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  • Metuchen Yard Operations and Vicinity

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

Moderator: David

 #1619195  by Bracdude181
 
ME47 was abolished a little while ago. They come out of Oak Island instead of Metuchen now. It’s OI32 on weekdays and JR08 on weekends.

There is an ME84 which is an extra but to my knowledge that symbol hasn’t been seen in a while.
 #1619201  by CR7876
 
JR as a job symbol stands for Jersey Relief. JR jobs are regular assignments that work the days off of other regular assignments. For example JR5 works both days off of PR06 and OI16 and then a day off of another job in Oak Island.
 #1619209  by OportRailfan
 
CR7876 wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 1:48 pm JR as a job symbol stands for Jersey Relief. JR jobs are regular assignments that work the days off of other regular assignments. For example JR5 works both days off of PR06 and OI16 and then a day off of another job in Oak Island.
Understood - its a relief job. Makes sense.
 #1619709  by pdtrains
 
So.....a 10 mile switching railroad with a dozen or so engines. Anyone know the story here? I've never known any to be leased out. Seems like they only need maybe 6 engines at most....yet seems the rotate thru them on different days...

Just asking....
 #1619716  by Bracdude181
 
Part of the reason they have such a big fleet is because of how they operate. Two trains daily across the entire 30 mile network, except on Saturday with only one train. If needed a third train runs too. This many engines means current service levels are maintained even when other engines need maintenance. What they do for the day depends entirely on what customers need service, cars needing to be switched, removed from storage, etc. They often move larger cuts of cars on somewhat steep grades. Hence two engines on each train.

Typically they use 2-4 engines for the run to metuchen (Push pull) and two for the other switching crew.
 #1619717  by Bracdude181
 
Forgot to mention, the rotation seems based on each engines maintenance and required inspection schedule. However, the high hoods seen in the picture are only used in the morning metuchen run, then for whatever they do afterwards.
 #1620287  by AceMacSD
 
That operation started out as Durham Transport with a single puppy for power. When it was bought out by the current owner, he brought in two old GE Uboat type engines from CSX. The transloading grew and so did the business within the park. We've delivered a few leasers here and there since the RC started. One was a CR uboat and some blue box looking engine that had numerous restrictions on it. It may've even had roller bearings. It also required a special move and Amtrak waivers. Then it sat behind 91 for a long time. Some time later, they got two or three old style CR engines from leasers.
Around when the work was given up to them, they got two leased puppies. They have been getting leasers off and onnever since.

Per my contacts there, they started with one job and now have three jobs. The three jobs went into effect around the CR turnover. They do the interchange in the early morning then work the south side. Another job comes on a few hours later to work the north side and clean up for the morning job. The third comes on in the afternoon to do the bulk work then clean up after the morning and afternoon jobs and build the train for the morning job. Usually the afternoon job uses the same engines as the morning job. The rest of the engines as they tell me are in some state of disrepair.
 #1620290  by Bracdude181
 
The third job you speak of is RC-3. To my knowledge that train only runs whenever they get a huge inbound train from metuchen in the morning.

Regarding the engines, I wouldn’t say they are in a state of disrepair. Ive seen all of them run minus the 7545 and the 701, and the ones I’ve seen run, while not perfect, are in decent condition and run fairly well. No oil or sparks flying out the exhaust, no rod knocking, no brake issues. No catastrophic fluid leaks, no flat spots, no obvious electrical issues, etc. Even the engine bays are kept clean!
 #1620723  by David
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 2:33 pm This was a pleasant surprise! The High Hoods were on the afternoon train!Image
Image
The boxcars are from HilleBrand in Mayfield.
Nice pictures!
 #1620726  by Railcar1
 
AceMacSD wrote: Sat Apr 22, 2023 10:13 am The only surprise to me is those engines are not in a scrap heap.
Would it be correct to say that NS probably got rid of their most problematic units in the last few years? And probably for other reasons too. The local units are all old and probably not rebuilt either in most cases.
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