Train OI-5 and CR 8263 at Roselle Park entering the Lehigh Line.
	New Jersey Division defect detector MP3. Actual recordings made during operating sessions. Thanks to Henry Sommers for help with the audio transfer.
	A nocturnal MAIL-3 with CR 3364 in the lead at Columbus Park (6am lighting).
	We stop to photograph MAIL-44 with a leased LMS 728 at Columbus Park (6:30am).
	Looking up the street in South Plainfield, we catch SP-2.
	Action Red rides the New Jersey Division! Train DH266 with CP 5415 at Potter.
	The OIAL with CR 5585 in the lead at Cranford making setout for the Raritan Valley Railroad.
	Conrail ML-480 at Townley heading east.
	Sneaking between buildings, OIAL-X with CR 6451 is caught at NK Tower.
	A veritable sea of blue can be seen in the 91 Bay facility from the Delancy bridge.
	From yard: view showing receiving/running tracks - ML 480 on receiving / D&H power on Portside Running Track.
	From yard tower: OI-95 with CR 6937/1104 slug set from tower pulling cars.
	The Doremus Auto Ramp is a very busy facility, and serves the New York metro area.
	The OI-66 has 7898 and a caboose working the docks at Port Newark.
	We venture down under the Outerbridge Crossing to catch PR-13 and CR 1968.
	PR-13: CR 1968 at WC/ NJT passes by.
	Port Reading Yard with CR 9590 at the yard office.
	Here we see the PR-13 at PD heading north with a B23-7 in the lead.
	Morristown & Erie has the contract to switch out the Bayway refinery, seen here with M&E 19 on the Portside runner.
	On the Raritan Valley, NYSW 116 (an former New York, Ontario & Western NW-2) makes an appearance at Cranford setting out interchange.
	Looks like the ALOI has run-through power from CSXT working South Plainfield today.
	Caught at the crossing! Conrail train PIOI with 5072 at South Plainfield, NJ.
	A patched StL&H 5448 leads D&H train 265 at South Plainfield.
	ENOI: NS 7140 at South Plainfield
	TV-200: CR 4137 at South Plainfield
	Cotton Belt 8322 leads OIEL at South Plainfield, NJ.

By M. R. Snell/Photos by the Author
Originally published February 18, 2007

“CONRAIL...NEW MARKET NEW JERSEY...NO DEFECTS...OVER” crackles the New Market detector, beginning another day of railfanning along the New Jersey Division. It’s 6AM, and we’ve set up at Columbus Park to start our tour of the lines and the trains which inhabit the New Jersey Division. From our vantage point at Columbus Park the early morning sun is at just the right angle for a beautiful shot across the still water of train MAIL-3 passing beside the signal on its way west towards Allentown. With MAIL 3 by us, we decide to wait it out here for a little while & enjoy the warm morning alongside the pond. Besides, MAIL-44 should be due shortly. Our guess is correct and 20 minutes later MAIL-44 is pounding down the iron heading east to Portside Yard.

Early morning sees the last of the intermodal freight moving before the lines get busy with local freights. Knowing that MAIL-44 is probably the last of the morning intermodals let’s make a move a little further east and grab some coffee down at Sherban’s Diner in South Plainfield. From the parking lot we can see South Plainfield Yard as well as the Maintenance of Way shop. Off to the right is an ex-CNJ passenger car that was restored by students from a local vocational school.

“WPSP-2 CALLING THE LEHIGH LINE. WE’D LIKE TO OPEN UP AT SOUTH PLAINFIELD AND THEN HEAD EAST, OVER.”

“OK SP-2, PERMISSION TO OPEN UP AT SOUTH PLAINFIELD. I’LL NEED YOU TO CLEAR UP IN ABOUT AN HOUR, OVER.”

“ROGER. SP-2 HAS PERMISSION TO OPEN UP AT SOUTH PLAINFIELD & HAS AN HOUR TO WORK. WE’LL CALL YOU WHEN WE’RE IN THE CLEAR. SP-2 OUT.”

Sounds like SP-2 is getting ready to start their day. We hurry over to the fence to see GP-15 1601 come out of the yard and begin assembling their train from cars which were dropped off by last night’s ALOI. After the SP-2 crew has their train assembled they will proceed east, working industries along the Lehigh Line and the Perth Amboy Secondary. Knowing there’s time to move east, we head up to CP Potter in Edison. Potter is a well-known railfan “hotspot” and it’s not surprising that we meet other fans there.

“OIAL AT NK CALLING THE LEHIGH LINE. WE’D LIKE TO HEAD WEST WITH WORK AT THE RAHWAY VALLEY...”

“…OK OIAL. START ‘EM WEST TO CRANFORD AND TALK TO ME WHEN THE D&H 266 GETS BY YOU. LEHIGH LINE OUT.”

Almost instantaneously the New Market detector goes off alerting us to the eastbound D&H 266. After a short wait we see the 266 roll by us powered by a CP Rail SD40-2 and a gray St. Lawrence & Hudson SD40-2. As usual the train is anorexic, having only 3 cars. “Guess the D&H service to Newark never really caught on,” remarks one of the railfans, “Some days it’s heavier, but most days it’s pretty light like that.”

Since the 266 is approaching Cranford, we hop in our Bronco and dash up to Cranford arriving just in time to catch the OIAL making its setout and pickup for the Rahway Valley Railroad. The Rahway Valley is a shortline operation operating out of Kenilworth. The RV will pick up these cars later in the day & return outbound cars for pickup by tomorrow’s OIAL. Having completed their work at Cranford, the OIAL heads west and we opt to move a little further up the Lehigh Line to CP Townley.

“WPOI-5 CALLING THE LEHIGH LINE - WE’D LIKE TO OPEN UP AT ROSELLE PARK & GO WEST TO CRANFORD.”

“OK WPOI-5, PERMISSION TO OPEN UP AT ROSELLE PARK. ONCE THE ML 480 GETS BY YOU AT CRANFORD I CAN GIVE YOU THE SIGNAL AT CRANFORD FOR HEADROOM, OVER.”

“ROGER. WPOI-5 HAS PERMISSION TO OPEN UP AT ROSELLE PARK. WE’LL LET YOU KNOW WHEN THE ML 480 GETS BY US. WPOI-5 OUT.”

On the way to Townley we catch the OI-5 coming off the Irvington Industrial Track & entering the Lehigh Line. Today’s power is Conrail 8263 plus one other GP38-2. The OI-5 works west from Oak Island to Potter. After he leaves Oak Island he goes up the Irvington Industrial Track and then works west on the Lehigh Line. Then he’ll go back & finish up his work on the Irvington Industrial Track and work the Lehigh Line up around Townley. Upon our arrival at Townley we see that NK Tower has already given ML-480 a signal. Within a few minutes the ML-480 passes by us with their cargo of autoracks destined for the Doremus Auto Facility at Oak Island Yard. Now that the ML-480 has passed by us we’ll make a move east to Oak Island Yard.

Arriving at NK Tower on the outskirts of Oak Island Yard we see the OIAL-X, a second unscheduled section of the OIAL sitting at NK awaiting clearance to proceed west. After shooting the OIAL-X we take a drive up the Delancy Street bridge which overlooks the engine terminal. Known as “91 Bay,” the engine terminal has three sets of power on the servicing tracks. Buried in the last servicing track is a CSX locomotive. Run-through power is common on the trains from Allentown and Enola due to interchange agreements with the CSX and NS Railroads.

Getting back to ground level we head to the yard office where we’ve arranged a short tour of the yard with the blessing of the Superintendent. After signing releases and donning hard hats and safety glasses, we’re escorted up to the yard tower. Oak Island Yard is the terminus for manifest trains and is quite a busy place. Run-through tracks allow trains to enter Portside Intermodal Yard and the Chemical Coast Secondary Track. Oak Island also hosts three daily locals as well as the yard’s 24-hour classification job. Freight destined for the Morristown & Erie’s Bayway refinery switch job is also classified here and moved via a nightly transfer run from Port Reading Yard. Freight destined for Port Reading Yard used to be classified here but is now handled on dedicated trains PICC and CCAL which run through the yard without stopping.

Looking out from the yard tower we can see that the ML-480 is in the receiving yard. The YPOI-95 is switching cars on the yard ladder with its usual SD38-MT6 mother-slug set, making up several of the westbound trains for later in the day. Looking out onto the Portside Running Track we can see the D&H power from the 266 heading out of Portside Yard after depositing their train at the Intermodal Yard. Now that we’ve spent the morning on the Lehigh Line and visited Oak Island it’s time to move on.

Traveling to the far side of the yard we pass by the Doremus Ave. Auto Ramp. The cars that ML-480 brought in earlier are now being spotted for unloading. We’ll make a quick trip into Port Newark and catch the OI-66 working the port warehouses. We stop at Angelo’s to grab a couple of hot dogs and sit out at the picnic table to watch Conrail 7898 switch the warehouses. Just past the 7898 we see the Portside Intermodal Terminal, the terminus for all the intermodal freight we saw this morning. “Conrail 7898 is one of those odd Conrail locomotives,” says our railfan friend in the back seat, “The pilots were painted yellow when it was assigned to the Bayway Refinery. Then the Morristown & Erie took over switching and the engine is now in the local power pool at Oak Island.”

We hop on the Turnpike and head south to Port Reading in an attempt to catch the WPPR-13. Upon our arrival at the yard we find out the PR-13 is working in Perth Amboy, so we head down there to try to find it. As we arrive in Perth Amboy we see the PR-13 switching Raritan River Steel. Today’s power is Conrail 1968, a B23-7 showing signs of wear on it’s standard blue paint job. After switching the steel facility the PR-13 will head out onto the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line to service Goldberg’s Scrapyard so we make a quick move to WC interlocking. After a short wait the PR-13 eases out under the catenary and up to the tower to await the passing of an NJT commuter run. Since we’re pressed for time we opt to head back to Port Reading Yard.

At Port Reading we see Conrail 9590 sitting next to the yard office. This locomotive will be used tonight by the WPPR-30. This is the transfer run that handles cars for the Bayway Refinery as well as any overflow from CCAL that must be taken to Oak Island for classification to move west. The scanner crackles to life:

“WPPR-13 CALLING THE BRANCHLINE DISPATCHER, OVER.”

“BRANCHLINE ANSWERING THE PR-13, OVER”

“WE’RE AT WC READY TO HEAD BACK TO PORT READING, OVER”

Hearing that on the radio we walk over to CP PD where the yard lead joins the Chemical Coast Secondary. It’s not too long a wait until we see Conrail 1968 again, this time passing us with a string of cars in tow. Once the train has passed us the crew will make a reverse move into Port Reading Yard.

We know that it’s getting around time for the M&E to get into the act at Bayway, so we’ll venture up the Chemical Coast to the Refinery. Sure enough, the M&E Alco is getting ready to head out onto the Chemical Coast to pick up the cars dropped off by last night’s PR-30. Realizing we have just enough time to get over to the Rahway Valley, we shoot over to Cranford. Having completed all their switching for the day, we see the RV crew making their interchange setout. The power they are using today is the NYSW 116, painted in it’s original NYO&W colors. “The Rahway Valley is operated by Delaware Otsego, which owns the NYS&W,” explains our friend, “So you can get some unusual equipment out here.”

We decide it’s time for dinner, and Sherban’s Diner will provide both food and trains, so we’ll head back there for the rest of the night. A streetlight alongside the tracks is an added bonus. Once we get to South Plainfield we are greeted with the ALOI. This train will be picking up & setting out cars at South Plainfield for the SP-2, so we’ve got a few minutes before any traffic resumes. After grabbing a bite to eat we head back to the tracks, moving a little further west to where the old CNJ heavyweight is on display. Soon we’re treated to PIOI which is running late, followed by TV-61.

After about an hour wait the crossing gates come down & the OIPI heads west, followed by the D&H 265 shortly thereafter. After another hour ENOI heads east through South Plainfield, followed by TV-200 heading for Portside. “I’d bet TV-200 goes around ENOI.” Sure enough TV 200 has priority over the manifest freight and we know that we won’t be getting any westbound traffic for a while. We had heard from fans earlier that there was an SP tunnel motor going west tonight and ventured a guess that it would be heading to Elkhart on the OIEL. We’ll stick around and see, even though it’s getting late. Finally an hour and a half later we hear the horn of the OIEL approaching the crossing. As OIEL blasts by us with a Cotton Belt SD40T-2 in the consist, we decide to call it a day.

About the Author
Matt and Debie Snell’s HO scale Conrail New Jersey Division has been featured in Great Model Railroads, Railmodel Journal, Allen Keller’s Great Model Railroads DVD series, and of course, on RAILROAD.NET. Matt is also a co-founder of the Conrail Modeler’s Resource website.