Tag: CSAO Chemical Coast Secondary

Welcome to New Jersey, eh?

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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.

Canadian National locomotives Port Reading NJ Chemical Coast Secondary

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Two former Conrail units head for the Linden Industrial Track

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They didn’t name it the “Chemical Coast Secondary” for no reason at all; this busy line along the North Jersey coast plays host to oil refineries, chemical plants and tank farms along its short route from Woodbridge northward to Newark, NJ. Tank cars are the predominant rail cars in this region, and today we see Conrail Shared Assets local crew PR-8 as they leave busy Port Reading Yard in Port Reading, NJ, shoving north (away from the camera) with a short train destined for the Linden Industrial Track, just a little over a mile away. Norfolk Southern 5292, an EMD GP38-2 built for the Penn Central RR as their number 8096 in February of 1973, still wears her Conrail colors on this bright summer day, while her partner for today, NS GP40-2 3022 (ex-CR 3315, blt 5/78) has been repainted, and sports her ‘basic black’ work attire. The old Conrail Blue has been fading fast in 2011, and only about three dozen units remain as of this day in June; soon they will all be black, and another chapter in railroad history will be closed.

Image recorded on April 14, 2011.

Conrail Blue Norfolk Southern 5292 Chemical Coast Secondary April 2011

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Nothing beats a new pair of shoes

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Transitioning from the Conrail Shared Assets Port Reading Secondary to the Conrail Shared Assets Chemical Coast Secondary, Norfolk Southern loaded unit ethanol train 66Q negotiates the west leg of the wye at CP-PD for staging before final delivery, just a mile away.

The lead unit, NS 9577, a GE C40-9W, appears to have rebuilt trucks underneath her, as nothing else on either locomotive is as clean as her new ‘shoes’! The best guess is that she was very recently released from the Juniata locomotive shops, out in Altoona, Pa, where major work is done on NS locos; with road units acquiring grime fairly quickly, this must have been just her first or second trip after servicing. This is also a good comparison of the two Dash9 models; the leader has the now-standard wide cab, with additional room for the engineers ‘desk’, as well as an overall quieter environment for the crew, while the trailing unit has the ‘old standard’ spartan cab, seen on most units built before the very early 1990s.

Image recorded on April 14, 2011.

Nothing beats a new pair of shoes

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Chemical Coast Secondary hosts other railroads’ locomotives

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With the frequent unit ethanol trains arriving in NJ from the midwest, locomotives from other railroads are commonly seen on the Conrail Chemical Coast Secondary,  which is just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Today is no exception, as the power from yesterday’s Norfolk Southern train 68Q traverses the ‘Hess’ crossovers in Port Reading, NJ, for a reverse move into the CSAO Port Reading Yard, until a crew is called to take an empty train back west.

Today’s lashup is interesting for two reasons; first of all, Burlington Northern Santa Fe C44-9W 4412 is a welcome splash of color in NJ (considering the ‘basic black’ of the NS fleet), and secondly, a four-axle unit is part of todays lineup. The unit ethanol trains almost always get six-axle power assigned to them, but here we see a GP40-2 (NS 3045, ex-CR 3355, blt 3/79) sandwiched by two big GE units, with the leader being NS C40-9W 9365.

Image recorded August 18, 2010.

Conrail Chemical Coast Secondary hosts others' locomotives

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