CNJ mainline-west of High Bridge

Indeed, great pics! thanks for posting them!

Hope to see the new ones soon! (Id really like to get up there and see it with my own eyes, but pics are a good second best! hhahaha)

At the farm crossing pic, it looks like that one rail is removed - did they remove both rails from the crossing and pave over it? Gotta wonder if that was with the railroads permission or not.....

Went back up there about an hour ago and took some current pictures of what the ROW looks like now

Asbury-Ludlow Station Crossing as of 1/23/12

Photo089 by whrhs2010, on Flickr
Asbury-West Portal road overpass looking East

Photo091 by whrhs2010, on Flickr
Asbury West Portal road overpass looking West

Photo092 by whrhs2010, on Flickr
NJT Brush hog sitting up at the Overpass

Photo093 by whrhs2010, on Flickr

Photo090 by whrhs2010, on Flickr

Valley Station road crossing Looking East not yet cleared

Photo094 by whrhs2010, on Flickr

I did not go down to that farm crossing due to the fact that the farmer doesn't like people trespassing on his property

WOW! they really cleared it good!

Thanks for the pics!

WOW. Looks great just like it did with the CNJ Days. A long way to go but comapred to how it was so overgrown. Can't wait to see trains run to atleast Ludlow/Asbury really soon. May not be all the way to Alpha but alot further past White House Station.

Oh crap...." The Websense category "Social Networking" is filtered. "....dang office computer !

Any way ya can plant 1 or 2 pics on here Tommy ?

Great photos, Tommy! Thanks for sharing!

I was actually out that way today and saw it for myself.

As shown in the photo of the cars stored a few years back, the Valley Station Road crossing has been paved over. One rail (the south one) is completely embedded in the pavement, but the head of the other is visible. I wonder if paving over a crossing is a way of marking a track as out of service, in the same way that removing a rail can place a segment OOS. This would make sense, and would make the Valley Station Road crossing the point where the track goes OOS.

The crossing at Ludlow Station Road has signs saying "Crossing Out Of Service". There is also a derail just to the east of the crossing, exactly at MP 60. I thought that this could mark the eastern point of where the track goes OOS, but Jt posted on the last page that the end of serviceable track is somewhere around MP 54. So why would they put a derail on a section of track that is OOS for several miles on both sides?

I got some photos, and I'll put those up soon.

Hmmmmmmm last time I was out there, I don't remember a derail at or around MP60......

If they were working, even in the out of service portion, it would make sense to put a derail on, just in case someone decided to go out and take the weedwacker for a ride, there would be nothing to stop them from going all the way down to the in service portion of the RVL (as far as I know) if that derail wasn't there. So thats a good idea.

A paved over crossing is not an "offical" way to take a track out of service - things can be done in an out of service track, that might prohibit train movement, like rails removed or things like that, but just paving over a crossing is not necessarily a good way to take a track out of service. Because a train could go to that point and derail once it hits the pavement, especially if the crossing or work done (whatever it was) was done without the permission of the railroad. Remember, trains can go on out of service track, they just need the permission of the employee in charge of that track. Of course, they are operating at restricted speed, being on the lookout for anything that would be bad news....

They would have to take the track out of service up to that crossing, if they wanted a train to travel on it for whatever reason. They also could chip away at the pavement and clear the flangeways too. Especially if its an "illegal" crossing.

Here's the derail, in the center of the photo:


It doesn't appear that it's been there for a very long time, so maybe your theory about it being for the brush cutter is correct. I can't think of any other reason.
Also, here's the "Tracks Out Of Service" sign at Ludlow Station Road:


As for paving the crossing, I've read on the forums that removing a rail was one way to mark a section of track as OOS. Maybe this isn't a necessary step to making it OOS, but it would definitely make sure that a train doesn't accidentally go into the OOS section. I figured that paving over a crossing would be basically the same thing, but I could be totally wrong.
Here's the paved over crossing at Valley Station Road. The south rail is completely paved over, but the north rail is visible.




I also went over to check out the tunnel preservation at Still Valley Road in Pohatcong. There's definitely been some progress since we were there (hard to believe that was already a month ago).


Unfortunately, our friends weren't there working.

Tommy5 wrote:Went back up there about an hour ago and took some current pictures of what the ROW looks like now
I did not go down to that farm crossing due to the fact that the farmer doesn't like people trespassing on his property

Cool. Wonder if they can send that machine down to the Southern Division.

A derail in the derailing position, secured with an effective securing device, may be used to provide roadway worker protection(RWP). One derail would be placed, as shown, at or near the NJT division post, and another derail should be placed on the other end of the segment of track to be so protected.

A paved over crossing is not sufficient to indicate the limits of an out of service track. A disconnected rail, a barricade, a flagman stationed to stop trains, or a whole milepost or station may be used to indicate the limits of an out of service track. My understanding is RWP needs only be provided while roadway workers are working on, or their equipment is on, a track so once the crew is done they may remove their derail even though the track remains out of service.

Sirsonic wrote:A derail in the derailing position, secured with an effective securing device, may be used to provide roadway worker protection(RWP). One derail would be placed, as shown, at or near the NJT division post, and another derail should be placed on the other end of the segment of track to be so protected.

A paved over crossing is not sufficient to indicate the limits of an out of service track. A disconnected rail, a barricade, a flagman stationed to stop trains, or a whole milepost or station may be used to indicate the limits of an out of service track. My understanding is RWP needs only be provided while roadway workers are working on, or their equipment is on, a track so once the crew is done they may remove their derail even though the track remains out of service.

Funny you chimed in Sir, what happens when you hit a recently paved over crossing and didn't know it was paved over?

Carnage ensues! hahaha

Cool pics Joe, that tunnel out in "whatever 'cong" looks great!

Joe -

I can't get your pics either...sigh.

Will you be posting them on rrpictures.net ?

Sir, thanks for the explanation! I didn't realize that a derail would be required to protect a crew working on an OOS section of track. That means there must have been a second one between Asbury-West Portal and Valley Station roads, but I don't know exactly where it is.
I assumed (yes, I know, I know!) that paving over a crossing had the same effect as removing a rail, but I guess not. MP 62 is just west of Valley Station Road, so that must be where the track goes OOS.

Jt, thanks! The tunnel is on Still Valley Road in Pohatcong. It appears that the waterproofing work is done, and the town can move forward on the cosmetic restoration very soon.

Tom, I do plan on putting them up on RRPA as soon as I get a chance. Maybe later tonight.

Think of the derail not so much protecting those working in the out of service part of the track, but rather the IN service portion of the track further down the line. I mean it is protecting those working in the OOS section as well, but its still connected to live rail further down the line, and we wouldn't want that piece of equipment to roll away by whatever means and make it to High Bridge or further east and have a not so happy encounter with a passenger train

I would ASSUME (yea yea) that the crossing where the rail is actually pulled (is that the farmers crossing?) would be enough to protect them where they are working - if they were to put that rail back, or work west of it, they would probably put a derail down further west of that location, for the same reason, they are still connected to live rail on the west end as well, and wouldn't want it to roll west and hit a freight train or cars somewhere

I'm a bit late to this party. Why the brush clearing?? cool pix!