Morristown & Erie track Gang working near Kuiken Brother

[RS115]

According to a very short article in the Daily Record last week the town and the county have resolved their differences. It sounded like smoke-filled room stuff as absolutely no details were given and if the reporter asked any questions he apparently got no answers. Defintately had the feeling of "All's well, we're friends again - nothing to see here folks so just move along." It will be interesting to see what the final outcome turns out to be.

[blockline4180]

Posted today from Railway Age:

Aug. 14 news blurb from RAILWAY AGE Magazine:
____________________________________________

New Jersey county, township reach short line accord

Officials from Morris County, N.J., have reached agreement with Roxbury Township counterparts on a $6 million planned reconstruction of four miles of rail line within the municipality.

The Chester Branch line, linking Wharton to Randolph, was one of the $9 million in projects Morris County submitted for payment through the federal stimulus bill. The reconstruction effort will permit Morristown & Erie Railway, Inc. to serve a lumber dealer in Roxbury.

Roxbury originally objected to the plan, claiming the rail line activity would decrease safety on a recreation path near Horseshoe Lake, a popular park. Township officials said the rebuilt rail line would operate within three feet of the recreation path. County officials retorted that the township path had been built in part within the railroad right-of-way—private property.

Morris County and Roxbury, located in north-central New Jersey, have signed a 22-point agreement covering various aspects of the rehabilitation effort.

Among other items in the agreement: A new bicycle and pedestrian trail will be built, parallel to and a few feet west of the existing access road; new pavement will be added to the access road to maintain a 20-foot width for vehicles; the county will install a gate near state highway Route 10 to keep vehicles from exiting Route 10 onto the railroad right-of-way; trains operations will occur at between 5 mph and 10 mph on the tracks that front Horseshoe Lake Park; and hours of operation will be restricted to daylight hours, between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., on weekdays

[blockline4180]

Posted today from Railway Age:

Aug. 14 news blurb from RAILWAY AGE Magazine:
____________________________________________

New Jersey county, township reach short line accord

Officials from Morris County, N.J., have reached agreement with Roxbury Township counterparts on a $6 million planned reconstruction of four miles of rail line within the municipality.

The Chester Branch line, linking Wharton to Randolph, was one of the $9 million in projects Morris County submitted for payment through the federal stimulus bill. The reconstruction effort will permit Morristown & Erie Railway, Inc. to serve a lumber dealer in Roxbury.

Roxbury originally objected to the plan, claiming the rail line activity would decrease safety on a recreation path near Horseshoe Lake, a popular park. Township officials said the rebuilt rail line would operate within three feet of the recreation path. County officials retorted that the township path had been built in part within the railroad right-of-way—private property.

Morris County and Roxbury, located in north-central New Jersey, have signed a 22-point agreement covering various aspects of the rehabilitation effort.

Among other items in the agreement: A new bicycle and pedestrian trail will be built, parallel to and a few feet west of the existing access road; new pavement will be added to the access road to maintain a 20-foot width for vehicles; the county will install a gate near state highway Route 10 to keep vehicles from exiting Route 10 onto the railroad right-of-way; trains operations will occur at between 5 mph and 10 mph on the tracks that front Horseshoe Lake Park; and hours of operation will be restricted to daylight hours, between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., on weekdays

[Tri-State Tom]

Predictably resolved as expected.

Roxbury just wanted a paved pathway....for free.

Another example of wasted time on the taxpayors dollar !

[RS115]

I fully agree that the towns demand were ridiculous. The current 'path' is actually paved and road width - you can drive all the way in along the tracks to where it's reduced to a walking path width to continue around the lake and back out to the street. It is a nice park and pretty heavily used.

Related - does anyone know the history of the narrow gauge loop of track that exists in the park near the entrance to the path along the M&E. There's a small shed which contains some kind of rolling stock but it's too dark to really see inside. Doesn't appear recently active but someone did a nice job building it at one time.

[joe k]

FYI

If I recall.........several years ago the M&E track gang worked (for free?) on the narrow gauge rr track replacing ties etc.

There was a article in the Daily Record showing a "real railroad" working on the town owned narrow gauge line!
A nice example of corporate helping community!

About how long of a ROW is there........ 1/4 mile?? + -

[RAHWAY VALLEY]

The minature railroad located at Horseshoe Lake Park, in Succasunna, was once the Roxbury Railroaders Club. Appararently, a tractor was converted to look like a locomotive. The minature railroad has not run in a number of years. Not certain as to what ever happened to the Roxbury Railroaders Club. Prior to the railroad ceasing operation, the Morristown & Erie volunteered with the rebuilding of the minature trackage.

[cjvrr]

Felt this was the most appropriate place to post this.

Kuiken Lumber received their first two cars full of lumber today, April 5, for the new facility! The cars were spotted sometime before 11am.

Hopefully Kuiken does a roaring business at this location.

Chris

[JPG76]

I would have loved to get pictures of the teain crossing route 10. Hopefully this will become a regular thing.

[ns3010]

Great news!
Traffic will likely be very busy in the next few weeks as they fill their yard with shipments, and then will hopefully be steady afterwards.

And I wish Kuiken Brothers the best of luck in their new location! They helped me with my Eagle project, and although I can't do anything to help their business (already completed benchwork for the MRR), I can only hope that they will do great, even though it's still rough for the construction business.

[X4401]

So does this mean no more lumber offloads to box trucks at BVR on the High bridge Branch or is that for Blue Ridge lumber and not Kuiken?

[blockline4180]

So does this mean no more lumber offloads to box trucks at BVR on the High bridge Branch or is that for Blue Ridge lumber and not Kuiken?

Huh??

I'm confused. What is BVR??
Kuikens just started getting cars and should get loads for the foreseeable future...
The High Bridge Branch is dead, AFAIK.. Stuff to Toys is trucked and Target in Flanders is out of business.

[R36 Combine Coach]

The section of the High Bridge Branch in downtown Flanders (near the firehouse and old CNJ freight house) has been overgrown, sadly while the area around Roxbury Mall still appears clean.

[X4401]

oh sorry, BVR is just slang for Berkshire Valley road, I had seen it used here somewhere a few times and incorrectly thought it was in common usage lol.

When heading north on Berkshire Valley road from route 46 to the west of the grade crossing (after the old IGA supermarket) there had some lumber offloads on a nearly weekly basis, and it is west of ferromonte jct on the high bridge branch. I had thought those were Kuiken Brothers loads that shipped out by box truck, but that may have actually been for Blue Ridge lumber which is on 46 by the high bridge branch crossing.

[blockline4180]

oh sorry, BVR is just slang for Berkshire Valley road, I had seen it used here somewhere a few times and incorrectly thought it was in common usage lol.

When heading north on Berkshire Valley road from route 46 to the west of the grade crossing (after the old IGA supermarket) there had some lumber offloads on a nearly weekly basis, and it is west of ferromonte jct on the high bridge branch. I had thought those were Kuiken Brothers loads that shipped out by box truck, but that may have actually been for Blue Ridge lumber which is on 46 by the high bridge branch crossing.

Thanks, and those cars offloaded near BVR were probably for Blue Ridge, although I'm not certain.
I'm sure username "RAHWAY VALLEY" would know!