The Freehold Secondary Mystery

[R&DB]

How many cars does Builders General get per week / month? I know they truck from Freehold to their Little Silver and Toms River locations, both of which are adjacent to rail. Just wondering how much they move from rail to truck and move to the other locations.

[Bracdude181]

@R&DB the railcars typically used by builders general hold 3 to 4 truck loads of lumber. Not sure how much they move to Little Silver or Toms River.

Last I heard they usually bring 2 or more cars to Builders General in Freehold per trip but I could be wrong. Haven’t chased the train to Freehold in a while.

[CR7876]

How many cars does Builders General get per week / month? I know they truck from Freehold to their Little Silver and Toms River locations, both of which are adjacent to rail. Just wondering how much they move from rail to truck and move to the other locations.

They got cars at their Cranford location until they closed that site in 2010ish. Builders probably averages 3-5 cars a week. There is enough room for 3 boxes and 3 flats at a time. Only Builders knows how much lumber they move internally.

[R&DB]

My question is whether they would prefer to get deliveries to Toms River again? That could take some truck traffic off Route 9. And be less polluting and save on payroll and fuel for Builders.
If Conrail re-opened the Freehold to Farmingdale link and put a wye in at Farmingdale, the Thursday SA-31 run on the Southern Secondary could be combined with the Freehold runs.

[GSC]

At one time a few years back, BG in Freehold had a couple old box cars used for storage. I remember a Western Pacific car with its big WP logo. Don't know when they were removed. One of those things people don't seem to remember.

[Bracdude181]

SA31 has two engines for the Freehold run today. I’ve been told this is an uncommon occurrence so I’ll post that here.

[NY&LB]

Very Unusual

Movie quote:

Vinny: Does that freight train come through here at 5:00 A.M. every morning?
Hotel Clerk: No, sir, it's very unusual.
Vinny: [the next day, after Vinny was awakened by the train] Yesterday you told me that freight train hardly ever comes through here at 5:00 A.M. in the morning.
Hotel Clerk: I know. She's supposed to come through at ten after 4:00.

[GSC]

My question is whether they would prefer to get deliveries to Toms River again? That could take some truck traffic off Route 9. And be less polluting and save on payroll and fuel for Builders.
If Conrail re-opened the Freehold to Farmingdale link and put a wye in at Farmingdale, the Thursday SA-31 run on the Southern Secondary could be combined with the Freehold runs.

SA31 could be a nice long train. Imagine the usual cars for Freehold and Prestone, then cars for ExTech, Belray, and Brick Recycling, and then 18 cars for Lakewood. And the train coming through Freehold at 5 pm. You can almost hear the NIMBYs screaming.

[R&DB]

My question is whether they would prefer to get deliveries to Toms River again? That could take some truck traffic off Route 9. And be less polluting and save on payroll and fuel for Builders.
If Conrail re-opened the Freehold to Farmingdale link and put a wye in at Farmingdale, the Thursday SA-31 run on the Southern Secondary could be combined with the Freehold runs.

SA31 could be a nice long train. Imagine the usual cars for Freehold and Prestone, then cars for ExTech, Belray, and Brick Recycling, and then 18 cars for Lakewood. And the train coming through Freehold at 5 pm. You can almost hear the NIMBYs screaming.

LOL, wait 'til they get 50-60 car sand trains at 10mph every day. The petitions to put them back on the Coast Line will be historic!

[CR7876]

LOL, wait 'til they get 50-60 car sand trains at 10mph every day. The petitions to put them back on the Coast Line will be historic!

This is why people panic. Nobody is claiming this is going to happen. We are on year 12 of NJCL's 10 year lease from Clayton and they haven't turned a wheel yet.

[Bracdude181]

If it’s done right, the track speed can be increased to 15 mph to try and avoid traffic delays in Freehold and Lakewood. The tracks would need work and the crossings would need to be re-wired so that the lights don’t come on too long in advance, (that’s a big problem at Main Street in Freehold!) but it is possible. Lakewood used to have a 15 mph limit before Conrail let the tracks rot, and that allowed some of the larger trains (some trains still had 50 cars well into the 90s)
to get through town without much traffic buildup.

[CharlieL]

Gonna take a WAG here and guess the track speed will be closer to 5 mph in Freehold headed toward Jamesburg due to the extremely restricted sight lines crossing rte 79 and 537.

[Bracdude181]

@CharlieL Route 79 merges with 537 a few blocks north of the crossing and does not appear to cross the FIT anywhere in the area.

If the line of sight is limited then maybe there can be a rule stating that trains cannot exceed 10 mph until the head end is clear of the crossings, then the train can accelerate to 15 until the rear of the train clears a certain point. Trains going east towards the Southern can accelerate to 25 once the rear is clear of the tight turns through town.

There’s a CSX line where this exact thing occurs (but with different speeds and longer trains) due to street running.

[R&DB]

Bracdude181
Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:36 pm
@CharlieL Route 79 merges with 537 a few blocks north of the crossing and does not appear to cross the FIT anywhere in the area.

South St. in Freehold is NJ Route 79. The FIT definitely crosses it.

[Bracdude181]

@R&DB Just looked it up. You are correct. Sorry, I don’t know that area too well.