The Comet I's are here

[RS115]

On Wednesday morning 18 went east in the morning with numerous tankers and the hack returning later shoving the hack and two passenger cars (1 Maine Eastern 1 ex-Amtrak couldn't see well enough to ID it beyond that).

In the afternoon, I heard horns again and looked out to see 19 (yes 19) heading east with 8 (I think - counting through the trees) Comet 1's and the Kitchi Gammi Club with 18 tagged on the rear. I went to Whippany after work to find the Club on the house track and the Comet's split between the main and some drilled deep into the house track. FL-9 484 (which had appeared at Whippany a few days before from its long exile on the Propane Siding - assume the others are still there) was tied onto the east end of the cut sitting on the Main. Previously it had been sitting on the east end of the run around next to RS-1 21. Engine 22 is also now on display in Whippany having returned from its long term display in Madison a couple weeks back.

18 & 19 were just departing light to Morristown (not MU'd 18 was doing the work). They ran to Mo-town where they were split and parked on tracks 1 & 2 in front of the house. 18 was plugged in for the night while 19 was left idling. No sign of any other engines at the house other than the two EMD switchers sitting on tracks 4 & 5 where they have been for awhile.

They went east this morning (Friday) with a couple of tankers and a box car that were sitting up in Morristown yard last night. I wonder what the long term storage solution is for these Comet's as having the main through Whippany blocked is, at minimum, a pain when they have to go to Roseland and their largest active shipper. Whippany is basically completely full at this point

A

[mountie17]

The Comet I's and FL9 are now on the Vornado Spur parked east of the Whippany River bridge, with the three other cars still in Whippany.

[Al Holleuffer]

The M&E got six Comet I coaches via the scrapper who purchased them. The three cars in Whippany, Nos. 1729, 1733 and 1740, are owned by the Whippany Railway Museum and were donated to them by NJ Transit. No word on exactly what the M&E plans to do with thier cars.

[RS115]

Thanks for the info guys. I thought it might be 9 cars but couldn't count reliably through the trees from the office and didnt' have time to walk around Whippany long enough to do a count.

At least the museum won't have to go off the property to put together their trains anymore.

A

[njt4172]

[quote="Al Holleuffer"]The M&E got six Comet I coaches via the scrapper who purchased them. The three cars in Whippany, Nos. 1729, 1733 and 1740, are owned by the Whippany Railway Museum and were donated to them by NJ Transit. No word on exactly what the M&E plans to do with thier cars.[/quote

Paint them back in EL/NJDOT markings and run excursion trains with the U-34CH 3372?? Wishful thinking

[mountie17]

Two more Comet I's were on top of the hill at Baker this afternoon.

[Al Holleuffer]

The two Comet I's left on the Scale Track in Morrisotwn are woned by URHS, not the M&E. The M&E crew shoved them down into the old Passenger Yard alongside the othe URHS equipment. Word now is that all of that stuff will be moved to Boonton. NJT crews are installing a switch on the yard lead just east of the Fanny Road bridge and installing ties on another track as well. The ties came from the Morristown Line around Brick Cjurch and East Orange where concrete ties were installed.

[Frogger]

so why do they want these Comet Is?

[NYSW13000]

so why do they want these Comet Is?

Whippany Railroad Muesum recieved a couple Comet I's for use on their excursion trains, in which when NJT still used the Low-Level Comet I's, Whippany would borrow around 4 of them during the days in which Whippany had excursion trains operating. As of URHS, I am guessing they bought them from the scrapper, in which to store them as history of NJ railroading, since those cars have quite a lot of history behind them.

[NorfolkSouthernSean]

They all appear to be on the siding in East Hanover approximately 2 mile East of Whippany. The 4 remaining former Amtrak FL9's, 484, 485, 486, & 487 are there as well.

[NJTRailfan]

So what's happened to the remaining Comet 1 cars? 3 of them are now in the EL/Whippany Railway Museum paint job and two are sadly sitting in Boonton with some trash inside and covered by vandals marks. So that's five cars accounted for so where are the rest? Are they being currently used for Maine Eastern?

[blockline4180]

So what's happened to the remaining Comet 1 cars? 3 of them are now in the EL/Whippany Railway Museum paint job and two are sadly sitting in Boonton with some trash inside and covered by vandals marks. So that's five cars accounted for so where are the rest? Are they being currently used for Maine Eastern?

There are actually 3 different owners of each set of cars.

1) Whippany Railway Museum owns 3 and they were beautifully restored into EL yellow diamonds with maroon window band. Each also has a name of the 3 towns the railroad passes through.

2) Morristown & Erie owns 4 or 5, and a few were operational on some excursion service in PA. The disco stripes were removed, but the black window band still exists.

3) The 2 cars in Boonton are owned by URHS and like you sad are sadly in the worst shape and will probably need to be fully rebuilt. Didn't you say the plans with these are to get a cab Cab Car and rebuild the U-34ch??

[Btkspot89]

So 22 is working and parked in Whippany?

[NJTRailfan]

Blockline, Yes URHS plans to restore the two coaches with that U Boat and have a cab car at the end.

With the M&E owned comets I hope they can restore those with the same maroon band with the EL logo so it looks more pleasing to the eye and somewhat historically accurate rather then the ugly looking black strip and that area where you can faintly see the disco logos. Don't know if and when NJT will finally get rid of the cab cars but when they do M&E, Whippany and URHS will be in a mad dash to get on line and grab one. I heard there aren't to many of those left in service.

[GP40MC 1116]

I just saw a video with these cars going by, and they have all of the side vestibule doors OPEN! That looks like a pretty dumb thing to me, what if someone was to walk through the vestibule and slip or trip down the stairs that is a injury waiting to happen!

Every passenger railroad or even tourist railroad I've seen or been on, if their equipment has taps and side pocket vestibule doors they are always closed when the train is in motion