Search

Not to start ugly rumors, but this months issue (March 2008) of TRAINS Magazine implied that NJT is to have weekend service on the Montclair-Boonton Line by the end of 2008. The article focused heavily on the Pascack Valley improvements and some RVL improvements. Below is an excerpt of the section p...

I used them at EWR. When I saw them, they had a similar to the Metro North / LIRR TVMs (except for the color scheme - yuck and nothing really NJT related - where's the purple?). My hopes were high as I had hopped that NJT finally got it right. The MTA TVMs are fast and very easy to use. They are eas...

Although the shops were removed from the M&E (up the original Booton Line), but there was a single track that was electrifed out to the shops. Leaving the West End Interlocking west bound, it was the outter track. You can still see traces of the catenary poles between the interlocking and Secacu...

France is France and Germany is, well, Germany. As for "comuter" like trains, there is no fair comparison. The closest one could get to NJT in Germany are the Regional trains (Regional locals and Expresses). They are operated by the German railway under contract by the local states and the...

Pardon my naivete, but I do not see what the big deal is. Although European references seen to be frowned upon by US railroaders, German conductors carry portable machines that both electronically print tickets and accept credit cards on trains. The whole process takes about the same time as it does...

The shere physics of a 25kV/12kV 60/25Hz and Diesel Locomotive are just not possible. You cannot violate Kirchhoff Laws and Einstein will always win. You need to get that transformer in the locomotive and the prime mover. Each take up the same amount of real estate. This has already been said. The D...

Really its part of the original Boonton Line (freight main). The DL&W passanger main was the M&E.

What was so advance about the design of the E55 for the 70s was the GTO inverter. The GTO (Gate Turn Off Thyristor) was a new device back then. This device is still a thyristor device, but differs from and SCR in that the thyritor can also be turned off, making it a fully controllable decvice. It wa...

Then there are classic films like:

The Muppets Take Manhattan -- Scene at Hoboken w/ DL&W MUs, cheesy dubover of a steam loco though.

Chasing Amy -- Scene at some shore line station

Catch Me If You Can -- Sceen at the Orange train station as Leo's character is running away from home

I was on the same train, after missing the 7:30 connction to Waldwick because of signalling issues on Amtrak between SEC and NYP. Like some of you positing here, I too work in the electrical industry. I did not find it too stragne that the power went out, with the weather an all. What I did find str...

JP1822 -- When I was in grad school at RPI from 2000 to 2002, I traveled frequently between NYP and Albany-Renesselaer. The Ethan Allen did use heritage coaches borrowed from the Adirondack pool. There was a small decal at the "B" end of every coach indicating this. Every now and again it ...

njt4172 you are 100% correct about the original Commet I seating. It was by far the most comfotable seeting offered. My pop still claims that to this day. "You didn't mind sitting next to someone back then," he always says. He started commuting on the M&E back in the 70s and is still o...

I have never heard the "Send Off" at Hoboken, but would love to be there to hear one. Its not just any railroad's tradition, it is one (if not the only) of the DL&W practices still observed today. Tri State Tom -- United still has the tower chatter channel, although it is noted "A...

Just a fun few facts I picked up on railroad tie theory while doing some materials research on plastic railroad ties while still in school: -- The most stressful load on a railroad tie is the lateral load, not the vertical load. This may seem hard to believe, but it is true. -- How rigid the ties ha...

Not including the conductor's seats at either end of the car, the apporximate seating capacity for the DL&W MUs was: Tall trailers: 18 rows @ 2-2 = 72 Seats Low trailers / motor cars: 19 rows @ 2-2 = 76 seats Common train lengths were 6 or 8 cars during the peak commuting hours. There was even t...