Freight on Main Line

Hey all...
Saw some freight right by Clifton station today. It was a Conrail loco number 3020 (although there was another locomotive on the other end who's number I didn't get). They were coupling some cars together, I think 4 box cars and 1 black tanker car. This was around 12:30PM on Track One. Anyone know why their was freight on the main line, as I was under the impression that they always route it on the bergen line? Also, wouldn't having a daytime freight interfere with NJTransits passenger operations? I would think they would do any freight moves by night, but I may be wrong.

Local freight drill oin the Main Line service places such as Omega Plastics and Penzoil in Lyndhurst and the Black Prince Distillary in Clifton (which is the black tank you saw).

NS normally runs out of Croxton and brings a few cars west over the Bergen County Line to Suffern, where they are sent east on the Main Line the next day.

sullivan1985 wrote:Local freight drill oin the Main Line service places such as Omega Plastics and Penzoil in Lyndhurst and the Black Prince Distillary in Clifton (which is the black tank you saw).

Holy crap, that place is open? I always thought Black Prince was long-abandoned. I went to high school and middle school near there. (I'm from Clifton)

Someone named Mike wrote:

sullivan1985 wrote:Local freight drill oin the Main Line service places such as Omega Plastics and Penzoil in Lyndhurst and the Black Prince Distillary in Clifton (which is the black tank you saw).

Holy crap, that place is open? I always thought Black Prince was long-abandoned. I went to high school and middle school near there. (I'm from Clifton)

Well, it might be abandoned, but whatever is behind it is still in use because I always hear some kind of machinery running down, and last week me and a friend of mine went to go visit the "Gates of Hell" as Weird NJ calls them, and the Black Prince building was definitely active., plus there is always a tank car park on the Black Prince siding.

Yep...that place is open and active.
http://www.blackprincedistillery.com/

As a matter of fact I went down to the Gates of Hell a few times but never got past the first tunnel, as the interior was flooded every time I went there.

quadrock wrote:Yep...that place is open and active.
http://www.blackprincedistillery.com/

As a matter of fact I went down to the Gates of Hell a few times but never got past the first tunnel, as the interior was flooded every time I went there.

Same with me. I once just said screw it and a bunch of friends of mine all tredged through it from beginning to end, but nothing special. It's pretty cool though when a train is moving overhead, because everything shakes and you hear the engine echoing though the tunnels.

The 3020 is/was assigned to Suffern. The NS H55 and NS H56 out of Suffern work that part of the Main Line. You most likely saw the NS H55. The NS H84 out of Croxton worked the lower end of the Main Line to drill the Omegas, Sigma, and Pennzoil.
Black Prince is still active as are a few other places on those rickety sidings. The bumping block at Black Prince is interesting as it is just the rails curved upward. The freights on NJT don't interfere with NJT until the morning and afternoon rushes. NS runs freight on the Main, Bergen, Pascack, Raritan, M&E, Montclair, and Gladstone Lines. Shared Assets handles the freight on the North Jersey Coast, Northeast Corridor, and Atlantic City lines.