CR on the Southern Secondary

I don't think they would totally abandon Farmingdale-Red Bank; if some of the companies mentioned here opt for service, trains would have to run through the FIT and up the Southern to wherever if NJT is that anal about weight and height. In addition, as someone said here, some towns would probably not be happy if the FIT became active; two trains a day MINIMUM for this line's impending revitalization is quite an increase in frequency for this rail system, and loads depending on the day/customers would definitely be larger than others, so I could see Red Bank-Freehold being used for overflow/trains that would be significantly longer.
Let's not forget about potential MOM usage or car storage.

Going back to the bridge, if it was merely cosmetics, why would they do that for a line that isn't going to be used at all? Unless Conrail in South Jersey has a deal with D&D/CMSL/Conrail Central Jersey to ferry cars between Browns and Camden via the old Southern DIVISION, not Secondary.

Back in 1962 when I first got my drivers license. I was out driving through farmingdale and stoped for the train at the rt 524 crossing ,just west of farmingdale. It was quite a long train heading west toward freehold. I know back then the people in freehold were complaining about ammunition trains running at night through the town.. I’m assuming this train might of been a train coming back from earl. I believe it had two rs11 leading. They must of had the ability to run around the train back then??

JohnFromJersey - Don't discount the aesthetics as the reason for the repaint. I have seen that before for other OOS branches and abandoned rail bridges. It is a far cheaper maintenance move than pulling the bridge down and it resolves complaints that the NJDOT gets from the vital tourists that use that hwy to get to Long Beach Island . The bridge is owned by NJDOT (not sure if it was automatically turned over to NJT?).

@CJPat Most people say NJT owns Winslow to Woodmansie and South Lakewood to Red Bank. However I’ve also heard that NJDOT owns the entire thing minus Lakehurst to Woodmansie. Who knows really.

David mentioned that there’s been talks of reopening the line to Chatsworth for a small rail yard, so maybe that’s what the bridge work was for?

When was the last time we heard 14 for woodhaven, one for Extect, one tank and three for Earle? I don't think I've ever heard of anything from Earle accept a new engine or new cars or once in a great while gondola's! I am quite sure Earle re-supplies small arms via truck, everything else via ships in and out!
Lets not forget Farmingdale had its very own gun powder factory. Phoenix Powder Co. Great fun hike found a 2 hundred dollar turquiose glass battery rest from 1800's
This guy is very fun to watch gives you all great views without leaving your seat. He seems to hit every building I ever wanted to get out of the car and go do a look see! Some Southern rail stuff.

@Tanker1497 The last shipments to Earle by rail were a few new engines. Nothing into the base by rail ever since. I’d imagine that we will see them replace their boxcar fleet at some point which will mean new boxcars coming in by rail. No idea when we will see that though.

As for trucking I’m not sure what Earle does. I do know that MDL in Lakehurst gets truckloads of gray metal crates in by flatbed truck. Could they get those in by rail?

Railroad Construction would ship old ties out via gondola's when they were doing track work for the Navy. There was a time in the early 00's that a few dedicated trains of munition's came in. There was also a time when the Navy's fleet of 40' boxcars went out to get refurbished. Basically since the late 90's traffic has been as needed, and it appears it isn't needed for years at a clip.

@CR7876 A few years prior to them getting the new engines in by rail, they did have Conrail bring them a few gondolas. I’m fairly certain it was for tie replacement work. Hasn’t been any inbound or outbound freight since.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:59 pm @Railseast What about gunpowder and ammunition, or torpedos for submarines? Can they come down the Coast Line?

Earle only supplies the surface fleet, no submarines. Since about 1990 the Navy's surface fleet does not have nuclear weapons. Hence no nukes at Earle.
In the 1940s, 50s and 60s Earle received many shipments over the PRR through Freehold / Farmingdale. From what I understand the shipments were not in USN marked cars. More loads came down from Red Bank on the CNJ.
Earle had 2 connections to the Southern between Tinton Falls and Collingwood and another to the CNJ Seashore Branch in Leonardo. Only the one near Rte 34 remains.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 03, 2021 12:32 pm @CR7876 A few years prior to them getting the new engines in by rail, they did have Conrail bring them a few gondolas. I’m fairly certain it was for tie replacement work. Hasn’t been any inbound or outbound freight since.

That was around 2012-2014. Tie replacement project by Railroad Construction Company for the Navy.
I don't think the gate on the Navy siding has been opened since the last engine delivery around 2015.

@R&DB The fact that the ammo wasn’t in USN marked cars was probably a trick. If it’s just a regular boxcar then who’s to say it’s not carrying appliances?

There was actually an incident where the wrong boxcar went to either Earle or somewhere else. I forgot the specifics. I can post that story if your interested.

Yeah, the USN marked cars were / are used on property between the main base and portside (Leonardo). Back in the day incoming shipments could be in any lines' cars.

Earle had 2 connections to the Southern between Tinton Falls and Collingwood and another to the CNJ Seashore Branch in Leonardo. Only the one near Rte 34 remains.

The one that remains was known as West Earle at MP48. The other was East Earle at MP46, last time I hiked the line, there was still a concrete "phone booth" there.

Back in the 1980s when I was growing up in Hazlet, there was still quite a bit of interchange between CR and the Earle Naval RR. As R&DB said, "commercial" (non-USN) boxcars were used. If I recall, quite a bit of Milwaukee Road. Rock Island, Soo Line, BN and the NRUC Roads (Middletown & NJ, St. Lawrence Railroad and others) used to frequent the Coast Line rails heading to the Earle interchange. If you looked close enough the cars heading for Earle were placarded "Explosives A" or "Explosives B". If I recall, they were frequently intermingled with other freight traffic that was moving down the NY&LB and the Southern at that time.

I mentioned Milwaukee Road, since the MILW "Southeastern" Division serviced the very large Crane Naval Weapons station, which is located between Bloomington and Terre Haute, Indiana. It is easy to envision weapons being shipped between the two naval depots. I think I have heard that the Crane NWS has since been decommissioned and torn up and no longer functions, although the base is still open.

I had also heard the story that a boxcar of naval "goodies" was delivered to the wrong consignee back in the 1970s or early 1980s. That must have been have been quite the reaction of the consignee when they opened the car and realized what it was....

One final note on the Earle NWS. When the Seashore Branch was cut back to IFF/Natco in the early 1970s, the track between there and Atlantic Highlands had become impassable during the abandonment proceedings. There was a Canadian National boxcar trapped near Atlantic Highlands. The CNJ asked the Naval RR to help out and they did- rescuing the trapped boxcar, via the Naval Railroad's connection to the Seashore near Port Monmouth. It was the last freight movement on that part of the Seashore (circa 1973 or 1974)...

-Mike

R&DB wrote: ↑Wed Mar 03, 2021 1:13 pm Earle had 2 connections to the Southern between Tinton Falls and Collingwood and another to the CNJ Seashore Branch in Leonardo. Only the one near Rte 34 remains.

At that spot 33 and 34 are the same road, so I was talking about the same connection to Earle. A few hundred yards north of 33/34, almost directly at the same spot as the switch for Brick Recycling.

Then nothing all the way up to the Red Bank connection, from what I can see on Google maps.

Jim S