Shared Assets Lehigh Line

wolfboy8171981 wrote:

painterman wrote:Lehigh is dead today. Been here (so plnfld) since 8am and only one EB CSX stack around 10am.

Anyone know what's up?

New Years Holiday shut down. Both railroads were to start back up at 7am. Most traffic was held far away from North Jersey. There was a L173,Q703, and K806 that ran after midnight on the 2nd.

Thanks Wolfboy. I guess I'll sleep in late tomorrow and do some track realignment on my HO layout rather than freeze my a** off waiting for nothing.

Happy new year.

Today should have been a "normal" sunday on the railroad.

Had the chance to get trackside a few hours this morning with a friend of mine in South Plainfield. We got there at about 7:30 a.m. Here's what we saw:

1. 8:15 WB NS 21M 9803, 9706 & 9272
2. 8:44 WB NS 11J 9642 & 9930
3. 8:50 EB NS 22V BNSF 4999 & 7718
4. 9:03 EB NS 212 9899, 2606 & 8451
5. 9:21 EB NS 64J 3383 & 3435
6. 9:28 EB CSX Q300 7897 & 400
7. 9:57 EB CR MA80 5311 (would work South Plainfied Yard)
8. 10:40 EB NS M8G D9-40CW & SD60

Just saw the M8G at the grade crossing and missed writing down the power, and left after the train went by. A chilly start to the morning, but a nice mix of power. Was glad to be trackside this morning.

CSX Double Stack Train at Union around 1:30PM with 5269 as power. I have a video and would like to know which train it is.

Which direction was the train headed? If it was an eastbound train, it was probably CSX Q190.

OCtrainguy wrote:Which direction was the train headed? If it was an eastbound train, it was probably CSX Q190.

To South Kearny.

And I posted a pic in this thread of Q190 coming through Union at 2:20 back in September.

It was Q190, Q190/91 are the only two CSX trains as of now with double stacks that use the CSAO LEHL.

Saw a good sized auto rack today in Clark today heading east around 4 pm today, I guess someone is still buying cars, so maybe this recession is finally drawing to a close.

davebdawg wrote:Saw a good sized auto rack today in Clark today heading east around 4 pm today, I guess someone is still buying cars, so maybe this recession is finally drawing to a close.

Car loadings are up all over including most commodities...The recession is probably over, but some people are still having a hard time finding jobs... BUT the freight railroad industry seems to be booming again.

It is true car loadings are up, but not nearly to the point that they were before the recession. By some estimates it would look like they maybe have regained between 1/2 and 2/3 of the traffic lost in the lowest levels. 18,000 more stored cars were brought back in April. An interesting stat is that NS domestic intermodal traffic which lost far less volume than other areas is WAY up this year possibly higher than ever. This has the potential to skyrocket in the next few years as the number of domestic trucking companies is far below what it was before the recession.

davebdawg wrote:Saw a good sized auto rack today in Clark today heading east around 4 pm today, I guess someone is still buying cars, so maybe this recession is finally drawing to a close.

Looks can be deceiving.

Due to the National Docks shutdown 95% of the Doremus Ave outbounds go on NS11J. 11J has been running around 100 cars daily. On occasion 11J has maxed out at 115-120 emptys and a extra Q271 has push/pulled out with some leftovers. The loaded autos from FAPS still leave via CSX usually on the head end of Q434. Q268 still brings the the majority of the loaded autos in via the P&H Branch to Lane then gets pulled into the Garden yard via the Oak Island Running track.

I have read the freight traffic stats and see encouraging trends, but the recovery will be uneven across commodity groups. I think lumber will take a long time to come back, if ever. Autos will get better, even I need a new car

How long is the National Docks to be shut down?

Took my son for a walk to RP station to check out the CSAO M.O.W. crew working on track #2 on Friday just after noon.

Here are some pics:

12:34 p.m.
NJT train #5434 heads EB into the station on
track #1 as the M.O.W. crew works the ballast
on track #2.

NJT # 4022

12:50 p.m.
NS #9919 leads an EB
manifest.
1:05 p.m.
CSX #5443 heads a WB manifest.

Not sure of train symbols. Any help would be appreciated.

9919 lead 18G.

Judging by the time you saw that CSX train it was probably Q439 but don't hold me to that.

Thanks. For some reason I thought 18G ran earlier in the morning.