CR on the Southern Secondary

[CharlieL]

This fits in nicely with the post (spring 2019?) about a study being done to see if the southern secondary would meet "Plate F" (loading gauge) requirements.
It looks to me like there are so many height restrictions on the NJCL portion along with a couple of bridges not meeting weight handling requirements that this won't happen any time soon if hidebound and broke NJ transit need to be involved. One thing NJ's bureaucracy is real good at doing is "nothing".

[CharlieL]

On the other hand, the Amboy corridor shows NO height or weight restrictions with many current customers all the way to Freehold. How many miles of heavy rail could be laid for the price of making just one overpass or rail bridge plate F compliant on the NJCL or northern part of the southern secondary. Giving access thru Howell would give the Amboy secondary access to the 4 existing customers on the southern as all restrictions are north of Belray,Brick recycling and Extech (sp?).

https://www.njtpa.org/NJTPA/media/Docum ... f?ext=.pdf

[pdtrains]

Seems rebuilding the maybe 5 miles of track or so from okerson road east of freehold to Farmingdale shouldnt be that difficult. Only have to build to class 3 standards, and looks like all the ROW is there. DOnt know why it hasnt been done up till now, and avoid running on NJT, as well as have 1 job that serves the freehold and Southern Sec tracks. It could be a 1 day down, 1 day back job, with an engine on each end. As it is, they have to recrew the Southern Sec job way too often, and thats just to serve 1 big customer, and 3 small ones.

I guess we need a track rebuilding contractor that is "a friend of the governor". This is NJ.

[Bracdude181]

From what I had been hearing, they had been wanting to rebuild the Farmingdale to Freehold section as transit doesn't want Conrail on the coast line anymore. Part of the process would also be building a wye in Farmingdale so that they can serve customers on the Freehold Industrial and the Southern with one crew.

The final part would be rerouting OI16 to the NEC to allow for Plate F cars to come down. I personally feel that these improvements can be done for relatively cheap and would allow for major growth in the central jersey freight market.

Why it hasn't been done yet is beyond me. Part of the reason why improvements like this aren't made might be because the North Jersey Shared Assets Area is managed by someone who used to be Penn Central's head of track maintenance. He doesn't seem to have a good reputation, as most crews who mention this guy strongly dislike him.....

[ccutler]

Track clearances were recently raised to Plate F for the Washington line to Dover, and there's been almost no increase in traffic from Plate F freight cars. Somehow the authors of the NJTPA study claim billions of dollars in development would follow by raising clearances to Plate F for the Southern Secondary. NJT also spent about $10MM refurbishing the Chimney Rock branch line, with total traffic over the last few years reaching five carloads.

I like the idea of using the NE Corridor to access Browns Yard for Plate F. Most Plate F freight cars are hi cube box cars or auto racks. I could see Plate F boxcars servicing the warehouses near the turnpike, but most other freight customers won't need Plate F.

[Bracdude181]

There is at least one customer on the Amboy secondary who wants Plate F boxcars. I believe it's a paper mill. High cube boxcars are pretty good for paper rolls apparently.

I agree that not all customers need Plate F cars, specifically customers who don't get cars all that much. (Extech for example) It could be a big asset if a large customer shows up. The only area of the southern that currently doesn't support Plate F is the Tinton Ave bridge near Eatontown. Wouldn't take much to lower the track bed beneath the bridge, but right now it's not an issue.

The main problem seems to be NJ Transit's freight restrictions. There's weight restrictions from South Amboy to Red Bank and some car types are banned at the moment. (No flatbed cars with a spine frame, intermodal cars, or refrigerated boxcars) Reopening the line from Farmingdale to Freehold would fix that problem and allow for customers like United Wholesale Fruits in Howell to get rail shipments. It would certainly be much cheaper to do it that way than to somehow justify spending over 130 million dollars to bring the Coast Line up to standards.

[Coast Line Railfan]

Correction time.

The customer on the AMBS is not currently looking to use Plate F cars for obvious reasons, and regularly receive up 15 cars any given week.

The chance of any large warehouse or shipper requesting rail service on the Southern is very slim, considering there is very little prime real estate that woud suit such an operation. And, because of the obvious limitations that the catenary and rebuilding of RIVER bridge represent, the chances are even snaller.

Lowering the roadbed of the tracks near Tinton Avenue would be ridiculously difficult, and would require the tracks to be torn up for weeks, if not months, severing the much needed connection with Woodhaven. In any circumstance, the bridge would be rebuilt, with a new structure and higher clearances.

There are zero weight restrictions on the entirety of the Coast Line, Reefers are not banned, the majority of them fall under the Plate F category which is a different situation. In the situation of Plate F cars, there are readily available Plate C substitutes that would satisfy the shippers needs, should the need arise for more traffic.

[CharlieL]

The FRIO map shows 2 weight restrictions on NJCL: One at the bridge at Cheesequake, and one over the river at Red Bank. I agree with some of the above comments about the potential utility of plate F compliance; the FRIO studies are over-projecting the usefulness of the proposed upgrades. But they clearly state the benefits are potential.

[Coast Line Railfan]

It doesn't say when the study was conducted, but I do reaso to believe it is out of date to some extent, and considering the information I obtained came from NJ Transit who have recently been exposed to track charts and employee timetables, I do still believe them. It also came to my attention that south or ESSAY on the Coast Line was not included in the study.

[CharlieL]

Both studies say 2019, which agrees with the post, spring '19 that someone posted here (please don't make me look it up; 581 pages and counting) that a plate F survey was to be done on the southern. The coastine study indicates the bridge at cheesequake (Morgan's creek?) and the bridge over the Navesink are not rated for 268,000 lb cars. They are the ones referenced in the coastline FRIO report as being weight restricted. I guess it's possible that a good inspection and minor upgrades could make them so.

[Coast Line Railfan]

On the other hand, the Amboy corridor shows NO height or weight restrictions with many current customers all the way to Freehold. How many miles of heavy rail could be laid for the price of making just one overpass or rail bridge plate F compliant on the NJCL or northern part of the southern secondary. Giving access thru Howell would give the Amboy secondary access to the 4 existing customers on the southern as all restrictions are north of Belray,Brick recycling and Extech (sp?).

https://www.njtpa.org/NJTPA/media/Docum ... f?ext=.pdf

Was just re-reading a slight bit, and the customer map for the Amboy and FIT is hilariously out of date. Dayton is correct, but not in other places. Looking near the Spotswood area, there are about 5 or so markers placed on the map, a grand total of 1 customer in that area, which is the paper distributor. For Freehold, there are 7 markers give or take, and only 3 should be placed on the tracks. And none of the above mentioned consignees need Plate F at this time.

[CharlieL]

Agreed; there is a lot of "blue Skies" in those studies. But apparently they're serious about improving the freight rail situation. Personally, I would like to see the southern opened back up at least to Lakehurst but that won't happen unless and until the sand trains are needed , or JBMDL decides it needs rail, or Murphy gets a wild hair and decides MOM needs to fly.

[pdtrains]

Nothing will happen unless it can be advertised as creating more jobs....which is kind of ironic considering how many manufacturing jobs have been chased out of NJ. The whole NJ economy is based on building housing and shopping centers anymore. Lots of money being pumped in from overseas, where I used to live. But when that comes to an end,........

[Coast Line Railfan]

Work on the two crossings in Farmingdale commenced today, and so far one as has been refitted with new flange ways and an asphalt surface. Coming from a Conrail employee, this work is a regularly scheduled NJDOT rebuild, not any work spurred from NJSL/CMSL, or C&D.

[Bracdude181]

@pdtrains You've hit the nail right on the head. The southern used to have a large amount of customers who manufactured products back in the good old days.

The largest was a plastics plant across from Collingswood Auction. They got 20-25 cars every other day and had their own engine for moving cars around. The cars were full of plastic pellets used to make molded plastic products. (Mainly plastic pet cages)