The Black River & Western is a 16.2 mile shortline railroad (currently operating over the eastern 9.3 miles of the line) in northwestern New Jersey, and runs regular tourist excursion trains & excursion specials, as well as tending to several regular freight customers. In early 2011, the BR&W ran the first of two special ‘Photo Freights’, special trains that allowed several dozen fans & photographers to ride the entire line, including trackage where only freight is handled. Photo freights are common on shortline railroads across the country; folks pay to ride rail lines where passengers are not normally allowed, and the train will stop at select points along the line for the invited fans to disembark and photograph the train as it runs by, hence the often heard ‘photo run-by’ term on these trains. The BR&W is a small, but very well run organization, and the special train ran perfectly under mostly sunny skies this day, with a consist of restored freight cars, two of their unique restored passenger cars, and one loaded modern lumber car…hey, they have to pay the bills, and this car was a ‘hot’ car for the transload facility in Ringoes! The scene below is of the final run-by of the day, with BRW 1202 (an ex-New Haven SW1200, built in January of 1956) really ‘smoking it up’ for the cameras, and a fitting end to a wonderful day on the rails, thanks to the fine people of the Black River & Western Railroad.
Image recorded on May 28, 2011.
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