NYSW passenger service restoration

Just dont forget that the way the NYSW is going now with the locomotive situation and all. They still have trouble getting through Butler on the SU99 where as of late they have been taking a while to get through. I remember on the last chase i went on they were reporting just 8 mph in Butler so unless the NYSW would get better or possibly new motive power NJT still might have the slow westbound frieghts to deal with on Monday Wednesday and Friday nights.

I believe that eventual service to Warwick could be feasable as the line and the station is close to the center of town. Also while Jones Chemical uses some of the former L&HR Warwick yard, I believe there is enough room on the property to store 6-8 trainsets on 3-4 tracks. But NJT needs to resolve the money and property issues first.

So let's say the NYSW project gets off the ground. Where will they locate the stations and parking lots?

Hawthorne will fill up quickly along Royal and Grand streets in town.

Wortendyke (Midland Park) gets kind of busy with the existing bus service.

Wyckoff has the parking lots at the closed A&P grocery market, if not the land adjacent tot he YMCA.

Franklin Lakes has some rather expensive land adjacent to the tennis courts on Old Mill Road, unless something can be worked out near Industrial Road, where the old crossing used to be.

Oakland has the land at the foot of Elm Street, behind Oakland Pizza. They also seem to have some empty lots behind 84 Lumber.

Parking in Pompton Lakes generally stinks all the time. I seem to recall an empty lot in the North East quadrant of the diamond at Pompton Junction. Since it would be easily accessible from Ringwood Avenue, perhaps it would work out well for residents of Haskell, Wanaque, and Ringwood.

Bloomingdale has the overgrown farm adjacent to the Hamburg Turnpike highway crossing, if not a little space off of Matthews Ave.

Unless the old PQ Plant and boilerhouse are torn down, downtown Butler doesn't seem to have too much land to offer for a decent station facility.

Excelsior Mills might work out nicely for people traveling on route 23 west of Kinnelon, as well as people from Upper Greenwood Lake and Warwick. The drive from Butler/Bloomingdale to the Warwick Drive-in Theater takes about 30 minutes via Macopin Road. It might also work out well for Kinnelon residents.

Most points west seem to have more space near the tracks.

Any more conjecture?

Well, for those of us who don't have to worry about the practicalities and logistics, let me just say that "it would be very, very cool".
BigDell

I'm for bringing out the ol' 142 for revenue commuter service.

The parking and access issues at several NYSW stations was also a concern to the original report writers. It's highly probable that the close in towns (Hawthorne, Midland Park, Wycoff, to Butler) will try to limit parking, or eliminate it all together. Like Montclair did. Very few towns see a surge of out of towners parking all day as a big plus. On the other hand, walking to a station is considered a huge property plus.

I'd definitely like to see some form of ParkRide at the junction of the NYSW and 208/287, and perhaps near the industrial park on West Oakland Avenue by the trestle. That's also convenient to the bus.

fairlane57 wrote:I'm for bringing out the ol' 142 for revenue commuter service.

The 'ol 142 is not a very accurate statement. It was built in China in the 80's, and is newer then most of NYSW & NJT's locomotives...

Butlershops wrote:

trainfreak wrote: So NJT would have to deal with a good amount of freight traffic.

11 trains a week is not a lot of freight traffic. Most of the work is east of Passaic Junction. The local comes out in the late evening to work between Passaic Junction and Butler. There are 6 road trains per week.

The Pascack Valley has quite a bit of fright traffic as well, and NJT seems to be doing just fine there.

The NYSW has work, but it is no Lehigh or River Line. The route west of PC is still relatively quiet.

Well you have to remember, NJT owns the Pascack Valley and they have trackage rights over those tracks when ever they want. The frieght service has to work around NJT's schedual.

In the NYSW case, NJT has to work around the NYSW service times (which souldnt bo too hard considering there inst that much to work around when compared to other lines with high frieght cvolume)

Best way to get something started is to "fast cycle" 2 sets between Butler and Secaucus Transfer. Continual cycling. No new equipment or yards needed. They could place those older 4100-4112 units at each end with tuned up C1/C1A/C1B cars in the middle.

Too much pork and politics to have new equipment, new yards, and a longer run.

Service could be started up very quickly this way.And what about the proposed Hawthorne to Hackensack service that was promoted with so much enthusiam last winter.Has there been any movement on that?

MickD wrote:Service could be started up very quickly this way.And what about the proposed Hawthorne to Hackensack service that was promoted with so much enthusiam last winter.Has there been any movement on that?

No

Why am I not surprised.

BlockLine_4111 wrote:Best way to get something started is to "fast cycle" 2 sets between Butler and Secaucus Transfer.

According to Bob Scheurle's web page:
http://www.nj.com/njtransit/index.ssf?/ ... wsked.html

A train would take at least 4 hours to depart Hoboken, get to Sparta, and return to Hoboken. The connection at Suscon is still not working, the hand-thrown switch and derail on track 2 at Hawthorne would have to be utilized. Then the hand-thrown switch on the NYSW would have to be operated. The speed limit between Riverside and Butler in 25 MPH, and 30 MPH between Butler and Lime (Sparta). Note that the proposed schedule in the above link assumes faster track speeds.

If equipment is deadheaded west in the morning there will be inevitable conflicts with SU-100 freights. If equipment is deadheaded east in the evening there will be conflicts with westbound SU-99 freights.

Shuttling the equipment between Paterson and Sparta isn't much better. The signal system around Paterson is not set up for this and will be cumberson at best. Reverse moves would have to be made a restricted speed and trains would have to be held at Mill and Suscon while these moves are made.

How can anything can be "fast cycled" in this situation? The best that could be done is two trains per rush hour. That sounds like pitiful service to me.

Maybe not to start with.Granted,long term it'd never suffice.But if you were to graduate the frequency by degrees to what the Pascack Valley line has had for the last 40 years,that MIGHT work.This line will never provide into the kind of service the BC/ML's or M&E have but I can't help think a 4-6 train a day operation could be viable in time with what ultimately call for track upgrades.

FWIW, there is an old thread on this topic:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2015