by Jtgshu
Tri-State Tom wrote:nyswfan -Its actually pretty easy to explain
Keep in mind that 50 yrs ago, there were still terminals in Jersey City that were being used.Understand but, as I indicated above, my reference is 35-40 years ago. The Erie started moving operations to Hoboken in 1956 and by the time of the 1960 merger, everything was based in Hoboken for the ERIE-LACKAWANNA.
1) There were many more MU sets before Midtown Direct. Pretty much all trains on MandE were MUs. MUs can easily be split/added to, and take up much less yard space than a push pull set (a whole car pretty much for an equal amount of passengers because of the loco)
2) Way back when, the DLW had more outlying points to store equipment. Montclair Terminal, South Orange, Summit, Morristown and Dover.
3) Less trains were run. Im not too familar with the Erie side of operations, but the PVL only recently got all day service, while there have been pretty signicant additions to Main/Bergen trains over the past few years that im aware of. Im sure things over there on the Hoboken side were no differnet than the rest of the railroad in the "bad old days" - there has still been service additions over the past 10 years at least compared to 30/40 years ago.
4) Bay Head trains (and the 1 RVL set now) were never were in Hoboken before 1991? before the waterfront connection was built They take up most of HIll Yard while layover during the day. That 6 or 7 trains I think (at least currently, this number seems to change with each schedule change).
5) Remember, some of the yard tracks in Hoboken are specific sizes, and can only fit certain length trains, so that limits capacity in that sense. You cannot add more cars to certain trains because there is no place to store it later on. So some trains sit in the Depot all day, because there is no yard space, or the yard space available doesn't fit that train. Again this is an issue with loco hauled trains, as the loco takes up the space of a car. For example, there is free space for a 3 car loco hauled set, but the trains that are coming into there are 4-5-6 car sets. They can't use that track.
Contrary to what some folks want to believe, Hoboken is FAR from dead, and with the death of ARC, Hoboken is going to have to step up and be busier as its the only other option east of Newark now. And now a major choke point in the future (well, it is now too) is going to be Newark Penn. So much so I think that I woudln't be surprised if Broad St. Elizabeth is seriously looked at as a destination for some RVL trains, or West Trenton or Phillipsburg or whereever trains, if they are ever built, simply because there won't be any room in Newark Penn or on the NEC for these trains to go.
On the RR, "believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see"
John, aka "JTGSHU" passed away on August 26, 2013. We honor his memory and his devotion to railroading at railroad.net.
John, aka "JTGSHU" passed away on August 26, 2013. We honor his memory and his devotion to railroading at railroad.net.