PRR Line from Sea Girt West

[TOMSTV]

Here's a tape from June 10 1939. IT's b/w,it shows the special train,with the King & Queen on board, coming through Manasquan's Broad Street Station,on the old Freehold & Jamesburg line,heading to Red Bank. The line is now a bike trail,and most all you see is gone.the only thing still there is that white home,on the corner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk7i2P3XMc4

[snavely]

Great video. The King was George VI, the one who was the subject of the recent movie The King's Speech. He was the first reigning monarch of Great Britian to visit the US. He was the father of the current Queen Elizabeth II.

[GSC]

Nice long train in that Sea Girt video. I remember when . . .

I recall seeing a headlight just 5 minutes behind another train during the daily commuter parades. CNJ and PRR, one train after another, some with nine cars ("short" trains) all the way up to sometimes 16 passenger cars. Now they complain of "congestion" with trains running an hour apart. Progress?

The Royal train video is a gem! There was a big ceremony at Red Bank for the royal couple.

Notice how light the security was in those days? Not as many nut cases running around loose, and world leaders could actually ride around in relative safety.

The little crossing shanty to the left of the Broad St. station still exists, at the Pine Creek RR at Allaire.

[CNJSouDivFan]

Great stuff!!

[TSTOM]

GSC -

***I recall seeing a headlight just 5 minutes behind another train during the daily commuter parades. CNJ and PRR, one train after another, some with nine cars ("short" trains) all the way up to sometimes 16 passenger cars. Now they complain of "congestion" with trains running an hour apart. Progress?***

In the early 1950's we used to rent a Summer vacation house for a month on 18th Ave. in Belmar. I still have vivid memories of waiting to pick-up my Dad at Belmar commuting home from NYC and seeing this black outline with 'one eye' way up the ROW slowly approaching. It got bigger and bigger over the next 5-8 minutes and the belching black cloud of smoke was frightening to me. When it finally went thru/under Shark River draw, the opposing signal stantion lit-up 3 red in it's 3 targets. That was my cue to hind behind a pillar supporting the platform canopy !

Dad often let us hang back and watch his train leave heading South....as you say, often with anywhere from 9 to 11 coaches in tow. And when we turned around and looked North again there was regularly another black outline with one eye right behind Dad's train.

Oh and back then there was a big red 'smash board' arm next to that 3-target signal mast on the Northbound track just South/RR West of the draw that automatically lowered when the drawbridge was open.

Lastly, another memory was being on Belmar beach mid-day and easily hearing the whistle of a steamer at each of the multiple grade crossings and being able to follow it's progress South to Bay Head by the rising cloud of black smoke appearing over the tree line. I'm sure kids today ( like me ) hear the horns of today's GP40's at these same grade crossings but alas....no black smoke wafting into the sky !....too bad cuz that was really cool 55 years ago !!

[ApproachMedium]

Railroads used to have a lot more cars back then too, and locos could pull more cars. Today we are lucky if we can get 16 cars to run off the HEP from one locomotive, let alone that one loco be able to pull them! Plus the railroads want more people in less cars. A commuter car today seats over 100 passengers. How many did an old P70 seat? Also in photos you dont see the standing passengers flooding thru the vestibules on trains like you do today. Anyone see what the clockers looked like when NJT was running them with all single level cars?? Probably never looked like that in the PRR days!

[Hawaiitiki]

This video is a great find. But I think we're all looking at the past through rose colored glasses. People were getting killed left and right in the early-mid 1900's wandering on to the tracks due to lack of safety features and lack of public awareness of the dangers. Also, these trains often had extremely uncomfortable seats and absolutely no air condition. Yes, these steam locomotives had horsepower that rivaled the most powerful modern-day electrics but the impossibly expensive maintenance, and soot & smoke that came along still make steam locomotion an incredibly unattractive option. Also, the ride on these sorts of lines would make a current NJT commuter vomit. Yes many of our small towns and branch lines have lost service in the past 75 years, but I'll take welded rail, air-conditioning, relatively comfortable seats, and crossing gates any day.

[CNJSouDivFan]

Would have loved to see a doodlebug come through the junction at Sea Girt. Would have also loved to sit in SG tower for a hour just to watch the parade come through.

[GSC]

As posted above, I remember the Shark Draw's signals and smashboards. The dwarf signal between the tracks.

My Dad was a fan of the Doodlebug and we watched her come and go through Sea Girt Jct. The south/west end of #4666 sounded like it had water in the horn, it had as unigue gurgle. The north/east end's single horn sounded normal, higher pitched than CNJ's low-note single horns.

You could tell whose train it was by the horns. All CNJ loco had that low horn, PRR locos had 5-chimers, the Doodlebug's horn was unique, and PRR RS11 freight locos had a distinct horn of their own.

I miss the old Freehold & Jamesburg between Farmingdale and Sea Girt.

[TOMSTV]

Here is some stuff i've posted on the Pennsy 4666
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v58/T ... b5626b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v58/T ... de0c5c.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v58/T ... f79e93.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txiwSDx3v_0

[ApproachMedium]

Thanks for sharing the video!