Raritan River RR / Milltown news

[bigblue5277]

Maybe they dropped the cars by. If there is a downgrade Westbound at any of the switches, it would be easy to do.

This might well explain my Dec 17th posting, "They actually left a single covered hopper just off the Sayreville Runner on the siding used to serve Mauser". They didn't have a splat car that day so I'm thinking they extracted an empty hopper from Mauser and employed this tactic. But perhaps for some reason that hopper wouldn't role when they released the brakes and they had to leave it for the next train.

[charlie6017]

It's a shame CR shared assets looks at local customers as a liability. It'd be great if CR shared assets sold off it's local service yards to short lines. Maybe they could entice more rail customers at highview. There has to be close to a dozen warehouse/factory buildings in Highview with sidings that haven't seen use since the RRRR.

I have to agree. Typical Class One railroad type behavior from the NS and CSX higher-ups. They really should
re-think that since Shared Assets relies on these customers to make the "bottom-line" look better.

I wish CSAO would just die-off and let the short-line professionals just have at it.

Charlie

[bigblue5277]

With 2 customers west of the draw - some of us are speculating that Conrail is just waiting for the bridge to fail an inspection so they can stop serving Silverline and Mauser - and cut off the Sayreville Runner before the river.

I spoke with someone from Conrail who inspects the bridges on the Sayreville Runner. Seemed like a real nice guy. Said the swing bridge is in good condition, timbers are in great shape and new miter rails were recently installed. Said the only thing that's gonna stop the trains are the businesses closing up. I imagine that accounts for some of the problem but not all.

There are a lot of businesses in Highview Business Park, lots of trucks going in and out and the railroad and sidings are right there. The railroad also goes right past DuPont in Parlin. I agree that a small railroading operation would work harder to accommodate these easy to access businesses.

[bigblue5277]

Last Friday SA2 to Mauser and then to Ashland Hercules Chemical Co.

Train running westbound toward Jernee Mill Rd. with 5 hoppers for Mauser.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 451&nseq=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Train working Mauser in the Highview Industrial Park.
http://www.trainphotos.com/PhotoDetails ... otoID=9020" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 448&nseq=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 839&nseq=6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bigblue5277]

A railroad tie replacement project is getting into swing. A huge pile of ties was placed along the Sayreville Running Track today just east of Jernee Mill Rd. A big pile of ties was also placed along the Gillespie Branch next to the old Keebler factory.

[bigblue5277]

If this pile was placed alongside the Southern Secondary the boards would be lighting up.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3783145" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bigblue5277]

Major railroad tie replacement project to begin next month on many of the secondary lines out of Brown Yard.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 388&nseq=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Large piles have been dropped at:
Browns Yard
Sayreville Runner
Gillespie Branch
Amboy Secondary

Don't know if it will include the Southern, Freehold, Dayton and Hightstown lines.

[TAMR213]

Awesome stuff Jason!

Its great to hear about and see improvements being made on these lines (especially the former RRRR), hopefully its the start of a continued investment and interest on the part of NS and CSX on the entire Browns Yard "Division".

[luminous53]

Thank you Jason for your awesome work and postings! Spring is off to a great start.

[bigblue5277]

It was an especially busy week on the former RRRR.
5 trains ran west across the South River Drawbridge this week. Three trains to Mauser (T, W & F) and two to deposit rail ties near the South River Bridge (T) and the Milltown Station (Th).

Wednesday runs are becoming fairly common.
Here's the train at Highview about to pick up from Mauser...
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3786365" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
...and on the shove back to Browns with a single hopper
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3786367" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bigblue5277]

Luminous, Spring is indeed off to a great start. Cold, but great.
It's a rare treat catching a train west of Ryder's Lane
These were taken last Thursday in Milltown.

A huge pile of ties had just been unloaded off the train near the Milltown Station
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3791563" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another thing out of the ordinary was the train shoving back to Browns w/o a splat car.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3791576" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jDubz411]

Would anyone know a schedule for when the track work will happen?

I live and work in the Milltown area and thought it would be great to get some pictures.

They have deposited piles of ties all the way to the end of line on the Silver Line Windows property. That's where I first noticed them. I will have to check with our facilities manager and/or security to see if they have any information on it.

[bigblue5277]

Do you work for Silverline? if you get any info please post.
I work in the area too and would love to get a heads up on when the train is going to Silverline.

Would anyone know a schedule for when the track work will happen?

I live and work in the Milltown area and thought it would be great to get some pictures.

They have deposited piles of ties all the way to the end of line on the Silver Line Windows property. That's where I first noticed them. I will have to check with our facilities manager and/or security to see if they have any information on it.

[jDubz411]

Do you work for Silverline? if you get any info please post.
I work in the area too and would love to get a heads up on when the train is going to Silverline.

Would anyone know a schedule for when the track work will happen?

I live and work in the Milltown area and thought it would be great to get some pictures.

They have deposited piles of ties all the way to the end of line on the Silver Line Windows property. That's where I first noticed them. I will have to check with our facilities manager and/or security to see if they have any information on it.

Yes, I have worked for Silver Line for the past few years now. I will ask those individuals the next time I see them in the building.

Does anyone know how tracks rights work when a line goes into a facility? Just curious if they will replace bad ties that go into the factory or if that's a companies responsibility.

Honestly, I am surprised to see the track work being done. Silver Line used to have lot more deliveries when I first started, but with the housing downturn, they turned to trucking to deliver the majority of the vinyl powder as a way to reduce operating costs. There is only one covered hopper car that gets delivered which is an alternative color. The car currently there has been for a few months now. It was neat to find out someone took a pic of it a while back.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rspict ... ?id=699453

Also, with the line getting cut off when they reconstructed the route 1 overpass, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before they would cut back all the way to Ryders Lane.

[CJPat]

Typically, the property owner is responsible for the track on his property. I believe the property owner can hire the railroad for necessary maintenance or subcontract it to a qualified railfroad construction type comapny.

I am not so sure how it works when the property line is a bit distant from the switch. Probably the responsibility of whoever owns the Right of Way that the siding runs across until it gets to the property line.