainly the conductor) doesn’t want anyone to even look at the train, let alone take pictures. He made that pretty clear to me and a friend when we chased him last week, and has scared away many area railfans.

It would seem that as far as Conrail goes most crews don’t mind people filming the trains as a hobby, provided the photographers behave (don’t walk on/near the tracks and such) and don’t film the crews when they are outside the engine, and not bugging the crews while they work.

One advantage to watching the local crews is (depending on who they are) you get to know them as time passes, and maybe even become friends with after a while. You learn what they are and aren’t comfortable with, so let’s say one guy doesn’t mind being filmed while he’s in the engine but not when he’s outside it. You keep that in mind when filming, and over time that crew member will notice that you listened to them. As such, they will eventually understand that at the very least, you don’t try to bother anyone when you go railfanning. When you do the same with other crews, word gets out about you. You become a regular guy out and about watching trains, who generally doesn’t bother most crews except for the occasional bad apple hated by crews and railfans alike.

Sometimes, you get respect by helping the crew. Occasionally a new crew will show that is completely clueless about the line, and they will ask the regular railfans about something. Like how the normal crew usually does this or that etc. In more extreme cases, even flagging the train down can be a big help, but NEVER do it unless there’s a BIG problem! One that jeopardizes the safety of the train!

Of course, you can’t be friends with everyone. There’s always gonna be the one crew or crew member that wants nothing to do with anyone. It’s just the way it is. Best thing you can do is leave them be, and just keep watching the train.

I dunno what fantasy land this happened in, but there is no way in hell that myself or any of the other railroaders I work with are asking railfans how to do our jobs.

@cr9617 as it stands, the Southern Secondary is a fantasy land!

Since it was reported earlier that SA31 was at Church Running has anyone seen it?