Nostalgia & History > Then and Now along the NJCL

I've been scanning my slides of the North Jersey Coast Line in the area of Matawan to Red Bank recently.  Today after work (I work nights)  I headed over to a few of the stations to attempt to duplicate the slides from the 70's and 80's.  It goes without saying there have been changes, most notably the electrification of the line done back in the late 1980's.  

First stop was Hazlet.  Once a small flag stop with barely a shelter for a station, now a busy commuter stop with high-level platforms.

1.   Train 5310 was the last train that routinely got E-units in NJT's earlier days.  March 1987.

2.  Former CNJ GP40P prior to their rebuilding.  Like the energizer bunny, they keep on going and going and going. Also 1987.  Note the first sign of the cat poles.

3.   From this morning.  The road running along the tracks on both sides was narrowed with the installation of the high-level platforms.

---

---

---

A few miles south or railroad west is the town of Middletown.  Between the Middletown station and Red Bank is a fairly long tangent and most trains make really good time along here.  

1.  Oak Hill Road crossing on a slightly less than balmy day.  1987

2.  Same spot today.

3.  Turning around looking south toward Red Bank.  1986.

---

---

---

Same spot as the image above today.

Just before reaching the town of Red Bank the railroad crosses the Navesink River.  The West Front Street Bridge makes for a perfect vantage point that is in good light most of the day.

1.  Drab black Penn Central E's roll south over the span as a briskly moving boat zips by.  November 1975.

2.  Now former PC E's bring another train south.  Rehabbing this bridge was an early priority by the fledgling NJT.  October 1979.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/20 13:25 by thebluecomet.

---

---

---

A few more from the bridge,  February 1987 and today.  

---

---

A Sunday afternoon CNJ train departing Red Bank station on November 9, 1975. Train was a mix of former Great Northern and Sante Fe cars.  The State of NJ picked up a bunch of former long distance cars from various railroads after Amtrak began.  Some came from the Sante Fe, Missouri Pacific, KCS and unfortunately for the rush hour crowds the cars were not modified for commuter service.  The seats were well worn and the lounges remained.  While nice, it made for major headaches when you got to Newark Penn Station.  The "Jersey Builder" cars came later and were modified with high desity seating and were well received.
 

---

---

I tried to get as close to the same angle today.  While some things have remained, including those high-voltage towers, many other things have been changed.  Bank tower just barely visible in the 1975 photo is long gone.  The station is still there, but high-level platforms have altered things a bit.  Many of the brick buildings visible on the left remain and are now various galleries and antique shops.  

---

---

Thanks Blue Comet.  Always like then and now comparison shots.

Excellent comparison set.
Bob

Very nice images of our home state. Nice work B/C.

Thanks for a very interesting series!

Larry

Definitely liked then far better.
Thanks for the excellent post.
ALLEN

Great series!  Are you going to feature Oceanport and the race track siding?

Hopefully at some point in the future.  I never got over to the Monmouth Park siding while the trains were running, so nothing on the track siding from me personally.  

Thanks for the great look back!  About that tangent around Middletown, back about 20 years ago I was looking through the windor in the door of the cab where the engineer sits.  I could see his speedometer get to around 87 or 88 MPH in that stretch.  He was really moving!

I didn't realize the Jersey Builder cars came after a first batch of long distance cars displaced by Amtrak's creation.  What railroads did the Jersey Builder cars come from?  Or where they just cars from that first batch overhauled and updated for commuter service?

To the best of my knowledge, they were just former Great Northern cars.  Some were the older orange and brown, some in Big Sky Blue and a few in BN green.  A few had the lettering painted over, but many at the beginning still retained their orginal markings.

This site has a very good list of Great Northern etc cars which went to New Jersey commuter operations.  Pictures of some exteriors and interiors

http://passcarphotos.rypn.org/Indices/CNJ.htm#GN1221

If I'm not mistaken, some of those ex- LD coaches actually went back to Amtrak when demand sky rocketed.