Southern div passing tracks?

[fw2008]

Hi;
Can anyone tell me if the Q has changed the configuration of the railroad between Little Ferry NJ and Campbell Hall NY over the past 10 years?
I am particularly interested in passing tracks, addition or loss of industry sidings, etc.
I am trying to model the railroad in TRS2006 (Trainz RR sim), using Google Earth maps, but the detail is very poor over much of the western NJ area.

Thanks

FW

[washingtonsecondary]

There have been no major changes to the southern division in the last 10 years, except maybe the addition of an MC track or two down in Ridgefield park.

How far along have you come with your route? I'm a big fan of TRS 2006 and would love to see your progress.

[fw2008]

There have been no major changes to the southern division in the last 10 years, except maybe the addition of an MC track or two down in Ridgefield park.

How far along have you come with your route? I'm a big fan of TRS 2006 and would love to see your progress.

My TRS2006 route is still in the early stages. I am using TransDem TRS edition to map it out from Google Earth "places" which I am marking at 250m elevation.
I am probably "biting off a lot more than I can chew" with this route, which may include the entire Suzy-Q, the CSX Riverline and a lot of NJT and Amtrak in NJ.
I had to split the route so that it wouldn't take so long to load in TRS. I plan to merge all sections once they are nearly complete.

In all, it's a huge route, starting in Bayonne NJ, going the entire CSX River Line to Selkirk, the Suzy-Q to Campbell Hall, NJT/NS from NJ to Campbell Hall, all of the Newark yards, NJT, including the HBLR lines.

I have a pretty fast PC, so hopefully the huge route will actually run<g>.

FW

[GOLDEN-ARM]

Let's talk about sidings ("passing tracks") on the SD, okay? I can move this to a relevant forum, if you want to discuss computer programs, etc. Thanks

[Steve F45]

they added a second "main" in the intermodal yard. use windows live local, much better.

[cjvrr]

There was a second track added on the spur at Sparta Junction to allow more car storage. Also the CO2 company had several leads built into their site. All within the last 10 years.

There are no passing sidings on the line between Butler and Sparta or from Sparta north to Warwick.

Small passing siding in Butler, used as a run a round track.

For track and spurs in Morris County you can use the Morris County GIS website for a real close look;

https://morrisgis.co.morris.nj.us/

[fw2008]

they added a second "main" in the intermodal yard. use windows live local, much better.

Windows Live is much better for the North Bergen/Little Ferry to Newark NJ area, but if you go further north/west, it loses all res, then Google Earth is much better.
I think I'm gonna have to take a few road trips, maybe even catch a few elusive stacks on the Q along the way.

There is also a short passing track just north of Pelton rd. I can see that on GE. I missed the one in Butler, but figured there was one there, since it was always a reporting point for trains passing through. The crews always referred to it as "Butt".

I guess the volume of traffic currently does not support the expense of laying out a long (2 miles) passing track. Perhaps someday if/when NJT gets serious about running service on the line, we'll see some real improvement<g>

FW

[SemperFidelis]

A good amount of the old Greenwood Lake Branch through Wayne has been removed. The southern end of the Passaic Branch is now abandoned with some track in place, some in place and buried under dirt, and some having been removed. Loss of Marcal Paper waste transfer off of Midland Avenue with traffic diverted either to NYGL or directly to Marcal's plant. Major loss when Garden State Paper closed (pretty much sealed the fate of the Passaic Branch). Atlantic Pipe in Pompton Plains or Riverdale, which was the main reason for the Greenwood Lake Branch to remain in place, stopped receiving by rail.

[fw2008]

There was a second track added on the spur at Sparta Junction to allow more car storage.

https://morrisgis.co.morris.nj.us/

Using GE maps, I can only see a switch at the bottom end of the second track on the Sparta spur. Is this a dead-end track, with access from only the bottom (west) end?
It would make more sense (to me) if there were a switch at the top end as well.

FW

[fw2008]

A good amount of the old Greenwood Lake Branch through Wayne has been removed. The southern end of the Passaic Branch is now abandoned with some track in place, some in place and buried under dirt, and some having been removed. Loss of Marcal Paper waste transfer off of Midland Avenue with traffic diverted either to NYGL or directly to Marcal's plant. Major loss when Garden State Paper closed (pretty much sealed the fate of the Passaic Branch). Atlantic Pipe in Pompton Plains or Riverdale, which was the main reason for the Greenwood Lake Branch to remain in place, stopped receiving by rail.

This is very unfortunate for the Q, and for those of us who have to use the highways, where there are more trucks where there used to be trains.
It looks to me that a lot of the Q's local industry is drying up, especially now, in hard times. I truly hope she (the Q) survives, although I've been reading posts that suggest a buyout by ?? CSX?, NS?

With all the $$ CSX has been spending to upgrade the River Line (new and longer passing tracks, etc), it would seem that more traffic will go that route rather than over the Q from NJ to Buffalo and beyond.
Perhaps the time is ripe for NJT to purchase the line for passenger service? I think it would certainly be needed.
Then, that's a subject for another section of the forum.

FW

[blockline4180]

Atlantic Pipe in Pompton Plains or Riverdale, which was the main reason for the Greenwood Lake Branch to remain in place, stopped receiving by rail.

This is not entirely true!! According to my friend who works for the NYSW, Morris Pipe is still listed as a customer for the Q. Although very sporadic, they did get a car a few months ago and it was their first car in over 2 years!

[SemperFidelis]

Excellent! I am so glad to hear that they're still using rail. I was worried that the rail-trail might find its way all the way up to the junction by the quarry. I seem to recall walking the line a few years ago and finding an old customer on the out of service portion that looked like maybe a plastics manufacturer (several silos).

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=s&lat=40.933 ... 29&zoom=18

Any idea who this is / was?