Cape May Seashore Lines-2010

Prr60, from your link:

"If Macrie sticks to his schedule, he said the trains are "likely to be ready in the middle of July.""

mgdemarco wrote:Prr60, from your link:

"If Macrie sticks to his schedule, he said the trains are "likely to be ready in the middle of July.""

Oops: missed that (and I actually read through the article, believe it or not). That will teach me to try to do anything of value after sitting through a Phillies game in 90+ degree weather.

Thanks for the correction!

He did say July, just didn't say what year

lv414 wrote:He did say July, just didn't say what year

And christmas is always coming.

As of the morning of 5-July ... the RDC Cars, the realistic equipment to be used was still located in Tuckahoe, NJ

Just got back from Cape May which is usally a 2-3 times a year event. I spoke with some of the members of the town council who happen to be friendly with the owner of the house where we stayed and they are also disappointed that the train is not running. Their sentiment was that anything that could possibly benefit Cape May is a good thing and that there was positive feedback in the past over the train operating to Cape May.

Both of the council pesons I spoke to were not optimistic about the train returning this year. They had no inside information in this reagrd, only personal opinion. Hopefully they will be incorrect as we will be returning in September and would hope to see it operational by then.

Not sure if anyone from the railroad monitors this thread but if they do, someone / something nailed the crossing signal at northbound Rt 9 in Lower Township within the last two days. Both of the targets closest to the road are dangling by their wires, appears to be a sideswipe from a truck at the least. I'm sure this will be picked up on the next inspection but wanted to give a head's up if possible. I also noticed that the PRR PL signal at Cold Spring was illuminated and displaying an approach aspect (normally clear when the RR is running and dark when it's not).

While down that way yesterday, I visited the Bayshore Road crossing of the Point branch and there is absolutely nothing new to report. The clearing has not progressed from what was originally posted here and the only activity in the area is some drainage work being done which was sorely needed to alleviate the frequent flooding and road closures in that area. Also no activity at the Seashore Road crossing.

glennk419 wrote:Not sure if anyone from the railroad monitors this thread but if they do, ...

Message forwarded ...

nomis wrote:

glennk419 wrote:Not sure if anyone from the railroad monitors this thread but if they do, ...

Message forwarded ...

Thanks!

If a crossing signal has been damaged that's not good news. However there is no grade crossing over RT 9 in lower township. The RR ROW runs along side of RT 9. In lower township. There is a crossing at Rt47 in Rio Grande and two more further South but they don't cross Rt 9. Those crossing signals are NJT property so I don't know whos going to handle the repair.

Col Edwards is correct about the highway designation - I had to do the damage assessment.

A public thank you to Glenn for bringing this to our attention in a timely manner before it became a bigger headache. This would have been picked up on the next inspection but Sandman would have had to be manually flagged until it was repaired. Thanks to Glenn we have a little more time to get the parts and make the repair. As it happened who ever did it did not report the accident and the Police were unaware until I called them and they sent an officer out to make a report.

There are generally a lot of things on any railroad which need to be fixed and the railroad knows about most of them. Not everything needs to be fixed right away so sometimes something which is not creating an immediate safety or operational problem will sit for a while.

That said if, like Glenn did, you see a something such as a broken crossing signal which you know is recent (in this case no more than two days old) go ahead and make the call to the railroad. The worst that will happen is "Thank you, We have it on the list." This is true for most railroads, CSX even has a specific prompt (2) on their emergency number specifically for crossing signal problems.

M.E. Allen
for CMSL

dlagrua wrote:If a crossing signal has been damaged that's not good news. However there is no grade crossing over RT 9 in lower township. The RR ROW runs along side of RT 9. In lower township. There is a crossing at Rt47 in Rio Grande and two more further South but they don't cross Rt 9. Those crossing signals are NJT property so I don't know whos going to handle the repair.

As Trainlawyer has explained, there certainly is a Rt 9 crossing. The route designations down that way can be confusing as several state and county routes take multiple jogs and turns (if you stay "straight" on Rt 9 in Lower Twp, it becomes Rt 109 toward Cape May City).

As far as the signal is concerned, I have spoken with a respresentative of the railraod and the damage will be repaired, if it has not already been done.

I stand corrected. Sandman Blvd is listed as Route 9 so there is a Rt 9 crossing. I thought that Rt 9 ended at Rt 109 but it goes all the way to the Cape May Ferry.
That grade crossing has one of the larger overhead signals and its sad to hear that it was knocked over or damaged. What is more dissappointing is that the driver that ran into it didn't stick around to own up to the accident. I hope that they find the scoundrel, charge him with leaving the scene of an accident, find him guilty and suspend his license as prescribed by law.
You've got lots of traffic going by that intersection including many trucks heading to and coming from the fishery on the Schellengers landing pier. Just a guess but a damaged truck being seen loading in that location may give a clue. Fish trucks pass that location daily but at the early hours of the morning where there is little traffic. The other possibility is a high load like a boat on a tractor trailer that is being delivered or taken from the boatyard there.
Someone has also done some damage to their truck and knows something. The Police should investigate and ask questions.
If I ever see anyone damaging railroad property I will promptly make a report to the police via cell phone. All concerned citizens should do the same.
Hope that they get the crossing signal fixed and that we will see some trains pulling into Cape May this summer.

dlagrua wrote:I stand corrected. Sandman Blvd is listed as Route 9 so there is a Rt 9 crossing. I thought that Rt 9 ended at Rt 109 but it goes all the way to the Cape May Ferry.
That grade crossing has one of the larger overhead signals and its sad to hear that it was knocked over or damaged. What is more dissappointing is that the driver that ran into it didn't stick around to own up to the accident. I hope that they find the scoundrel, charge him with leaving the scene of an accident, find him guilty and suspend his license as prescribed by law.
You've got lots of traffic going by that intersection including many trucks heading to and coming from the fishery on the Schellengers landing pier. Just a guess but a damaged truck being seen loading in that location may give a clue. Fish trucks pass that location daily but at the early hours of the morning where there is little traffic. The other possibility is a high load like a boat on a tractor trailer that is being delivered or taken from the boatyard there.
Someone has also done some damage to their truck and knows something. The Police should investigate and ask questions.
If I ever see anyone damaging railroad property I will promptly make a report to the police via cell phone. All concerned citizens should do the same.
Hope that they get the crossing signal fixed and that we will see some trains pulling into Cape May this summer.

It's also possible that the truck in question might have gone on board the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, though clearance issues on the ferry itself might preclude it going on board. People might also check with the Police Authority that oversees the ferry operations if they saw any suspicious damage to a truck within the suspected time frame.

To avoid continued speculation, the crossing signal that was damaged is the one for the northbound lanes (south side of the crossing) so whoever hit it would have been coming from the direction of the ferry. The gantry signal over the southbound lanes is just fine.