Official Rahway Valley Thread

[GOLDEN-ARM]

I would be curious to see, what the rehab found in the tower, at AK, when they tried to operate the panel. The regular bridge tender was not on duty, in the mid 80's till the end. When we needed to cross, we had to call Cooperstown, and they would call the tender at his regular job. He had to come out, drop the span, then let us cross, then raise it behind us. Ditto, for the return movement. He was a rather industrious fellow. In his spare time, he rewired the control panel, interlocks, etc., so only he knew what switch operated/locked or unlocked, what section. This was done, according to him, as a "job security" strategy. He was paid 2 hours pay, for every drop/lift he made. Since he was from the Arlington area, this was a quick 4 hours a day pay, for a quick drive to the bridge. The operators shanty was pretty decent sized, and the panel was really cool to see, and watch be operated, while waiting to cross into Jersey. If he wasn't around anymore, I imagine a total rewiring would be needed, to connect the operating panel back to it's original configuration. Another cool thing was, to ride the span down, after climbing up to it. The whole thing would shake and rattle, like it was going to fall into the river. (which it couldn't, of course) Another cool place to work, other than the ride, to go on duty there, and the real fear that your car would be gone, when you got done. (Arlington was a dumping ground, for stripped/stolen cars, which were lit on fire, when they were abandoned) This was a regular job, for myself, and either Buda or Donahue. Some good times out there, in the late 80's. Would be nice to see something return, P&G ? The container thing was started and stopped so many times, I wonder if could even really be done. Regards

[TheBaran]

Check my post from August 8, 2005 on the "SIRR and RVRR V" topic for news on the AK bridge rehab and trackwork changes on the Jersey side.

Also, the container port expansion is pretty much done. Installation of four large container lift cranes, directly across from the Elizabeth Marina, has been recently completed. It appears they now have the capability to handle two ships at a time (4 older cranes have been in place further south). A company was also doing some dredging work in the area in front of the news cranes on August 8.

[JLo]

Rehab of the RVRR has reached Rt 22. The next few months could be interesting when the rehab goes north to the the unspoiled suburbs of Springfield and Summit.

[Ken W2KB]

Any idea if there is continuous new track from North Avenue (Aldene) to Route 22? So far no indication of work on the last few hundred feet from the north side of North Avenue to the RVL.

[mikec]

No, the new track goes Westfield Ave to Faitoute Ave in Kenilworth And from North of 22 to the Bridge crossing the rahway river.

[RVRR Resurrected]

Still got a lot of work to do before they even think about Springfield and Summit. As long as they have one main line they can interchange with their main focus is going to be getting track on the areas where there are customers.

Does anyone know if it is still going to be a major construction job to rebuild the summit line?

[james1787]

I would think the biggest part of getting the summit line back into shape is the bridges. The employee I talked with a few weeks ago said that they have all the bridges.. they just have to be brought back and put into place (and I'm sure they'd do whatever testing / fixing up they'd have to do to them. Otherwise in summit the rest of the work as far as I can tell is just laying tracks and ties. I think it's the encroachments in springfield that's the bigger concern? Especially near mountain ave across from the firehouse is the bad one I can think about it. The ROW in summit looks to be a piece of cake - just the trucking and re-installation of the existing bridges.

[cjl330]

The first revenue train ran on the SIRR this morning. Empty plastics hoppers were moved from Bayway, to the siding between South Ave. in Cranford and Amsterdam Ave. in Roselle.

[Jtgshu]

Thats great!

But was it a revenue move or just a storage move???? There have been covered hoppers parked on the SIRT just east of teh NEC bridge for teh past week or so. Maybe they needed more storage space and they parked them over there???

but I do hope it was an actual revenue move - that would be great!

[ChooChooHead2]

Thanks for the heads-up. The cars are sitting between Amsterdam Ave in Roselle and South Ave in Cranford.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/135 ... 6780eHzQHA

[Ken W2KB]

I think it's the encroachments in springfield that's the bigger concern? Especially near mountain ave across from the firehouse is the bad one I can think about it.

Why do you think the encroachments would be a significant problem? It should be relatively easy to evict anyone not having the right to use the land.

[rvrrhs]

No, the new track goes Westfield Ave to Faitoute Ave in Kenilworth And from North of 22 to the Bridge crossing the rahway river.

The new track in Union does not reach Rt. 22. If you look along the ROW next to the north side of 22, there are dozens of cars still parked there, and they are obviously sitting on top of the old track.

The new track starts perhaps 100 yards north of Rt. 22.

Also, I was behind Costco yesterday, and on the Morris Ave. leg of the wye, there is a new fence and gate at the dead end of Hudson St. Parked on the ROW--where I never before saw anything parked except gravel and piles of ties--were a bunch of cars with typical car-dealer writing on their windshields.

[rvrrhs]

I think it's the encroachments in springfield that's the bigger concern? Especially near mountain ave across from the firehouse is the bad one I can think about it.

The only encroachment near Mountain Ave. is a parking lot. Not exactly a huge challenge.

The rest of the encroachment in Springfield is garden-variety...literally. That is, there are sheds and gardens on the ROW.

And don't forget the nice painter/paperhanger who cleared the ROW at Baltsurol Way for his PGA parking.

[RVRR Resurrected]

I think it's the encroachments in springfield that's the bigger concern? Especially near mountain ave across from the firehouse is the bad one I can think about it.

The only encroachment near Mountain Ave. is a parking lot. Not exactly a huge challenge.

The rest of the encroachment in Springfield is garden-variety...literally. That is, there are sheds and gardens on the ROW.

And don't forget the nice painter/paperhanger who cleared the ROW at Baltsurol Way for his PGA parking.

The funniest thing I see on this board is how you always mention that paperhanger lol...i love it.

[rvrrhs]

And don't forget the nice painter/paperhanger who cleared the ROW at Baltsurol Way for his PGA parking.

The funniest thing I see on this board is how you always mention that paperhanger lol...i love it.

He's one of a couple of brothers who had kids in Springfield schools when I was in school. I grew up with his son (nephew?--I can't remember), and went to school from K-12 with several of his kids and nieces/nephews.

It just annoys me that he's decided the ROW is his private business driveway, when it's against the town's zoning for him to create an illegal driveway and park his trucks in his backyard to begin with. A church in Union just lost a court case over the use of a neighbor's driveway to connect their own parking lot with the street...and that was an actual paved driveway that actually connected to their parking lot!