Odd/hasty abandonments - NJ ?

Found these facinating photos over on Railfan.net....hit the links.

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... sville.jpg

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... sville.jpg

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... e_spur.jpg

These are in Pennsy and North Carolina and thought it would be interesting to site some examples - hopefully with some pics - of same in NJ.

The one above with the 2 long abandoned boxcars confounds me. Why would the owner simply abandone them where is, as is on a sinding that itself was abandoned in place. If anything, don't the boxes have scrap value ? And the rails....why don't railroads salvage them ?

Anything akin to this around the state ?

There is a boxcar, an old PRR if Im not mistaken (the marks were visible until a few years ago) around the North Rahway station site, at an industry along the NEC, I dunno the name. the company has cut though the end of the boxcar, like a garage door, but are still useing the side door, along the building. There was a former industrial track, I can't think of the name of it, Linden Industry Switch maybe, off of track B before Rahway station, this would have served all those factories along teh ROW there, and this boxcar was left at this one.

Tom, sometimes the ownership is in question, too.

For example,a private individual owned a CB&Q steam engine used in fantrips in the Chicago area. The engine eventually hit its inspection limit, and the guy left it on a side track at Blue Island yard.

Blue Island went from one owner (maybe Rock Island's estate?) to another to Metra. The loco went nowhere.

Metra demanded the loco be moved, but the guy ignored them. So, Metra cut up the engine, which had degraded to the status of nuisance. it was very sad. Metra didn't own the engine, so it couldn't dispose of it.

I think that's where the CSX 614 is headed, as well. There's a pile of overdue bills, it needs work, there's a lack of investment interest (nobody's shoveling mney into it), and it's sitting on NJT property.

Isn't there an abandoned coal car on the old LVRR spur to Clinton?

Boxcars are often purcahed by a business to become storage sheds, just like containers.

The 614 was moved off of NJT to Port Clinton, PA a couple years ago. Probably still there.

The boxcar your thinking of is on the North side, just west (I think) of North Rahway. It is adjcent to a building, and now has a garage door in one end. The siding it used to connect to was the Whetina Industrial, which was removed about 4 years ago.

Whetina Industrial, thats right....the building is on the east side of the road that is on the east side of the North Rahway station site, I double checked today, you can't miss it

As a side note, and I dunno what made me think of it, but what ever happened to the PRR, PC and CR boxcars coupled together that were in Hoboken behind the MU shops before they were demolished? Where they cut up and scrapped or moved somewhere? Anyone know?

Don't forget the MOW gons sitting up on the L&HR in Belvidere...that would be on the AmeriGas spur (well, it was Brockway Plastics back when Conrail was still serving it). That was back in the early 90's when that track was used last...might have been late 80's...not exactly my area of expertise up there...

And the technical name of that segment of railroad is the Belvidere Industrial Track...NS still sends a local up there to Belvidere to serve an industry or two up in Belvidere itself...

Mike DiMunno
www.SJRail.com: All about South Jersey Railroads!

There are 2 EL gons in the yard at Lake Jct. I have no idea how long they have been there but the first time I seen them was probably 10 years ago.
Anyone know their history?

mikedc3 wrote:There are 2 EL gons in the yard at Lake Jct. I have no idea how long they have been there but the first time I seen them was probably 10 years ago.
Anyone know their history?

If I recall correctly from my trip up north last summer, those EL gons you shot look almost identical to those sitting on the Belvidere IT...except those on the Belvidere are in Conrail MOW paint (yellow)...

Mike DiMunno

When the L&HR was torn up in 1986 there was a PC boxcar still on the freight house siding at Allamuchy. They tore up everything except for the track under the car, which they left behind. It sat there for about 5 years until the boxcar and the section of track "magically" disappeared.

The abandonment of the Ocean City branch was way too shortsighted!

mike -

Good get pic there at Lake Jct..

Presume the gons are owned by the M&E. They have 2 ex-Lackawanna hoppers and I believe a flat car that are also ex-Lackawanna.

BTW, what's the status of the yard trackage there in your pic ? How far west around the bend and under the main is rail still in place and usuable ?

Those boxcars on the Buck Siding in Hoboken were, I believe, shipped to Morristown along with all the other junk from Hoboken that had to be moved in a hospital train.

Another example of shortsighted is the PVL. Once double-tracked up through Oradell, that double tracking was pulled up in the 70's following the drastic cutback in service along the line.

Now, NJT is going back and adding sidings in East Rutherford, Hackensack, Hasbrook Heights and Nanuet/Pearl River. Was it really necessary to tear up that trackage? I understand that there were maintenance savings realized, but still...

Plus...those NIMBYS in Oradell wouldn't have had anything to cry about had the double-track still been in place.