RailsEast.com

Snaking along the Lehigh River

On yet another beautiful summer day in eastern Pennsylvania, we find Norfolk Southern train 11J snaking along the lower part of the Lehigh River, with its consist of empty autorack cars destined for the midwest for reloading. Train 11J is traversing the Norfolk Southern Lehigh Line, the main east-west freight line on the NS system in the northeast, connecting the metropolitan NY/NJ market to the rest of america. This was originally the main line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which continued in a northwesterly direction along the river, up into north central Pennsylvania; after the consolidation of the bankrupt northeast railroads in 1976 (with the Lehigh Valley being one of them) and the formation of Conrail, this portion of the mainline was then made part of a more direct east-west line, utilizing the Reading and Penn Central (ex-PRR) mainlines for quick transportation of goods to Pittsburg and points west. With the breakup of Conrail, Norfolk Southern took over the Lehigh Line, and continues to utilize the route to its fullest, putting some 25-30 trains across eastern Pa. every day. Today we have an ex-Conrail unit returning to home rails, with NS 8429 (ex-CR 6248, blt 6/94) leading NS 9409, as they make good time along the river.

Image recorded August 7, 2010.

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Still together after all these years

Conrail

It’s hard to find two locomotives built for the Erie Lackawanna Railroad still in daily use, but it is a common occurence in central New Jersey. Although now de-rated to 3000 horsepower after being rebuilt to SD40-2 specs, these November, 1972 products of GM’s Electro Motive Division still retain their as-built carbodies, and will always be an ‘SD45-2’ to me. With newer road units hauling the freight out on the mainline, these older six-axle locomotives are perfect for the lower speed transfer runs for which they are utilized, mainly due to their tremendous tractive effort and power. There are presently 6 ex-El units lurking in central/northern NJ, operating out of the Oak Island terminal, and the daily Oak Island transfer to Port Reading Yard and Browns Yard will almost always have at least one of the SD45-2’s on the head-end, and as many as three! In the scene below, we see the daily OI-16 (frequently classified as JR-2 on Mondays) southbound on the Chemical Coast Secondary after working Pt. Reading Yard, with NS 1702 (ex-CR 6659, nee-EL 3674, blt 11/72) and CSX 8886 (ex-CR 6661,nee-EL 3676, blt 11/72) in the lead. The conductor gives a friendly wave to the flagman at MP18.5, after confirming by radio that it was safe to pass through the area, with local utility work being done trackside. In another 2 miles, the crew will enter the New Jersey Transit North Jersey Coast Line at CP WOOD for the short jump across the Raritan River; they will then access the Amboy Secondary at SA Tower and head 6 miles west to Browns Yard in Sayreville for the last set-off. These old girls are still together after all these years, and hopefully will be around for many years to come.

Image recorded on August 7, 2010.

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Smoke’em if you’ve got ’em!

Black River & Western

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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Looking darn good for 158 years old

Black River & Western

In the year 1854, the Flemington Transportation Company built trackage from Flemington to Lambertville, NJ, where it connected with the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad on its Phillipsburg to Trenton main line to interchange mainly agricultural freight (milk products, fruits, meat products). In 1871, the line became part of the Pennsy system, and in the years before the automobile, some 50 passenger trains traveled to and from Flemington each day, in addition to the freight movements. The Central Railroad of New Jersey also recognized Flemington and the surrounding Hunterdon County area as a potential for expansion, and built its own line west from Somerville in the late 1800s; Flemington was now sitting pretty, with two rail lines into town, and the area prospered. However, with cars & trucks becoming more popular as the 20th century took shape, the general public abandoned the trains for more ‘personal’ methods of transportation, and passenger service was halted on this line in 1953; with trucks becoming an option for shippers, freight service decreased substantially as well. In the late 1950s, a certain Mr. William Whitehead desired to start a tourist line, running excursion trains for the general public, and made an agreement with the Pennsylvania RR to lease the Flemington to Lambertville line to run his trains. In May, 1965, the first tourist train was successfully run, and in March, 1970, the Black River & Western purchased the line from the newly established Penn Central RR, and now handled both passenger excursion and freight duties along the route. On April 1, 1976, the newly formed Conrail closed the ex-PRR Bel-Del line that ran through Lambertville, and at the same time, sold the Flemington to Three Bridges section of the old CNJ to the BR&W, establishing an interchange at Three Bridges, NJ. The rest is history, and today the BR&W continues to hold its own, a true shortline success story with a rich and colorful past, with a handful of full-time employees, and several very dedicated volunteers, ensuring efficient rail operations into the 21st century. Yes, indeed, the old station sure looks good for being 158 years young.

Image recorded on May 28, 2011.

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Welcome to New Jersey, eh?

Conrail

As you can see, power from almost any North American Continent Class 1 railroad can be seen on the daily unit ethanol trains arriving in New Jersey (yes, there was a Ferromex unit sighted in 2011!). In this scene, we find local Conrail Shared Assets crew PR-19 in charge of two Canadian National units, as they shove south (away from the camera) to begin off-loading; CN units were once very rare here, but they have been making an almost monthly appearance this year and are a welcomed splash of color in this area. With modern horsepower on the head-end, CN 2561, a GE C44-9W, and CN 5707, an EMD SD75I, supply 8,700 horsepower to move the approximately 2.4 million gallons of product in this train; by far the most efficient manner of transportation for bulk commodities such as this, without spending billions of dollars for pipelines across hundreds or thousands of miles.

Image recorded June 14, 2011.

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