CSX River Line (West Shore) Double Tracking?

2005Vdub wrote:i live in the area. i dont see much sitting around 7-10 as i used to before htey double tracked it from 7-5.

On one of my first trips over the road in 1971, we were sitting at CP 7 in Bogota waiting to go south. It was in the middle of the night. A cop told the engineer, who had the nickname "Rheingold Pete", to shut the engines down. He told the cop, "you don't want us to do that." The cop said, "if you don't, I'll write you a ticket."

The engines were Alco 2400 Century units that had air starters. If you lost the air, you couldn't get them going. Rheingold complied with the order to shut down and kept an eye on the main resevoir pressure. It stayed up and in a few minutes we got the signal to head south. The brakeman went to the third unit and I headed to the second while Pete fired up the first Alco. The air starters sounded like 50 mm machine guns going off! The noise was deafening and lights started going on in the apartment buildings near the tracks.

With all three units back on line, and heading down hill, we started rolling right away as a fleet of police cars headed towards us. There wasn't much they could do. We weren't going to pull over. Pete looked at me and said, "I tried to warn them, but they insisted we shut them down."

It's been many years since the name "Rheingold Pete" was brought to mind. He was a real character! We had a few such characters in those days -- such as Uncle Ezra.

I recall one night being ordered as a fireman on a Roseton coal extra out of Selkirk with Freddie "Uncle Ezra" as the engineer. I had only been working for PC for about 3 weeks at the time. Before we pulled out of the receiving yard, Uncle had drained at least 3 quarts of Utica Club -- smashing the bottles on the ballast as they were emptied.

I talked with the BLE LC about this when I saw him. I was young and really didn't know how to handle that situation. Fortunately I never really had that experience again.

Freddie was the one who came blasting over the "out of service, under repair" bridge at Iona Island (Doodletown Bight) one time in the early '70s. The B&B workers had to dive for the water. Luckily he didn't kill anyone that day.

I remember Freddie and one of the most famous quotes of my railroad career. He was on VE-2 one evening and was put in the siding at Ravena right out of Selkirk. The dispatcher told him he was going to wait for one northbound freight before heading south. TV-7 was coming to Kingston, so the dispatcher told Freddie he would have to wait for him too. Then TV-15 came up the pike followed by ML-9. When the dispatcher told Freddie, after a five hour wait in the siding, that he had just one more train to get by, Freddie replied in his best Alabama twang, "Mr. Disptacher, this is the only railroad where you can hire out, make a round trip, and take your pension when you get home." That was the Penn Central!

I can hear him now. I won't clutter up this forum with more stories about him, though.

When I started there, we still had 16 hours to work legally. Quite often you would get over the road in 8 and spend the last 8 at a red signal either at Bogota or on the Ravena siding. Like torture, as I recall.

Ever see Gerry Harrington throw a students books out the window, for spending too much time studying, instead of watching the railroad......

are there any plans to double track it from Dumont thur NY state?

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:Ever see Gerry Harrington throw a students books out the window, for spending too much time studying, instead of watching the railroad......

There's another name from the past...

What was it they called him? Was it Ram Rod?

2005Vdub wrote:i live in the area. i dont see much sitting around 7-10 as i used to before htey double tracked it from 7-5.

Although I have seen northbounds wait at CP 5, southbounds would block the crossings at Bergen Turnpike and Mt. Vernon Street. Another "Rheingold Pete" story was the night he was blocking the crossing at Mt. Vernon St. in Ridgefield and got on the radio to report, "there's someone with a gun getting on the engine." You guessed it, it was a Ridgefield cop.

i remeber those days of having mt.vernon and bergen trnpk blocked when i was younger. It wasn't for a short time either in most cases with those long autoracks.

2005Vdub wrote:are there any plans to double track it from Dumont thur NY state?

As discussed in the NJ thread, the state is considering increasing the tax burden on railroads as one option to fill a big budget hole. That would probably discourage any more track expansion in NJ. Extending the second track from West Nyack to the State Line in Tappan would make more sense so northbounds could get a run on the hill instead of sitting on it for a meet.

Penn Central wrote:

2005Vdub wrote:are there any plans to double track it from Dumont thur NY state?

As discussed in the NJ thread, the state is considering increasing the tax burden on railroads as one option to fill a big budget hole. That would probably discourage any more track expansion in NJ. Extending the second track from West Nyack to the State Line in Tappan would make more sense so northbounds could get a run on the hill instead of sitting on it for a meet.

APH, I know it has been some time since either you or I have worked on
the River Line but the West Nyack siding was extended north to a point
just north of the crossing at Valley Cottage at CP-26. The hold point north
is MP 25.8 which might be the crossing at Valley Cottage. While the rear
end of the train will still hang over the grade, it is probably a much easier
job to get a train moving there than it was at CP-24.
Change your direction with regard to West Nyack and Tappan.
The last time I worked this line was in the summer of 1982. Once the
swapping and deadheading stopped, I took a "swim" across the river.
I've got good memories of this line too, good memories but not always
pleasant memories. I still have a couple of envelopes of hard cards and
notes about various trips, remind me that I am glad I do not have to deal
with that stuff any more.
Noel Weaver

Hi Noel. I knew about the extension of the West Nyack siding. Since it wouldn't be practical to extend it further north to the mouth of the tunnel, I was suggesting extending it south to State Line for the purpose of double tracking. Double tracking to CP 10 would be nice, but the high taxes in NJ would probably discourage it.

Penn Central wrote:Hi Noel. I knew about the extension of the West Nyack siding. Since it wouldn't be practical to extend it further north to the mouth of the tunnel, I was suggesting extending it south to State Line for the purpose of double tracking. Double tracking to CP 10 would be nice, but the high taxes in NJ would probably discourage it.

Sorry I misunderstood your entry. I guess there is way more trains on
this line than there were when we worked over there.

Actually, the RFE at Selkirk offered me some pay if I would requalify on
the River Line while I owned a Buffalo job but I said "thanks but no thanks". I did review the Metro-North territory and Amtrak's Hell Gate
Line between Harold and New Rochelle once but never again actually
worked any of that territory and confined my work to Selkirk - Buffalo for
the remainder of my time with Conrail.

I've got lots of memories of this line and some pictures to go with them.
Noel Weaver

How about between Newburgh and W Haverstraw? I always thought that was a place where a second track made sense.

LCJ wrote:How about between Newburgh and W Haverstraw? I always thought that was a place where a second track made sense.

It would make a lot of sense but the clearance problems especially through the two tunnels and around some of the curves would likely
scratch that possibility. Might be bridge problems too but they can
probably be taken care, would cost big bucks.
I am sure that nobody could forsee back around 1960 when the second
track was pulled up that this line would have the freight traffic that it has
in 2006.
Noel Weaver