CMSL Visit on August 16th: Tuckahoe track,tower,Woodbine...

[JJMDiMunno]

Hey everyone,
Today saw me head down the shore, to Cape May, Cape May Courthouse, Tuckahoe, and places in-between for a little bit of railfanning (after finishing some non-railroad related business in Wildwood). So here's the CMSL report of the day:

CMSL operating RDC M407 today, between Cape May Courthouse and Cape May City as usual. The M407 was having some trouble today, releasing some heavy exaust at times, it was going to be examined and tested after the day was through. Also, train 406 was rescheduled to a 4:00PM departure north from Cape May City, and annulled between Cold Spring and Cape May Courthouse, due to a lack of passengers. This is not a daily occurance, most likely happened today due to the poor weather.

The day started out crappy, with some heavy rain at the shore, but luckily by the time I finished in Wildwood, the rain began to die down a bit, and I chose to stay in the county and shoot CMSL (again). Met up with Tony Macrie today, as he flagged the OOS crossing at Route 47, and found out a few things. First of all, weed sprayers (good thing) supposed to show up some time soon, they were actually supposed to show up weeks ago, but never came. Second, the storage track at Tuckahoe is now a little bit more complete...it can be seen here, in this pair of views from the 16th:

http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... orage1.jpg
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... orage2.jpg

Third, work on the Tuckahoe tower is progressing nicely. Work is approx. half complete on the exterior at this time, the tower can be seen in the following views:

http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... r_East.jpg
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... r_West.jpg
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... r_Door.jpg
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... Stairs.jpg

Fourth, work is to begin on grading the Woodbine industry sidings in between 2 weeks and a month. This is not definite, it's pending completion of a mountain-high stack of paperwork, and the approval of some lawyers (that in itself could cause delays, and probably will), but plans are to begin freight service by January, 2005. This information considered accurate, as of August 16th, 2004.

And now, I present the South Jersey Photo of the Day, which shows ex-PRSL RDC M407 heading north away from the camera, leaving Cape May City as train 304 under some finally sunny skies, bound for Cape May Courthouse:

http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/M407_CapeMay.jpg

And that's all for today folks, take care.

Mike DiMunno
www.SJRail.com: All about South Jersey Railroads!

[glennk419]

Thanks for the report, Mike. The first level door on the tower and the track extension are new since I was there in July.

BTW, the Rt 47 crossing was also out of service in July. Is that simply because of all the equipment being stored too close to the crossing or is there some other reason? It can't be because Tony wants the exercise.

[JJMDiMunno]

Thanks for the report, Mike. The first level door on the tower and the track extension are new since I was there in July.

BTW, the Rt 47 crossing was also out of service in July. Is that simply because of all the equipment being stored too close to the crossing or is there some other reason? It can't be because Tony wants the exercise.

No, it's due to problems with motorists hitting the crossing protection...people trying to play "beat the train" too often, it's been hit some 16 times I think in the past month...

Mike DiMunno

[mgdemarco2]

Mike, as always thanks for the awesome report. Lets hope the CMSL doesn't run into the same kind of NIMBY trouble that is bothering the SRNJ with its siding construction in Egg Harbor.

[glennk419]

I had planned and attempted to ride the CMSL last Thursday, September 2 and was very dissappointed to find out that daily operations had ceased on August 27. Apparently I wasn't the only one who missed the date on the website or timetable, there were 6 other folks waiting there at CMCH for the 10:00 train. I did notice that they've taken the opportunity to replace a couple of the crossings in CMCH while service is suspended to the 4H Station.

My daughter and I ended up paying a nice visit to the Zoo instead, next time I guess I'll look a little closer.

BTW, I also visited Tuckahoe and the tower is coming along nicely with the siding on the east side all but completed.

[JJMDiMunno]

I had planned and attempted to ride the CMSL last Thursday, September 2 and was very dissappointed to find out that daily operations had ceased on August 27. Apparently I wasn't the only one who missed the date on the website or timetable, there were 6 other folks waiting there at CMCH for the 10:00 train. I did notice that they've taken the opportunity to replace a couple of the crossings in CMCH while service is suspended to the 4H Station.

Well, those crossings were replaced a few years ago as part of that giant crossing replacement deal, when they replaced most of them. A majority of them are those concrete crossings now...

Mike DiMunno

[glennk419]

Thanks Mike, I know the crossing protection is only a few years old, didn't realize the concrete pads were that old as they looked like they had been recently installed, guess I never noticed them before.