US Navy Earle Railroad

Ken W2KB wrote:

NJT4115 wrote:

OportRailfan wrote:

NJT4115 wrote:Are these trains operated by civilians or people who serve(d) in the Navy?

They are operated by those that are hired by the Dept. of Defense.

Darn, I wanted to drive these trains someday
Guess I'll wait for the next excursion in about nine years (Unless 9/11 cancelled it forever)

So they are operated by civilians, not military, personnel who are DOD employees.

Pretty much, but I'm sure past military experience helps one land the job.

check out: www dot USAjobs dot gov

Before the line was used by the Navy, what did the CNJ use it for?

NJT4115 wrote:Before the line was used by the Navy, what did the CNJ use it for?

the CNJ never operated on the Navy RR, the Navy built it when they built NWS Earle in the mid 40s. Before Earle was built, there were houses and churches and farms, etc in the area that is now Earle in both Leonardo/Chapel Hill and Colts Neck/Tinton Falls. If you go to historicaerials.com you can see what was there before the Gov't bought the land and tore everything down and built Earle.

They did have a connection with the CNJ on the Seashore Branch, as well as a connection on the Southern Sec, which still is in use, the Seashore Branch connection is obviously long OOS..haha

Back in the 70s and 80's there were some former CNJ guys working on the Earle Railroad.

There appears to be some MOW activity afoot as a Railroad Construction backhoe was parked at the Oak Hill Road crossing last night.

Bob

There was a train today testing out the grade crossing at Oak Hill Rd, I saw it at about 7:30am with an SW1200 and about 10 boxcars.

A Railroad Construction hi-rail dump truck filled with ballast was occupying the out of service track when I passed by the crossing on my way home last night. There were cones protecting some freshly laid asphalt although it's difficult to ascertain what the exact nature of the work is.

Bob

NJT4115 wrote:Before the line was used by the Navy, what did the CNJ use it for?

You'd have to compare aerial maps to see it. A portion of the ROW of the old Raritan & Delaware Bay RR / Southern that ran from Port Monmouth to Red Bank was used for the Navy RR in Middletown. Not much, but they used what they had to work with.

[

They did have a connection with the CNJ on the Seashore Branch, as well as a connection on the Southern Sec, which still is in use, the Seashore Branch connection is obviously long OOS..haha[/quote]

That connection was used for the last time in the early 1970s. I've heard that there was flood damage on the Seashore Branch in the area somewhere around Port Monmouth/Leonardo/Atlantic Highlands. There was a stranded CN 40' boxcar that was spotted at a lumber yard located on the Seashore Branch. When the branch became impassable further west, the Navy used their connection with the Seashore and "rescued" the empty CN boxcar. Presumably, they brought it south through Colts Neck and then up through the Southern Division. The CNJ abandoned the Seashore beyond IFF shortly thereafter. Not sure if this story is true, but it would make sense.

-Mike

Light engine move heading up to Waterfront right now with SW1200 #4.

I believe I heard a train headed out to the pier about 6 o'clock this morning. I'll usually open the windows to get a better listen but that wasn't happening with the power still out.

Bob

Yeah it's out there now with both VO's!

The train passed Sleepy hollow today heading to mainside around 5:50pm with about 15 cars and both VO1000M's!

Through Sleepy Hollow at 5:14pm,VO1000M's #2 and #1 with 22 cars including two flat cars!

Train was running this week with SW1200s 4 and 6, also happened to come across this picture of VO1000M 65-00367 #1 being delivered! http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=3284887