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From: "Paul R DOT Tupaczewski" paultup AT comcast DOT net
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2013 14:13:26 -0500
Subject: My cabride on H02....
"H02_cabride_006_Denville_NJ-1999-PRT.jpg" - image/jpeg, 1833x1180 (24bit)

Hi folks,

I've been meaning to scan these for quite some time now, and have finally
gotten around to doing so. (It's only been, oh, 13+ years!)

I was given a call with a day's notice back in late 1999 by Bob Bahrs, then
a conductor on NS (and a lister here:) to see if I wanted to join the crew
of H-02, the Dover, NJ-based NS local, to see what remained of the Erie
Lackawanna. A quick call to my boss ("I'm taking tomorrow as a vacation
day!") and it was all set. Train H-02 is the combined remnant of the
original EL Dover Drill, Boonton Drill, Silver Lake Haul, and Totowa
Roustabout (all of which will be on my layout). Bob noted that I was
fortunate this day, as they'd be working not only the Boonton Line, but the
Totowa Industrial Spur and the Orange Branch. Of course, the day dawned
rather dreary (no sun unfortunately), but this was a benefit for photography
as I wouldn't have to worry about where the sun and shadows were! :) My
goal was to shoot as much of what was left from my 1975 modeling era (and
even in 1999 it was still surpringly quite a bit) - it was even more
important as NJT was just starting to electrify the Boonton Line between
Great Notch and Montclair, and while trains were still using the east end of
the Boonton Line, that wasn't going to last for much longer. In essence, it
was a race against time.

We started out of Dover at 8 AM, grabbed our pair of GP38-2s and our cars,
and proceeded east quickly. I was prepared for a long day, and it certainly
was (we returned around 7 PM). It was pretty cool to actually see a crew at
work - while quite a bit different from EL days (2 man crew, no caboose, two
units), the flavor of the work being done was all there. I'll refer to the
photos by the 3-digit number in the filename. This first batch is images
001-010 (I'll send these in batches of 10). I've also included EL photos for
reference.


And off we go....

001: The units are stored at the east end of the yard, so we started off
there and headed the 1000 feet to East Dover to pick up our cars. The units
were rearranged in a "push-pull" fashion - one unit on each end of the
train. This was to facilitate easier switching, regardless of which
direction the switch points faced (facing or trailing). We shoved the
entire train back west until we cleared the interlocking at the station,
which is what you see in the photo. The NJT dispatcher finally gave us our
route and we have our signal. We took the second switch in the photo onto
track 2 to head east to do our work. Compare this view to the DL&W 2555
shot. The MUs are standing at roughly the same location as where the photo
was taken (though we were on the wall track at the right; a platform
replaced the track the MUs were on)

002: Now we're rolling along eastbound on Track 2. The closest EL
comparison of this view is the "Yard" shot I've attached, but it's taken a
bit to the right of the main - still looking the same direction, however.
On the layout, one thing I'm planning on doing is putting a view block
across the tracks, perpendicular to the main, to be framed by the large
catenary gantry seen immediately in front of the train. The backside of this
view block will be the South Salem St. overpass, seen in the distance. This
effectively removes the yard seen at the right - this is good, since a) that
would take up more room than I have, and b) I don't have enough MU cars to
fill such a yard! The track leading to the yard will discreetly dive down
to a staging yard for the diesel commuter trains that terminate here.

003: We've just passed under the aforementioned South Salem St. overpass and
are now leaning into the curve. The two tracks on the right are the western
extent of East Dover "Yard" (such as it is). The cars sitting there are for
the days H-02 works the Morristown Line side.

004: Further east, and you can see the two East Dover yard tracks at the
right. The large yellow building is Jan Packaging. They were an EL customer,
and would often load flat cars with large stuff. That's their speciality -
loading and transport of large/unwieldy suff. That's their siding diverging
off the far yard track.

005: Climbing up the slight grade to Denville, I turned around to see our
fairly substantial train (you can see the GP38-2 at the rear of the train)

006: Approaching Denville Interlocking. The dispatcher is switching us over
to track 1 so we can swing onto the Boonton Line (the distant track heading
straight). The track arrangement here is pretty much identical to EL in
1975. In EL days, the dispatcher would try to cross freights over at Dover
so they wouldn't have to traverse this time-consuming crossover.

007: We're now diverging onto the Boonton Line. The M&E curves to the right.
The station is sadly long gone at the right, but the tower is still there,
being used by MOW forces as a mini-office. Compare this view to the C309
shot attached, about the same location.

008: About a half-mile beyond the station, we stop to switch a customer new
to Conrail (this post-dates the EL by about a decade). At that time, they
were Georgia-Pacific, a lumber distribution point for them. About 10 years
ago they were renamed "BlueLinx" - I think G-P spun off its distribution
arm? Either way, this shot shows us setting out a pretty substantial string
of lumber boxcars while our trailing GP38-2 and a car wait on the main. The
"3355" shot shows this same location, looking in the same direction.

009: We're now pulling out of the facility after having dropped off those
boxcars.

010: Train reassembled, we're rolling east again, about to cross over State
Route 46 on this impressive 4-track span (only one track remains, sadly).
From the highway, you can see the art-deco-esque concrete piers that were
used on this structure. This is just entering Mountain Lakes; the red
structure at the left is Dixon Bros. Coal and Oil, which has been at this
location forever. Bob pointed out to me that we're right on top of the
switch for the Fox Hill Industrial Park, a pretty good set of industries
during the EL years.

OK, you can digest this for a while before I send out the next batch.
Questions and comments are welcome!

- Paul



H02_cabride_006_Denville_NJ-1999-PRT.jpg

Image EXIF Data:
Image Capture Date   2013:01:18 09:34:07
Image Digitized Date   2013:01:18 09:34:07
Sub-Second Creation Time   83
Sub-Second Digitized Time   83


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