Raritan River RR / Milltown news

bigblue5277 wrote:On August 7th Conrail removed several powered signals for the Sayreville Running Track siding at Cotters Ln. and Mauser and replaced them with wooden crossing signs. I wonder what the reason was for the downgrade being that Mauser is receiving covered hoppers on Thursdays and possibly Mondays as well.

Crossings are expense. Probably cheaper and easier just to stop and flag the crossing each way once a week.

[/quote] Interesting. I didn't have a chance to report, but I guess that might be why on Sunday (Aug 4th) I saw a Hi-Rail truck parked on the track near the Ryders Ln crossing...[/quote]

Cotters Lane will be closed Sept 17th for railroad crossing maintenance. It is bumpy driving over the rail crossing so maybe they will make improvements to that. There is already a Railroad Construction Co. digger placed at the sight.

They begun work on the Cotters Ln. Crossing which is used to serve Mauser Corp. a week late.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3637101" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You can see the newly installed wooden RR crossing signs in the pic as well.

The signals at Cotters lane haven't worked for years. It makes sense to replace them w wooden crossbucks and have someone flag the crossing. It's what they normally do anyway.

Also they replaced all of the trackage on the bridge over the NJTPK, and they have been doing tie replacement between Ryders Ln and the switch at Highview.

painterman wrote:The signals at Cotters lane haven't worked for years. It makes sense to replace them w wooden crossbucks and have someone flag the crossing. It's what they normally do anyway.

Also they replaced all of the trackage on the bridge over the NJTPK, and they have been doing tie replacement between Ryders Ln and the switch at Highview.

Thanks for posting this info. I did notice some of those tie replacements where you're talking about. It was easy to spot b/c they didn't put all the ballast back after replacing the ties. It's nice to see them maintaining the line.

SA2 was idling at Highview around 1:30pm on Thursday. The train consisted of a locomotive and splat car. Soon after they worked Mauser.

The locomotive is seen here depositing the splat car onto an empty siding.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3671235" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Next the locomotive pulls a string of covered hoppers away from Mauser to collect the last car.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3671237" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The locomotive is now shoving that same string of hoppers to deposit the last car onto the siding where the splat car sits.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 25&nseq=61" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The locomotive has returned the rest of the hoppers to Mauser, and is about to pick up the empty hopper and splat car for return to Browns Yard. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 54&nseq=32" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

bigblue5277 wrote:SA2 was idling at Highview around 1:30pm on Thursday. The train consisted of a locomotive and splat car. Soon after they worked Mauser.

The locomotive is seen here depositing the splat car onto an empty siding.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3671235" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Next the locomotive pulls a string of covered hoppers away from Mauser to collect the last car.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3671237" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The locomotive is now shoving that same string of hoppers to deposit the last car onto the siding where the splat car sits.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 25&nseq=61" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The locomotive has returned the rest of the hoppers to Mauser, and is about to pick up the empty hopper and splat car for return to Browns Yard. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 54&nseq=32" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nice shots Jason. Is Silverline windows no longer a customer? Sad to hear that there is possibly only 1 customer west of South River these days...

TAMR213 wrote: Nice shots Jason. Is Silverline windows no longer a customer? Sad to hear that there is possibly only 1 customer west of South River these days...

Silverline is still a customer. I spoke briefly with a member of the SA2 crew, and asked how often they go to Silverline. He said, "rarely".

Thanks for the update, Jason, and very nice photos....
Chris

Thanks Chris and Erik for your compliments.

SA2 crossed Hart Rd. and made it to Highview around 1:15 pm today. CSX 2814, boxcar, covered hopper and splat. The train served Mauser, and appears it did not go to Silverline. So who was the boxcar for? My guess is it went to an industry just east of the Sayreville Wye. Does anyone know what that industry is?

bigblue5277 wrote:Thanks Chris and Erik for your compliments.

SA2 crossed Hart Rd. and made it to Highview around 1:15 pm today. CSX 2814, boxcar, covered hopper and splat. The train served Mauser, and appears it did not go to Silverline. So who was the boxcar for? My guess is it went to an industry just east of the Sayreville Wye. Does anyone know what that industry is?

While not east of the Wye, is it possible that the boxcar went to Riverside Supply (between the South River Draw and the Wye)? AFAIK they used to receive boxcars of brick or other assorted masonry products.

Also, didn't see this until after the fact but it was reported that early in the morning (12-5 am time frame) of October 13th, a high and wide shipment of a transformer powered by NS 5311 and CSX 4406 made its way to the Browns Division by way of MIDWAY. Train was apparently dropped at Riverside Supply (Jernee Mill Road) to be off-loaded and trucked to its final destination with the engines returning to Oak Island on the normal NJCL/Chemical Coast transfer. The only customers that I could imagine this going to would be the power plant at the end of River Road or the power plant on Red Oak Lane (both in Sayreville).

TAMR213 wrote:While not east of the Wye, is it possible that the boxcar went to Riverside Supply (between the South River Draw and the Wye)? AFAIK they used to receive boxcars of brick or other assorted masonry products.

Now that you mention it I've seen 1 or 2 box cars on their property north of the tracks, but it looked like they were sitting on the ground. Could of just been low tracks.
I bet that's where the boxcar went, Riverside Supply is just west of Jernee Mill Rd. Thanks.

TAMR213 wrote:Also, didn't see this until after the fact but it was reported that early in the morning (12-5 am time frame) of October 13th, a high and wide shipment of a transformer powered by NS 5311 and CSX 4406 made its way to the Browns Division by way of MIDWAY. Train was apparently dropped at Riverside Supply (Jernee Mill Road) to be off-loaded and trucked to its final destination with the engines returning to Oak Island on the normal NJCL/Chemical Coast transfer. The only customers that I could imagine this going to would be the power plant at the end of River Road or the power plant on Red Oak Lane (both in Sayreville).

That's a very Interesting move, thanks for sharing.

SA2 served Mauser around 3:30 pm this past Thursday. They dropped off and picked up one hopper.
Instead of flagging the crossings the crew instead uses road flares.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3678749" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3678751" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3678747" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is something worth reporting. Mauser, which gets served Mondays and Thursdays got served today. I believe they were also served on Tuesday as well. Is this a temporary thing or could it be a more permanent change in the schedule?

I was also under the impression that the South River Drawbridge only kept open during the summer months, however she was open this afternoon.

The train went to Silverline Windows today, but not to Mauser.
I caught SA2 on the return near Highview Industrial Park.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3688194" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;