Tag: Port Reading Secondary

An experienced leader

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Some seasoned railfans lament that most new locomotives all look the same (“oh great, another friggin’ widecab”), and that the hobby is not as interesting as it once was. This was especially true (until the recently unveiled Heritage Units) along the mainlines of Norfolk Southern, whose ‘basic black’ paint scheme and numerous GE Dash 9 locos left little to get excited about. Once in awhile, though, one will experience some good luck and encounter something a bit out of the ordinary. It’s hard to plan good luck, although internet reports greatly assist; sometimes it just boils down to being in the right place at the right time.

On a beautiful Fall morning in central New Jersey, I make a withdrawal from the ‘luck bank’, and find an old dog leading the pack on NS train 69Q, ethanol empties just beginning their journey west for reload, as the crew transitions from the Conrail Shared Assets Chemical Coast Secondary to the Port Reading Secondary. NS 3337 was built for Conrail in June of 1977, when EMD SD40-2’s were the most common mainline power for all of America’s railroads. In the year 2011, these elder units are mostly used in local or yard service, or occasional mainline service for some of the smaller regional & shortline roads. To find an experienced leader on the point of a Class 1 road train on this day brought a smile to this photographers face, and thoughts of those ‘damn widecabs’ were nowhere to be found.

Image recorded on October 7, 2011.

NS train 69Q with ex-Conrail entering the Port Reading Secondary in Port Reading NJ

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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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Norfolk Southern train displays ‘Conrail Quality’ scheme

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With less than 200 units left in Blue (as of this date), Norfolk Southern SD40-2 3401 (ex-CR 6475, blt 1178), is becoming a rare bird after the breakup of Conrail between NS and CSX Transportation, some 11 years ago. Some units have not aged well, with rust and faded paint tarnishing their once proud status, but old 6475 seems to be holding up just fine, in her ‘Conrail Quality’ scheme, applied just a few years before that fateful day in 1999.

With the sun finally breaking through the earlier low clouds of this spring day, NS 3401 leads two western visitors (UP 6879, a GE AC44CW, and UP 5102, an EMD SD70M) on NS train 68Q, a unit ethanol train destined for the refinery just a mile south of this point. The engineer is guiding the train around the east leg of the wye at CP-PD, transitioning from the Port Reading Secondary to the Chemical Coast Secondary, where he will enter one of the two sidings and tie down, until the local Port Reading Yard crew can climb aboard for final delivery.

Image recorded June 11, 2010.

NS 3401 leads two western visitors on NS train 68Q, a unit ethanol train destined for the refinery just a mile south of this point.

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CSX locomotives push on through appointed rounds

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Inclement weather does not stop the railroads from their ‘appointed rounds’, as evidenced by these CSX locomotives working through the weather in Port Reading, NJ. CSX 8829 (ex-CR 6433, blt 9/77) and CSX 8886 (ex-CR 6661, nee-Erie Lackwanna SD45-2 3676) are seen on the Port Reading Secondary, crossing the CR Chemical Coast Secondary at grade, backing into Port Reading yard with Conrail Shared Assets train OI-16. This train has just come south (towards the photographer) on the Chemical Coast line from Oak Island yard, and has swung around the western leg of the wye to access the yard on a reverse move. OI-16 will eventually come out again to reverse back onto the Chemical Coast, and head south to CP-WOOD at Perth Amboy, where it will enter the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line for the short trip across the Raritan River, and then immediately onto the CR Amboy Secondary for its trip west to Browns yard in Sayreville, NJ.

Fortunately, the highway overpass overhead kept the photographer from getting buried in the snow, unlike the ties & rails (and everything else) in central New Jersey on this extremely cold, cloudy and gloomy day.

Image recorded February 13, 2010.

CSX locomotives push on through appointed roundsClick on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.