Delaware and Raritan River Railroad-General Discussion

I wrote a long answer to a lot of this, but i guess it got lost or something. Sorry that some ppl here dont understand the ins and outs of union shop vs non-union and the politics of it all. And union contracts for that matter.

Anyway....I think the C&D will be good for at least trying to bring back Carload traffic in central jersey. IDK what the complaints are about highway grade crossings. I know in the Stewartsville-Pburg area they look out the 40mph track circuits that were there and but in metal detecting circuits (like the traffic light activation circuits for cars) , at about 300-400 feet out. Must more positive operation, and the flashers dont go off 2 minutes before the train arrives at the crossing. The old circuits were so long, that everyone would be crossing the tracks thinking that the flashers had malfunctioned. Now they are set at 10 mph lengths, like they should be.

Best of luck to Kean and Company....

@pdtrains From what I’ve seen all those crossings out in that area have issues. Half the time they fail to activate so RP-2 has to stop and flag them somewhat frequently. The fact they fly down that track doing 20-25 (line speed is 10) doesn’t help either.

You sure it’s 10 they wired them for and not 15?

Apparently the C&D caboose is no longer in Oak Island. 1888 is still there…

Hopefully it didn't go to Naparanio.

What’s naparanio?

Naporano Iron & Metal is a salvage yard in Newark that does a lot of scrapping or railroad equipment. I did some part time security work over there in 1983 as they were scrapping the ex-Pennsy GG1s. Sad sight. I was there because they had guys coming over the fence to steal whatever copper they could pull from the windings.

Ahhh I see. Not sure what they’d scrap that caboose for. Without Farmingdale to Freehold they need a shoving platform car for Freehold.

I have a feeling they were bought out by another metal recycling co 15-20 years ago.

Pdtrains is right. See the blurb under “President” , it says it was bought out in 1998. No idea if scrapping is still going on at the same location under as a different company or different name.. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-naporano-jr-4a81ab44

I believe its part of SIMS now. I was being sarcastic, but some got the joke.

CR7876 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 22, 2022 6:01 am I believe its part of SIMS now. I was being sarcastic, but some got the joke.

According Google maps, SIMS Metal Management has a few locations in the east Newark area, but I think this is the one where Naparano did the locomotive scrapping: https://goo.gl/maps/Gw7YXNv3y4BJuqCF7
I don't see any obvious locomotive carcasses when that picture was taken though.
The location is where the CNJ had its Brills yard, at the intersection of the Newark & NY branch (from Jersey City to Broad St. Newark, right near the current Prudential Center) and the northern end of what is now often called the Chemical Coast line. The location was also known as Newark Transfer (presumably since passengers coming up from Elizabeth and points compass south could transfer to go to Newark).

Edit: some old Naparno threads: https://railroad.net/search.php?keyword ... mit=Search
Hope that "search" link works.

What kind of rail will DRRR be using on the repaired sections? Will they continue using jointed rail, or will they try to convert some very beat-up sections to welded rail?

Also, a shame one of the last CR runs on this line happened so late at night that not many people could come out for it tonight...

If they even intend to do anything else besides what’s in the grant. Somewhere in the STB filings it says “The proposed transaction will not substantially change the level of maintenance of any railroad property.”

If they rehab the line to good FRA Class 2 track (up to 25 mph), as is currently time-tabled (not the CR bulletins making a decrepit 10 mph deferred maintenance pit), then DRRR will not substantially change the maintenance requirements.

Not sure if they would go that far. They sure haven’t on the Washington Secondary and that line has areas that are just like the Southern. Bent track, low/moving rail joints, malfunctioning crossings, bridges that visibly move under the weight of engines let alone 286,000 pound railcars. (SCARY)

And while we are on this topic there’s a few areas on the Freehold Industrial that are actually WORSE than the worst areas on the Southern! Especially near Mount Vernon Rd and Rex Lumber.