Delaware and Raritan River Railroad-General Discussion

Phase 1 money was requested 2021, granted 2022. Phase 2 requested 2022, granted this year , announced March per posts on this thread.
They did not start any work until February, when they started clearing ROW at Okerson Rd for phase 1, also posted in this thread. I suspect but have no knowledge that they did not start until they were sure they would get phase 2 money, as half way there with no way to finish is both useless and expensive (D&RR is on the hook for about 10% of estimated cost).
Looks like they want the connection up and working by end of July, so we should be seeing a boatload of activity until then.

While on the topic of future happenings, here’s a rumor I’ve been hearing.

Upon completion of the project, C&D will attempt to gain trackage rights on the Amboy Secondary between Jamesburg and Browns Yard to exchange with Conrail there. Supposedly the plan is to park the engines in Jamesburg, bring the empties up to browns and go back with the inbounds. I guess they’ll leave the empties just before the bridge in Jamesburg?

Has anyone “in the know” also been hearing such rumors?

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Sun May 14, 2023 1:55 pm Only car storage? Darn. Would’ve liked to see some freight return to that portion of the line.

Phase 1 was announced back in January 2020 so if they got the money in July that year they’ve had it for almost 3 years now. They may have been anticipating an earlier startup of the DRRR at the time but any plans made then probably went out the window when the pandemic hit 3 months later.

They did run a hopper down to Swedesboro last week. It's rare any freight ever leaves Woodbury yard. I would assume grain/fertilizer can't be trans loaded from the yard. I've probably got this in the wrong forum.

CJPat wrote: ↑Sun May 14, 2023 2:52 pm I'm not saying I know anything about rail operations so I don't mind being told to step back, but I would project that since dragging extra cars around costs fuel (one of the reasons they got rid of the caboose), they may use that shorter dead leg to temporoarily hold cars that would go up the secondary to more northern customers? They could haul everything down to that Wye and separate out northern customers from Woodhaven's cars and haul Woodhaven separately down south. Then bring back the Woodhaven empties, leave them on the main for a short period and grab the northern cars to run above Farmingdale. Then come back to grab all empties and head back to Browns.

I never thought about that. Great point

CJPat wrote: ↑Sun May 14, 2023 2:52 pm I don't know if constructing a structure/field office (of course it could be an office trailer) or even storing a locomotive down here would benefit C&D (Engine as a protect?). Unless the site is manned most of the time, I think security would be a major issue. Granted, it should be a relatively quiet area, but once it is publicly know, who knows what miscreants drift over there for their own amusement?

Currently, the C&D engines are already sitting out in the open. I'd imagine if DRRR was concerned about vandalism to the engines, parking them on the old PRR diamond approach with some sort of fencing around them would be a good choice, given that Farmingdale isn't a big town with a big population, and with how often the State Police, Howell PD, and even the Monmouth County Sheriff patrol the town, anyone trying to do anything to the engines would likely be caught in the act.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon May 15, 2023 10:47 am While on the topic of future happenings, here’s a rumor I’ve been hearing.

Upon completion of the project, C&D will attempt to gain trackage rights on the Amboy Secondary between Jamesburg and Browns Yard to exchange with Conrail there. Supposedly the plan is to park the engines in Jamesburg, bring the empties up to browns and go back with the inbounds. I guess they’ll leave the empties just before the bridge in Jamesburg?

Has anyone “in the know” also been hearing such rumors?

This has been an on-and-off rumor since C&D took over in 2022

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon May 15, 2023 10:47 am While on the topic of future happenings, here’s a rumor I’ve been hearing.

Upon completion of the project, C&D will attempt to gain trackage rights on the Amboy Secondary between Jamesburg and Browns Yard to exchange with Conrail there. Supposedly the plan is to park the engines in Jamesburg, bring the empties up to browns and go back with the inbounds. I guess they’ll leave the empties just before the bridge in Jamesburg?

Has anyone “in the know” also been hearing such rumors?

Yes, rumor of thru service with the CMSL keeps popping up.

Through service with CMSL? Please explain.

Ooohhh that? I’m not sure about that. Lakewood to Lakehurst would need to be reopened first and so far nothing has been done, nor does it seem any work will be done to it.

Additionally I’ve heard that management changes at Clayton are affecting that project. Supposedly the original owner, Ralph Clayton, passed away a few years ago and his sons have been running the company. (Rather poorly according to some)
Ever since then, any sort of big push being made to open that line seems to have vanished.

Adding to the mystery, I’ve also heard C&D approached Clayton about moving sand to their concrete factory in Lakewood at a lower price than Clayton currently pays to haul it themselves with their own vehicles and drivers, but that Clayton said no.

Not sure if this is true but it has me scratching my head. Will look into this further.

Any news on the TRIT at all? I remember hearing rumors about them trying to put a transloading yard there or something, given its connection to Rt 37.

In one of the NJTPA presentation files that floats around here and the old "CR on the Southern Secondary" thread, they want to put an intermodal facility somewhere in Central and/or Southern Jersey

Nothing at all.

Anything on RB1 today?

They had 7 for Woodhaven today.

Northbound at DCS LAKEWOOD 11:52 AM

Teenagers were throwing objects at the train and climbing on it as they were going past County line.

JohnFromJersey wrote: ↑Mon May 15, 2023 11:25 pm Any news on the TRIT at all? I remember hearing rumors about them trying to put a transloading yard there or something, given its connection to Rt 37.

In one of the NJTPA presentation files that floats around here and the old "CR on the Southern Secondary" thread, they want to put an intermodal facility somewhere in Central and/or Southern Jersey

Let's look at this from a business perspective and not a railroad fan perspective, what's the market for an intermodal facility in the central/south Jersey region? Where would such facility be built? Intermodal facilities aren't the cleanest, they generate much pollution. Aside from being an eyesore to the locals, how would this generate greater revenue for the town? That facility won't generate the kind of revenue that can be had from residential housing. There's a reason why these facilities are built where they're at in north Jersey. There's a higher demand for the New York marketplace. I've looked at these intermodal manifests, there's not enough volume per carrier to warrant blocking current intermodal traffic to that region. Said blocking, would also add another day of dwell time to that traffic. Where'd that traffic be built? How'd that traffic come down to Toms River(ex.)? Thus would limit the height of traffic. Single stacks or trailers in trailer equipped buckets.
I'm all for more railroad business, but let's be realistic.