Southern Tier - East of Binghamton

the 2nd 13T(dont know if it was combined with SU-100) is currently outlawed at hudson juction. NYSW sent a crew based out of Ridgefield Park at 130PM(train WS-1) to help the train to thier destination. the crew of the WS-1 will be outlawed at 530 if they do not get to Ridgefield Park. i just heard over the scanner that the WS-1 just got to hudson juction and will hook up to the 13T and continue their journey south. meanwhile the SU-99 cant leave until 13T gets to Ridgefield Park. as soon as 13T gets to RP, the SU-99 will assemble its train and depart.

all the good detours have been when i work...

I am assuming if the line was not washed out east of CH these trains would NOT be using the NYSW?

northjerseybuff wrote:I am assuming if the line was not washed out east of CH these trains would NOT be using the NYSW?

your assumption would be correct

i am also assuming NS is getting crews qualified or will be if these trains continue? or will the nysw handle the crews to Port or CH...and have a NS croxton crew take over IF these trains stay....

northjerseybuff wrote:i am also assuming NS is getting crews qualified or will be if these trains continue? or will the nysw handle the crews to Port or CH...and have a NS croxton crew take over IF these trains stay....

Some say they are getting NS crews qualified along the Eastern end, and some say they are not!

There is no firm word on this!!

As I stated before, NO ONE is currently being qualified between Binghamton and Port. There are currently no signs of it happening anytime soon. Remember, these 30T/13T trains are running as DETOURS, not regular scheduled trains.

malfunctjct wrote:As I stated before, NO ONE is currently being qualified between Binghamton and Port. There are currently no signs of it happening anytime soon. Remember, these 30T/13T trains are running as DETOURS, not regular scheduled trains.

there has been some confusion about these trains being detours or regularly scheduled trains, thanks for clearing things up.

Pardon the confused-newbie question: if I understand correctly, the NS/Metro-North line from Port Jervis east was badly damaged by Irene and is out of service. It further appears to me that the aforementioned line is the only connection to the east end of the Southern Tier line. Yet if I read this forum right, there are detour trains running on the Southern Tier line east of Bingo. So I must be understanding something wrong here - what am I missing?

thanks,

Steve Gaarder

Right near Cambell Hall, perhaps 30 (?) miles east of Port Jervis on the southern Tier line towards NJ, there is a junction with what used to be the Lehigh and Hudson River RR, which "turns right" coming from Port Jervis, going down south into NJ. The washout damage is farther east on the tier, in the Harriman/Suffern area. After perhaps 30 (?) miles on the old LHR line, near Sparta NJ it ends but connects to the old New York Susquehanna and Western RR main line, which then goes east to the Jersey City area, where it connects back to NS/Conrail tracks. Most of the L&HR and the old NYSW are operated by the current NYSW. It is over these lines that the trains are detouring. JS

Ah, now I get it - thanks!

Lets all take a step back here... Even if these are test runs, as there seems to be some evidence of, there would be no need for NS to be qualifying crews for them. If the tests turn out to be a flop, then they would have wasted a lot of resources and a lot of people's time. My guess would be that they will test the other way when the route via Suffern opens up and go from there. If any of those seem to be a better routing, then maybe crews could start training from there. My guess would be, and this is only a guess, is that maybe there were no westbound detours because it is a lot harder to get over Sparta mountain with a heavy freight in that direction than eastbound. And since there is probably little chance of NS ever using the route via Sparta in the future, they probably didn't want to take the chance. Again, this is just a guess. I just have a hard time believing these are strictly detours with nothing else involved because I don't think they've ever used the NYSW (or even the CNY) for anything like that before.

SJ-The railroaders themselves stated they are detours. Why don't you believe it? A lot of guesses on your part and wishful thinking. I am with you and want them to happen on a daily basis, I just don't see it happening. The trains run daily..we haven't had one in several days now, why not? Its because they are strictly detours..nothing more nothing less

just detours. why dont you accept that these are just detours.

anyway, someone reported that a train passed by just before 4AM this morning near Port Jervis. could have been the BH-1 that was switching Narrowsburg yesterday, but no one knows.

I'm sure there will be more trains to detour with CP having a track shut down every weekday between Bing. and Scranton for tie work and R&N doing tie work on their railroad east of Crestwood. NS is also doing trackwork east of M&H Jct. though the tie gang may be done after this coming week. Trying to run everything at night isn't working very well with trains outlawed all over the place and no crews to put on the trains. I'm sure it will get better when the trackwork goes away but that could take awhile.