Rail Boy wrote:Well, IF NJT did decide to install a third track between River and Wood, it should have high speed crossovers, at least on the Wood end. While you don't want to slow the express down that you're trying to get around the local, you also don't want to slow every local down, since that is the bulk of the service. At the River end, this wouldn't be much of an issue since there is already the speed restriction on the bridge, 45mph IIRC.
The ideal situation would be to put the 3rd track on the outside of No. 2 track with an island platform between No. 2 and the new track (No. 4 for example sake). While most locals can stay on No. 2, they can still cross over to No. 4 if there is an express to get around.
I'll never forget the one time I rode 2394, the old weekend express from Bay Head to Hoboken that ran non stop from Long Branch to Newark. The local in front of us had some somewhere around Red Bank and we followed it on No. 2 all of the way from Middletown to Union. I remember the dispatcher called the train and said he has too much traffic on No. 1 and he can't get us around him anywhere. This was a Sunday mind you. Of course luck had it that No. 4 was OOS at South Amboy for the weekend.
Exactly.....even track 4 in South Amboy was good for getting around locals. I remember doing that several times - the local would pull into track 4, make the station and the express (or X train) would zip by on track 2 while they were making their station stop - track 4 was only good for 25mph (and that was pushing it) so the train wasn't really delayed because by the time they got to Church's home signal, (now Essays new home signal for whatever reason) the other train had cleared up. Or the eastbound was put on 4, usually a SA local which was turning, a westbound on 1 and a westbound express on track 2, usually a 2300 train that first stop was Matawan.
There are a lot of "problems' with the way the signals are set up on the Coast Line which really prevent a lot of "'wrong way running" The only place that the disp will really let trains run around each other is inbetween East Matawan or Lloyd and Rare - every where else, its either too long of a stretch or Xover's too slow (Essay), and the way the trains are scheduled, especially on the weekends, thats the only place where another train is certain not to get bad signals.
The Coast Line can be mindnumbingly slow and tedious at times, especially with a dispatcher who won't "take chances"
High Speed Xovers wouldn't really be necessary near Perth Amboy - its only 35mph over River Draw, so standard 45mph Xovers would be fine, and at Wood, 60mph Xovers would be great, (as thats track speed through the area) but 45mph Xovers wouldn't be that bad either.