Delaware and Raritan River Railroad-General Discussion

I agree that they are working on the Southern Div first ,then focus on rebuilding the section between Freehold and Farmingdale. The Southern Div was beaten up by years of sand trains and last springs derailment was a wakeup call.

A desperately needed one at that. I was there when it happened. Very scary!

Anyone see/hear RB-1 today?

Haven’t seen or heard a thing from RB-1 today in Lakewood.

Practically all construction in Lakewood has stopped for the past week because of the Jewish holiday. That could be the reason for no Friday train to Woodhaven.

Why not do the construction during these times? On Saturday’s and certain Jewish holidays, Lakewood is a total ghost town. No need to worry about them walking down the tracks or running lights at crossings during this time.

Their religious protocols require that no manual labor be done on any Jewish-held property during the holy days or the sabbath.
It's funny, usually during their holidays the County comes in and does a ton of road work while the traffic is manageable. Contractors, landscapers and deliveries are all squashed during the Jewish Holidays. Haven't seen a Woodhaven truck on the roads all week.

No portion of the railroad ROW isn’t owned by them to my knowledge. Good time to do some work and to bring the train through. Back when Conrail ran their weekend extras the train came through town with no issues at all. No one riding the side of the train and very few walking down the tracks. Probably because the train would come through when most were in their synagogues vs running on Friday when Lakewood becomes a complete nightmare to go through regardless of wether your running a train or driving a car.

When you say “Woodhaven truck” are you referring to their box trucks? Whenever I see the train they usually have a lot of flatbeds going in and out of their facility…

Some clarification - I meant when construction is put on hold then demand for materials from Woodhaven stops as well.
I was referring to the Woodhaven flat bed trucks full of house-building lumber and pre-fab trusses.
No construction means no demand and no throughput of lumber.

As per a friend, tie installation is occurring between Squankum Yellowbrook and Marl Rd, and some form of work going on north or Main Street…

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 17, 2022 12:58 pm As per a friend, tie installation is occurring between Squankum Yellowbrook and Marl Rd, and some form of work going on north or Main Street…

Is the work on the SOUS or the FIT?

The Southern.

Speaking of the Southern, Conrail still hasn’t brought the train to Red Bank. Word is they have a crew shortage…

Southern. Nothing happening Freehold-Farmingdale.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 17, 2022 6:25 pm The Southern.

Speaking of the Southern, Conrail still hasn’t brought the train to Red Bank. Word is they have a crew shortage…

A believe a strike or something is happening to a lot of the Class I's right now.

Not sure if NJT would like C&D's engines up the Coastline and back to grab the train if Conrail won't do it, at least 2005/6 (whatever the newer engine they have) has PTC.

There is no strike on the class 1's. The unions are in the process of voting for or against the current contract proposal. Some of the unions have voted yes, and at least one has voted no. The unions representing trainmen and engineers won't be voting until mid November.
I have no idea about the personnel situation at CSAO, but on the Class 1's there are crew issues in many areas. Many are quitting due to the effects of PSR and they can't seem to keep most of the newly hired conductors. They either quit before finishing training or shortly after getting marked up. This in spite of the higher pay and bonuses the Class 1's are offering.