CR on the Southern Secondary

Thanks for the explanation. Seems the oral test was a lot less hassle!

Railcar1 wrote:Thanks for the explanation. Seems the oral test was a lot less hassle!

Most of the time you were then QFL, Qualified for Life, but the rule was one trip a year to maintain qualifications.

I think it was mentioned in Tom Gallo's "Henry Hudson Trail" book that Earle had rail service from the Seashore Branch. It seems a boxcar was left at Earle after the line was shut down, and a bulldozer or tractor had to move the boxcar from Earle to where it could be hauled away in a train. Bob Hoeft's article on working the Southern told of having to find empty cars at Red Bank to bracket ammo cars going to Earle. JS-1 would drop the cars at Red Bank and the local freight would deliver them to Earle.

As an aside to how ordnance is shipped, I used to haul nuclear missles (minus fuses or warheads) from Picatinny Arsenal to Seneca Army Depot in Upstate NY. Nothing to make them blow up, but I did have MP and State Police escorts through NJ, PA, and NY. Interesting operation. When I got to Seneca, and inside the thrid gate, I had to give up anything flammable (matches, lighters, etc) and drop my trailer so their tractor could come out and bring the trailer inside the fourth gate for unloading . I was told to keep my hands in plain sight as I dropped my trailer. A little unnerving to have the armed guards at the fourth gate pointing rifles at me.

CR7876 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:07 am

Railcar1 wrote:Thanks for the explanation. Seems the oral test was a lot less hassle!

Most of the time you were then QFL, Qualified for Life, but the rule was one trip a year to maintain qualifications.

Is that rule still in effect today?

Railcar1 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 3:54 pm

AceMacSD wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 11:48 am

Redfish wrote: ↑Sat Feb 18, 2023 1:29 pm The NS locals were based in Croxton or E-Rail and I don't remember any of the ex-Conrail guys who ended up on NS in North Jersey were ever qualified on the Southern Secondary. They may have been good to Browns Yard but that's it. Maybe they got Shared Assets guys to pilot them down.

I knew a few guys who went to NS after the split. Most are gone now. Not sure if they were ever qualified down in those parts. But given the NS mentality, if you were piloted once, you were then qualified. Don't think it flies on NJ Transit though.

What does it take to be qualified on most railroads?

Qualified is a large item to define. Includes qualifications for the specific job, engines, and sections of track that you are going to run. Different requirements by different railroads. In the context being discussed, it has a lot to do with the actual engineer being familiar with all the nuances (signals, track, crossings, etc) of a section of rail line so they are prepared to respond appropriately (when to slow down/stop/speed up or react to poor track conditions or just knowledgeable to handle specific emergencies that might occur along that specific line (known areas where pedestrians/trespassers might be considered a common event.

If traversing some one elses segment of rail (like during a detour of impassable track) and there is no engineer trained/familiar with the change in lines, a different railroad company may assign a "pilot" to work along with the Engineer.

Very similar to why they have harbor pilots that board Ships entering a port so they can safely traverse the area without running afoul of existing traffic, fast currents, or shallow bottoms .

JohnFromJersey wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 7:43 pm

AceMacSD wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 11:23 am There were a lot more jobs at Browns before the split.

Was this due to NS and CSX deciding to do away with what I assume were jobs with smaller carloads, or was it a result of a change in the business environment of Central NJ at the time?

Guys retired, jobs were abolished. Some of the pre-Conrail guys had some cake jobs that did as little as possible and paid out the ears. The company had no problem seeing them gone.

I found out the pictures of the NS train at Earle were purchased at a train show in Clark. A few of us will be heading up there to check it out. See if we can dig up some more pictures and whatnot.

AceMac, I was there earlier and found a guy in a green plaid shirt selling pictures from the Southern. None of his pictures showed Earle.

From the Conductor I was with told me, that's the guy who sold him the pictures of the NS train at Earle.

Bump.

Check this out!

https://youtu.be/vhTP8cGdZ7w

A little long but very interesting. I have both of Brinckmann's books. I've wandered around some of these locations and it is there if you look. Long live the Tuckerton!

I had quite a few of those Lakeside Video. John was a good guy and a volunteer at the Black River for many years until his passing in 2016.

That he was. Had many good conversations with him during his time at Black River. Lot of knowledge gone. May he RIP.

Indeed so, John was the volunteer Trainmaster for passenger operations.

I stumbled across a photo I remember taking, but couldn't find. It wasn't anything overly exciting, just showed that sometimes things don't always go as you hope when trackside. This photo is from May 3, 2018. I had a small window of time after work to catch the SA31. They hadn't gotten to Farmingdale, so I waited for them at the Asbury Ave grade crossing in Howell, by Extech. With some patience, I eventually see a headlight approach, but the train stopped, and didn't move for a while. Not sure what was going on, but the time I had ran out. So that late afternoon venture just got one photo of the train using my zoom lens. CSX 4432 lead the train that day.

http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=6170767