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  • CR on the Southern Secondary

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

Moderator: David

 #1582702  by JohnFromJersey
 
CharlieL wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 7:27 pm Transload facility there would need to be a small one, hardly worth the effort. There is a location across from the Richards operation that occasionally gets a trailer backed in. I'm guessing maybe 2 or 3 trucks a day currently use Southard ave. Much more than that would have both Farmingdale and Howell up in arms. Can't see that happening (but I've been wrong before; if you doubt that, talk to my wife. She'll give you a list from each of the 48 years and a couple prior to that).
Oh, it's a small plot of land for sure. However, it's already got the industrial zoning, an essentially blank slate, and has rail access, and you could probably expand it if you had the money to buy more land. If it was served more than once a week, keeping the flow of goods moving, I could see the small operation doing decently well. Not to mention it's closer to some warehouses here, and it doesn't have the awkward access situation that Brick Recycling's transloading siding has.

I'm sure a much bigger one could be built somewhere else, but there would be a lot less paper pushing at Gold's former spot.
 #1582711  by Bracdude181
 
SA31 is tying down at Woodhaven. Conductor says no SA38. Can’t see another crew in the Jitney.

They have one car for Marjam and all the empties out of Woodhaven, with 6159 LHF for whenever they go back. (Probably Sunday)
 #1582732  by Tanker1497
 
JohnFromJersey wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 4:32 pm Train is passing through Farmingdale just before 5:30!

@Tanker1497 quite a scathing comment there, lol. I'm sorry to hear about the cancer, I wish you the best of health.

JohnFromJersey I know Bracdude181
I was busting his chops!
 #1582737  by CharlieL
 
"
@CharlieL That is true, they could just use the light at Howell High school and it wouldn't be too bad; the 195 entrance/exit is right there. I also believe they are slated to have some sort of mini (yet still large) industrial park be built across from the middle school down the road from the high school. Either or I don't think that it will be a welcomed venture by the locals, however, since Gold's spot is already there and zoned for industrial (I am assuming), with rail access, the locals might be beat on that one."

Now that's interesting, 'cause other than the church, there's nuthin there all the way back to Gold's site, and the track.
 #1582741  by JohnFromJersey
 
Does anyone know what the deal with the OOS Freehold-Farmingdale section is? Was it ever used? I remember someone saying that it hasn't been used really since the 90's, but up until Gold's Lumber went out of business, the section seemed in decent shape, almost as if it was used.
 #1582744  by Bracdude181
 
@JohnFromJersey I guess if you want to be technical, the last train to use the Freehold Secondary west of Farmingdale was in the early 2000s when SA31 had to go past Gold Lumber to switch it out once.

The Freehold line between Freehold and Farmingdale was taken out of service in the mid 1980s. At the time it had been a while since a train had used it, and there were no active customers. For whatever reason Conrail decided it was better at the time to access the Southern Secondary via the Coast Line. Back then NJT wasn’t completely hostile towards freight, so cutting the line off meant five less miles of track to maintain.
(B I G MISTAKE)

The line was officially abandoned in spring 2013. Found that out while digging through STB fillings from Conrail Shared Assets.

Around the time of the Conrails assets being split off, they were talking about possibly reopening the line so they could service the Southern and Freehold Secondaries with one crew, but once the new management was assigned to North Jersey, the idea was quickly dropped because “Oh it’s too much money!”
 #1582748  by CharlieL
 
Abandoned, or taken out of service? If it had been abandoned, there would probably be no going back.
Also, earlier in this thread it was mentioned the OOS portion was last used in 1989 for a non-compliant (oversize) load to be delivered to Lakehurst.
 #1582753  by Bracdude181
 
@CharlieL according to an STB filing the line wasn’t officially abandoned until 2013, so taken out of service.

Older Conrail timetables also say something along the lines of “Freehold Secondary out of service between MP 19 and 24”

Edit: Was not aware of 1989 high/wide load movement. Was it a giant transformer? There’s a picture of a giant transformer sitting on a depressed center flatbed in Lakehurst in 1989.
 #1582758  by RailsEast
 
My early days in the office equipment business were based in Forked River, and I made visits to Lakehurst whenever possible (not always with a camera unfortunately; I had purchased my very first cell phone a year earlier, but it certainly did not have a camera in it). I can not say how this GE equipment got there, but I would assume via Freehold to Farmingdale due to the size & weight of the cars. The 6-axle flat surely has a heavy load, but the 4-axle depressed flat just seems to have a height issue. What I would give now to have taken more photos back in the day....

http://njtwom.rrpicturearchives.net/sho ... id=1685132

Chris
 #1582759  by Bracdude181
 
Yep, those are the transformers. Height wise it looks like it would fit under NJT catenaries, but it looks too wide for any elevated platforms the Coast Line may have had at the time. Perhaps it did go down the Freehold Secondary to Farmingdale after all. If so, it’s very possible that it was the absolute last train to use it.
 #1582764  by JohnFromJersey
 
RailsEast wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 4:36 pm My early days in the office equipment business were based in Forked River, and I made visits to Lakehurst whenever possible (not always with a camera unfortunately; I had purchased my very first cell phone a year earlier, but it certainly did not have a camera in it). I can not say how this GE equipment got there, but I would assume via Freehold to Farmingdale due to the size & weight of the cars. The 6-axle flat surely has a heavy load, but the 4-axle depressed flat just seems to have a height issue. What I would give now to have taken more photos back in the day....

http://njtwom.rrpicturearchives.net/sho ... id=1685132

Chris
I don't think anyone expected that this line would become a shell of itself within a very quick time period! Don't be too hard on yourself. Remember that just fifteen years prior to that pic being taken, the Southern was a somewhat busy thoroughfare to South Jersey. Now it is even (officially) shorter and is only kept alive by Woodhaven
 #1582768  by Bracdude181
 
@JohnFromJersey It did kinda deteriorate a little bit under old Conrail, but not by much. Even in the late 90s there was still enough traffic and customers to justify a switching crew that came down with an engine just to switch cars around for customers. The switching crew ran on Thursday and weekends as needed.

In the 90s, trains were usually around 20-25 cars per trip. But at least once a month we’d get a 50+ car train. These trains were so long that the rear of the train would still be crossing County Line Rd just as the engines reached Route 9! The 50 car trains also brought the six axle power! Mostly SD40s, but occasionally an SD50, SD60 or C39-8 showed up.
 #1582781  by JohnFromJersey
 
Interesting. What businesses were served? Off the top pf my head, I know it was Woodhaven, 84 Lumber (now Brick Recycling), Gold's Lumber, the Propane Place, Dinasio, and Builder's General, but I don't think that was enough to have 50+ car trains. I believe I'm missing at least two other businesses that have since gone out of business.
 #1582790  by Ken W2KB
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 4:46 pm Yep, those are the transformers. Height wise it looks like it would fit under NJT catenaries, but it looks too wide for any elevated platforms the Coast Line may have had at the time. Perhaps it did go down the Freehold Secondary to Farmingdale after all. If so, it’s very possible that it was the absolute last train to use it.
Agree, they appear to be either transformers or reactors, which have similar appearances. With the construction of NJ offshore wind generation it is likely that there will be deliveries of similar reactors and transformers. Hopefully by rail.
 #1582791  by Bracdude181
 
@Ken W2KB Maybe, but that’s probably gonna depend on what needs to be done at the existing transfer stations at Oyster Creek and Beesleys Point power plants. Orsted (the company making the turbines) is going to have underground cables run from the turbines to the aforementioned power plants. Having rail access to bring in specific electrical equipment could make things easier.

In the case of BL England at Beesleys Point, they already have several sidings and spurs in the facility from when they were still accommodating the NS coal trains. The equipment can be brought in directly and unloaded close to the transfer station.

There’s no more tracks to Oyster Creek. Only a rail trail now. Any transformers coming down the Southern would need to be transloaded onto a truck in a convenient place.
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