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  • US Navy Earle Railroad

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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

Moderator: David

 #370113  by Shark
 
Has anyone else ever gone for the train ride out to the pier whenever they would have the open house at NWS Earle? The last one that I know of was to take place the weekend after 9/11/01.

 #370534  by PRRTechFan
 
...I don't know that they've had such an extensive "open house" since before 9/11. I DO know that several years ago, they offered a guided tour of a Navy nuclear sub; which normally would never tie up at Earle. But it was Armed Forces Week, or something like that with a lot of large vessels in the New York harbor area, and they either had no other place to berth it, or (...more likely...) wanted it berthed at a facility with some security... There was only a two or three paragraph about it buried in the Asbury Park Press; it was kept very quiet. I worked about 5 miles from the pier, we got there a half-hour early, and they had already admitted more people than they could accomodate. Boy, were we disappointed!

My company was recently doing engineering work at Earle and several of us were issued temporary access passes for the base, which also allowed access to Normandy Road, which parallels the rail line. I had never been on Normandy road before, and I was certainly interested in the railroad.

During our on base travels, we saw a lot of the on-base tracks and the rail yard. Our passes permitted us to use cameras (...a rarity, indeed!) on base, but we kept that strictly to "business". When we go back, I don't think the Navy would object to a shot of a caboose or two if I was to find them!

Like Tom V said, back at that time, the Navy would "neither confirm nor deny" that there were nuclear weapons stored at Earle, but about 10 years ago, quietly said that nuclear weapons "...were no longer stored" there.

The Navy is obsessively paranoid (...and rightfully so!) about every facet of safety on the base, which was very reassuring to an "outsider".

 #370675  by chuchubob
 
PRRTechFan wrote:...I don't know that they've had such an extensive "open house" since before 9/11...
Earle has a regular pattern of holding an extensive open house complete with train ride onto the pier. They did it around 1975 and again in June, 2000, so look for another one in 2025.

runby
on the pier

 #370865  by Spartan Phalanx
 
The only USN ships that deploy regularly with nuclear weapons are the fourteen remaining Ohio-class SSBN's, equipped with the Trident D-5 SLBM, of which 24 are carried, each with a payload of 10 MIRV's, giving each Ohio-class boomer a 240 warhead iron fist. They are based at King's Bay, GA and Bangor, WA. They would'nt put in at NWS Earle to take on their Trident's. They load-up at their homeports, so, no nukes at Earle.

 #370983  by acelaman
 
My ex has worked at NWS Earle for at least the last 15 years. I have been on that pier plenty of times and I did see a submarine there. I cannot recall what class boat it was but it was an older, smaller one. Once while on a drivers training session for my FD ( local dept that is allowed access on Normandy Road) we went to the waterfront firehouse to chat with some friends. While there we went to the old pier firehouse and we observed a periscope in the harbor heading out of the bay. The NWSFD guys said they had "no idea" what sub it was!! yeah right, if they told us they would have kill us! But this happened when there was a USMC group attached to the base to guard the nukes that were there at the time.

 #371116  by snavely
 
I believe submarines call at Earle to load/offload torpedoes.

 #371351  by Tom V
 
Spartan Phalanx wrote:The only USN ships that deploy regularly with nuclear weapons are the fourteen remaining Ohio-class SSBN's, equipped with the Trident D-5 SLBM, .
I think Los Angeles, Seawolf and Virginia class attack subs also carry Nukes, in the form of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

 #371394  by nick11a
 
That's pretty cool. Well, with all of this heavy armements being loaded and unloaded, rails are a good way to do so.

 #371504  by Tom V
 
nick11a wrote:That's pretty cool. Well, with all of this heavy armements being loaded and unloaded, rails are a good way to do so.
It's hard to steal or hijack a train, a truck you could drive anywhere.

 #371550  by JADes718
 
Tom V wrote:
Spartan Phalanx wrote:The only USN ships that deploy regularly with nuclear weapons are the fourteen remaining Ohio-class SSBN's, equipped with the Trident D-5 SLBM, .
I think Los Angeles, Seawolf and Virginia class attack subs also carry Nukes, in the form of Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Due to SALTII treaty no tactical nuclear weapons are in the fleet since 1990. All of the special tomahawks have been taken out of rotation and stored indefinetly.

 #371596  by Jtgshu
 
There was a little write up today on "Life in the towns of Colts Neck and Holmdel" in the Asbury Park Press - and there was a part on Earle with some facts.

IIRC, there is about 80 miles of Railroad on the property
They have 250 boxcars, 50 flatcars and 3 "rail cruisers" (i dunno what that is)
The rail line runs 15 miles between Colts Neck and Leonardo to the piers which are 2.5 miles long.
They moved something like 43,000 tons of ammo last year.

I can't find a link to the little thing that showed the facts. Oh well

 #371749  by Ken W2KB
 
Jtgshu wrote:3 "rail cruisers" (i dunno what that is)
Probably speeders and/or hirails.

 #372028  by snavely
 
Boxcars, flatcars and "rail cruisers" but no locomotives? Sounds like a very energy efficient railroad (:

 #375394  by msernak
 
I actually rode on a fan trip through the base in the early 1980's as a kid. There were several yellow Navy Baldwins, and the passenger cars were ex CNJ heavyweight commuter cars borrowed from NJT. MP escorts followed the train at all times. I saw camaflouged bunkers and they actually backed the train out onto Leonardo pier. There was part of a sunken ship next to the pier that sunk during a storm. My dad took a picture of me sitting on an antiaircraft gun there. That was my first rail excursion.

Mike

 #379063  by Earle Baldwin
 
As evidenced by my screen name, I have always been interested in the NWS Earle Railroad, due primarily to having grown up within earshot of the line in Middletown during the 70's and 80's.

It was a fascinating railroad to watch. On days the road train operated, normal operations dictated it would run out to Leonardo very early in the morning and return to Colts Neck during the late afternoon or early evening. Of course, during the 70's and 80's, Baldwin locomotives were the predominent form of motive power although units of other builders were assigned there from time to time. The busiest period by far which I can recall was during Vietnam with multiple jobs running on some days.

Watching the NWS Earle Railroad provided me with first hand experience regarding the impressive pulling power of Baldwin units. During the 70's, I observed single units pulling very substantial trains. Also during this period, consists could be very colorful with many common carrier fifty foot box cars appearing with regularity. The crews were always very friendly, never passing without giving us an enthusiastic wave.

I, too, participated in the excursions operated in May, 1981. To this day, I consider those the finest rail excursions I have ever had the privilege to ride.

Thanks for starting this thread.

Regards,

Earle :-D
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