AquaTrack on Track to Go

In Hoboken today, Arrow and myself passed the Aquatrack train on our commute to our respected homes. It had Amtrak 311 for power which is what really interested me. I hope that at some point during the fall season, I'll have the oppurtunity to photograph the Aquatrack train with the Ex-Amtrak F40 power.

Anyone know when it begins service and/or where it will be during certain times. This train I imagine would be a nocturnal train but I imagine that during its rounds, it would end up in the morning commute period and would have to wait on sidings and or passing tracks such as Murray Hill etc.

Here is a really neat picture recently added to raiplictures.net showing two U34s on sanding duty in the pre-aqua track days.

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=80060

The aquatrain was advertised as a daylight job this year. Signs up at 6:30AM Monday - Friday out of Hoboken. Will go into effect on 10/18. I don't know if it will be filled extra before that date though.

It has been called extra a few times this week, again at 630 am. Also, they were supposedly building a second one to do the Main, County and PVL.

Yikes... I hate to sound uninformed... can you fill some of us in on what "Aquatrack" is?
Thanks,
BigDell

Aquatrack is a rail car that runs up the NJT lines and uses high powered water sprayers and i think metal brushes to clear the rails of the oil that is left behind as fallen leaves are crushed under the trains weight. This is basically what it is im sure someone can go and fill the rest in. I did a current event for one of my classes about the Aquatrack last year.

There are several areas where the combo of leaves and grades make starting a train very tricky. One major problem is Glen Ridge, where the wb plat is on a grade uphill and in a forested park. NJT has used MOW crews to hand clear the tracks, the AquaTrack and other techniques.

Short Hills is another station with a similar situation. I'm sure there are others, I'd suspect Upper Montclair and Watchung Avenue have a tough time as well.

Lackawanna484 wrote:There are several areas where the combo of leaves and grades make starting a train very tricky. One major problem is Glen Ridge, where the wb plat is on a grade uphill and in a forested park. NJT has used MOW crews to hand clear the tracks, the AquaTrack and other techniques.

Short Hills is another station with a similar situation. I'm sure there are others, I'd suspect Upper Montclair and Watchung Avenue have a tough time as well.

Of course I imagine the Gladstone Branch can get a little hairy.

BigC, didn't you once mention a story in ye olde RR.net about your train at Glen Ridge sliding past the station or something like that and also about having to reverse the train to the station before to get a running start and get enough speed to climb a hill? Don't quite remember exactly what it was. Just remember laughing my pants off.

nick11a wrote:

Lackawanna484 wrote:There are several areas where the combo of leaves and grades make starting a train very tricky. One major problem is Glen Ridge, where the wb plat is on a grade uphill and in a forested park. NJT has used MOW crews to hand clear the tracks, the AquaTrack and other techniques.

Short Hills is another station with a similar situation. I'm sure there are others, I'd suspect Upper Montclair and Watchung Avenue have a tough time as well.

Of course I imagine the Gladstone Branch can get a little hairy.

BigC, didn't you once mention a story in ye olde RR.net about your train at Glen Ridge sliding past the station or something like that and also about having to reverse the train to the station before to get a running start and get enough speed to climb a hill? Don't quite remember exactly what it was. Just remember laughing my pants off.

Yes Nick but this was a regular occurrence on the Montclair branch with MUs.

We would make our station stop at Glen Ridge on the w/b and then the fun would begin. We would have to reverse East to Bloomfield to get a running start for the hill.

Coming East on the return trip, if the decelostats(sic?) had their way, we would skip through Glen Ridge at about 7mph. Then as we came into view of the Bloomfield passengers, we would reverse West for Glen Ridge.

This problem was temporarily solved with the substitution of Diesels for MUs, but the NIMBYS wouldn't hear of it so we went back to the tennis match style operation.

That is amazing, I had no idea... and so there exists "Aquatrack"!
BigDell

Both Watchung Ave and Upper Montclair actually are very good with the trains not sliding for the most part. However, just east of the Bellevue Ave crossing, there might me a little grade. Also Watchung Ave, just west of there, the tracks go down a bit, I think right around the Valley Road overpass. Yes, Glen Ridge can be a major issue. I live in Upper Montclair like only 9-10s of a mile from the Upper Montclair station. In fact, it might be even shorter if I walk a different way. Now, all outbound Midtowns open the first couple of cars.

I passed the AquaTrack in Newark Thursday (10/7) afternoon while heading home on M&E. I see they also added an additional tanker... too many refills last year?
Nice to see the 311 doing the work. How's the visibility running backwards from that?
Also caught it sitting in Denville Saturday morning (10/90, but didn't have time to stop.

I don't think they have any brushes on it... Looked like water pressure only.

Shots from Denville last year...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/
112997843/99698830ueZbuH
http://community.webshots.com/photo/
112997843/99700025ZlUPjh

denvillerailfan wrote:I passed the AquaTrack in Newark Thursday (10/7) afternoon while heading home on M&E. I see they also added an additional tanker... too many refills last year?
Nice to see the 311 doing the work. How's the visibility running backwards from that?

The Conductor rides in the cab on the flatcar. It has lights, radio, etc. He passes on pertinent info to the engineer while shoving. Otherwise, running a F40 backwards is prohibited West of the MMC.

great info. Thanks bigC

The Aqua-train left Hoboken around 9:30 this morning with 4190 for power. If you have a scanner, you might hear their instuctions from the dispatcher when heading out, thereby getting an idea where to photograph it.

steemtrayn wrote:The Aqua-train left Hoboken around 9:30 this morning with 4190 for power. If you have a scanner, you might hear their instuctions from the dispatcher when heading out, thereby getting an idea where to photograph it.

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In the past, the AquatT got its own track orders, allowing it to move in both directions, so the chance of hearing something on the radio was pretty good.

I don't recall if DS routinely warns oncoming traffic about it.