Eastern Railroad Discussion > NJ: Morristown & Erie to lose several branches

The Morristown Daily Record reports that operation of the county owned rail lines in Morris County will be switched from Morristown & Erie to the Dover & Rockaway Railroad. D&R is affiliated with the Black River & Western, and the Belvidere & Delaware. M&E had operated the county lines for 30 years. It appears the core M&E line from Morristown to Roseland is not affected by this change.

The article notes that relations were strained last year as the rail line stored propane and butane cars on sidings near residential areas, which caused extensive citizen engagement. The line to Hibernia, the Chester Branch, and the High Bridge line are involved.


http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/2017/05/25/morris-railroad-management-changing-after-butane-storage-issue/345884001/

The D&R is supposedly going to operate the Washington Sec, and the Totowa Industrial for NS too. AFAIK. M&E still operated freight on the NJT tracks, if there are any customers left.

It will be interesting to see if D&R can actually get some new customers. NJ has chased just about every industry out of the state.
The latest being the BASF chemical plant in Washington NJ. They received 5-10 tank cars a day, 6 days a week. 1500=2000 car loads a year, and 200 jobs gone. M&M Mars has a siding, unused. Its also a big farm area, yet no feed or bulk transfer facilities anywhere.

The RR lines here are still suffering from the CR days, when CR tried to get everyone to use trucks from pads at their main yards. CR also actively ripped out team tracks and bulk unloading pads, as their lawyers saw them as liabilities.

All things considered, I think M&E has had a better track record in creating new business, than BVDR and BRW, but its probably not from not trying. Its hard to locate a business anywhere, without some idiot complaining, or the state regulating it to death.

And Im a progressive. When i think regulations have gone to far........

I know of at least 100 industries that have closed or stopped rail business just in north jersey. Some were due to changes in the marketplace....such as home building materials going from wood to plastic. But most were chased away by CR or the state...

The M&E has trackage rights on NJT but not the right to serve or solicit customers on NJT.

Was the little quarry in Millington the last freight customer on the Morristown / Gladstone / old Montclair lines?

Posted from Android

As head of the Division within Morris County that oversees the railroad operations I will state quite clearly the butane storage issue was not the reason for the change as reported in the press.

Dover & Rockaway River Railroad LLC is not just an offshoot of the Black River and Western. Majority ownership (60%) is held by officers of the Maryland & Delaware Railroad Company with 40% owned by officers of the Black River & Western.

Morristown & Erie has been a great operator to the County since 1982 and the County has been happy with their service. The review committee (two employees that oversee the railroad operation and one from another division) felt the new operator has offered some innovative ideas to market the lines to retain and hopefully attract new business.

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Another LLC owned by that joint organization is working with NS to lease the Washington Secondary, the Totowa Industrial, and I believe the Newark Industrial. They will service freight customers on the NJT lines, including those on the Peapack / Gladstone. However once east of Dover there are few, if any freight customers on the NJT lines. To the best of my knowledge, Morristown & Erie will continue to interchange at Lake Junction with NS or the new operator of NS' lines.

The changeover of the NS lines to the new operator is currently in the negotiation process with NJT as NS's operating rights need to be assigned to the new operator and everything needs to be in order to do so. My understanding is the new operator is hoping to take over the NS operation in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

One limiting factor to the Washington Secondary has always been a low clearance bridge (16'-6")in Phillipsburg, NJ. NS has been disinterested in doing anything to correct that issue. This in turn limits car height on the Morris County branches and lead to the loss of several businesses to trucks. There are also three bridges that restrict 286,000lb cars from getting to the Dover area from the west. The new operator has plans to improve the clearance within a few months and will look to increase the weight limit on the three bridges shortly thereafter.

If they were storing tank cars on line, there isn't much 'business' left to be worried about.

Thanks for the more detailed update. The story seemed to have some loose ends in it.

One limiting factor to the Washington Secondary has always been a low clearance bridge (16'-6")in
> Phillipsburg, NJ. NS has been disinterested in doing anything to correct that issue. This in
> turn limits car height on the Morris County branches and lead to the loss of several
> businesses to trucks. There are also three bridges that restrict 286,000lb cars from getting
> to the Dover area from the west. The new operator has plans to improve the clearance within a few
> months and will look to increase the weight limit on the three bridges shortly thereafter.


Question: Can 286K cars get to Dover from the east and are the customers so time sensitive that the RR can't stage an extra carload?

It is my understanding there are several other structures on NJT lines east of Dover that prohibit the 286K weight.

I have no information on the time sensitivity of the carloads. I will note however most of the customers on the County lines are small businesses. The cost of staging an extra carload may be prohibitive. In total the county branches ship or receive around 500 cars per year.

There are several large tracts of industrial and commercially zoned land and uses adjacent to the lines. Some are vacant parcels. Morris County is attempting to work with the municipalities to stay attractive to businesses. The County continues to invest approximately $1mil per year in the railroad infrastructure. This includes grade crossing replacements, track upgrades, and most recently a wall along the Rockaway River in Dover that had collapsed. In the next few years we plan to repair and upgrade the pins and rollers, abutments as well as paint the railroad bridges.

Also approved at the same Freeholder meeting on May 24th was a $900,000 NJDOT grant for rail and tie replacement on the Dover & Rockaway Branch.


elu34ch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Question: Can 286K cars get to Dover from the east
> and are the customers so time sensitive that the
> RR can't stage an extra carload?

cjvrr Wrote:
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>
> One limiting factor to the Washington Secondary
> has always been a low clearance bridge (16'-6")in
> Phillipsburg, NJ. . . . There are also three
> bridges that restrict 286,000lb cars from getting
> to the Dover area from the west. The new operator
> has plans to improve the clearance within a few
> months and will look to increase the weight limit
> on the three bridges shortly thereafter.

Did NS think that traffic did not justify the expense? Will the new operator have access to gov't grants/funding that NS would not have had?

I walked the section of the former Lackawanna east of Mountain View a few years ago. That's in Passaic County, with Wayne and Totowa being the towns. There are a lot of neat Morris Canal remnants, and many warehouses, small assembly plants, a large stone processor, etc. There may have been 2-3 locations with rail cars on the sidings.

But there were many more where the siding was torn out. Wayne has exceptionally good truck highway access.

With the huge NS COFC transload in Bethlehem PA 75 minutes away, and the Croxton ramp 30 minutes away, it was an uphill sell to get a shipper there to accept a three to seven day rail connection. NS used to service that branch on Thursdays, I believe

I wish them luck

CPR,

I can't answer that as to why NS didn't make improvements. They have been asked. I will say the clearance issue goes back to Conrail days.

I do not know if the new operator will have access to grants on the NS lines once they take over operations. They will on the Morris County owned lines.

CPR_4000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cjvrr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > One limiting factor to the Washington Secondary
> > has always been a low clearance bridge
> (16'-6")in
> > Phillipsburg, NJ. . . . There are also three
> > bridges that restrict 286,000lb cars from
> getting
> > to the Dover area from the west. The new
> operator
> > has plans to improve the clearance within a few
> > months and will look to increase the weight
> limit
> > on the three bridges shortly thereafter.
>
> Did NS think that traffic did not justify the
> expense? Will the new operator have access to
> gov't grants/funding that NS would not have had?

What about Suffern and above??

DOUGIE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What about Suffern and above??


That doesn't sound like an M&E, or New Jersey, issue....

Yes, I believe that will stay NS and the remaining customers on NJT's Bergen and Main lines will still be served by NS.

Posted from Android

I believe Rheis Chemical in Berkeley Heights was the very last customer... Correct me if I'm wrong but the quarry in Millington stopped supplying stone in 1994-96.

Posted from Android

Njt4172 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I believe Rheis Chemical in Berkeley Heights was
> the very last customer... Correct me if I'm wrong
> but the quarry in Millington stopped supplying
> stone in 1994-96.
>
> Posted from Android

That sounds right. I'm sure I have a picture of a C424 working that lead.