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

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 #1614696  by CR2721
 
So far my count of crossings total by the County needing to be rehabbed is 7:
Okerson Rd
Howell Rd
Fairfield Rd
Yellowbrook Rd
Adelphia-Farmingdale Rd (Rt. 524)
Southard Ave
Railroad Ave

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 #1614697  by Bracdude181
 
C&D seems to have a policy of always flagging crossings that don’t have electric protection. Which is fine, but it will keep trains from moving fairly quickly if they just put up crossbucks.

The track they repaired in Englishtown appears to be Class 3,(Could be wrong) but it seems they don’t reach high speeds because of the one road they have to stop and flag.

If Farmingdale to Freehold is to be built to the same standards, then I think they should put electric protection in so trains don’t have to stop at each road.


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Last edited by Bracdude181 on Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
 #1614702  by CharlieL
 
Going from memory here, but seem to remember Howell Rd had flashers, Okerson, Fairfield, Yellowbrook, Southard had crossbucks. Don't remember but Adelphia probably had gates. There appears to be signal equipment just west of Howell. Would speed travel time for the trains if they all get at least flashers. Fairfield in particular is a kinda blind crossing.
 #1614704  by CJPat
 
I think Ken W2KB would be a good reference on ths because he works withone of the northern counties so hopefully, he sees this and straightens me out:

I believe it comes down to whether the town or County paved over the crossing as I would expect they would be responsible for restoring the crossing. From there, there is probably guidance on traffic density to determine whether a crossing buck suffices or whether it needs lights or even a crossing gate. All those roads are far busier than when the crossing went out of service.

If the government didn't touch the crossing, then I thought it falls on the Railroad to bring it up to traffic transportation standards.
 #1614706  by baju
 
If I remember correctly Adelphia road had originally flashers…then they were removed and cross bucks installed after passenger service stoped. I’m wondering if they will lift all the old rail and truck ballast in or just repair in spots. Most if not all looks in rotten shape. If they ever expect heavy freight I would expect the former. In either case that’s gonna be allot of ballast. Even replacing most of the rail will be an enormous job. We may not see trains for sometime. Also from what I’ve gathered on this forum. It seems the sand trains would be used for the new tunnels…..when is that need suppose to happen?
 #1614716  by pumpers
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:43 pm No different to how it was a few weeks ago. Several months prior they put new sewer pipes in there. Probably for the new development across the street. ...
Probably people who have bought those new houses to be built (or lots) asked about the train line. And the response was from the realtor was probably something like "trains haven't run for 25 years and the line is abandoned, so you can fuhgetaboutit". Could get interesting...
 #1614718  by Bracdude181
 
Yeah… I was also wondering how that’s gonna play out.

Something like that happened around 2014 in Manchester. Crestwood Village got upset when they heard the trains would start running again, mainly about noise pollution. Funnily enough they also complain about the trucks that use those roads because there’s no trains to Woodmansie lmao.

They got told to shut up by someone but idk who it was.
 #1614720  by pumpers
 
CharlieL wrote: Sun Jan 29, 2023 3:34 pm I'm gonna stick with July 1, their first anniversary, for renewal of service. Seems to be very doable. ....
When the Central Pacific was building the transcontinental railroad 150 years ago, at one point near the end they did 10 miles in 12 hours, IIRC. No track-laying machines in those days either. So for 5 miles, they could be done before lunch. :)
 #1614722  by JohnFromJersey
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:18 am C&D seems to have a policy of always flagging crossings that don’t have electric protection. Which is fine, but it will keep trains from moving fairly quickly if they just put up crossbucks.

The track they repaired in Englishtown appears to be Class 3,(Could be wrong) but it seems they don’t reach high speeds because of the one road they have to stop and flag.

If Farmingdale to Freehold is to be built to the same standards, then I think they should put electric protection in so trains don’t have to stop at each road.
As I've said before, much of the FIT and SOUS, especially the SOUS, desperately need new crossing protections/signals. I won't be shocked if C&D/DRRR is waiting until the FIT-SOUS re(connection) is done, so they can just buy and install all the crossing signals they need at about the same time. They might get a good deal buying in bulk maybe.
CharlieL wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 12:12 pm Going from memory here, but seem to remember Howell Rd had flashers, Okerson, Fairfield, Yellowbrook, Southard had crossbucks. Don't remember but Adelphia probably had gates. There appears to be signal equipment just west of Howell. Would speed travel time for the trains if they all get at least flashers. Fairfield in particular is a kinda blind crossing.
Adelphia Rd had flashers, but no crossing gates. I vaguely remember the Adelphia Rd crossing when I was a kid, and there were just flashers there. Maybe it had gates at some point, but maybe they removed them since the line was OOS and the gates accidentally going down (lots of the flashers on the SOUS go off when no train is coming) would be a real PITA there.
CJPat wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 12:24 pm I think Ken W2KB would be a good reference on ths because he works withone of the northern counties so hopefully, he sees this and straightens me out:

I believe it comes down to whether the town or County paved over the crossing as I would expect they would be responsible for restoring the crossing. From there, there is probably guidance on traffic density to determine whether a crossing buck suffices or whether it needs lights or even a crossing gate. All those roads are far busier than when the crossing went out of service.

If the government didn't touch the crossing, then I thought it falls on the Railroad to bring it up to traffic transportation standards.
Most likely it was the government/town/county that paved over the crossings. I rarely have heard of a railroad paving over its own crossings, even if the line is OOS/abandoned.
baju wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:36 pm If I remember correctly Adelphia road had originally flashers…then they were removed and cross bucks installed after passenger service stoped. I’m wondering if they will lift all the old rail and truck ballast in or just repair in spots. Most if not all looks in rotten shape. If they ever expect heavy freight I would expect the former. In either case that’s gonna be allot of ballast. Even replacing most of the rail will be an enormous job. We may not see trains for sometime. Also from what I’ve gathered on this forum. It seems the sand trains would be used for the new tunnels…..when is that need suppose to happen?
As @CharlieL said, they received a grant for just over 5 miles worth of rail and ton and tons of ballast. As for the tunnels, the Gateway Tunnels received their final federal permit at the end of 2021, I think construction is supposed to start soon. Like end of 2023 going into 2024? I'm not sure.
Bracdude181 wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:48 pm That’s about 5.114 miles. A bit longer the track they are restoring I think…
Probably any leftovers will be used for passing sidings? Or maybe, some of it will be used to fix up Lakewood-Lakehurst, hm....
pumpers wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:51 pm Probably people who have bought those new houses to be built (or lots) asked about the train line. And the response was from the realtor was probably something like "trains haven't run for 25 years and the line is abandoned, so you can fuhgetaboutit". Could get interesting...
Bracdude181 wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:00 pm Yeah… I was also wondering how that’s gonna play out.

Something like that happened around 2014 in Manchester. Crestwood Village got upset when they heard the trains would start running again, mainly about noise pollution. Funnily enough they also complain about the trucks that use those roads because there’s no trains to Woodmansie lmao.

They got told to shut up by someone but idk who it was.
Well, the trains will most probably start running again before that development gets finished. They'll be SOL when trains run again and there's nothing they can do about it.
pumpers wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:12 pm When the Central Pacific was building the transcontinental railroad 150 years ago, at one point near the end they did 10 miles in 12 hours, IIRC. No track-laying machines in those days either. So for 5 miles, they could be done before lunch. :)
At the rate they are moving with the brush clearing and scraping, I can definitely see this project being done by June.
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