NJ Transit's Morrisville Yard

Q: How are bassoons related to lawsuits?
A: Everyone cheers when the case is closed.

Q: Which is better: bassoon or oboe?
A: Bassoon - you can use it as a toilet plunger.

Q: What do a bass clarinet and a clarinet have to do with a bassoon?
A: The bass clarinet is heavy and the clarinet is flat - same as the bassoon.

Back to Morrisville and three more photos of the S&I facility. There are two mobile gantries on the upper level - one at the east end and one at the west end. As far as I know, they are not used in "normal" cleaning, servicing, inspecting, etc., activities (normal being the operative word), but are used to access the tops of locomotives as needed. If used, it is required the main (inside) catenary be in a de-energized state.

Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing!!!

That is much more involved than I would have imagined. Pretty cool.

The orchestra is gathered at the hall for the annual playing of Handel's Messiah during the holiday season.

The bassoonist is late, arriving just as the concert is about to start.

Conductor: "Do you want to tune up first?"
Bassoonist: "Why? Isn't it the same as last year?"

On to Morrisville and today's installment. Although primarily intended for electric locomotive powered train sets, the honor of the first locomotive (and train) in the new S&I facility went to 4206 in January 2008, just prior to the formal turnover by the prime contractor to NJT. In the first photo, 4206 and the wire train are sitting on track 1 cooling their heels, waiting for the inspection crew to arrive.

Q. What do you call a bassoonist that can play 3 notes?

A. Gifted.

On to Morrisville. The wire train now has all its inspection personnel aboard, moved over to Track 2 (the west end) and is about to enter the building. It is worth noting here the catenary circuits for both track 1 and track 2 are divided into sections: the circuits outside the S&I facility are controlled elsewhere (at some master desk, I presume). Others with more knowledge may chime in. The main (inside) catenary and the two buffer catenaries (one at each end of the building through the train doors) are controlled by the operators in the S&I facility. The buffer catenaries are interlocked such that the each buffer can be energized only when its respective train doors are fully opened - and - the train doors cannot be closed once the buffer is energized. In the photo, you can spot the breaks in the catenaries on both tracks - the sections heading into the building are the buffers.

Boy, all of these Bassoon jokes. Want to give it a break?

What's the difference between a viola and a violin?

The viola burns longer.

OK, OK, OK... One more and then I'm done:

What's the definition of Perfect Pitch?

It's when you throw the accordion into the dumpster and it hits the bassoon...

On to Morrisville. The wire train eventually found an interference and the contractors came up with a quick and temporary fix. Unlike the removable U-shaped guard rails on the upper platform, the yellow painted ones in these two photos are just the basic steel in concrete varieties. The white hat is standing at roughly ground level and you can see the gently sloped ramps up and down to the inspection areas. The "red pipes" hanging from the ceiling are the sanders.

I'll hold you to that.

And cool shots. All of them.

Great shots CP, good enjoyable explanations! And Nick come on the jokes were funny. Ok Ill shut up now.

beanbag wrote:Great shots CP, good enjoyable explanations! And Nick come on the jokes were funny. Ok Ill shut up now.

Too much of anything, even humor, isn't necessarily a good thing.

4206 and the wire train in the S&I facility, on track 2.

At this point, it is interesting to note the aluminum upside-down U-shaped guard rails on either side and spanning the length of the upper platform. All are relatively light and removable. Why so many instead of just two very long ones?

The working height of the upper platform (relative to top of rail) is roughly what you would expect to find at a passenger station. When a train set enters the building, it doesn't necessarily stop at the same point all the time. After the train is stopped, the passenger doors opened and the blue flags are lit, the cleaners remove (lift up) whatever individual guard rail is directly opposite an open passenger door, set it aside, enter the train, do their thing, exit the train and restore the guard rail. Pretty simple, huh?

4206 and the wire train in the S&I facility, on track 2. January 2008 photo.

This is the lower level view of the wire train. During normal operation with the passenger train sets, this would be the regular hangout for the car knockers - they do their running gear inspections (brakes, wheels, etc.) with pretty much everything at eye level. Notice also the red (unlit), green and blue globe lights all over the place. The red lights flash (strobe) when the main (inside) catenary is energized. The green lights (when illuminated) indicate the main (inside) catenary is off and the blue lights provide the blue flag indication. The combination illustrated here (red off, green on, blue on) is the "OK to go to work" signal for the S&I staff.

Cool stuff with all of the light indicators. Man, that's gotta be weird seeing a Geep come through with that much air and space below the rails.

I don't know anything about rolling stock maintenance, but it sure looks like NJT made a first class investment - you wonder how they got by without it. Are there any societies that get tours of the place? JS

pumpers wrote:I don't know anything about rolling stock maintenance, but it sure looks like NJT made a first class investment - you wonder how they got by without it. Are there any societies that get tours of the place? JS

I think it would be very cool if they could arrange a tour with various motive power and cars for summer camp & school group outings.