Eastern Railroad Discussion > NJ: Flooding and the railroads?

The picture of Bogota NJ police helping a bride off the roof of her flooded limo and into a police SUV has received wide atention. The CSX (New York Central River Line) is in the background.  With an enormous amount of rain in the area, how are the CSX and NYSW doing?  The CSX and NYSW yards are just south of this location, at a point where Overpeck Creek meets the Hackensack River.

Father west, pictures of new cars being swept up against bridges, and bobbing in parking lots appears to be in Woodland Park.  The former Erie crosses the Passaic at Singac  on a deck bridge, and usually has good clearance. That elevated section up into Mountain View / Wayne was installed after the 1935 flood, I believe.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/weather/2018/08/12/flood-sweep-cars-dealership-vpx.hln/video/playlists/wicket-weather/     Little Falls took a big hit



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/18 07:48 by elu34ch.

elu34ch Wrote:
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> Little Falls took a big hit

Yes.

Fortunately the ex-Erie station is on a rise, a few blocks from the center of town, and east of the Beatty Dam.  The Singac neighborhood is a few blocks west, that's where the Erie deck bridge is located along NJ 23.

On what's now the Montclair Boonton line, Lackawanna used to have problems along Toney's brook in Montclair-Bay and Glen Ridge.  There's a lot of water moving through the cut in torrential weather.

 

Over here in PA, I think the Reading and Northern is going to have big problems up around Pottsville. Local scuttlebutt has reported dive crews being brought in for rescues.
NS may also have problems through Lebanon county.
Dan

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/18 10:30 by dschlegel.

NS would be affected in NJ also, yes?

Posted from iPhone

** keeping weather as the theme here, looks like some heavy rain popping up in the Somerset & Cambria county areas of S/W Pa. as well and just seems to be hovering. Seems like CSX & NS track patrols, along with MOW crews, could be putting in some big O/T. **



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/18 09:44 by reel_smooth.

The NS Lehigh Line follows the Lehigh River in eastern PA, although it is a few feet above the usual high water mark once east of Allentown. 

Among the usual NS trouble spots are the Lehigh Line near Stanton Station NJ, east side of Manville, Bound Brook, but it doesn't seem like the rivers will rise that high. 

CSX can see high water in Manville NJ yard.

NJ Transit has flood gates installed at Bound Brook, just east of the Calco / Bridgewater station. I don't think they've been closed yet.  The photo perch / high berm at CP BROOK is the south side of this long flood protection installation.

There should be some track patrols being run.   FRA track inspection Rule $213.239: "Special Inspection":
"In the event of fire, flood, severe storm, of other occurrence which might have damaged track structure, a special inspection must be made of the track involved as soon as possible after the occurrence". 

This is not just a suggestion but the law, which in the case of the recent NYS&W train was not in compliance  If the FRA fine was $100,000 for non-compliance, I would bet the Dispatchers would have the track patrols on the job..   

With the recent NYSW washout in upstate NY supposedly a hyrail truck had run the line a few hours earlier.

In NJ the flooding was very localized. Little Falls and Woodland Park got hit with 5 inches of rain in about an hour. I live about 10 miles away and got an inch over the entire day.

Posted from Android

cjvrr Wrote:
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> With the recent NYSW washout in upstate NY
> supposedly a hyrail truck had run the line a few
> hours earlier.
>
> In NJ the flooding was very localized. Little
> Falls and Woodland Park got hit with 5 inches of
> rain in about an hour. I live about 10 miles away
> and got an inch over the entire day.
>
> Posted from Android

Yes.

The Caldwells,Cedar Grove.  Little Falls, Lincoln Park are also relatively hilly, with usually small creeks draining huge areas of hillsides, etc. Dump a lot of water into the basin, and watch all the stuff happen.

Alexander Hamilton recognized the power of the Passaic River basin when he established water powered mills in Paterson.  Today, the river regularly floods areas in Paterson, and in Little Falls, Fairfield, Wayne, etc above the dam.