NWS Earle Closing as a result of BRAC

On another forum I read that the BRAC has decided to close NWS Earle and move some of the naval ordinance operations to Pictinny Arsenal. Has anyone else heard about this? If that happens we'll all get a chance to explore their rail facilities if we can get to them before they get torn up. But if they do move operations to Pictinny, I wonder if the Navy will restore rail service to the arsenal on the Wharton and Northern to ship their heavy ordinance to ports for outloads.

I don't know, but I don't recall any newspapers even discussing Earle on the BRAC list. They have chosen to close Ft. Monouth and consolidate Ft Dix, McGuire AFB, and Lakehurst NAES.

If they did choose to close Earle, they could not locate the operation to Picatinny Arsenal because even if it did have its rail access restored, it would require an extensive and complicated move to get the munitions to a Navy Pier. There are no Navy Piers left in North Jersey. Once MOTBY (Bayonne) was closed, that ended the era of military piers in that area (Jersey side - I don't know what is left, if anything, of the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the piers in Staten Island).

NWS Earle is special because it it has a direct, straight run out to the 3 mile long Navy pier in Leonardo for loading munitions onto ships. Although the towns between Wall and Leonardo have been developing pretty fast, it still is not as developed as North Jersey. They could not handle a munitions accident up there again (re: Caven Point, Jersey City).

Not to mention that it from time to time has been reported, and neither confirmed nor denied by the Navy, that the facility loads and offloads tactical nuclear weapons. The facility uses both the railroad and parallel private roadway, any other location would require use of public roads and highways.

I have a copy of the BRAC report and the only reference to NWS Earle reads: "Realign Naval Surface Warfare Center Division Earle, NJ, by relocating weapon and armament packaging Research and Development & Acquisition to Picatinny Arsenal, NJ." The same kind of realignment is also taking place with numerous other bases (also remaining open) to Picatinny. This is the transfer of a single function, not a base closure.

RailVet wrote:I have a copy of the BRAC report and the only reference to NWS Earle reads: "Realign Naval Surface Warfare Center Division Earle, NJ, by relocating weapon and armament packaging Research and Development & Acquisition to Picatinny Arsenal, NJ." The same kind of realignment is also taking place with numerous other bases (also remaining open) to Picatinny. This is the transfer of a single function, not a base closure.

That certainly makes sense. I had not seen any reference to Earle in the press.

Here are a couple file photos of Earle NWS from a railfan open house, during which photography was permitted.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/332 ... 4261vjffGQ

http://community.webshots.com/photo/332 ... 4372rPBdBD

Bob

chuchubob wrote:Here are a couple file photos of Earle NWS from a railfan open house, during which photography was permitted.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/332 ... 4261vjffGQ

http://community.webshots.com/photo/332 ... 4372rPBdBD

Bob

When was this open house? IIRC an excursion of some sorts was in the works in late 90s maybe pre-9/11.