Brush cutting report: Central RR of New Jersey – Southern Division

I wanted to give everyone an update on the brush cutting we did on the (ex-CNJ) New Jersey Southern Division this past Saturday.

The day was hot and sticky but went well.  We did not have too many trees down and in fact had more problems getting through the sand than anything else. At one point I thought we may have made a wrong turn and ended up in the Mojave Dessert…lol.

The line runs through mostly pine forest but does go through a few towns.  It was there that we encountered a couple of paved over crossings, which were not a problem at all, we just man handled the cars and got them over.

We made it about 10 miles before encountering a major problem, someone stole about 50 feet of rail.  After trying to work out a way to get across the gap, using trees to act as rails, we decided the effort was not worth it and just turn the cars and ran back.  We were done around 5pm and all went home hot and tired.

I want to thank Dave C., Carolyn, Justin, Steve G. and Ken C. from the VRA and Tony, Paul and Ron from the NJSL for helping and making the day enjoyable.

I also want to thank Tony and Paul for buying the crew lunch.  We have created a great working relationship with the railroad and they have already invited us to run a motorcar trip over the line in the future.

We will be looking at available dates and will announce the trip when everything is finalized.  Our plan is to combine a run over the Cape May line and the Southern division into a full weekend of running.

KC Smith  06/08/2010 8:00 PM