Discharging pax at Bay Head grade crossing

Funny thing I never knew about NJT. I was on a NJCL train last week and sometimes the crew would let pax step off at the strangest places. For example at Bay Head the crew let us off in the middle of a grade crossing which I thought was pretty cool. Is this normal proceedure? I remember getting of a Suffern train and walking thru gravel.

Yes. The grade crossing scheme at Bay Head is normal, since the only real platform is on the outbound track, and you arrive at the inbound track for the train to go into the yard. I've gone there twice on railfan trips. It's so quiet and tranquil. And the shore is just a 7 minute walk from the station. (You need badges to get into the beach though)

I remember getting of a Suffern train and walking thru gravel

I changed at Suffern once, getting off Metro-North RDCs to catch NJT Comet Is; passengers had to climb down and walk across the ballast.

Yeah, it's common to do it there. The switch that would allow the train to let passengers off directly to the platform is a throw switch I think and this is why they let folks off at the crossing. (Someone correct me if I am wrong please.)

As long as I can remember, passengers disembarked at the grade crossing. Tht used to happen at the low-platform PPB station once in a while and at Manasquan and Spring Lake, too

^Actually, that is what they do for eastbound trains at Mt. Tabor as well.

EDIT: And on the Gladstone Branch, having an 8 car MidTown and a 9 car MidTown Direct train, passengers quite often disembark off of the train onto the street and sometimes onto just plain old ground. Up to Berkeley Heights, the platforms can handle the whole train or at least a good part of it (Berkeley Heights has a really long platform for some reason- and they rarely use it all) but once you get to Gillette, they get smaller. Gillete can handle 3-4 cars. Stirling can handle most of the train, Millinton about 3-4 cars etc. So crews, do try to make passengers walk forward, but it is common to be let out onto plain old ground at the stations further west. And sometimes (like Peapack) the ground is angled down because of the traicks and it is quite a drop.

Passengers are always let off at the Grade Crossing in Rutherford.

It's funny because the train stops right on top of the road blocking traffic for atleast 5 minutes because one hell of a lot of people get off at Rutherford. Then the entire traffic circle, Park Ave, Union Ave, Erie Ave & Orient Way become parking lots for like 10 minutes.

sullivan1985 wrote:Passengers are always let off at the Grade Crossing in Rutherford.

It's funny because the train stops right on top of the road blocking traffic for atleast 5 minutes because one hell of a lot of people get off at Rutherford. Then the entire traffic circle, Park Ave, Union Ave, Erie Ave & Orient Way become parking lots for like 10 minutes.

I personally love the sight of the 9-car train blocking the Plainfield Ave crossing in BH. It's a beautiful thing.

sullivan1985 wrote:Passengers are always let off at the Grade Crossing in Rutherford.

It's funny because the train stops right on top of the road blocking traffic for atleast 5 minutes because one hell of a lot of people get off at Rutherford. Then the entire traffic circle, Park Ave, Union Ave, Erie Ave & Orient Way become parking lots for like 10 minutes.

This was also the case at the old Matawan Station where two crossings would be blocked during station stops. The name of the major road escapes me right now, but traffic was a mess when the train was stopped. NJT corrected this problem by constructing a new station just east of the existing station so the main crossing would no longer be blocked during stops.

My stop is just gravel so they discharge us on the street as well. Only problem is that some people have a hard time making it up the steps to board the train since the first step up is pretty large.

I also see that Nick11a now has 999 posts, I can't wait to see what his title will be changed to when he hits 1000!

Re: Bay Head

SOP there for....well, like forever.

transit383 wrote:

sullivan1985 wrote:Passengers are always let off at the Grade Crossing in Rutherford.

It's funny because the train stops right on top of the road blocking traffic for atleast 5 minutes because one hell of a lot of people get off at Rutherford. Then the entire traffic circle, Park Ave, Union Ave, Erie Ave & Orient Way become parking lots for like 10 minutes.

This was also the case at the old Matawan Station where two crossings would be blocked during station stops. The name of the major road escapes me right now, but traffic was a mess when the train was stopped. NJT corrected this problem by constructing a new station just east of the existing station so the main crossing would no longer be blocked during stops.

NJT cant do that at Rutherford because the entire area is now 100% developed. Although, a lot of people from rutherford have complained saying that NJt should staop their trains before the street. Not like that makes a differance though because the gates will still stay down until the train has left the station. (I guess its just how they have the motion detectors set up.

transit383: The "new" Matawan station (or is it Aberdeen?) is actually WEST (RR direction) of the old station and the street is Main Street.

arrow wrote:I also see that Nick11a now has 999 posts, I can't wait to see what his title will be changed to when he hits 1000!

Is the suspense killing you? Good. I deliberately held off a while before making my thousandth post. Just reached a thousand a few minutes ago in the Comet IB post.

NY&LB wrote:transit383: The "new" Matawan station ( or is it Aberdeen???), is actually WEST (RR direction) of the old station and the street is Main Street.

Yep, that is correct.