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  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

Moderator: David

 #1517810  by Coast Line Railfan
 
Rustygunz60 wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:04 pm
GSC wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:53 am
Coast Line Railfan wrote: Sun Aug 18, 2019 5:11 pm
CharlieL wrote: Sun Aug 18, 2019 4:44 pm With all the building going on in Lakewood and points south (thank you Woodhaven for keeping the southern secondary alive) you would think NJT would have some interest in looking into providing some passenger service on the southern. Doodlebugs Lakewood (or Toms River) to Red Bank or beyond?
It is possible as part of the MOM project.
I've said for years that the MOM project should start in Toms River. Take Ciba-Geigy's yard for a park & ride. Need a feasibility study? Sit by the Parkway on Route 37 during rush hour.

I'm not sure this is the best idea. The MOM plan isn't searching for a terminus. It's fighting resistance to even get to ocean county. Rt 37 would be the busiest grade crossing within the Ocean County portion and would likely only only stir more resistance. The fact that Route 37 west of the GSP is dominated by drivers coming from Holiday City and other nearby age-restricted communities is an additional concern. That subset of our population has a higher incidence of driving through store fronts and similar vehicular behavior. Living in Ocean County, I see it every day. I once witnessed an older driver driving the wrong way on Rt 37 on the east side of the GSP during a snowfall. He shook his fist at myself a another driver for driving "the wrong way" on the road. We have enough numskulls driving through and around crossing gate elsewhere, with the public and media blaming the railroad rather than the drivers when an accident occurs, to not put that particular crossing back into service. Traffic was much different when Ciba was at its peak.

Another, if not perfect, option is the Toms River bus station. It would involve replacing the track from there to the Ciba/Builders General spur, including the small trestle over the Union Branch of the Toms River. The advantage is that the bus station and parking lot is already NJT property. The lot might not handle the additional usage, but then some riders now taking the bus might use the rails instead. A parking deck could also help. A deck would be costly, but so would buying the Ciba property. Perhaps there's other cons to that option I'm missing?
I also think it is known that the Ciba plant Area isn't the healthiest. I've heard accounts and descriptions of the toxic "wasteland" that place is, but it's possible that that is not a concern for a station or terminal. In addition, 4421 will be leading today's run on the Southern.
 #1517818  by NJT4149
 
Permission on Church at 3:02 PM... 4421, 5628, and 17 Woodhavens today
 #1517832  by RailsEast
 
Good horn on 4421, but terrible radio; anyway, approaching Maxwell Rd at 4:55 in the pm.
 #1517994  by Bracdude181
 
Just my two cents on all the recent MOM posts.

While it is definitely possible for Transit to have a station in Toms River, I believe it probably won't happen. Transit has considered Toms River as the southern terminus for the proposed line, but it seems that they would prefer to have it terminate in Lakehurst. As for Ciba Geicy, It's going to be at least another 30 years or so before they completely clean the site up. The ground itself has been cleaned up for the most part, but the groundwater is still pretty bad. If anyone wants to do anything with the property, I'd recommend they do so soon because apparently the county wants to put in a housing development there once the site is clean. (?!)

Personally, I'd like to see the Ciba site become a rail/truck transloading facility that can serve all the industries on Route 9 south of Toms River and in the surrounding area where the trains can't go. I have heard that New Jersey Seashore Lines has looked into doing just that, but they are waiting to see how the sand trains go first.
 #1518452  by Tanker1497
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 7:12 pm Just my two cents on all the recent MOM posts.

While it is definitely possible for Transit to have a station in Toms River, I believe it probably won't happen. Transit has considered Toms River as the southern terminus for the proposed line, but it seems that they would prefer to have it terminate in Lakehurst. As for Ciba Geicy, It's going to be at least another 30 years or so before they completely clean the site up. The ground itself has been cleaned up for the most part, but the groundwater is still pretty bad. If anyone wants to do anything with the property, I'd recommend they do so soon because apparently the county wants to put in a housing development there once the site is clean. (?!)

Personally, I'd like to see the Ciba site become a rail/truck transloading facility that can serve all the industries on Route 9 south of Toms River and in the surrounding area where the trains can't go. I have heard that New Jersey Seashore Lines has looked into doing just that, but they are waiting to see how the sand trains go first.
The property at Ciba is huge 1350 acre's they only ever use 25% of left center. That leaves a bunch of land never touched by anything. The same dirt trials that cross this area still exsist on most the property. All the rails after the tree line were removed, most buildings are gone. There are people working there, the phone comapany still works on the alarm lines and such. They give tours every few years. And for the most part wasn't responceable for most of the cancers issues in TR. The Reich Farm was mostly and did it through wells 6,7,8 when they were told to shut them down and local officals turn them on every summer. And continuted too every year and were fined! But if your looking for restitusion you need to follow the money, and that was Ciba Guigy Not saying that the people that got sick in the Oak ridge Pkwy section wasn't the Toms River Chemical fault. It was, but from privite wells being poluted from them. But for the rest on the town they found wells 6,7,8 were the only wells that were capable in suppling water to every single home. The ground water from the farm goes down 40 50 thousand feet. Ciba piped all the fluids into the Toms River, and it wasn't illegal. It was solid waste that was on the propery that leached into surface wells. Ask me how I know... I'm 1000ft from the farm and 1500 feet from the Ciba border. The came in and paid to fill all the wells in my area, all the small farms were forced to close cause they had to pay for water. My developement is an old farm! That area where the buildings were would make a great train yard! Nobody lives in a train yard. That is probaley the only thing that works!
 #1518505  by nomis
 
Would the “stalled freight train near Woodbridge” that was announced on NJ 101.5 affect this week’s run?
 #1518626  by Bracdude181
 
Today's SA31

CSX 4421 leading (wtf when did it come back)
CSX 4432 trailing. 15 cars today.

Also that train that broke down on the coast line, that was a Conrail yard job (PR-08?) that ran a red signal and then the PTC made the controls unresponsive.
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