strange switcher in Port Richmond

Yesterday, from I 95 I spotted an oddly colored switching unit, an sw or maybe an nw unit, that looked like it may once have been a Chessie unit. It was spotted near the rail facility in the Port Richmond yard near the two Geeps that are usually parked there. The locomotive had in huge letters the words "Work Safely". Any body know what it is and why it's there ? I was wondering if it might have something to do with the Tioga Terminal whch I noticed is now packed with containers. I have no idea how they could move all those containers by truck. Delaware Ave. must be a mess with all those containers being moved by truck.

That unit is an SW1200 switcher that was owned by Rohm & Haas. It was used by them for many years for switching their plant. Rohm & Haas at one time had an extreme network of trackage at their plant. The entire site was downgraded with quite a few of the buildings and process equipment that were no longer in service getting demolished. The track that served these portions of the plant were subsequently torn out.
The plant still continues to receive one tank car a week of Liquid Styrene and the SW1200 was used to pull it up from the gate where NS would drop it off. The switcher would then pull it up a half mile, run around it, then shove it another half a mile up to the tank rack.
2 years ago, the locomotive had a main generator failure ( threw sparks ) so it was shut down and taken out of service. It was not economical for Rohm & Haas to repair it as it had 6 bad power assemblies and oil to coolant contamination.
At this point since Rohm & Haas could not switch their plant so I brought in one of my 5TM Trackmobiles (#9) as a rental unit so they could use it to move the tank cars to and from the pipe rack. I proceeded to show up each week to assist the plant when the tank cars had to be moved over the mile of track. I also had the task of moving the dead SW1200 off the track it was parked on, over to an unused stub track to get it out of the way. My trackmobile was used by Rohm & Haas for a period of 3 months.
Since that point they brought in a TM3050 and continue to use that unit.

Rohm & Haas had the SW1200 for sale for scrap. They had a scrap dealer in Philly that expressed interest in buying it, who was going to attempt to have it towed by NS to their site.
At this point i started looking for a buyer that would restore it to service. I found a potential buyer for the unit who wanted me to go in with him 50/50. I decided not to since it needed a main generator, power assemblies, and had friction bearing trucks. That was not cost effective for me at the time, since i already own 7 trackmobiles and 2 locomotives and had my hands full. More recently i found another person/ outfit that was interested in buying it but when i contacted Rohm & Haas I found out it was sold already for scrap. I then inquired if the scrap dealer is willing to resell it as a whole unit. I should have an answer in a few weeks.

I would also like to note:

Rohm & Haas has a 35 degree radius curve on their property which was a load of fun trying to shove / pull the tankcar thru.

There is also a diamond on there property that we would shove thru. ( In order a switch, the diamond, then the 35 degree curve. - talk about rough wear on the flanges. )

I took photographs of my Trackmobile moving the SW1200. Once i get them developed, I will post them on here.

The friction bearing trucks on the SW1200 are actually Westinghouse and were originally on Fairbanks Morse H12-44 #1845. About 8 or so years ago, LTS shipped the #1845 to Rohm & Haas as a rental unit. It was noted that the EMD roller bearing trucks on the SW1200 had badly worn wheels and needed to be replaced since they wore down due to that 35 degree curve. LTS noted that the friction bearing trucks on the Fairbanks would work better on the sharp curve and not wear as much then the EMD trucks. As a result the Westinghouse trucks on the Fairbanks were swapped over to the SW1200 and the EMD trucks taken off the SW1200 had brand new wheels installed which were then placed under the Fairbanks.
The Fairbanks was then shipped back up to Morrisville once the SW1200 was placed back in service at Rohm & Haas. 3 years ago I purchased the Fairbanks from LTS. It still contains the EMD trucks with practically brand new wheels.
So ironic that i moved the SW1200 with my Trackmobile and it contained the Westinghouse trucks off the Fairbanks loco which is now part of my equipment fleet.

I would also like to note that Rohm & Haas is fenced in and access / photography is not permitted.


I assume that the reason why the locomotive is parked in Port Richmond now is because it is being transferred to the scrap dealer. I should have an answer in a few days.

Holy Mackerel; I never expected such a complete answer on that SW. Thanks

The unit was re-trucked last thursday. I do not see a scrapper going through the trouble of paying for that work to be done and then scrap the unit. Maybe I am wrong, but the work was done last week. As of this morning, the unit is still there.


Brian

As of today, the unit is gone. Who took it?

Also, what routing would have been taken to get the switcher from Rohm & Haas to Port Richmond Terminal? The PBL doesn't connect to the Kensington Branch anymore, so did they take it up to the NEC?

While on topic, what kind of work gets done at the Conrail Ann St Facility? I see a good number of workers there Mon-Fri. I assume the local train crews are also based out of there as well as some MOW crews.

BTW, off-topic, there was a derailment on the PBL right at Allegheny & Delaware.

jfrey40535 wrote:Also, what routing would have been taken to get the switcher from Rohm & Haas to Port Richmond Terminal? The PBL doesn't connect to the Kensington Branch anymore, so did they take it up to the NEC? there was a derailment on the PBL right at Allegheny & Delaware.

Could the loco have been in a remote part of R&H East of Richmond St. or North of Bridge St. near Frankford Arsenal served by this train?

Its possible, I assumed that R&H was connected to the Kensington Branch (ex-PRR) and was served using the same industrial track that serves Sunoco, but you may be right. I know traffic on the PBL North of Castor is extremely light and the track is in poor shape, but I didn't think it went all the way up to R&H. Next time I'm over that way I'll take a look.

The PBL is the line that crosses Alleghany Ave right at Delaware and kinda skirts it for alil bit then ducks away and crosses castor ave and under the High Line leading to the Delair Bridge to go to Rohm and Hass. The PBL does go to Port Richmond Yard and then from there the diesel can be shipped own the richmond branch to CP Nice where it connects to CSX Trenton line. Thats the only way PT Richmond Yard and teh belt line can be served thanks to Conrail.

This unit is now JLCX 9043 destined for repairs at Progress Rail's Patterson GA shops.

jfrey40535 wrote:I assumed that R&H was connected to the Kensington Branch (ex-PRR) and was served using the same industrial track that serves Sunoco.

That's how most of the traffic moves, to the part of the Rohm & Hass plant close to Aramingo Ave. and the Delaware Expwy., North of the grade crossing under the Delaware Expwy. at Aramingo Ave. & Lefevre St. That track sees a lot more than 1 car a week.

Ok I think your getting confused jimboylan. The track next to Aramingo Avenue is not the PBL nor does it go into R&H. That track goes into Allied Chemical and thats the Frankford Street Industrial track that comes off Trenton Avenue Elevated at Frankford Junction Yard at Sepviva street and yes your right it does see more then 1 car a week.It gets shifted almost every night by a switcher and sometimes theres 2 more units in the old MeadowsYard along Aramingo Avenue to assist in bringing the train up the grade to the yard. It averages anywhere between 5-25 cars a night. R&H does indeed come off the PBL from Port Richmond Yard and probably doe only see 1 car a week.. Allied Chemical and R&H is next to each other but not served by the same tracks.

You're right Budd, I realized that while working the 73 Sat night. R&H is only connected via the PBL which you described earlier. The Frankford St. Industrial Track, which is part of the old Kensington Branch, does not cross Bridge Street; it ends at Sunoco. I was lucky enough to catch it one day this summer.

Hello, fellas. I spotted this switcher today, got some photos. I wondered what and where it came from, put JLCX 9043 in google, and got this website and topic.
Sure was nice finding the complete story on the neat little SW. I often visit the CSX locomotive shops in Cumberland, Maryland, to get a few photos, and saw this neat loco in the rear of the shops, she stood out in the bright yellow compared to the other CSX stuff.




Often times, locomotives dead in tow will be brought to the shop for storage while waiting to be routed and get any small repairs before being sent on to it's destination.

Big Appa

Its nice to see that the switcher will continue on in service instead of being scrapped.

Hi,

The same here. I found this switcher in an outbound train leaving Aaca yard Richmond VA, somewhere between 0700 and 0800. I think it was on friday the 21st. It took a while to get the photo's on my website and link them to here. I also searched on google to end up in this tread.

Also... a second switcher of the same type was leaving Aaca yard as I came to work at aprox. 0650. Going in the same direction. The photo I took ofcourse did not came out okay since it was still dark and my hand was not steady enough.

Don't know the number, but it was the same type as far as I could see. So there are 2 switchers involved.

Erwin

PS I just found out that there is another Richmond with an interstate I95 in the USA.My photo's are from Richmond Virginia. (Sorry but I am originaly from the Netherlands and I have not been in many places in the USA yet.)


PS for high resolution photo's:
http://www.csxaccayard.nlms.info/photos ... Xpower.htm