LAST CR Freight on NJCL West of Red Bank?

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I couldn't post the pic in this box, so it is over there on my avatar >>>

Anyone know the date of the last CR freight on the NJCL / NY&LB? This train picked up empties from Lowy's warehouse in Neptune after delivering newsprint rolls for the Asbury Park Press. That was the end of freight service west of Red Bank, unless Builder's General in Little Silver still had service.

[RailsEast]

Hi Garry,
I see you found one of my old shots from the late '80s. There are a few more from that location here....

http://njtwom.rrpicturearchives.net/arc ... x?id=45185

I don't recall the time period when freight ended west of BANK (I was starting my business at the time and trains took a back seat to life), but something in my not-so-perfect memory tells me that Builders General in Little Silver was the last customer served. I'm sure someone here can give you a better idea.
If we could only upgrade memory in humans like we do with PCs....

Chris

[tahawus84]

Great photos Railseast!

Cant believe CR is gone seems like it was just yesterday that I was tired of all the blue paint. Now I would do almost anything to go back to those days.

[R&DB]

I'm not sure, but I think it was around 1990 that Builders General (Little Silver) made the deal with Conrail. Conrail would deliver to BG's Freehold yard and pay for part of the cost to truck it to Little Silver. A year or two later they made the same deal for BG's Toms River yard. I assume CSAO maintains the deal.

[GooStats]

When I was 4 years old (1982) I thought I remember seeing a freight train in Belmar (including a tank car). Am I remembering correctly, or is it a figment of my imagination?
At the time there were several sidings in Belmar (two that crossed Railroad Avenue), Spring Lake and Point Pleasant into various businesses.

[GSC]

Great shots, Chris. I'm not sure where that one I have came from, it's been in my pic file for years. I think someone forwarded it to me.

Tank cars were usually headed to / from Bay Head with diesel fuel. Locos were fueled there for many years. Tank trucks later shipped in fuel, and then that was stopped and fueling was done at the MMC. Lots of diesel spills in Bay Head over the years, the ground was black. One of the tank cars is at Pine Creek RR in Allaire, another went to Strasburg, not sure where the third tank car went.

Among sidings in Belmar, Sterner (now Jaeger) Lumber had two sidings. One to the lumber warehouse, crossing 11th Ave, the other crossed 13th Ave to the coal trestle. Concrete supports for the trestle are still there. The old CNJ freight house is located next to the basketball courts, moved from its original location at the freight yard, once located where the parking lot is now, between 10th and 11th Aves. I was little and my grandfather took me to see them move the freight house, around 1960 I think?

I lived across from the new AP Press on Rt 66 in Neptune and saw AG Rogers / Lowy's truck come in all day with newsprint. Not sure how they got it once the freight service ended on the NJCL.

[JohnFromJersey]

How long would freight trains typically be on the Coastline?

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Belmar also had a third Sterner's siding. This one went to the other side of the tracks next to the school.

[Bulkheadflat]

Great photos! Did you get any close ups of those sweet Bangor & Aroostook boxes?

[GSC]

How long would freight trains typically be on the Coastline?

As I recall, there were different freight dispatches. There was a Bradley Beach Turner (to Bradley Beach yard and would also service Belmar) and the Bay Head Turner that did everything west of Red Bank. There was also a short turn to Long Branch as well from Red Bank. I remember mainly short trains, with maybe three or four box cars, maybe a gondola or two. The Bay Head run hauled the tank cars. Sometimes a special haul would go to Bradley Beach, such as electrical transformers on low-deck flat cars. General freight mostly. Until about 1964(?) a daily mail train would also run, with RPOs and baggage cars. There was also reefer service to an ice cream plant in Spring Lake until the mid-60s. Sometimes a reefer full of produce would tie up at the siding in Neptune by the produce market that used to be there. For a while in the early 60s, Pennsy unit trains would haul in jetty rocks to the Lewis Lumber yard in Spring Lake, coming in from Kingston Trap Rock over the Freehold & Jamesburg line to Sea Girt. At the close of freight service, Conrail brought in two or three box cars of newsprint to Neptune. Some of the oldest wooden CNJ cabooses worked the line, until about 1973, when friction bearings and arch bar trucks on the cars were outlawed. I was fortunate to grow up close to the NY&LB. What a variety that used to run along that line.

[R&DB]

Gary said:

What a variety that used to run along that line.

I grew up along the NY&LB as well and Gary is 100% on the money about variety.
CNJ and PRR commuter trains, CNJ and PRR freight, Race Track trains from both nYC and Philly. The assortment of power would be a rolling history book to todays railfan. I remember K4s, E7s, E8s, Sharks, GP7s, GP9s, Baldwin double enders, RDCs. Trainmasters, Baby Trainmasters, RS2s, RS3s and later GP35s. 1955 through 1970 was an amazing period on the NY&LB.