Burlington Northern Santa Fe units ready to head west

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Staged and ready to head west to hopefully warmer weather, these two Burlington Northern Santa Fe units sit in extremely cold Carteret, NJ, on the Conrail Chemical Coast Secondary, awaiting a fresh road crew. BNSF 4614 and 1101 likely came east to coastal NJ on yesterdays Norfolk Southern unit ethanol train 68Q. The railroad has been expanded in this area from two tracks to three to accommodate the daily ethanol trains from the Midwest, as well as the numerous daily local freight movements to and from busy Oak Island yard, just 10 miles to the north.

Image recorded January, 30, 2010.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe units ready to head west Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.

CSX Q300 dwarfs underpasses

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Dwarfing the underpasses below, train Q300 is seen on the very northern end of the CSX Trenton Line in Manville, NJ, about to make a set-out at Manville yard. When work is complete, CSX 5483 (a GE ES44DC) will lead the train a mile north to join the Norfolk Southern Lehigh Line at Port Reading Junction, and continue its journey east to Newark, NJ, and Oak Island yard.

Image recorded Saturday, January 23, 2010. CSX Q300 dwarfs underpassesClick on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.

Norfolk Southern train 38G accelerates westbound out of Allentown yard

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Norfolk Southern train 38G, with NS 7572 (ES40DC, blt 6/06) and NS 7622 (ES40DC, blt 2/07), accelerate westbound out of Allentown yard, about to cross Basin St. and pass CP-BURN on the Norfolk Southern Lehigh Line. 40 degrees Fahrenheit and no snow…in Allentown, in January? Yes, one of the most beautiful winter days in Pennsylvania in recent memory!

Image recorded January 23, 2010. Norfolk Southern train 38G accelerates westbound out of Allentown yard

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Elevated roadbed provides challenging departure from Lehigh River valley

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Westbound trains leaving the Norfolk Southern Allentown yard must negotiate this broad, sweeping curve after crossing the Lehigh River. With the degree of curvature at this location, the necessary super elevation in the roadbed  is quite evident here, as Norfolk Southern ES40DC 7572, with sister 7622 behind, leans hard into the curve, approaching Basin St. and CP BURN, with a lengthy train trailing. With the curvature and steady increase in elevation for the next mile, locomotives work fairly hard on this stretch of the NS Lehigh Line to bring their trains out of the river valley.

Image recorded January 23, 2010.Elevated roadbed provides challenging departure from Lehigh River valley Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.

Norfolk Southern ethanol train 68Q enters the ‘Chemical Coast Line’

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On a gorgeous winter morning in New Jersey (one of the few good days in this very cold & snowy season), Norfolk Southern unit ethanol train 68Q enters the Conrail Chemical Coast Secondary from the CR Port Reading Secondary at Port Reading, NJ. This line in central New Jersey is just a very short distance from the Atlantic Ocean, and the major deep water ports of Newark and Elizabeth. The ‘Chemical Coast Line’  is named after the numerous oil refineries and storage facilities located in this part of the state. This train carries tens of thousands of gallons of ethanol, produced in the US corn-belt, to be used in the production of automotive fuel by the local refineries in the area. Today’s train has Norfolk Southern 9376 (C40-9W) and western visitor Burlington Northern Santa Fe 658 (C44-9W) capably in control on Conrail Shared Assets trackage.

Image recorded January 16, 2010.

Norfolk Southern ethanol train 68Q enters the 'Chemical Coast Line'Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.