Delaware and Raritan River Railroad-General Discussion

I recall hearing that they once considered pulling the contaminated topsoil out of there by rail, but opted for on site cleaning.

@HazzanDan “May not have a choice” refers not to NJSL but to the Cross Street siding and the amount of room there. Larger trains are already a tight squeeze and bringing cars from Freehold down there won’t help.

Would be nice to see Ciba get used for some form of rail served industry. I’d like to see a transload terminal in there personally. Lakewood Industrial Park business have wanted it for years. Especially Church and Dwight.

@CJPat There have also been others who have expressed interest in getting sand from there but I’m not aware of the details. I think one place was in Scranton?

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:19 pm Would be nice to see Ciba get used for some form of rail served industry. I’d like to see a transload terminal in there personally. Lakewood Industrial Park business have wanted it for years. Especially Church and Dwight.

Open space, environmental education facility and solar generation array per the NJDEP settlement with Ciba Geigy site owner BASF. https://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2022/22_0044.htm

They already put the solar plant in and did so without trains. Didn’t expect them to do this with the site. Better than more unnecessary housing developments though.

Great.
1,000 acres of non-revenue property. Toms River was already in a bind for charging several million dollars in excess property taxes (should have been stepped the rating down to "non-developed" once all buildings were removed) against Ceiba/BASF. They were counting on tax money to keep their municipal budget under control.

Now they will get nothing at all.

I don't understand why they can't partially redevelop it for business. I understand you don't want residential due to the fear someone might dig something up or plant gardens/crops that could leach stuff out of the soil. But turning it into a huge parkland is lost opportunity. We are not exactly NYC with over-paving concerns and we are not North-east NJ.

Yeah, it wouldn’t kill them to do something else like that. Didn’t they say the whole property is the same amount of acreage as all of Hoboken?

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:19 pm @CJPat There have also been others who have expressed interest in getting sand from there but I’m not aware of the details. I think one place was in Scranton?

The only projected sand use that I had heard was for possible frac'ing for the gas fields they wanted to develop in Pennsy. So far nothing has come from it, but that also could be a result of politics trying to force-remove our need for petroleum related products.

The grant REQUEST does say clear vegetation on track between Lakewood and Lakehurst in order to re-establish connection with NJSL. That is the only mention of anything past Lakewood. Everything else is reconnecting Freehold-Farmingdale , re-timbering bridges between Jamesburg and Freehold,and tie replacement as needed. There are a few switches / switch replacements thrown in there as well.

That cleaning will be a low priority until there are customers below Lakewood.

I will not be providing location info on RB-1 tomorrow. Going railfanning elsewhere.

CJPat wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:02 pm

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:19 pm @CJPat There have also been others who have expressed interest in getting sand from there but I’m not aware of the details. I think one place was in Scranton?

The only projected sand use that I had heard was for possible fracking for the gas fields they wanted to develop in Pennsy. So far nothing has come from it, but that also could be a result of politics trying to force-remove our need for petroleum related products.

New Jersey sand lacks the requisite sphericity, roundness, and crush strength to be used for hydraulic fracturing. I used to sell frac sand. Has nothing to do with politics.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:35 pm I will not be providing location info on RB-1 tomorrow. Going railfanning elsewhere.

And why not? Are we not entertaining enough for you? What could possibly be of more interest than the same little red engine pulling the same cars? Double UP engines at Rail serve?

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... cement.pdf

Next phase of reconstruction has been put out to bid. Notice they have marked out sections on the first page. This RFP is for section #4. They are currently working in sections 2 and 3. No chance this is done before/ in June of this year.

@AceMac Im still seeing red engines today. Just not ones from C&D

@CR7876 Eye spy with my little eye, a dotted line depicting a wye.

Isn’t the mentioned crossing diagram the one for 25 MPH track?

RE: red engines

Good... so you'll be able to tell us why a small switching RR has so much power. Are they collecting engine for fun? Which ones are active....??

So, you're going for the Canadian engines at Port Reading?