Earle NWS NJ

I don't know much about the Earle RR. When I went to Rugby School in Wall TWP. there was a student who Actually lived in the Earle navy Base. I was able to see the public works site on the base. Where the locomotives are kept and serviced, and stored,etc. From what I saw They had 3 locomotives sitting in the shops on was a 44 Tonner switcher. The other 2 were probably the GM/Baldwin switchers. On the Monmouth County Maps they do not show all of the Earle Railroad but they do show the roadway passing over NJ RT 34. There are railroad tracks on that overpass. The railroad is larger than we think. According to the Images of America book on Coltsneck NJ. The railroad has 5 locomotives and 330 pieces of rolling stock. According to the kid who lived in the base he said that 90% of the railroad activity is within the base itself and not on the main line to the pier in the Atlantic Highlands. There are trains that do go from the base to the pier but probably for obvious reason they run at night or in the early morning hours.

Eric Kreszl wrote:I don't know much about the Earle RR. When I went to Rugby School in Wall TWP. there was a student who Actually lived in the Earle navy Base. I was able to see the public works site on the base. Where the locomotives are kept and serviced, and stored,etc. From what I saw They had 3 locomotives sitting in the shops on was a 44 Tonner switcher. The other 2 were probably the GM/Baldwin switchers. On the Monmouth County Maps they do not show all of the Earle Railroad but they do show the roadway passing over NJ RT 34. There are railroad tracks on that overpass. The railroad is larger than we think. According to the Images of America book on Coltsneck NJ. The railroad has 5 locomotives and 330 pieces of rolling stock. According to the kind who lived in the base he said that 90% of the railroad activity is within the base itself and not on the main line to the pier in the Atlantic Highlands. There are trains that do go from the base to the pier but probably for obvious reason they run at night or in the early morning hours.

I flew over it at about 2,000 feet a couple months ago, and while I did not linger, it appeared that there was a lot of rolling stock and at least a couple of locomotives in the yard. Have to try for a better look one of these days. But not too close.

I wrote, "There are 2 steel, cupola, cabooses at Earle - USN 63-00239 & 63-00240. What is their heritage?"


Hi,

Since nobody knows the heritage of the 2 USN cabooses at Earle, does anyone have a photo of 1 or both, or know of a site that has such photos posted?

Thanks, Roger

Here's a photo of one of the cabooses./Users/emk/Pictures/iPhoto Library/2006/03/22/usn6300239ags.jpg

Eric Kreszl wrote:Here's a photo of one of the cabooses./Users/emk/Pictures/iPhoto Library/2006/03/22/usn6300239ags.jpg

Hi Eric,

The URL appears to be incomplete and it gives an error message?

Thanks, Roger

Since That doesn't work I'll give you the link to the website. http://gelwood.railfan.net.


http://gelwood.railfan.net/usa/usn6300239ags.jpg

Eric Kreszl sent, " http://gelwood.railfan.net/usa/usn6300239ags.jpg ."


Eric,

That works!

Thanks, Roger

There is no GE 44-ton locomotive at NWS Earle. That locomotive is a GE 80-ton - similar appearance but a bit larger. There are no more GE 44-tons on any military bases, and there are few if any 65-tons. Most or all GE centercabs left in the military are 80-tonners. The rest of the locomotives at Earle are EMD end-cab switchers and former Baldwins rebuilt with EMD components. Climb inside and the control stand is just like that of a geep.

Does Earle still operate the repowerd VO-1000's?

Those repowered units were still there when I paid a visit to the base in October 2007.

Thanks.

Starting about 1990, the Army began to clear out most of its Korean War-era locomotives, largely replacing them with rebuilt GP10s from VMV in Paducah, KY, as well as a lesser number of different types of geeps from other sources. Away went the EMD SW8s, Alco/GE and EMD MRS1s, FM H12-44s and BLH RS4TCs. GE 80-ton locomotives remained where needed. The Navy, however, chose to retain (as one rail employee put it) "rebuilt old junk." I know of no plans to replace old Navy locomotives with anything newer or more reliable, although I do know that Earle has, on occasion, used leased motive power when too many of its own locomotives have been out of service.

The locomotive roster at "Military Rails Online" (http://military.railfan.net/) shows nine units presently assigned to Earle. They are two 80 tonners, one SW900, two SW1200's and four VO1000M's. Growing up in Middletown, the NWS Earle Railroad was my sentimental favorite (hence my screen name) and I remember the mid 70's and early 80's when the roster was all Baldwin. Going back even further to the late 60's and early 70's during Vietnam, the Baldwins were supplemented by several of the E1670 Class road switchers built by ALCo under contract to GE. Trains approaching 100 cars in length were very common and it was not unusual to see doubleheaded locomotives during this period.

Earle

The online roster mentioned is outdated. One of the GE 80-tons has been gone for over a decade. The other was reassigned a few years ago from another base but has never been used. When it arrived it had a problem with the reverser that only allowed it to go forward. Fortunately that was the direction off the flatcar that carried it there. During a visit in late 2007 I found that it had never been repaired, as apparently the rail operations branch sees no reason to do so since it's too underpowered for what the loads they pull. It sits, unused, in front of the enginehouse.

I'll post a complete current roster in a few days. All of the old Baldwins, by the way, were rebuilt with EMD under the hood around two decades ago.

I believe this is a current roster of NWS Earle motive power. The GE 80-ton arrived from NWS Yorktown, VA, in late 2002. At last report it remains unused and out of service. It came from Yorktown when that base's closed rail system was completely torn up, with the exception of a short stretch of track just off the CSX interchange.

USN 65-00622 has been sitting inactive outside of the enginehouse since January 1996.

It is not uncommon for one or more locomotives to be in the enginehouse for repairs, and there have been times when only a couple have been in service. There have also been occasions when a leased switcher has been in temporary use when there weren't enough working locomotives.

All of the Baldwins have been rebuilt with EMD under the hood.

USN 65-00349 GE 80-ton
USN 65-00367 BLW VO1000
USN 65-00368 BLW VO1000
USN 65-00622 BLW VO1000
USN 65-00630 EMD SW1200
USN 65-00631 EMD SW1200
USN 65-00636 EMD SW1200