Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 11:35 am
In line with the recent discussion on Coast Line freight, I'd like to give my two cents.
I can't say why Conrail stopped serving Builders General in Little Silver, as that place is fairly large and always busy. There's a siding long enough for 3 centerbeams or 3 boxcars. Asbury Park Press moved to Freehold, which is probably why they stopped getting cars in Bradley Beach Yard.
As for the potential of a South Amboy to Bay Head freight train, it is possible. Unfortunately it will probably never happen due to Conrail and NJ Transits FIREY hatred of each other, but for a moment here let's assume that such a train existed in 2020. Here's how it could work.
Let's assume we have a train with the Symbol of WPSA-37. This crew would work Monday and Thursday nights, and would get to the Church Running Track at 8 PM and wait until evening rush hour ends. Around 9 PM, they would get on the Coast Line and begin moving south. Between South Amboy and Bay Head, the following customers can get rail service:
Builders General in Little Silver
John Guire Supply Co in Long Branch
Toll Compaction in Asbury Park
Mazza Recycling in Bradley Beach
Dunphey-Smith Company in Manasquan (HVAC and plumbing supplier/wholesaler)
In addition, rail to truck transloading can be done in some of the yards and sidings along the way to reach other nearby businesses, alleviating the need for a rail siding.
The train would then turn around via the loop in Bay Head. Crew can take a short break here if they need to, then begin the trip up north. Transloading can be done here too.
On the return run, the following business can be drilled:
Jaeger Lumber in Belmar
The Siding Depot in Asbury Park
Seals Eastern in Red Bank (rubber seal manufacturer/distributor)
Voyant Beauty in Centerville. (This place is a beauty product factory/distributior and would be the largest customer on the Coast Line)
Once done, the train will return to South Amboy and head back to Sayreville.
While all this is possible, it would be a tricky job as the crew would be under some pressure to at the very least finish drilling customers before morning rush hour starts, so they can stay out of the way of commuter trains. It would also be a good idea to have a contingency plan incase a train breaks down and has to be towed or something.
Another downside is the weight limit on all points south of South Amboy, which I'm almost certain is 263,000 pounds. Plate F wouldn't exactly be a problem here, as most of these customers are small. Only the larger customers might suffer from this slightly, as the biggest car they can get is a 60 foot Plate E boxcar. (Similar to the IBTX cars we see on the Southern)
The transloading thing I mentioned can be done in the many yards, sidings, and team tracks along the line. However, not all can be utilized as Transit needs places to park MOW trains and equipment. This is something that NJT and Conrail would have to work out if such a service is ever started.
The whole thing would require Conrail and NJ Transit to work together, which is something they can't do in the slightest.
So what do y'all think? Is this possible? I certainly think it is, provided it's done correctly and how willing North Jersey is to provide good service.
Yeesh, where do I start.
Builders' General, as with the Toms River location, stopped receiving cars likely due to costs and/or down sizing etc.
Before I go on,
just because there are busines's within half a mile of the tracks, doesn't mean they need or want rail service. Keep in mind there are
no spurs for any of these business, putting one in and then recieving one or two cars every week is not going to pay off the track and service for a lonnnnggggg time.
Some of these customer
ideas don't even make any sense to me. As I've said before, who's gonna want to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into a tiny spur? Keep in mind all the service disruptions that this will cause, thus another reason why it really can't happen on the operational side.
The Transloading Issue is about as realistic as the rest. The two places that you could even
think about doing it at are already off the board. Neptune yard is usually occupied with MoW equipment, plus there is no space there for a transloading operation to take place. NJT is using all the space it has in Bay Head, leaving no room for any extra movement to occur. Keep in mind the residents are crying rivers as it is with the current noise and traffic levels with the passenger operations
alone, much less any operations involving a lot of trucks on the road as a result of this transloading operation. As some people here have said before, between the NIMBYs and business themselves opting for no rail service, I don't see anyone working this out considering this is almost impossible.
Weight restrictions, again!! Oh boy . . . To put it into perspective, an average GP40-2 weighs between 250,000 to 260,000 pounds. The CNJ GP40s on Transit's roster approach the 260k mark. If these "restrictions" are in place, then why hasn't NJT
banned its own engines from coming on the Coast Line. Considering these heavy locomotives traverse the line daily, whether it be on an equipment move or revenue train, it doesn't quite make sense to me that locomotives that are heavier than the
"weight restrictions" are still running around problem free.
