CR on the Southern Secondary

The good old days. I miss them.

OCtrainguy wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 8:42 pm I stumbled across a photo I remember taking, but couldn't find. It wasn't anything overly exciting, just showed that sometimes things don't always go as you hope when trackside. This photo is from May 3, 2018. I had a small window of time after work to catch the SA31. They hadn't gotten to Farmingdale, so I waited for them at the Asbury Ave grade crossing in Howell, by Extech. With some patience, I eventually see a headlight approach, but the train stopped, and didn't move for a while. Not sure what was going on, but the time I had ran out. So that late afternoon venture just got one photo of the train using my zoom lens. CSX 4432 lead the train that day.

http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=6170767

Picture came out good anyway. At least you'd got to see 31. That's where we'd lay back. A nice shady spot away from most prying eyes and won't hold down the crossing. Wait til the sun went down to go into Farmingdale. Less fanatics hanging around. We used to take a spot by Earle. Someone with a camera over there and frequent visits from Earle police put the kebash to stopping there. The Earle police guys'd call Oak Island to report a suspicious train stopped along their property.

Interesting tidbit on Earle. Guess since it's been quite some time since there was an interchange of anything, they forget they do have rail service.

OCtrainguy wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2023 5:59 pm Interesting tidbit on Earle. Guess since it's been quite some time since there was an interchange of anything, they forget they do have rail service.

IIRC, Earle does not get weapons shipments anymore, they are now used as a facility to dispose of ordinance from ships, rather than resupplying them. Someone here said they were on one of the last Earle railroad shipments somewhere in the early 2000's.

That's right, they don't get rail service and per my guys their, they've no interest in outside rail. They'd don't care for internal rail either.

Lakehurst Yard. Date unknown

That is a georgeous picture. Notice the wires still on the lower telegraph poles? (I think they are gone now??). I am guessing that picture is from somewhere around 1973?

I guess the 3 or 4 boxcars on the western track were for/or from the Navy? That's their lead isn't it? For the longest time, I was used to see the Navy lead terminating on the east side of S. Hope Chapel Rd next to a truck/trailer loading ramp . I know 50 years prior, the tracks entered the base, turned north, paralleled S. Hope Chapel Rd with multiple sidings leading to Hangar 1, Base Supply, and a couple of other spots.

Since that is north of the Rt 70 bridge, would it still be considered part of their interchange yard? Lakehurst used to be quite extensive with a round house, car repair shop, water tower, sidings into town (behind the hardware store), as well as the station (I believe that was before the CNJ bought it).

AceMacSD wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2023 3:58 pm That's right, they don't get rail service and per my guys their, they've no interest in outside rail. They'd don't care for internal rail either.

I hear their internal train barely runs anymore. The second track that they had for their internal railroad has been OOS and cut from numerous crossings for a while now.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 12:49 pm IMG_3862.jpg
Lakehurst Yard. Date unknown

An interesting thing to note, OCTrainguy took pictures of a train in around the same spot, as seen below

OCtrainguy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:05 pm I was out of state attending a conference and then on vacation, so I wasn't around to photo Conrail's last run on the old Southern this past Thursday. But, with photographing the line for 25 years, there's been a lot of neat things seen over the years.

Here are a few to start. These are print photos scanned onto a not the best scanner I had.

August 1999 with CSX 2806 and Conrail 7738 in Lakehurst with some views of the former CNJ tracks on both side of Route 70.
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=5795042
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=5795049
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=5795047

May 2000 with NS 2946 (needing a repaint after tagging) tied down in Lakehurst. You can see the lead for the Toms River Industrial coming off the main and the train tied down on the other main.
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=5795043

April 2001 with CSX 4422 from the Route 70 overpass and you can see the 2 tracks along the right side of the ROW have been removed.
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=5795050

What a difference 20 or so years made!

CJPat wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 4:33 pm That is a georgeous picture. Notice the wires still on the lower telegraph poles? (I think they are gone now??). I am guessing that picture is from somewhere around 1973?

I'm going to go on a whim and say it was 1975-1976, or right around when the CNJ went bust - the CNJ rebuilt much of the Southern Secondary around that time, for some reason. The tracks in this picture look pretty damn good, so this has to be around the time they put in that last minute maintenance before CNJ ceased to exist.

JohnFromJersey wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 5:04 pm

AceMacSD wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2023 3:58 pm That's right, they don't get rail service and per my guys their, they've no interest in outside rail. They'd don't care for internal rail either.

I hear their internal train barely runs anymore. The second track that they had for their internal railroad has been OOS and cut from numerous crossings for a while now.

My guys over there say that second track is owned by the army not navy and army has no use for it. Hence why it's cut up. This may make for a possible tourist operation... Stay tuned.

If you have a Facebook account, I would strongly recommend getting access to the "Freehold Secondary Railfans" & "Chesapeake & Delaware Railfans" groups. Lots of old pictures of the Southern, especially during its Conrail days, are popping up in there. A couple ones of the old diamond in Farmingdale are there too from the CNJ and PRR days!

Ace, I’ve always thought a tourist op would/could be successful… nothing other than the loop at allaire in the area.. don’t know if you have a volunteer program in place but I would offer my time if the opportunity is there. I volunteered 15 years at steamtown national historic site. I ran/fired steam and diesel and worked the ground in the yard and the road..

Farmingdale 1994. Marl Road with a ballast train. Notice the tank car on the left...

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AceMacSD wrote: ↑Fri Oct 06, 2023 5:06 am My guys over there say that second track is owned by the army not navy and army has no use for it. Hence why it's cut up. This may make for a possible tourist operation... Stay tuned.

Choochoo759 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2023 3:30 pm Ace, I’ve always thought a tourist op would/could be successful… nothing other than the loop at allaire in the area.. don’t know if you have a volunteer program in place but I would offer my time if the opportunity is there. I volunteered 15 years at steamtown national historic site. I ran/fired steam and diesel and worked the ground in the yard and the road..

I have a hard time believing the DoD will allow a tourist railroad to operate within the property of an active US Navy base, especially with stories like this recently..

If they do, I expect the volunteers/employees of it will have to have some sort of high-level security clearance.

Oops. Forgot to put the picture in.

A ballast train heading north on the Southern through Farmingdale in 1994. Notice the tank car in the background...

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Those B23-7’s seemed to be confined to North Jersey up to New York State and the Boston areas. Nice pic. Looks like a GP38 trailing.