URHS Vintage Equipment Movement - Whippany to Boonton 4/30/17
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- Опубліковано 31 січ 2025
- On the morning of the last day of April, Morristown & Erie and Norfolk Southern crews would go on duty and collaborate in order to transport some vintage equipment owned by the URHS in Whippany to their facility in Boonton. The equipment in question consisted of Rahway Valley Railroad GE 70 Tonners 16 and 17 and Erie Bucyrus Crane 03125, which were being stored at the Troy Hills Road Transload Facility. Morristown & Erie sent out C-424 18 to retrieve the equipment, while Norfolk Southern GP40-2 3010 set out from Dover to Morristown to pick up the equipment and take it the rest of the way to Boonton. This was a very interesting operation for me to see, even though it was hampered by a few issues along the way. Please enjoy!
Starting out in Whippany, we see the Rahway Valley Railroad GE 70 Tonners, 16 and 17, Erie Bucyrus Crane 03125, and Morristown & Erie RS-1 21 silently sitting on the transload track off of Troy Hills Road as they await the arrival of the Morristown & Erie crew. The crew in question arrived at 7:54 aboard C-424 18 and got to work preparing the equipment for transfer. This process took over an hour, compounded by the fact that the old equipment was having issues with their brakes. Eventually, everything was all set for 18 to pull its train off of the transload track. In addition to the URHS stuff, RS-1 21 was brought along for the ride to Morristown to assist with the braking.
With the train finally on the move, I began my chase by heading over to the nearby Route 10 crossing. The vintage locomotives and crane had to be moved very slowly, limiting the train to about 15MPH for the entirety of the run. This, of course, made getting ahead of the train very simple. From Route 10, I moved over to South Jefferson Road to get the train again. My next stop was East Frederick Place in Cedar Knolls, although I found myself waiting far longer than expected for the train to appear. I soon learned this was because GE 70 Tonner 16 was causing a number of problems, so it had to be set off at the South Jefferson Road Transload Facility to be picked up at a later date.
Upon reaching Morristown, I chose to set up at Abbett Avenue by the entrance to the M&E headquarters. To my surprise, I found Norfolk Southern GP40-2 3010 shoving Conrail caboose 21303 east past the crossing to pick up the URHS equipment, which 18 had dropped off on the siding by Ridgedale Avenue. 10 minutes later, 3010 crossed Abbett Avenue once again with the Boonton-bound locomotive and crane in tow, minus the Conrail caboose. Only a few minutes afterward, 18 carefully passed by shoving 21303 and pulling 21 into the headquarters.
With the two trains finally in one place, 18 pushed 21303 onto the end of the Norfolk Southern train, running as H0N, to get the train ready for its run over the Morristown Line to Denville and the Boonton Line. While this was being done, I was able to see the rolling stock and locomotives at the facility, including NJT Comet V Cab Car 6022, SW1500 20, and ex-Norfolk Southern MP15DC 2354. With its part of the job done, 18 moved into the headquarters with 21 and tied down while H0N ran up the hill to pull onto the Morristown Line at Baker Interlocking.
H0N was limited to 10-15MPH while pulling the URHS equipment over NJ Transit trackage, so I took the opportunity to get ahead of the train and wait for it at the Mount Tabor station. It took awhile for it to get to my location, and it also had to stop briefly while Train 6920 pulled in and made its stop at the small station, running 5 minutes late. Multilevel Cab Car 7050 was on the point of this train, and ALP-46A 4644 was at the end. Once 6920 departed, H0N was able to pass through. To finish up my chase of this unique train, I made a stop at the Denville station to see it shove onto the Boonton Line. It came to a stop for a couple of minutes in the station, but soon continued on its way towards Boonton. And with that, I decided that it was time to call it a day and return home.
Love the Rahway Valley equipment
Me too. It's now safely preserved at the URHS Boonton Yard.
Ya just gotta love all that old RR equipment. Nice video. Thanks for posting.
Yes, love those 70 tonners. And the end locomotive is an Alco RS1, unless I'm much mistaken
When the "Caboose" is a vintage piece these days...
Nice videography. Love the sound of the 424...
In the beginning that yard looks nice! I didn't know they stored stuff in it now. I remember riding by when it was a WIP. Cool move!
They've actually been storing equipment there for well over a year now. The Maine Eastern equipment coming down in late 2015-early 2016 necessitated that equipment from the Museum be moved elsewhere to make room, and those transload tracks happened to be the elsewhere.
GenesisSanctuary Oh wow. I rode Whippany when they had the anniversary and traveled toward Morristown, and the year before that. They were nearly done paving the yard.
man that is some train
i also really like the crane locomotive i really would like to see that in operation in one of your future video's if it's no trouble?
I don't even know if it's operable. If it is, it's not something that I could just go out to see, since it's now in a private yard in Boonton.
what completely caught me off guard is the fact that theres 3 comet 5 cabcars parked amongst older equipment in some sidings.
That’s very surprising!
Very surprised to see NS run anything with Friction Bearing trucks....
Nice work bud!
Thanks, Adam!
GenesisSanctuary Amtrak should've help them out with their equipment move by using there dash8 locomotives
Why would they have done that? Amtrak only operates on the Northeast Corridor in New Jersey, and their Dash 8s very rarely ever come into this state for any reason. They have absolutely nothing to do with any rail operations in Morris County.
Is the Jefferson transload facility a place that isn't used a lot that allows them the option of long term storage of equipment?
Was RS-1 brought to Boonton as well? I can't find it in the Whippany Railway Museum anymore.
No, it wasn't brought to Boonton because it isn't owned by the URHS. It's stored along the Whippany Line somewhere.
I wonder why the Morristown & Erie Railroad gave up running their Alco locomotives correct me if I'm wrong
TexasRailfan21 they have like zero business
Sorry for the late response, but they did away with them strictly because ALCOs are high maintenance and require tons of attention. And, now that ALCOs get scarcer every year, finding replacement parts became a hassle. So the M&E decided it was time to retire them. Nowadays, they run MP15DC's and their SW1500.
North Jersey Railroad Productions That’s not true. They don’t have a need for them as they lack the business.
@@trevordaily253 Tri State Historical Society and the Morristown and Erie exclusively said that it was part of modernization, and the ALCo's were deemed unnecessary because they had their SW1500 and three new MP15DC's for use. The M&E also said that the ALCo's became harder and harder to maintain as they aged because they couldn't find parts as easily for ALCo's as they could EMDs, so when 19 went OOS, then they decided it was time to retire their ALCO fleet. Late last year and early this year, they finalized the removal of their ALCo's by selling off 4204 to the Delaware Lackawanna and their M420W to a rail predation group in Belvidere, NJ.
The M&E's lack of business spawned after they sold off the ALCo's. In 2017, they lost the county branches, and in 2018, they lost the Bayway contract.
North Jersey Railroad Productions Yes because they don’t have the business. Alco parts are still readily available.
RVRR! Is it accessible? I’m wondering how I am able to see them in Boonton?
why does the train stop right in the crossroads with the road?
vad roligt att se tåg från usa.
What's with the signal at the switch? Is it a block signal or does it tell the position of the switch?
Crossing activation indicator
What does ERIE refer to in the name of this RR? I cannot find an Erie, New Jersey. Erie, Pa. does not appear to have ever been a destination on this line. Perhaps in the old days, bad track or lack of locomotive maintenance gave engineers an 'erie' feeling of impending doom. But I think that is spelled 'eerie'. EDIT: After reading Wikipedia, it appears the Erie name may have come from a time when the Erie RR had a junction or connection with the M&E.
The railroad connected to the Erie RR branch in Essex Fells, NJ decades ago, thus the name M & E.
RR names had no indication of their terminus. For example, there was a short line in northern Indiana called the New Jersey, Indiana, & Illinois RR that only ran in Indiana.
It was owned by the Singer Corporation and the company had plants in all three states.
V