What happened to the stack trains Susquehanna used to run?

I was always amazed how the NYS&W's shabby pre-WW2 100 lb. stick track never cracked under the stress of six axle locos and superstackers.

I was always amazed how the NYS&W's shabby pre-WW2 100 lb. stick track never cracked under the stress of six axle locos and superstackers.

When the trains started in the fall of 1986, it seemed they spent more time on the ground than on the rails. There were two pretty impressive wrecks: One right adjacent ot Matthew Chemicals in Riverdale, which the railroad must have thanked the rail gods that the cars tipped to the left and landed on grass rather than the right where they would have landed on a couple chemical tanks cars.

The other was a few weeks later when an eastbound stack train flew off the rails on the curve under the steel highway bridge in Franklin. Several cars caught on fire, and the damaged bridge was closed for several weeks. After that one the FRA slapped a 10 mph restriction on the whole line.

I remember vividly the first stack train I saw on the NYS&W. It was in Butler in October of '86, and the eastbound I saw was the first or second eastbound to use that route. It was just about dusk, and this train roared down the grade at 40 mph. The people around the tracks in Butler were flabbergasted. The entire town shook and rocked. [/quote]

Idiot Railfan wrote:

I was always amazed how the NYS&W's shabby pre-WW2 100 lb. stick track never cracked under the stress of six axle locos and superstackers.

I remember vividly the first stack train I saw on the NYS&W. It was in Butler in October of '86, and the eastbound I saw was the first or second eastbound to use that route. It was just about dusk, and this train roared down the grade at 40 mph. The people around the tracks in Butler were flabbergasted. The entire town shook and rocked.

[/quote]

Maybe some of the locals thought the Ramapo fault was re-activating, heh ?

The CMO once said to me back in 1987 about the stack trains..."We are only here to keep Conrail honest."

Idiot Railfan wrote:

I was always amazed how the NYS&W's shabby pre-WW2 100 lb. stick track never cracked under the stress of six axle locos and superstackers.

When the trains started in the fall of 1986, it seemed they spent more time on the ground than on the rails. There were two pretty impressive wrecks: One right adjacent ot Matthew Chemicals in Riverdale, which the railroad must have thanked the rail gods that the cars tipped to the left and landed on grass rather than the right where they would have landed on a couple chemical tanks cars.

The other was a few weeks later when an eastbound stack train flew off the rails on the curve under the steel highway bridge in Franklin. Several cars caught on fire, and the damaged bridge was closed for several weeks. After that one the FRA slapped a 10 mph restriction on the whole line.

I remember vividly the first stack train I saw on the NYS&W. It was in Butler in October of '86, and the eastbound I saw was the first or second eastbound to use that route. It was just about dusk, and this train roared down the grade at 40 mph. The people around the tracks in Butler were flabbergasted. The entire town shook and rocked.

[/quot

I saw a good many of the early stack trains on the NYS&W and saw the
one in question that derailed east of Butler. He wasn't going anywhere
near 40 MPH when he derailed, more like 10 MPH. Had he been going 40,
you would have seen a real mess instead of some derailed cars.
As for the Franklin derailment, I went to the scene a day or so later and I
saw Walter Rich there, he was nearly in tears.
I give Walter Rich full credit for saving the NYS&W in the early 1980's, if he had not come into the picture, chances are that there would be nothing
more than an old roadbed with weeds today over the entire route.
They had extremely limited resources at their start and made do as best
they could.
I rode the line a couple of times and the trains that I rode never ever even came close to 40 MPH. Even road a fantrip and that did not approach 40 MPH either.
Noel Weaver

I met Walter Rich a long time ago when he came to see a derailment at Passaic Junction that ripped up some track (in the exchange area w/CR).
Very conversative and professional yet down to earth. Not like you typical corporate big wigs.

Noel Weaver wrote:
I give Walter Rich full credit for saving the NYS&W in the early 1980's, if he had not come into the picture, chances are that there would be nothing
more than an old roadbed with weeds today over the entire route.
They had extremely limited resources at their start and made do as best
they could.
Noel Weaver

Yup.

Walter developed a plan that seemed like it was from Mars, but it worked. A guy most of whose experience was running a tourist railroad taking over a 60 mile line in NJ. Working with employees who were badly hurt, had taken pay cuts, and were very unhappy. That's not easy, but it worked.

Rep. Bob Roe (D-NJ) and State Sen Warren Anderson (D-Bingo?) lined up funds for NYSW at key points, but most people figured Walter would be looking for a job in six months...

Does the Susquehanna still enter Maybrook Yard ?