Mt. Hope Mineral Railroad and mines.

cjvrr wrote: I have seen some brochures on the hydro plant project too, but it was over 10 years ago. I am sure they will be in the press again once things start to take off. It all comes down to availability of power. As long as the electric power we get remains cheap, the hydro plant will not get built. It is an ambitious plan that would be a minimal impact to the environment. I for one would love to see it happen.

Chris

That issue also touches on the use of Appalachian coal, foreign oil, nuclear power, etc. Many "experts", fwiw, expect that energy prices will continue to rise over the next decade as Chinese, Indian, and Russian users increase their demand for fuels.

It should be interesting to see how hydro makes out

Chris, et al. the Mt. Hope Hydro project would not displace any other fuel. It would be a pumped storage project, with water pumped up to a holding resevoir during off peak hours when electric for the pumps is cheaper, and then the water would be allowd to flow back through the turbines during peak hours when power is scarce. The economics depend less on cost of fuel than on the need for peaking generation capacity. Presently peakers are uneconomic to construct under the way power is priced at wholesale. There are a couple of initiatives to change that.

In effect, the project is a way to store electricity. Yard's Creek in NW NJ is a pumped storage operation, but uses a surface reservoir rather than a mine.

Part 2,

I checked and saw that there are no hydro projects in NJ in either the active nor the withdrawn generation interconnection queues. That would indicate that the Mt. Hope project is an remote possibility since access to needed transmission capacity would be very likely require expensive upgrades on the project's tab, unless it just happens that the location is in an area that would relieve constraints during times when the transmission system is congested.

The military facility at adjacent Picatinny Arsenal has also been mentioned as a possible base closing target (again). It's possible that if the base is saved, and if it gets another energy intensive mission, a source of local power may be required. Such as the hydro project.

As I mentioned above, the hydro project is only a storage project, it doesn't generate "new" power like a river dam hydro unit. It would be used only during high cost hours during electric system peaks. The water would get pumped from the lower portions of the mine during nightime low cost period and then during the afternoon (typically) high cost peaks on hot days be allowed to run back down to generate power. I can't think of any way it could have any benefit to the adjoining property directly, only benefit is to overall system supply. If the Arsenal or its sucessor needed backup generation for some reason, the mine hydro project could not provide that, since it can only generate for a short time until it runs out of water.

I am trying to follow the path of Mt Hope Mineral back down to some
modern connection. Once south of the Dewey Ave/Harry Shupe Bldv
area (assuming the biketrail or new road could be over come), what
would you do next??? (I am assume th MHM is the line which shows up
as ending just west of Mt Hope Lake)

The original connection going east to the M&E/NJ transit has a big
new building (just south of Shupe) on the ROW from ariel photos (maps.google.com).

If you go south to cross M&E to get to original CNJ lines, there
are housing developments in looks like just south of the M&E and
when the line loops west. Then a quarry wipes out the old CNJ ROW
(on the other side of the quarry is the M&E Chester branch, I think
its called).

Help me out...

thanks, JS

There's an excellent bbq place on Main Street in Wharton, maybe a mile south of the I-80.

Hot Rod's bbq at 19 Main Street. Usually have a River Horse brew on tap, and a selection of brisket, ribs, turkey legs, slaw, beans, etc.

If Mount Hope Hydro were to re-lay the railroad, would it be for carting out quarry rock, to support the hydro construction and/or operations, or both?

What is the connection between Halecrest company and Mount Hope Hydro company? Are they one and the same?

I would think for a rail connection to the M&E, it would have to be in the vicinity of Shupe boulevard (who is/was harry shupe, anyway???). To tie into the old whaton and northern thru picatinny, it would have to (at least without mapping out an entirely new right of way) cross over main st in wharton, and thru some new back yards and/or new houses, to get over to a connection with the W&N on the west side of wharton. I can't see that happening.

Also, my dad tells me he thinks the W&N right of way southwest of Rt. 15 (after it comes out of picatinny) has been sold to a developer. maps.google.com shows quite a bit of land clearing in that area.

Chris (cjvrr), can you determine from your computer program whether the gov't or a developer owns the W&N ROW south of picatinny and west of rt 15?

- Roger

As far as I can tell the ROW is clear to Main St. Wharton. It looks to be clear to Central Ave but I'm not 100% sure. I explored the area extensively this past fall from Central along the WnN and Morris Canal. There were new houses being built on Central. I "think" they are between the ROW and road but maybe not. The ROW is in place and clear from the DPW garage all the way to Hopatcong Jct. Hopatcong Jct is still there, all 3 legs of the wye are there. The quarrying doesn't start until after the wye. The ROW to Lk Jct is free and clear.

I can't see them running this way anyway. I would guess there would be a new connection to the MnE around the former Lock Joint or Thatcher Glass plants. But who knows?

The WnN ROW is still in place (tracks and all) from Lk Jct to Rt 15. The last time I was there about 2 years ago, The tracks went right through the area where the huge new development was being built. I would say it's not going anywhere as long as Picatinny is open as a just in case type thing.

Chris,
Did you once say that the county would have that tool online at some point? If so, Any idea when? That would be great!

As far as the Wharton & Northern and much to my suprise, the property in Rockaway Township and Jefferson Township that comprised the railroad right of way west of Route 15 is now owned by Highlands at (of) Morris Inc. The RR right of way in Jefferson is owned by the US Army. So the right of way to Picatinny has been severed. Everything east of Route 15 is owned by the gov't. I am quite suprised by this and will check in the deed office if I get the chance at lunch time.

Starting south of West Dewey Avenue and Morristown & Erie's Lake Junction the right of way had still been owned by Conrail as of 6-7 years ago. I removed the grade crossing on West Dewey and had to get Conrail's approval. The current ownership is not showing up in the program so, I will need to check that too. The wye is owned by County Concrete and the right of way back to Wharton (this was the line used to get to Mount Hope Mineral and Rockaway/ Hibernia lines) has various private owners and has been built upon with houses between Main, Central and Kice Ave.

The original alignment of the Wharton and Northern in Wharton has also been obliterated. The only right of way still intact is that of the Morris Canal, currently owned by the Borough.

The old line of the Jersey Central that looped around the loc'joint pipe factory to get to the Rockaway / Hibernia Branch has also been obliterated by Harry Shupe Blvd. and the Juicy Juice Factory. FYI, Harry Shupe was the mayor of Wharton when the property was redeveloped.

As far as having the County aerials available on line, I was told later this year just the photos would be available. The Planning Dept. just had the County flown in March with the resulting color photos allowing a good clear view down to 1" = 50' from what I have heard. This will be available internally within a few months. I have not heard that lot and blocks or the tax map data will be shown.

Chris