Lackawanna cutoff

EXCELLENT commentary henry !

Agree that the DL&W wrote the book on the use of concrete in all types of rail structures.

Just yesterday I spent a brief time examining several concrete bridges on the ex-Lackawanna main ( now NJT ) in the Oranges in NJ. Most of these structures are showing little or NO aging....no chipping/flaking at all....after nearly 100 years !

Truly amazing workmanship and engineering....coupled with attractive designs !

Tri-State Tom wrote:EXCELLENT commentary henry !

Agree that the DL&W wrote the book on the use of concrete in all types of rail structures.

Just yesterday I spent a brief time examining several concrete bridges on the ex-Lackawanna main ( now NJT ) in the Oranges in NJ. Most of these structures are showing little or NO aging....no chipping/flaking at all....after nearly 100 years !

Truly amazing workmanship and engineering....coupled with attractive designs !

I'm going to be pokig around there soon. I'm going to the Orange branch from Bloomfiled Avenue to the Arlington Avenue bridge.

I also would like to see how the bridges are in the Branch Brook area.

So now that we've had these public forums....NOW what ?

What's the next step in this never-ending saga ?

Tom,

They work waaaay to slow in this state to get anything done.....Conceptual engineering is NEXT! It is the 4th step out of a 10 step process....Figure each step should take 2-3 years I dont see the Cutoff fully operational until 2018-2020......Bob Schuerle unfortunately is right with his target dates!

Steve

One difficulty with the 2015-2020 date is Rod Frelinghuysen, the powerful republican leader of the house budget committee, will likely be out of office by then. He controls the flow of federal coin on these projects. Menendez may or may not still be in power, but he hasn't shown much interest outside of Hudson / Bergen.

NJ benefitted for years from the seniority of Lautenburg, Roe, Howard. Guys with decades of seniority who could get enormous amounts of money flowing.

I don't see why it is going to take so long to activate the Cutoff. Seems like they could do it easily in half the time allotted.

nick11a wrote:I don't see why it is going to take so long to activate the Cutoff. Seems like they could do it easily in half the time allotted.

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Yup.

I was very impressed that LA established commuter rail service to Lancaster and Santa Clarita in four days following the Sylmar earthquake, which knocked down several highway bridges.

CAL-DOT and the National Guard graded and paved parking areas over a weekend and built platforms in a day. They leased some surplus GO Transit equipment and had them in ten days.

The track already existed, and the land had been acquired for 2010 expansion, but that was still an incredible effort. Compare that to the Hackettstown extension, which took forever to restore

I don't see why it is going to take so long to activate the Cutoff

Stalling in Trenton.

Don't know the ramifications of the end of McGreevey's reign; we will only know when the new candidates appear.

Irish Chieftain wrote:

I don't see why it is going to take so long to activate the Cutoff

Stalling in Trenton.

Don't know the ramifications of the end of McGreevey's reign; we will only know when the new candidates appear.

Yep, the future for this and other projects now that McGreevy is gonna step down will either be good, bad or ugly.

See: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 9&start=15

for an aerial photo of the Cutoff bridge over the Delaware.

Driving back to NJ from upstate NY on Sunday, I took a detour to look at the viaduct in Nicholson, which I hadn't seen in many years. I was lucky enough to see a long freight train cross while I was there. What a great sight! The trains looked like toys on that massive structure, which has only grown more impressive looking with age.

Will the Delaware River and Hainesburg viaducts require a lot of work before they can be used again?

I hope the restoration of the Cutoff occurs in the next five years. I've been anticipating it for more than 10 years now. Nothing ever seems to get accomplished on a timely basis in NJ.

It's all about the benjamins. Let's look at this realistically. In the last 10 years, NJ has added two major new rail starts, albeit light rail, in the form of HBLRT and River LINE, a rebuild of the entire Newark Subway System, a Newark Subway extension, Midtown Direct, Midtown Connect, Secaucus Transfer, Newark Airport rail station, Union Station, Hamilton Station, MOntclair State Station, Morrisville Yard.

Yeah, nothing ever gets down in NJ.

The reality is that you won't see a completed project until 2025.

There is objection from our NIMBY neighbors from NJ. PA residents really want this to happen. Add in the bureaucracy and that's why it will take so long to happen.

The stations along the cutoff are in good shape; I'm referring of course to the structure only.

Is there a place here to post pictures? I have a ton of them on the cut-off.

Ken

No place here to post them. You need to have them on another website and then insert a link. The arial one I posted is on my home website.

You might consider posting them at: http://naphotos.nerail.org

Ken W2KB wrote:No place here to post them. You need to have them on another website and then insert a link. The arial one I posted is on my home website.

You might consider posting them at: http://naphotos.nerail.org

Thanks. I have web space but no time to create it

I will find time to do this as I believe most people will enjoy many of the pictures I've taken of the abandoned ROWS in mostly NJ but I have some in NY and PA as well.

Ken