CR on the Southern Secondary

Is there a chance that some of this track work could be related to any MOM usage? Doesn't make sense that they would facelift that bridge, throw an NJT sign on it, and re-wire the TRIT switch when there's little to no potential freight customers on the rather lengthy ROW. Not to mention the recent uptick in track work south of Lakehurst/Lakewood, supposedly for sand trains that aren't guaranteed and aren't coming anytime soon.

I doubt it has any relation to MOM. Just maintenance (removing any sign of Donald Trump Support) by the state who does own the bridge still. Although it would be nice to return passenger travel down that direction, it will never happen. since Clayton owns the 13 miles of ROW beginning about 1+ miles north of there and running to Lakehurst. State can't even get a travel path to Lakehurst established much less think of establishing anything south of Woodmansie beyond someone else's owned ROW.

JohnFromJersey wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:10 am Is there a chance that some of this track work could be related to any MOM usage? Doesn't make sense that they would facelift that bridge, throw an NJT sign on it, and re-wire the TRIT switch when there's little to no potential freight customers on the rather lengthy ROW. Not to mention the recent uptick in track work south of Lakehurst/Lakewood, supposedly for sand trains that aren't guaranteed and aren't coming anytime soon.

As CJPat noted the bridge was painted to cover pro-Trump graffiti. The bridge is state property and our 'D' gub'mint probably didn't like what was on their bridge.
The trackwork South of Lakehurst was for Clayton Sand who owns the track from Union Ave. South for 13 miles . The original MOM plans called for Lakehurst to be the southern terminus for passenger service. So no, not for MOM.
The TRIT switch was removed several years ago, but as part of the Union Ave. crossing re-build they are rewiring the crossing protection. (lights, bells, etc.) The switch may have been used at Woodhaven when they put in their second siding.
The NEC Portal Bridge construction project is supposed to begin this year (Fall) and will require a lot of concrete, hence a lot of sand. And Clayton's pits in Woodmansie have excellent sand for concrete. Following that Amtrak still wants two new tunnels under the Hudson and then rebuild the existing tunnels. Lots more concrete.

CJPat wrote:@NS1, -This is a bit lengthy, but bear with me.
We can definitely appreciate your perspective, especially since the "railwatch for sand trains" has been going on since 2006, but I would have to differ with you on one thing. We are well familiar with the"shyster" you reference. He tried to interact in Somerville as well as out in Jersey City area and I believe his biggest play was outside of Baltimore. But he is not involved here.

Unfortunately, I fear you err in regards to the Clayton sand pit in Woodmansie. The sand pit itself and the 13 miles of track have been owned by the Clayton corporation since sometime in the early 1980's after the Jersey Central was absorbed by Conrail and the NJDOT took ownership of the entire ROW south of Lakehurst. Clayton purchased the ROW from NJDOT and ran his own trains utilizing Ashland Rwy until track conditions go so bad, it became too costly to operate. Clayton continued to pay the taxes on the ROW, although overgrown at that time until 2006 when Clayton had the line cleared (presumably in advance of looking for contracts for the intended construction of the new train tunnels under the hudson -"Tunnel to Nowhere" or The Macy's Basement Line. The project never came to fruition at that time (as a taxpayer, it was a very bad deal for NJ). At last look, NJ Seashore lines holds the contract to be the actual railway operator to transfer the sand cars to Lakehurst for conrail to take north. The "Shyster" has never been involved in any of this. As you said, his M.O. was to take abandoned ROWs and file to be recognized as an Operating Railroad. Never happened here.

It does appear that Amtrak indeed desires to conduct several projects (new tunnels, new Portal Bridge, and a few others). These projects may not show up for another 4+years, but there is potential for Clayton with this.

You are probably also very correct when you say "One carload of sand would have enough sand for at least 10 truckloads of concrete". As you are probably aware, a concrete truck hauls about 10 cy of concrete. 10 trucks would be 100 cy. 100 cy is paltry in these type of projects. Concrete would typically be measured in thousands of cy. And yes, like you said, they would also need the aggregate to go with it along with the concrete powder (would probably be a different vendor).

As far as locations for batch plants, Nj doesn't lack empty properties in the vicinity of the Hudson or Passaic Rivers where factories once stood, many of them having had rail access at one time. Not usually too hard to rent a property and set up a batch plant and reinstall a siding for unloading.

As far as when would this happen, you are again correct to be dubious as to occuring in the immediate near future. And as I pointed out in another post, Clayton would have to be contracted to be a sand provider, meaning his price and service would have to be lower than other sand vendors in a competitive bid.

It's been 12 years so I will forgive your memory:

9/30/2009
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 225796.PDF

10/1/09
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 225809.pdf
Paragraph #47

@CR7876 - Thank You for the postings. I did indeed forget all the details. As I read thru the postings, I remembered seeing the Strohmeyer filing regarding establishing a short piece of rail as a sand off-loading point. I was confused by the document originally, because, due to my limited understanding of procedure, it seemed to want to force the Jersey City site to be a guaranteed off-load location. I could not understand how they could force the issue.

Two important items raise out of the document:
1. The statement that Conrail preferred their Elizabeth Yard to serve as the off load site for the trans-Hudson Tunnel project (does not specify that a batch plant would be established there, only the off-loading point). This would feed into NS1's earlier posting regarding a lack of suitable sites for off-loading
2. Although it tries to bring Clayton & NJSL into the discussion, there was no evidence of any advance agreements between them and Mr. Strohmeyer.

Now again, my understanding of the legalities involved with these kind of filings is severely limited and prone to error. But with the letter from the Attorney for NJSL dismissing any kind of involvement with Mr. Strohmeyer's intent, I tend to believe the same may apply to the Clayton Corporation, that they too, may not have any kind of involvement with Mr Strohmeyer's intent at that time.

I still believe in my original posting that there are available properties near existing used rail that could be made available by installing a switch and temporary siding for supporting either the different trans-Hudson tunnel project to the new Moynihan Station or for the new Portal Bridge (two completely different locations probably requiring different support sites.

But I do stand corrected about my statement to NS1 saying that the "Shyster" had nothing to do with the Clayton Operation & ROW. I still believe it is true, but clearly, by name association alone, we do see Mr. Strohmeyer and Clayton's names together in a legal document.

Power change at Browns. 6160 left for its 90 day inspection so 4432 was brought in from Port Reading

Current roster is now:
CSX 4405, 4429, and 4432.

Last year NJ Transit released a massive set of plans and document describing expansions, etc. Unless I am overlooking something, I don't see any reference to NJT plans for the area relevant to this discussion thread. https://njtplans.com/

Requesting Permission on Church Running Track 3:26 PM

CSX 4432 leading with CSX 4405 trailing.

Edit: looks like 16 cars for Woodhaven.

Permission to open up on Church Running Track 3:41 PM

Just a heads up, we might not have an SA38 bringing the train back tonight. No confirmation right now, so keep your eyes out tomorrow morning.

Lined and Locked Normal 3:54 PM

Just posted in CMSL saw inspectors out and about.
Please go to the CMSL page to view info.

Tanker1497 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 4:25 pm Just posted in CMSL saw inspectors out and about.

Where?

Clear of BANK interlocking on the Southern Secondary 4:40 PM