Toms River Industrial Track!

R&DB wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:47 pm Folks, I keep seeing all this talk about a transload facility along the TRIT. The only land large enough is the BASF (former Ciba) site. Unfortunatly that would require clearing a lot of forest. All the cleared land has solar panels on it. Gougle sat view to see for yourself.
I have previously stated my concerns about Rte37 traffic and the crossing.

I've heard from a few different people, who are pretty trustworthy/have more sources on DRRR than we do, that C&D/DRRR wants to open a transloading operation of some sort. Besides that, why else would DRRR want to re-open the TRIT when there are currently no customers on it? Even if the one or two that used to use it come back, that's not enough to justify re-opening it.

You'd be surprised, there are actually a lot of potential spots for a transloading operation on the TRIT that aren't the old Ciba-Geigy spot. Since the TRIT parallels Rt37, these spots would have pretty easy access to highways. There are also a few OOS-looking quarries that could possibly work too. I quickly looked at Google maps, and here's what I found: https://imgur.com/a/K48e51a Even for Ciba-Geigy, you could still fit something there.

Indeed, a lot of forests would have to be cleared, which is very unfortunate, but that's already happening with or without a transloading facility. As for traffic, yeah, it would probably cause more truck traffic, but so do all the new construction projects for housing developments and shopping centers.

You also won’t see it on the south side of the ROW. That area is under the Pinelands Commission. Good luck getting permission to build there.

One of the other sites in between the ROW and 37 that’s advertised as “Commercial land for sale” would be ok size-wise. No issues with the 37 crossing and less track to reopen.

Ideally you’d want the entrance/exit next to one of the pre-existing intersections as well, preferably one that allows U turns from both directions.

These two areas here could work but the issue of knocking down trees still stands

39°59'41"N 74°16'53"W

39°59'20"N 74°16'12"W

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 5:33 pm 39°59'41"N 74°16'53"W

39°59'20"N 74°16'12"W

The last one would be better, since it not only has an existing u-turn, but also has a road running right next to it. It is also much bigger than the first one, and a rather small industrial park is right next to it, so there would be some potential customers right off the bat there.

The first one also has an existing u-turn lane, but it is smaller. Which is currently for sale?

I’ve been in that industrial park and the only business in there right now that could viably deal with trains is 3M Metals, and I don’t know if they would.

All the other businesses in there are either small offices, transmission rebuild shops, or other small businesses.

I think the one closer to Lakehurst is currently for sale. I’ll check next time I’m out there. I usually take 37 to the parkway whenever I’m coming back from my friends place in Lakehurst.

C&D has added their emergency info to this line.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 18, 2022 1:44 pm C&D has added their emergency info to this line.

I find this interesting. I don't remember the TRIT being included in the originat grant. But I could have overlooked it.

Eventually, the TRIT was added. Not sure why, maybe C&D/DRRR has plans, maybe CR wanted to make it someone else's problem, since they can't just abandon/get rid of it. Plenty of rumors around the forums saying DRRR/C&D plans to have some sort of yard/transloading operation alongside it somewhere due to its proximity to Route 37

It was only included on a map and the grant had no work for the TRIT mentioned. Was hearing rumors that C&D wanted to reopen this line but said rumors no longer appear to be circulating.

Also I don’t recall any rumors that C&D would do transloading. Mainly it was speculation on this lines transloading potential (Which is huge) and where it could be done.

They might wait till Farmingdale to Freehold is done before they do anything here. NJT restrictions were a BIG factor in this line closing down.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:25 pm It was only included on a map and the grant had no work for the TRIT mentioned. Was hearing rumors that C&D wanted to reopen this line but said rumors no longer appear to be circulating.

Well, now the signs are up. They are responsible for it now, and they probably have plans for it. Let's not forget there was some crossing work done on this line not too long ago. Granted, that doesn't always mean something, but the fact that they fixed some crossings instead of paving over them, like they did on the FIT, is a good sign. Bonus, the TRIT is about the same length, if not a tad bit shorter, than the FIT, in similar condition, but all crossings are in-tact. Shouldn't be the worst to repair...

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:25 pm They might wait till Farmingdale to Freehold is done before they do anything here. NJT restrictions were a BIG factor in this line closing down.

No surprise. Weird that they never tried to use the FIT-SOUS connection to circumvent that, since it was usable until around 10-15 years ago when they started paving over the crossings. I remember going over some of the crossings when I was a kid, and the tracks seemed decent...

Makes sense that C&D would wait until after FIT-SOUS is reconnected to do something with the TRIT, since any customers of transloading around that area would want 286K cars, if not Plate F, at the very least.

To my knowledge Conrail did keep the FIT to Farmingdale clear for a while so it could be used as an emergency route from 1989 onwards. When the split occurred that idea went out the window. They were too cheap to keep it clear.

The last roads were paved over in 2010. Some of the old DCS station signs remained till then as well.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:38 pm To my knowledge Conrail did keep the FIT to Farmingdale clear for a while so it could be used as an emergency route from 1989 onwards. When the split occurred that idea went out the window. They were too cheap to keep it clear.

The last roads were paved over in 2010. Some of the old DCS station signs remained till then as well.

"Split"? What is that?

When Conrail was split between NS and CSX.

Forgot to mention that the TRIT is actually not that bad at all in regards to track conditions. It was totally rebuilt at one point and didn’t really get used enough to wear out much afterwards.

Some spots, however, definitely need heavy repairs and the bridge in Lakehurst needs to be replaced because some jack@** set it on fire many years ago and destroyed it.

I suspect TRIT was thrown in as an afterthought because CR didn't want to be responsible for it on the off-chance someone would want service. As it stands now the only reason they will repair Lakewood-Lakehurst will be either sand trains or a fairly large customer appearing on the TRIT.

1> Clayton
2> Possible TRIT customers
3> Joint Base MDL
4> Longer run-around than Cross St.

John from Jersey, the crossing repairs alond the TRIT were State / County highway repairs because of residents complaints, nothing to do with RR operations.

R&DB wrote: ↑Thu Jul 21, 2022 8:29 am John from Jersey, the crossing repairs along the TRIT were State / County highway repairs because of residents complaints, nothing to do with RR operations.

Correct, the state/county could have just paved over the crossings, like they did with the FIT's OOS crossings 10-15 years ago. However, they did not do that. Which makes me think that there are indeed plans for the TRIT sooner or later. Or maybe they just learned from their lesson with the FIT to not make such a stupid mistake like that again.