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Conrail Shared Assets Operations in shadows of oil refinery

Conrail

In the shadows of the Hess Oil refinery sits the small, but very busy, Conrail Shared Assets Operations Port Reading Yard in Port Reading, NJ. Conrail Shared Assets is a terminal switching railroad, the remnants of the Consolidated Rail Corporation empire of the 1980s and 1990s, which was divided between CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway in 1999.

In the metropolitan NY/NJ area, the ‘Shared Assets’ operation is independent of the two big railroads, with the stipulation that CSX & NS both supply locomotives for power, while Conrail crews operate the trains. This day we find CSX 2810 (ex-Conrail 8724, blt 6/79) sitting patiently in front of the yard office with a handful of cars, waiting for her crew to continue the day’s work.

Image recorded August 3, 2010.

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Ethanol empties train waits to head west

Norfolk Southern

On a warm July morning, Norfolk Southern train 69Q (ethanol empties), with NS 8395 in the lead, waits patiently on the yard track at the ‘Hess crossovers’ in Port Reading, NJ, as inbound NS train 68Q (ethanol loads) brings its train northward on the main, headed towards the west siding in nearby Carteret, NJ. The South Jersey Dispatcher will then give 69Q the OK to crossover from the yard track to the main, then immediately onto the west leg of the Wye at CP-PD to connect to the Port Reading Secondary, and head westward to later join the NS Lehigh Line for the trip west.

Shortly, a local crew will climb aboard and guide the just arrived 68Q southward to the refinery for spotting. It’s not as complex as it sounds, and the crews and dispatchers keep everything moving smoothly on this often congested trackage of the CSAO Chemical Coast Secondary.

Image recorded July 30, 2010.

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Norfolk Southern train 69Q negotiates southbound

Norfolk Southern

Doing things a little differently today, Norfolk Southern train 69Q negotiates southbound through the “Hess” crossovers on the Conrail Shared Assets Chemical Coast Secondary at Port Reading, NJ, to gain access to the west leg of the wye at CP-PD so that it may head west on the Port Reading Secondary, and join the NS Lehigh Line main at CP Bound Brook for her trip west for reloading.

Routing for the ’empty buckets’ (as the local crews call them) ‘usually’ brings the train north to Oak Island Yard before turning west for the main; the mostly single-track Port Reading Secondary acts as a bypass of sorts, and a good way out of central coastal NJ should the rails be clogged at busy Oak Island. It’s also slightly unusual for CSX power to mix with NS power on NS road trains; one will more often find lease units, or BNSF or UP power as assistance on the NS mainline.

This day features a homecoming for NS C40-9W 8395, as she began life as Conrail 6188 in June of 1993; assisting with todays move is CSX AC44CW 481 and CSX ES40DC 5224.

Image recorded July 29, 2010.

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Small shortlines give Raritan crew fast response times

Raritan Central

Within minutes of receiving the call that a customer needs a load spotted, the very attentive crew of the Raritan Central Railway move quickly out of their small yard, and negotiate the undulating industrial trackage on their line in the Raritan Center Industrial Park in Edison, NJ.

Unlike the large Class 1 railroads, the small shortlines and industrial lines can literally ‘drop & go’ when service is needed. Backing up the line to retrieve the two empties in the distance and spot the one load in their possession, the RCRY crew has GP10’s #7579 and #7545 working hard over the small hills of central New Jersey on a warm summer day.

Image recorded July 22, 2010.

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At 50-plus, these two locomotives show no signs of retiring

Conrail, Raritan Central

OK, folks, here we go again with ‘what year is this?’ … 1980, 1990? We know it’s after the formation of Conrail in 1976, as the lead unit wears the CR colors, but EMD hasn’t produced GP7’s or GP9’s since the early 1960s. The two modern centerbeam flat cars, whose size almost dwarfs the two locomotives, are a good indication that this photo was taken in the last 20 years. The second unit looks to be in very good condition, with new paint applied not too long ago; I wonder what colors she wore previously? Is it possible that these two units are in excess of 50 years of age?!

Well…….yes, it’s possible, and you should hear these girls sing. These are two of the six units on the property of the Raritan Central Railway, serving the Raritan Industrial Center in Edison, NJ.

Now for the history….RCRY 7579, now classified as a GP10, was originally built for the Pennsylvania Railroad as PRR 7121 in June of 1957 (!), and survived the Penn Central years to become a part of the Conrail fleet, where she was retired and put up for sale. RCRY 7545, also classified as a GP10 after rebuilding years ago, was constructed for the New York Central Railroad in August of 1957 as NYC 6065, and also survived the PC and CR years to work again in the 21st century.

It’s not often that I have the opportunity to photograph revenue-producing locomotives older than myself, but this is the case today, as the very efficient crew of the Raritan Central backs into their yard with two empties on a bright sunny day in Edison, NJ, in the year …………………… Two Thousand Ten.

Image recorded July 22, 2010.

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