Summit Train station

recently I was visiting a friend(yes I have a couple, don't know how, but I do...LOL) at Overlook Hospital. When leaving I noticed an old baggage/mail car next to the transformer. What is the origin of this car?

Metalrailz wrote:recently I was visiting a friend(yes I have a couple, don't know how, but I do...LOL) at Overlook Hospital. When leaving I noticed an old baggage/mail car next to the transformer. What is the origin of this car?

this car is located at the station? Could you be a bit more specific as to its location? thanks!

Lackawanna484 wrote:

Metalrailz wrote:recently I was visiting a friend(yes I have a couple, don't know how, but I do...LOL) at Overlook Hospital. When leaving I noticed an old baggage/mail car next to the transformer. What is the origin of this car?

this car is located at the station? Could you be a bit more specific as to its location? thanks!

I think he is talking about the old baggage car that is still used by NJT for the wire replacement train....I believe the car is ex Erie, but I could be wrong.....It still has one of those old DL&W type Mu horns facing downward..

Steve

That car has been there since at least December, maybe more. That track (the track in the yard that is raised by Concrete- the Summit "High Line" if you will- it used to connect to the Rahway Valley RR IIRC) is usually used for MOW stuff. Usually the stuff on the track alternates from week to week or month to month or whatever. But that car has been there (along with other cars- some flats IIRC) for quite a while to be sure.

I remember the ancient plow and flatcars that were out there in the yard at Summit before they were cut up, probably about 5 years ago or so now.....

That is the tool car of the wire train. Behind it is the tower car and then the reel car. NJT only uses the wire train now for larger projects, and wire installation/replacement. Routine maintenence can be done with bucket trucks and the caterary car.

Jtgshu wrote:I remember the ancient plow and flatcars that were out there in the yard at Summit before they were cut up, probably about 5 years ago or so now.....

I too remember those cars. They were there the first year or two I started working in NYC, then one day they were gone.

There was a thread I started on the summit 'high line' as to where it went/ what it did. There are lots of good replies, you can find that here:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... highlight=

As far as the wire train goes.. I don't know where the baggage car originated from, but I think that track is more or less the wire train's 'home'. It comes and goes from time to time.

Jt / james -

AIR, the snow plow and flats were coupled together - and derailed - at the far east end of the yard lead track. Again AIR, they broke loose from their moorings in the MU coach yard one night and drifted east where they left the siding and banged themselves up off the end of track....

NJT4172

think he is talking about the old baggage car that is still used by NJT for the wire replacement train....I believe the car is ex Erie, but I could be wrong.....It still has one of those old DL&W type Mu horns facing downward..

I apologize Lackawanna 484 for not being more specific on my question. This is the car that I was referring to. I did notice that the horns were facing down. The car is located east of the station. Thanks to all!!!

One clarification. The 'high line' where the wire train gets stored was not the connection to the RVRR. The RVRR connection was a switch off the track closest to the retaining wall the wire train sits on, with the track curving right through what is now the car dealership to cross over the now missing bridge (I believe the road is Morris Ave). The low bridge (it was hit several times over the years) was removed as a traffic obstruction following the original abandonment of the RVRR. That is not a major impediment to reactivation as the bridge would have had to have been replaced anyway. It was ancient and of light construction - and the repeated rammings by the trucks didn't help either.

It's condition (and lack of business on the last several miles between Springfield and Summit) was a significant factor in management's decision to embargo Summit and Cranford and concentrate all interchange at the former LV interchange upon the formation of Conrail. After that happened, the only use of the CNJ side of the line was hopper storage near the 'split' and an occassional tank car for a consignee in Roselle Park which was spotted on the main.

RS115 -

Some time ago, Gordon Fuller told me in passing that this bridge was in storage someplace in Elizabeth(?) and would eventually be re-installed....no doubt with higher clearance over Morris......err, Broad Street.

In reply to RS115 - the road the bridge crosses over by the car dealership(Salerno Duane) is Broad Street and not Morris Ave.

Crnrailal