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  • Pre CR breakdown of NS Harrisburg to NJ?

  • Discussion related to the operations and equipment of Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail) from 1976 to its present operations as Conrail Shared Assets. Official web site can be found here: CONRAIL.COM.
Discussion related to the operations and equipment of Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail) from 1976 to its present operations as Conrail Shared Assets. Official web site can be found here: CONRAIL.COM.

Moderators: TAMR213, keeper1616

 #1236829  by train2
 
Would anyone be so kind as to offer a breakdown of the former railroads that make up the current NS line from Harrisburg to Croxton, Oak Island and E-rail? I am very much a post Conrail person, so I have little knowledge of the previous roads. I know the current line is made up of several different roads and would like to know where the line changed from what road to what road?
 #1237425  by TAMR213
 
train2 wrote: Can anyone sort out the mess of tracks and bridges around Easton Pa?
While not 100%, I hope this is better then nothing:
The Lehigh Line swings over to ex-CNJ trackage just east of Phillipsburg and crosses the Delaware River on the ex-CNJ bridge. It then switches back over to ex-LV trackage in Easton. I believe the reasoning for this was questions regarding the integrity of the LV bridge, but this was before my time. East of Philipsburg, the Lehigh Line is all ex-LV to Oak Island.

Trains have two ways to get to E-Rail:
-Diverging off the Lehigh Line at Bound Brook and taking the ex-RDG "Port Reading Secondary" to Port Reading NJ, where they will take the ex-CNJ "Chemical Coast Secondary" north to E-Rail
-Lehigh Line to Oak Island, and then heading south on the Chemical Coast
(I'm not sure how normal daily operations are conducted, but the majority of trains probably head to Oak Island. There are some regular intermodal, ethenol, etc trains on the Port Reading though, with it used as a "safety valve" or "back door" for others when needed)

I'm sorry I can't provide much reliable information on the route between Oak Island and Croxton, as it is much more convoluted and dense.

Hope this helps.

Of course, if anyone can correct me or provide further details, please do!
 #1237575  by train2
 
Very good, thanks for that.

The line from Oak island to Croxton is previously electrified for much of its length. Cat poles still stand. After Hack bridge there are no cat poles pass the NJ transit shop Croxton.

Any thoughts?
 #1237586  by TAMR213
 
train2 wrote: The line from Oak island to Croxton is previously electrified for much of its length. Cat poles still stand. After Hack bridge there are no cat poles pass the NJ transit shop Croxton.
Not sure exactly what you mean by this, but there are a couple ways for trains to get from the CSAO Oak Island Yard, to NS Croxton Yard and the CSX River Line. Don't want to provide any incorrect information attempting to detail the routes, but they primarily consist of the P&H Line and the National Docks Secondary. Note though that there are some incorrect assertions in those articles, for example the jointly owned LV-PRR "Upper Bay Draw" is referred to as the "Lehigh Valley Railroad Bridge" and states that it is used by CSX with no mention of NS (in reality it is Conrail Shared Assets).
 #1238542  by train2
 
OK to clarify this a bit. Example: An NS train moving east on the Lehigh line, after passing CP Stock moving toward Coxton and up to the first movable bridge there are abandoned cat poles, sans wire, above and over the track structure. Clearly visible from the adjacent roadway. However in the area of CP Marion and CP Croxton there are none. So something changed or they were taken down. I was thinking it was possibly a change of owner of track in that section. My thought was the P&H was PRR but beyond the first bridge things changed drastically. Looking for a little understand of what that is.
 #1238593  by ExCon90
 
PRR's P&H Branch was electrified through to Harsimus Cove, parallel to the Jersey City Branch and the H&M, passing behind WALDO tower and continuing east to the Jersey City waterfront. The branch from Marion northwards (with the junction originally facing east, not west) was never electrified. That line has an interesting history: it was originally the NYS&W, which operated into the PRR Jersey City station from about 1880 until it was leased to the Erie around the end of the 19th century, and was also used by the New York, West Shore & Buffalo for a short period from 1883 until its new Weehawken terminal was ready.
 #1239935  by lvrr325
 
IIRC the CNJ bridge in Easton is slightly newer and riveted where the LV is pinned. So Conrail swung the Lehigh Line onto the CNJ for enough of a stretch to use that bridge instead. Cheaper long term to maintain even though the CNJ likely had done nothing to it since the 60s and for a while it was the abandoned bridge.
 #1249192  by wis bang
 
lvrr325 wrote:IIRC the CNJ bridge in Easton is slightly newer and riveted where the LV is pinned. So Conrail swung the Lehigh Line onto the CNJ for enough of a stretch to use that bridge instead. Cheaper long term to maintain even though the CNJ likely had done nothing to it since the 60s and for a while it was the abandoned bridge.
Let's not forget that the construction of I-78 cut the CNJ RR ROW [the LV was operating the CNJ tracks in PA since '72] as the CNJ was already shut down so they built I-78 over only the LVRR ROW. Conrail condemned the two LVRR pin truss bridges, one over the Delaware and the other taking the E & N up over the LV main, the Lehigh canal and river before crossing the CNJ ROW.

The CNJ bridge was sitting there and the tracks interconnected on the PA side making it E Z for Conrail to run around the LV bridge. The E & N was cut off from the south end and had it's final service from the Stockertown end.
 #1262109  by cobra30689
 
train2 wrote:OK to clarify this a bit. Example: An NS train moving east on the Lehigh line, after passing CP Stock moving toward Coxton and up to the first movable bridge there are abandoned cat poles, sans wire, above and over the track structure. Clearly visible from the adjacent roadway. However in the area of CP Marion and CP Croxton there are none. So something changed or they were taken down. I was thinking it was possibly a change of owner of track in that section. My thought was the P&H was PRR but beyond the first bridge things changed drastically. Looking for a little understand of what that is.
The cat poles you see are for the PRR Greenville Branch (what is now the Waverly Running Track) that went from Waverly Yard, through the old Garden Yard (which is still in use I think), over BAY draw, and into PRR's Greenville Yard and carfloats at the waterfront, which are also still there but much smaller.
 #1280247  by CNJ Fan 4evr
 
wis bang wrote:
lvrr325 wrote:IIRC the CNJ bridge in Easton is slightly newer and riveted where the LV is pinned. So Conrail swung the Lehigh Line onto the CNJ for enough of a stretch to use that bridge instead. Cheaper long term to maintain even though the CNJ likely had done nothing to it since the 60s and for a while it was the abandoned bridge.
Let's not forget that the construction of I-78 cut the CNJ RR ROW [the LV was operating the CNJ tracks in PA since '72] as the CNJ was already shut down so they built I-78 over only the LVRR ROW. Conrail condemned the two LVRR pin truss bridges, one over the Delaware and the other taking the E & N up over the LV main, the Lehigh canal and river before crossing the CNJ ROW.

The CNJ bridge was sitting there and the tracks interconnected on the PA side making it E Z for Conrail to run around the LV bridge. The E & N was cut off from the south end and had it's final service from the Stockertown end.
Correction to your post. The former LV goes over I-78 on a bridge. The CNJ line is also cut off now at Warren Glen as they took out the old wooden bridge and made the former track bed level with the road. There is a switch east of there from Bloomsbury to the former LV but nothing has used this in several years. Also the CNJ culvert in Alpha was taken out 25 years ago or more making another "hole" in the former CNJ main.
 #1286910  by RDG467
 
The ex-LV trackage is used from Easton to Bethlehem, where it uses part of the ex-Reading RR Bethlehem Branch to cross the Lehigh River to the CNJ side. Allentown Yard is ex-CNJ, and the line to Harrisburg splits off near the old R Tower. This is all ex-RDG track to Rutherford Yard in Harrisburg.

The other line from R Tower is ex-CNJ and follows the Lehigh River to Mahanoy & Hazleton Junction, above Jim Thorpe. The section between Lehighton and M&H Jct. is ex-LV, as is the M&H up to Hazleton.