After I finished up at work on Wednesday, which was a little later than usual, I decided to head to Bound Brook station again, as I did earlier in the day. The main reason was that it was raining, and the station there affords some shelter from the weather, while still giving nice views of the Conrail Lehigh Line – that and it’s close by. I didn’t want to venture too far from the area – I was meeting up with Steve Barry of Railfan & Railroad magazine later in the evening for an evening of conversation over couple beers & a cigar. So it was off to Bound Brook in the rain.
After parking the car & feeding the parking meter, I made my way towards the station. But I was hearing the unmistakable whine of a turbocharger – maybe something was sitting at the interlocking. That would be a good start.
When I got over to the far platform, I was greeted by Conrail local MA-1 sitting alongside the station at a red signal.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113738] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113737]But what was interesting was the signal on the adjacent track – it was showing an Approach Medium indication.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113736]OK, something was going to overtake MA-1
Not long after that, the Conrail Middlesex detector a few miles to the east tripped, with CSX train Q301 heading this way. Minutes later, they appeared in the distance
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113735] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113734]And as they rolled past, I took advantage of one of the empty centerbeam cars to get a different shot of MA-1
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113733]And one of Q301’s markers passing the local
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113732]Then heading through the interlocking
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113731]Next, Conrail local MA-2 came up the Port Reading Secondary, heading for Manville yard
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113730]Then with them in the yard, MA-1 got their signal to head west into Manville yard
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113729] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113728] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113727]Not much after that, with the tail end of MA-1 still visible, I heard “hot rail eastbound” on the radio. OK, guess we’ve got one more in the picture! And out from behind MA-1’s marker was NS train 32A
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113726] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113725]Not too bad of an evening. With time running out, I started back to the car. But just then a NJ Transit westbound run was approaching. What they hell, one more shot before I head out…
[cpg_imagefixthumb:113724]And that was it for Bound Brook. Next stop was the hotel for a minute, then up to Whippany to meet Steve at JR Cigars.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
