by JJMDiMunno
Hey everyone,
This is the last and final report, installation 6 of 6 of the Summer, 2004 series of "Florida Dave" and "South Jersey Mike" trips around the great state of New Jersey. Once again today, we were joined by guest Jay O. for the trip to Cape May County, which actually turned out to be that and much more.
The day started out once again from Atco on-time at 9:00AM. After making the regular (and traditional) morning Wawa stop, we made our way directly down to Cape May County to check things out. On the way down, we made a quick stop off at the Hospitality Creek Bridge on SRNJ's Southern Branch, only to find that we were unable to see anything due to large new "NO TRESSPASSING" signs, with a nice "CONTROL ACCESS ZONE" sign thrown in the mix in case you didn't get the point from the two other signs. This beautiful new barricade can be seen in the image below just south of Hospitality Creek:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... e_Site.jpg
After not being able to see anything there, we chose to head right down to Tuckahoe. We passed Milmay Siding on route 557, and saw that it was clear, meaning that last night's 90-car NS 502 coal train must have gone straight down to the plant. Upon arrival at Tuckahoe, we saw that absolutely nothing has changed there since the last time any of us were there (for myself, it was the April 2004 Tuckahoe to Woodbine WJ-NRHS trip). The stub track / passing siding (as it will eventually be so I understand) has not yet been completed, nor has any work been done on the wye replacement. Heading down to Woodbine, it appears that a bulk of the bridge work over route 550 has been finished, but there is still some to go I believe. No construction of customer sidings at that location has been even started as of yet. Sorry, no photos from either of these areas as the status there has not changed since the last report.
Packing up at Woodbine, we headed south further into Cape May County to Rio Grande, where we checked out what was in Rio Grande Yard at this time. Both F-units are currently on the siding at Rio Grande, along with all three of the URHS cars down there at this time, and the Alex DeCroce car. The CNJ GP7 is in the fenced in yard, with the GP9 7000 and of course, the "fake" Alco (re-engined with an EMD prime mover). Also still in the yard was the CNJ Blue Comet observation car...below is an overview photo of the yard situation there now, with the "Dave-mobile", AKA the "Railroad Line Spotter", AKA the "Yard Sale Spotter" (this vehicle automatically makes correct turns to find railroad lines and / or yard sales...inside joke there):
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... Grande.jpg
Following our look around the area there, we broke for lunch, and after that, we headed down to Cold Spring to catch M407 running alone southbound toward Cape May City. I did shoot a photo of this one, but it came out disgraceful and therefore I shall not display it here...
After the Cold Spring observation, we headed back north to Wildwood Junction where we inspected the station's current status. That building gets into more and more of a state of disrepair every time I look at it...and here it is today:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... nction.jpg
After that, we chose to head in the direction of home. Coming up out of Cape May County, we went north on route 9 and shot back up to Woodbine on 550, after which we followed the WJS ROW north a bit, nearly to Manumuskin. The entire ROW is intact between Manumuskin and Woodbine, and in some places is amazingly clear. The portion shown below is used as a small secondary road at Bellplain:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... Branch.jpg
And since we were heading in that general direction, we made a quick stop by Millville Yard where CSX 4404 and 4402 (both GP40-2's, this is MI-61 / MI-21 power) were idling. There were large stacks of new ties in the yard, but very few cars...it's interesting that they'd choose a time like now, when Millville traffic is at an all-time low, to do track work within the limits of the yard. Here is the pair of geeps idling on the yard track at Millville this afternoon:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... _Power.jpg
After we finished up at Millville, we headed north through Vineland and up to Newfield, where we shot across to route 54 to head up to Winslow Junction. Approaching Winslow Junction, the distinct chirp of a rear marker began to emit from my radio every few seconds, indicating that something was working at the junction (Transit trains were not an option at this time, there were none in the area). Stopping at the junction, we found that CA-51 was still working there, apparently assembling a relatively large train to come north. Their assembly work complete, CA-51 left Winslow Junction at 7:14PM northbound with CSX 4423, NS 5223, and NS 5281 dragging 58 empty cars, about half of which were empty stone hoppers:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... inslow.jpg
Shortly after 51 left the junction, the rain began to fall and we called it a day. Not too bad for a day which was supposed to be filled with rain showers and thunderstorms...the rain held up for the entire trip.
This was installation 6 of 6 folks...the last and final official trip of the summer for us. The trips will start again in December, when the Florida man returns from the depths of the Everglades to once again haunt the rails of New Jersey. And...anyone that wants to come along in December...you'll have to deal with my driving (including the random U-turns whenever I catch sight of any kind of train or hear anything railroad related on the radio anywhere near me)...it's OK though, I've been driving for years now without doing any serious vehicle damage, so chances are good you'll survive
And oh yeah, you don't get to ride in the Mercedes SUV with the GPS navigation system and climate control, you get a nice ride in the Ford with some paper maps and heat that works most of the time...hey, I just replaced the tires on that baby so we don't need to worry about flat tires from those bald things I was railfanning on for the last thousand miles (please keep your laughing to a minimum folks)...
Take care everyone.
Mike DiMunno
www.SJRail.com: All about South Jersey Railroads!
FORD: Fix or Repair Daily (that's a lil' side-joke about my car that eats up tension pullys and serp. belts)...
This is the last and final report, installation 6 of 6 of the Summer, 2004 series of "Florida Dave" and "South Jersey Mike" trips around the great state of New Jersey. Once again today, we were joined by guest Jay O. for the trip to Cape May County, which actually turned out to be that and much more.
The day started out once again from Atco on-time at 9:00AM. After making the regular (and traditional) morning Wawa stop, we made our way directly down to Cape May County to check things out. On the way down, we made a quick stop off at the Hospitality Creek Bridge on SRNJ's Southern Branch, only to find that we were unable to see anything due to large new "NO TRESSPASSING" signs, with a nice "CONTROL ACCESS ZONE" sign thrown in the mix in case you didn't get the point from the two other signs. This beautiful new barricade can be seen in the image below just south of Hospitality Creek:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... e_Site.jpg
After not being able to see anything there, we chose to head right down to Tuckahoe. We passed Milmay Siding on route 557, and saw that it was clear, meaning that last night's 90-car NS 502 coal train must have gone straight down to the plant. Upon arrival at Tuckahoe, we saw that absolutely nothing has changed there since the last time any of us were there (for myself, it was the April 2004 Tuckahoe to Woodbine WJ-NRHS trip). The stub track / passing siding (as it will eventually be so I understand) has not yet been completed, nor has any work been done on the wye replacement. Heading down to Woodbine, it appears that a bulk of the bridge work over route 550 has been finished, but there is still some to go I believe. No construction of customer sidings at that location has been even started as of yet. Sorry, no photos from either of these areas as the status there has not changed since the last report.
Packing up at Woodbine, we headed south further into Cape May County to Rio Grande, where we checked out what was in Rio Grande Yard at this time. Both F-units are currently on the siding at Rio Grande, along with all three of the URHS cars down there at this time, and the Alex DeCroce car. The CNJ GP7 is in the fenced in yard, with the GP9 7000 and of course, the "fake" Alco (re-engined with an EMD prime mover). Also still in the yard was the CNJ Blue Comet observation car...below is an overview photo of the yard situation there now, with the "Dave-mobile", AKA the "Railroad Line Spotter", AKA the "Yard Sale Spotter" (this vehicle automatically makes correct turns to find railroad lines and / or yard sales...inside joke there):
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... Grande.jpg
Following our look around the area there, we broke for lunch, and after that, we headed down to Cold Spring to catch M407 running alone southbound toward Cape May City. I did shoot a photo of this one, but it came out disgraceful and therefore I shall not display it here...
After the Cold Spring observation, we headed back north to Wildwood Junction where we inspected the station's current status. That building gets into more and more of a state of disrepair every time I look at it...and here it is today:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... nction.jpg
After that, we chose to head in the direction of home. Coming up out of Cape May County, we went north on route 9 and shot back up to Woodbine on 550, after which we followed the WJS ROW north a bit, nearly to Manumuskin. The entire ROW is intact between Manumuskin and Woodbine, and in some places is amazingly clear. The portion shown below is used as a small secondary road at Bellplain:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... Branch.jpg
And since we were heading in that general direction, we made a quick stop by Millville Yard where CSX 4404 and 4402 (both GP40-2's, this is MI-61 / MI-21 power) were idling. There were large stacks of new ties in the yard, but very few cars...it's interesting that they'd choose a time like now, when Millville traffic is at an all-time low, to do track work within the limits of the yard. Here is the pair of geeps idling on the yard track at Millville this afternoon:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... _Power.jpg
After we finished up at Millville, we headed north through Vineland and up to Newfield, where we shot across to route 54 to head up to Winslow Junction. Approaching Winslow Junction, the distinct chirp of a rear marker began to emit from my radio every few seconds, indicating that something was working at the junction (Transit trains were not an option at this time, there were none in the area). Stopping at the junction, we found that CA-51 was still working there, apparently assembling a relatively large train to come north. Their assembly work complete, CA-51 left Winslow Junction at 7:14PM northbound with CSX 4423, NS 5223, and NS 5281 dragging 58 empty cars, about half of which were empty stone hoppers:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMCou ... inslow.jpg
Shortly after 51 left the junction, the rain began to fall and we called it a day. Not too bad for a day which was supposed to be filled with rain showers and thunderstorms...the rain held up for the entire trip.
This was installation 6 of 6 folks...the last and final official trip of the summer for us. The trips will start again in December, when the Florida man returns from the depths of the Everglades to once again haunt the rails of New Jersey. And...anyone that wants to come along in December...you'll have to deal with my driving (including the random U-turns whenever I catch sight of any kind of train or hear anything railroad related on the radio anywhere near me)...it's OK though, I've been driving for years now without doing any serious vehicle damage, so chances are good you'll survive
And oh yeah, you don't get to ride in the Mercedes SUV with the GPS navigation system and climate control, you get a nice ride in the Ford with some paper maps and heat that works most of the time...hey, I just replaced the tires on that baby so we don't need to worry about flat tires from those bald things I was railfanning on for the last thousand miles (please keep your laughing to a minimum folks)...
Take care everyone.
Mike DiMunno
www.SJRail.com: All about South Jersey Railroads!
FORD: Fix or Repair Daily (that's a lil' side-joke about my car that eats up tension pullys and serp. belts)...
~Mike DiMunno
CSAO Beesley Point Secondary - MP 8.69 (Magnolia, NJ)
Moderator: Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines :: Penn Central
CSAO Beesley Point Secondary - MP 8.69 (Magnolia, NJ)
Moderator: Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines :: Penn Central
