Tag: CSX 4405

Black Friday Interruptus

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Oh, no, not today, I don’t have time for this. This is Black Friday after all and I just want to get home after a day of shopping and eating and drinking and shopping. Well, Conrail Shared Assets crew SA-31 has other plans this afternoon. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday yesterday, their normal Thursday afternoon run has shifted to Friday today, inconveniencing dozens and dozens of people just before sunset. People shouldn’t be surprised by a train in this area, the Raritan & Delaware Bay Railroad first laid rails through here in 1858. Of course, those were simpler times and people moved a bit slower, as did the horse & buggy upon which they travelled across town. In the year 2021, the train is just a nuisance as people dart to and fro in their modern day personal chariots, trying to stuff 25 hours of existence into 24 hours of any given day. Please, slow down and rest for 5 minutes as the train passes before you; give thanks for what you have and give thanks to the railroad for the transportation afforded, and enjoyed by, your ancestors long before the automobile was even invented.

Image recorded November 26, 2021

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Rock & Roll

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New Jersey is home to some pretty good music, and within 40 minutes of this location you can find Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Deborah Harry, Sebastian Bach and Peter Criss, original Kiss drummer, all at home (if not on tour). You can also find a different type of rock & roll, this kind on the rails of the Conrail Shared Assets Operations Southern Secondary. The Southern is a lightly used rail line which sees just one train a week, and maintenance has been deferred for many years. Because there has been no new wooden ties installed or tamping (the act of slightly raising the individual tie and pushing ballast underneath so that all ties sits level) occurring on the route since the late 20th century, the rail tends to dip an inch or two in certain spots, usually at the joints of each 39 foot section of rail. It is for this reason that we see this day’s weekly freight, Conrail WPSA-31, leaning slightly as the train makes it’s way southbound through Tinton Falls, NJ. This line has seen a speed restriction (10 mph) for many years, so there is no fear that the train will topple over…it just makes for a crooked locomotive every now and then. You see, there’s more than one way to rock & roll in the Garden State.

Image recorded on September 6, 2018

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