NJ Transit's Morrisville Yard

25Hz wrote:

pumpers wrote:I don't know anything about rolling stock maintenance, but it sure looks like NJT made a first class investment - you wonder how they got by without it. Are there any societies that get tours of the place? JS

I think it would be very cool if they could arrange a tour with various motive power and cars for summer camp & school group outings.

They do: http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet. ... Speaker5To" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Schools and community organizations may request a tour of one of several state-of-the art facilities operated by NJ TRANSIT.

If somebody wanted to organize a tour for us you could count me in. We would need a "community organization". How about the "Railroad.net Community Railroading Interest Forum"??

acelaphillies wrote:

25Hz wrote:

pumpers wrote:I don't know anything about rolling stock maintenance, but it sure looks like NJT made a first class investment - you wonder how they got by without it. Are there any societies that get tours of the place? JS

I think it would be very cool if they could arrange a tour with various motive power and cars for summer camp & school group outings.

They do: http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet. ... Speaker5To" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Schools and community organizations may request a tour of one of several state-of-the art facilities operated by NJ TRANSIT.

If somebody wanted to organize a tour for us you could count me in. We would need a "community organization". How about the "Railroad.net Community Railroading Interest Forum"??

Do we count? Not sure if we do.

I went on a tour of the MMC last year (prior to Sandy, with the ERA), so it's possible. I don't remember it being expensive, maybe $20/person or so.

nick11a wrote:
Do we count? Not sure if we do.

Anyone want to start the paperwork?

ericr wrote:I went on a tour of the MMC last year (prior to Sandy, with the ERA), so it's possible. I don't remember it being expensive, maybe $20/person or so.

nick11a wrote:
Do we count? Not sure if we do.

Anyone want to start the paperwork?

Was that somebody just volunteering me? Ha. I wouldn't even want to begin to handle this without help.

Tour of facility plus rolling stock display would be worth 20 bucks i think.

OK, here's today's installment. This is the east end of the S&I building. The track 2 train doors (far side) are fully closed. The track 1 train doors are just starting to open. The heavy black cables are the feeds to the main (inside) catenaries.

...and just on the other side of the fence, NS is heading back from its daily shuttle to the steel plant.

Another view of the east end. The derails must be up - see the blue flags lights? Note also the break in the catenary, separating the outside catenary from the buffer.

The is the catenary break up close and personal. Might be old hat to some, but it was all new to me since I had never worked in electrified territory before this project.

This photo was taken from just inside the east end looking out and up at the buffer. You can clearly see the catenary break on the inside. The one just outside is a little harder to spot. This is just a guess, but I'd say the buffers are around 70-80 feet long.

No, thing didn't have anything to do with my project work, but in that environment, how can you not snap the occasional pic? This a hundred feet or so past the east end and this guy is leaving the yard headed out to the main.

So the doors have a dead section of wire passing through them basically unless something is being moved into/out of the facility?

ericr wrote:I went on a tour of the MMC last year (prior to Sandy, with the ERA), so it's possible. I don't remember it being expensive, maybe $20/person or so.

nick11a wrote:
Do we count? Not sure if we do.

Anyone want to start the paperwork?

It is possible that those $20 went to the ERA. On the NJT site it says that there is no fee associated with a site tour.

And CPSmith, keep the great photos coming! I think we are all enjoying the daily installments very much.

acelaphillies wrote: It is possible that those $20 went to the ERA. On the NJT site it says that there is no fee associated with a site tour.

Probably. I remember we took a train from Broad Street and got off at the MMC stop. Timing was off for the return, so a bus was rented.

I wouldn't mind pitching in some cash for whoever gets the ball rolling.

ericr wrote:

acelaphillies wrote: It is possible that those $20 went to the ERA. On the NJT site it says that there is no fee associated with a site tour.

Probably. I remember we took a train from Broad Street and got off at the MMC stop. Timing was off for the return, so a bus was rented.

I wouldn't mind pitching in some cash for whoever gets the ball rolling.

I would assume we would need a sizable group. Say 15 people, and commitments, to turn this from a pipe dream to reality.

And question on the photos CPSmith:

Is there a phase gap/dead wire going into the building where the doors are? It is weird seeing catenary squeezed between two closed doors.

nick11a wrote: And question on the photos CPSmith:

Is there a phase gap/dead wire going into the building where the doors are? It is weird seeing catenary squeezed between two closed doors.

25Hz wrote:So the doors have a dead section of wire passing through them basically unless something is being moved into/out of the facility?

If they are anything like the various Amtrak S&Is, the doors close on the dead section which is actually a catenary buffer zone. Once the train is parked, they de-energize and ground the interior section, leaving the outside section energized. You coast through the buffer zone.

After a few people managed to get stuck in one of the Buffer Zones(which takes talent ), they reconfigured it to to put the Kupler's Coupler (Those metal "thingies" you see in the catenary) just outside of the doors, which eliminated the buffer zone.