Reviving passenger service between West Trenton & Bound Brook

[Guest]

ultra old equipment

That's what they ran until the Comet IIs were purchased. And 1982 is not that long ago.

[sullivan1985]

So im guessing that the CI's never left the Northern Division (Hoboken Division) for quite some time huh?

[Guest]

[Going off on a tangent here...] The Comet Is and U-boats were purchased with the money that was supposed to go to the Kearny Connection and M&E re-electrification in the late 1960's, and were used on the Hoboken Division. NJDOT/NJT showed a lack of creative thinking, running old, non-air-conditioned MUs on the weekends, because that's what they always did, while the air-conditioned Comets sat idle in Hoboken. It was the Lackawanna Coalition that suggested running Comets on the weekend, so that the passengers could get better equipment, while enabling the catenary to be shut down for re-electrification work. [But this has nothing to do with the West Trenton Line.]

[Jtgshu]

Im glad to see that stupid and assinine decisions and lack of common sense is not a new epidemic to NJT and NJ in general.........

[EDM5970]

I just posted some of my West Trenton thoughts over on the P-burg thread; I see the two lines as very closely related.

The air conditioned EL cars sitting over the weekend has a parallel on the old CNJ. The KCS cars (built in 1965?) were only used during rush hours, because they had to spend all day in Harrison (and I guess all night in Raritan or P'burg) on battery chargers to keep the lights on and the air conditioning running. I always felt that running the nicer equipment during the day, and saving the old stuff for rush hour, would have been much better equipmet utilization, and may have attracted more mid-day riders.

[WestTrentonFan]

I have always been fascinated with PAX service on the Bound Brook to West Trenton stretch. Does anyone have any photos of PAX equiptment on this stretch? Can anyone detail exactly what type of equiptment was used?

THanks

[Lackawanna484]

The Reading Company / Conrail service was Budd cars in their last days, generally 2 RDC-1 units, as I recall. Very high seniority crews, too. Definitely a graybeard run.

When NJ took over the run, it was a standard short Raritan Line consist, three cars and a diesel. I don't recall the number series,

[EDM5970]

RDG also used homemade push-pulls, five round roof coaches with an FP-7 at each end. But in the very end, RDG used RDCs; I rode it once in 1981.

[WestTrentonFan]

Does anyone have or know of any photos of PAX equiptment in operation between West Trenton and Bound Brook?

[Guest]

Does anyone have or know of any photos of PAX equiptment in operation between West Trenton and Bound Brook?

Try to find a copy of the book Iron Horses Across the Garden State, published by Railpace:

Main Title: Iron horses across the Garden State : New York to Philadelphia by rail / by Joel Rosenbaum and Tom Gallo.
Published/Created: Piscataway, NJ (P.O. Box 927, Piscataway 08854) : Railpace Co., c1985.
Description: 80 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 78.
Subjects: Railroads--New Jersey.

[F23A4]

Definitely a graybeard run.

Graybeard run!!

[JLo]

Here is the latest on West Trenton. The estimated cost is $195 million--essentially to add another track and build the flyover to connect to the ex-CNJ in Bridgewater, as NJT thinks it only needs a million for station property acquisition.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/
index.ssf?/base/news-3/110196909216410.xml

[GandyDancer]

I hope I'm not begging trouble here, but there seems to be almost no NIMBY noise on this one, at least not yet. Wonder why that is? Do the folks there just get it? Is 206 so impossibly bad that any relief is welcome?

Why does this project seem destined (budget permitting) to sail along while MOM remains mired in the political muck?

[Guest]

I hope I'm not begging trouble here, but there seems to be almost no NIMBY noise on this one, at least not yet. Wonder why that is? Do the folks there just get it? Is 206 so impossibly bad that any relief is welcome?

There are a few reasons. There's not a lot of anything in the area. A fair amount of the railroad is grade-separated. It also has heavy freight traffic already, so people are used to the trains.

Mention "mile-long trash trains" and the NIMBYs appear pretty quickly.

[JLo]

The NIMBYs have been focused more on the proposed Rt 206 Hillsborough by-pass. And Bob S points out correctly that this line has few grade crossings and is well-buffered from development (right now, anyway).