Had to jet down to New Jersey again for work Wednesday & Thursday. I did manage to get out once Thursday morning on the way in to shoot some trains. Hoping for some NS action, I headed for the Manville/Bound Brook area. Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned, but they did end up turning out OK in the end. Not a bad 45 minutes or so trackside. But that was the morning – in the afternoon, I had a couple moments to swing by the Morristown & Erie shops in Morristown. Hey, the airport is only 10 minutes from the M&E shops, so why not?
After breakfast on Thursday, I checked out of the hotel, and set my sights on Manville. Maybe I could catch a couple eastbound NS trains on the Lehigh Line before heading to the office.
About 10 minutes later, I pulled in behind the VFW, and checked things out. Looking west, I saw nothing. Looking east I saw red signals at CP-BOUND BROOK, but there was something else there. A headlight! So I headed back to the car, grabbed my gear, and waited.
Well, I was watching the headlights (looked like a CSX widecab) pull into CP-BOUND BROOK, then veer off to the south. Damn, they weren’t coming this way! Oh, well. With nothing else on the scanner, and no headlights to the west, I figured I’d cut my losses and hit the Bound Brook NJ Transit station, and at least get a couple NYC bound NJTs.
As I got there, I noticed two things – first the NJT signals were green for the eastbound express, but also I saw headlights to the west on the Lehigh Line!
A couple moments later, the express came blasting through the station, and I got a shot as they passed by some signals a little further down.
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As this was happening, the headlights on the Lehigh Line were growing brighter, but also it looked like there was a second set of lights behind the approaching freight. Cool, two freights!
A couple minutes later, a NS freight pulled through the interlocking
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And past me
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Nice! Well, that made the morning worthwhile.
A little bit after that, a NJT local stopped at the station and picked up passengers. I got a hauntingly familiar shot of them leaving the station. (yeah, it’s kinda repetitive, but what the hell…)
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All the while, the other NS freight was slowly coming closer to Bound Brook. But then two things happened – first, sunlight began peeking out from behind the cloud cover, which was a nice surprise. But also, the signals on the far track went from all red, to yellow over red. Hmmm, something else coming westbound?
A few minutes later, the second NS eastbound came through BOUND BROOK, luckily with some of the dodgy sunlight.
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And pulled towards me
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A quick look at the clock told me I had about 10 minutes left before I had to head to the office. So I hung out, and caught one more eastbound NJT
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But nothing came across on the far track on the freight side of things. Oh, well, the job calls.
Fast forward to a little after 4pm. I didn’t have to be at the airport until 5:15 to check in for my flight home, so I figured a visit to the Morristown & Erie shops in downtown Morristown would be in order. Hey, the shops are only about 10 minutes from the airport, so it was worth a shot. Hopefully there won’t be any traffic…
I pulled in behind Staples and parked just as it started to rain ever so slightly. But what was in front of the shops caught my attention – no not some of the usual Alcos, but rather a little Plymouth switcher. The first shot of this little critter I got also included a M&E worker lighting up a torch in the background.
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Then I got a couple shots of the two Alcos sitting outside the shops
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And a wide shot of the entire shop area
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And one final shot of the Plymouth switcher, this time a little more to the side.
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Looking at the watch, it was time to go. Well, that and it was starting to rain in more earnest. So I packed the gear away, and headed to the airport. Well, there was traffic, but I got there with all of 2 minutes to spare…
Thanks for looking!
Tom
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