Delaware and Raritan River Railroad-General Discussion

Was that was the shipments in the 2000s were? Something about nuclear contaminated dirt from a warhead that was underground????

BOMARC site
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOMARC_mi ... ident_site
From April 2002 through May 27, 2004,[1][17] 21,998 cu yd (16,819 m3) of "contaminated debris and soils were packaged, shipped, and disposed"[18] at Clive, Utah;[19] the remains of the shelter were removed.

RB-1 South at DCS LAKEWOOD 9:

752 and 5 for Woodhaven.

Only report I’ll be able to provide today.

NY&LB wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 3:25 am

Was that was the shipments in the 2000s were? Something about nuclear contaminated dirt from a warhead that was underground????

BOMARC site
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOMARC_mi ... ident_site
From April 2002 through May 27, 2004,[1][17] 21,998 cu yd (16,819 m3) of "contaminated debris and soils were packaged, shipped, and disposed"[18] at Clive, Utah;[19] the remains of the shelter were removed.

Interesting that they used nuclear warheads for anti-air missiles. I guess they expected hundreds of Soviet bombers to come at once, and a nuke going off would take out as many of them as possible

Back then, atomic weapons were considered for use in all types of weaponry. Ground to Air, Air to Ground, Artillery, Torpedoes, Hand Placed Demolitions (ideal for Railyards, large bridges-think on the scale of Delaware Memorial, Tappan Zee, & GW), Dams, and airports) and even hand grenades. For the Army, all we really have left are the artillery shells (and possibly some of the Patriot missles) in storage and maybe some of the man-packed nukes for special operations.

Bigger burst area pulls down more aircraft and you don't have to be as accurate. This was done from the late 1940's into the 1960's. We were only just developing anunderstanding about the impact or radiation and fallout and that it wasn't just a "superbomb". I am not even sure we were fully understanding the impact of the resulting EMP pulse that occurs.

We got rid of those systems because there was too high a probability of detonating one of the United States or Canada over populated areas and having "residuals" cause "by-stander" damage. That is when we really began on focusing on accuracy and the one shot-one kill mantra for our various weapons while the Russians maintained large area destruction procedures (accuracy not so important when you are removing entire grid squares with your artillery).

Beautiful week for track work. Any changes?

When I looked last I didn’t see anything different between Fairfield and Yellowbrook, but I’d imagine they are close to completing work on the north wye leg in Farmingdale by now.

Or at the very least, have all the track in place and connected.

There has been a truck and crew working their way to Fairfield from Yellowbrook for the past week or so. I guess they are remediating problem areas as that section is a little swampy in places. They seem to be about a quarter mile from Fairfield now.
There is a ballast hopper parked at Okerson. Guess they're gonna ballast between Okerson and the Prestone switch.
They also appear to be working in the area of the tiny little bridge in Farmingdale. But the main effort seems to be the crossing on 524.

CharlieL wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 1:39 pm There has been a truck and crew working their way to Fairfield from Yellowbrook for the past week or so. I guess they are remediating problem areas as that section is a little swampy in places. They seem to be about a quarter mile from Fairfield now.
There is a ballast hopper parked at Okerson. Guess they're gonna ballast between Okerson and the Prestone switch.
They also appear to be working in the area of the tiny little bridge in Farmingdale. But the main effort seems to be the crossing on 524.

Thanks Charlie for all the updates (this one and all of your previous reports).
After the items you mention:
1. Ballasting Okerson - Prestone
2. Finishing the roadbed and rail in the last 1/4 mile east of Fairfield
3. The Route 524 (Adephia -Farmingdale Rd) crossing
4. The tiny bridge in Farmingdale (not sure exactly where that is),
all of which sound like "couple of days" items,
what is left to do (not including the possible southbound connection to the NJ Southern in Farmingdale to make the wye) ?
Maybe some ballasting from Southard Ave up to the switch to the NJ Southern by Railroad Ave?
Is there anything else (besides crossing electronics, which isn't necessary to start moving trains)?

The punch list does seem to be getting shorter fast.

Jim S

I do not believe any track has been laid between Yellowbrook and Fairfield yet. There wasn’t any laid as of last Friday.

We’re more likely to see the first train towards the end of summer. I hear they are pushing for mid-late September.

Neither ties nor rail, Fairfield to Yellowbrook. I guesstimate 9800 ft, so needs close to 5000 ties. When I said working there, I mean rip rap and final roadbed prep. Have watched over the last 2 weeks as they slowly worked westbound from Yellowbrook. I guess that area needed some serious work.

The tiny bridge is just a concrete slab and abutments a couple hundred yards in from Adelphia towards Southard where it crosses a small brook. Probably needs some grading and rip rap.

Rail from Farmingdale switch to Southard switch needs aligning and ballast. There are a couple of spots where the rail does not follow a smooth curve. Looks almost kinked. I'm guessing a good 2-3 weeks for ties and rail on the Yellowbrook stretch, will likely start after the Fairfield crossing which is tentatively scheduled to start Monday (8/7).

I think from the looks I could get the roadbed Adelphia-Southard needs some more prep before it's ready for ties/rail.

So how do you qualify on a new piece of track when the full connection is in place? Who tests who's knowledge? There hasn't been anyone around in at least 20-25 years who would be familiar with the area since it went OOS.

I'm sure once they run their alignment machine over the track it will be fine, They do this for a living. Right now it appears the curve gets tight in at least one spot. I suspect shifting the rail a foot or so in strategic spots will adjust it. Isn't that the purpose of a final alignment by machine?

They’ve been doing the tamping with some real nice tampers, ones I believe that also align the track as well as tamp it. Newer tampers have that ability.

CharlieL wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 5:01 pm Neither ties nor rail, Fairfield to Yellowbrook. I guesstimate 9800 ft, so needs close to 5000 ties. When I said working there, I mean rip rap and final roadbed prep. Have watched over the last 2 weeks as they slowly worked westbound from Yellowbrook. I guess that area needed some serious work.

The tiny bridge is just a concrete slab and abutments a couple hundred yards in from Adelphia towards Southard where it crosses a small brook. Probably needs some grading and rip rap.

Rail from Farmingdale switch to Southard switch needs aligning and ballast. There are a couple of spots where the rail does not follow a smooth curve. Looks almost kinked. I'm guessing a good 2-3 weeks for ties and rail on the Yellowbrook stretch, will likely start after the Fairfield crossing which is tentatively scheduled to start Monday (8/7).

I think from the looks I could get the roadbed Adelphia-Southard needs some more prep before it's ready for ties/rail.

THanks, OK. The punch list is longer than I thought!