[Oh ok, I didn't know it began that far back.
Railroad Forums
West side of Newark Branch
- Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey
Moderator: David
The switch to Q-Pak and the switch to the small industrial park on Riverside Ave where former shipper Frey Industries was located are both still there. Q-Pak is on McCarter Hwy in Newark near the Belleville border. They are the former shipper right before Rock-Tenn.
FWIW: Looks like they came to switch Van Ness yesterday or last night...snow broken at crossings at Colfax, Clifton and Mt Prospect Avenues.....
rev66vette wrote:FWIW: Looks like they came to switch Van Ness yesterday or last night...snow broken at crossings at Colfax, Clifton and Mt Prospect Avenues.....
Rev66 I heard a series of horns blowing for those grade crossings about 1:15 AM Friday morning. That must have been the local that services Van Ness Plastics. I could not tell if they were heading northbound or southbound but the horn certainly sounded like that of an NS locomotive.
Blocksignal.
rev66vette wrote:FWIW: Looks like they came to switch Van Ness yesterday or last night...snow broken at crossings at Colfax, Clifton and Mt Prospect Avenues.....Here ya go Rev, caught it totally by accident: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=tXKa4IlkhEo
JohnFPorcaro wrote:link not working this morningrev66vette wrote:FWIW: Looks like they came to switch Van Ness yesterday or last night...snow broken at crossings at Colfax, Clifton and Mt Prospect Avenues.....Here ya go Rev, caught it totally by accident: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=tXKa4IlkhEo
pumpers wrote:Thanks pumpers, try this:JohnFPorcaro wrote:link not working this morningrev66vette wrote:FWIW: Looks like they came to switch Van Ness yesterday or last night...snow broken at crossings at Colfax, Clifton and Mt Prospect Avenues.....Here ya go Rev, caught it totally by accident: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=tXKa4IlkhEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXKa4IlkhEo
Off topic a bit but it's a shame what NS is doing to the Orange Industrial Branch.
Joseph DeLuisi wrote:Off topic a bit but it's a shame what NS is doing to the Orange Industrial Branch.Could you describe what's happening in a bit more detail?
NS is tearing out the ties and rail in Bloomfield and Newark. Last shipper on the branch was Hartz and they shut down their Bloomfield plant a few years ago. But still the branch was still marketable, as is the Newark Branch too.
It is odd because the state wanted to buy the ROW a few years back and NS said no. I would suspect that this has something to do with the cost cutting and mileage cutting that NS started to satisfy their shareholders because of bad numbers.
I think it may be possible that NJ Transit might not be the perfect, infallible organization that most people assume it is.
Thanks for letting us know about that branch's demise. The loss of NJ industry + high taxes I'm sure don't help. Hopefully it does not foretell the fate of the Newark Branch south end.
Joseph DeLuisi wrote:NS is tearing out the ties and rail in Bloomfield and Newark. Last shipper on the branch was Hartz and they shut down their Bloomfield plant a few years ago. But still the branch was still marketable, as is the Newark Branch too.Well, OK, that does explain a bit, BUT
1) Isn't the branch shared with the Newark light rail system? Obviously NS can't remove those tracks.
2) Scanning with Google/Bing - I see no potential customers for rail freight. Hartz Mountain property itself is supposed to be redeveloped as the all-too common Multi-use residential complex (Google Street shows the property in the process of becoming an empty lot). In this case it was obvious it would be residential, as the Grove St. LR station is only a block or two away.
There's two large buildings nearby, off "Federal Plaza", one houses 'Spot Brand' Ethical Products (Pet toys & etc), the large white one I can't determine, and both probably were rail-served back in the day. Other than that...no idea.