Freight Activity at Edison Train Station on the NEC

I have noticed that the NEC freight activity sometimes goes to the little spur alongside the westbound side of the Edison Train Station. I once was the two Conrail Engines doing some work on it it on a Monday and have gone there a few times since on Mondays for a few hours while doing homework in the hopes of catching it. But haven't caught it yet.

Just wondring if anybony knew when I might be able to catch it.

Thanks.

ME-34 works that spur which is the General Tire lead. I belive it is served at least every weekday. And on an as needed basis ME-34 will travel to County yard, and I *belive* combine with ME-2. IIRC, I've heard ME-34 ask CETC-8 to open up the lead anywhere from 4PM all the way to 10PM.

At least I know that they can go there on any given weekday. The one time I saw it there it was around 6:30 - 7 PM. One of the engines had "Operation Lifesaver" on it too.

I guess catching it will be a matter of luck. And now that the days are getting shorter, I won't have much of a chance to catch it during the daylight hours.

Thanks for the info Erik!

No problem on the info Nick. Feel free to ask for any operations around this area (New Brunswick/Edison), as you can see, I live in HP.

Also, I should of got a shot of this train before all the changes at Metuchen. For the longest time under CSAO, they were running GP38's, still in Conrail paint, just renumbered, out of Metuchen on most trains. Infact, for awhile, the "Philly safety district" engine was on ME-34. And now thier all CSX GP-15's. Anybody know why and when this happened? I know it was pretty recently. What happened to all the GP38's?

Thanks Erik. Yep, I know you live in Highland Park right around the bend from me.

And here are the few shots of the diesel trains I have on the NEC. Catching them can be rare and a matter of luck and catching them with a camera in hand can be even harder.

Here is one of 2814 from November of last year. It was up here for a while but is now down further down the NEC in the Philly area.

http://home.comcast.net/~njosullivan9/111203.jpg

And here is 3045 from April of this year with the Operation Lifesaver engine in back.

http://home.comcast.net/~njosullivan9/040204A.JPG

Both pics are at New Brunswick. I also have in my collection 1546 which is still up here at Jersey Ave from the end of August but am too lazy to shrink it down to size right now.

The train you saw was indeed ME34. Signs up at 1430 in Metuchen. Does National Can and then General Tire. If ME2 does not make it back to Metuchen before the evening rush hour and the NJT MUs start coming into Jersey Ave, the train outlaws on the Delco at County. If this happens, after completeing there own work, the ME34s crew combines their train with the ME2s for the trip back to the recieveing yard in Metuchen.

Engineer wrote:The train you saw was indeed ME34. Signs up at 1430 in Metuchen. Does National Can and then General Tire. If ME2 does not make it back to Metuchen before the evening rush hour and the NJT MUs start coming into Jersey Ave, the train outlaws on the Delco at County. If this happens, after completeing there own work, the ME34s crew combines their train with the ME2s for the trip back to the recieveing yard in Metuchen.

Thanks for the added info engineer.

OC,

Thanks for the info. So whats the standard fare now? Seems to be the GP15.


Engineer,

Do you know if ME34 heads to County even if ME2 makes it back to Metuchen?

Yes. It normally does for two reasons. First, it takes its westbounds back to County and leaves them in the yard for the ME2 to deal with since it is hard to make a runaround move at night with the yard filled with NJT MUs. More importantly, track 4 is rule 251 West, meaning it is only signalled westbound. Moving east(north) back towards Lincoln would not only involve a shoving movement, but would require a Form D.