Nostalgia & History > SD35 Sunday

The Jersey Central had an even dozen SD35's (2501-2512) that could be found anywhere along the system.  They worked primarily along the mainline until after the 1972 pullout from Pennsylvania, after which they also became common on the sand trains and JS-1/SJ-2 down on the Southern Division.

1.  2502 is the sole unit on train LE-2 sitting on the siding at Annandale.  A high and wide load is head out.  Viewed from the I-78 overpass.  January 5, 1975.

2.  2506 leads the counterpart train EL-1 passing under the I-78 bridge.  The siding is still there and is used by NJT trains to/from High Bridge.  Standing up on the highway today would not be recommended.  I drive over it every night for work, even off hours, it's not much fun.

3. 2503 coupled to a C&O SD40 at the Bethlehem (PA) engine terminal, August 18, 1974.  The CNJ units would come back to haunt the place periodically after 1972 via the B&O/Reading NE-87/NE-84 run through trains.  All of the SD35's remained in their original paint right into Conrail, none got the B&O blue dip or Timpany red.

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Nice shots of a fallen flag that doesn't get get much attention here.  I'd always got the impression that CNJ was about the lowest of all the bankrupt lines that were folded into Conrail, so it was a bit of a surprise when Mike Bednar stated in a recent TRP column that Jersey Central, at least in Pennsylvania, was a well-run operation.  Mike said that the trustee had just made up his mind to pull the railroad out of Pennsylvania.       

Very, very interesting horn placement--1 reverse horn above the engineer, 2 forward above the fireman.  Wow.

These are fantastic. And I like TRP a lot because of "big Mikes" contributions. From what I have learned about the CNJ they had a few things going for them freight wise. But the passenger operations were a constant drain. Try as they might they just couldn't dig themselves out of their financial hole because of that. I know they served a huge industrial traffic base in NJ. And I've read where they wanted to turn the CNJ into kind of a terminal operations railroad serving that area. Which is pretty much what happened anyway to the property during Conrail. There's a few railroad bucket list locations I want to see and the Lehigh River gorge is high on my list. I want to pick up one of these guys in HO scale. I am going to have to find some water jugs to put out on the nose. In just about every CNJ photo I've seen of an SD35 or SD40 there's always a water jug or two out on the nose! I've heard the folks that worked for the CNJ were some of the best. 

About the train symbols ... "E" is obviously Elizabethport, but "L"? Lake Junction? PhiLlipsburg?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/22 20:27 by CPR_4000.

Photo #1 of CNJ 2502 is actually on the main track. Passing siding had the switch (visible in photo) to former State of NJ Correctional facility in Annandale.
 

"L" is for Lake Jct.  

1st photo train is on the former eastbound main, now the siding, visible is the westbound main and the siding for the Mountainview Correctional Facility. Second photo train in coming West under Rt 78. Worked on that switch machine a number of times


rrcaboose Wrote:
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> Photo #1 of CNJ 2502 is actually on the main
> track. Passing siding had the switch (visible in
> photo) to former State of NJ Correctional facility
> in Annandale.
>