Passenger Trains > NJ Transit trains @ Princeton Jct. - no diesel powered

My son & I went to Princeton Jct. This afternoon to watch the NJ Transit & Amtrak trains. One thing that I thought I would see but did not, was any NJ Transit trains under diesel power. I seem to remember on prior visits over the last 5-7 years that there would be a handful of consists under diesel power. Did they go away? If so was it due to sufficient electric motors being available?

Thanks in advance!

You'll see diesel powered trains north (RR EAST) of Rahway for the North Jersey Coast Trains, which diverge off the Northeast Corridor at this point. Otherwise, finding NJT diesel trains on the NEC south (RR WEST) of Rahway is a rare occurrence - or at least since my regular commuting on the NEC since 2000.

There was one roundtrip diesel express from Trenton to Newark for a while, but that was dropped a couple years back. I think the train may still terminate at Newark, but it is an electric trainset - either MU or ALP electric power.

Then there are deadhead moves for the Atlantic City Line - from the Meadowlands to Philly.

NJT seems to try and get the most out of its electric power, reserving diesels truly for those trains that operate over trackage where catenary is non-existant. For example, North Jersey Coast Line Trains that are powered by diesels originate in Hoboken/Newark, but travel to Bay Head - catenary ends in Long Branch so a diesel is needed for power to/from Long Branch and Bay Head. Similiar situations on a few other services/lines NJT offers.

If you travel on the Morris and Essex Lines (and others that originate from Hoboken) that originate out of Hoboken - you are likely to see NJT's newest diesel. These diesels (design) do look better when coupled to NJT passenger cars - rather than as solo units. Early pictures as the new diesels were being built didn't give them good justice in my opinion.

About 2 winters ago I was working the Morrisville drill after it had snowed and they sent a train down to trenton with a GP40-2PH with about 5 commet 1Bs on that Newark to Trenton Express.

NJT traffic patterns are a little different from most commuter systems, where 'everyone' goes to the center of the city and disembarks. The simplified version: at NJT about 2/3 of the riders go to midtown Manhattan, served through NY Penn Station; about 1/3 go to downtown Manhattan/Wall Street, which is reached using the PATH rapid transit system out of Newark and Hoboken. In addition there is a reasonably sized Newark-destined commuter market as well.

What this has meant for NJT was, historically, the "busiest" part of the NEC route was not into NYC, but rather into Newark, when you'd have the midtown NY, downtown NY and Newark markets on the train all at the same. Beyond Newark into NY, without the downtown and Newark riders, trains were less crowded (though many seats were refilled with connecting Coast Line and Raritan Line riders).

Starting in mid-1980's NJT began offering Trenton-Newark diesel expresses, with the intention of steering the Newark and downtown NY riders onto these less-crowded trains.

The diesel expresses never really seemed to catch on, since there were few of them and downtown riders could still make use of the full complement of NY Penn trains to suit their needs.

Subsequent events also interceded, such as the declining economy in the late 80's/early 90's; massive rider growth in the late 90's, 9-11 devastation to the lower Manhattan employment and ridership market, and the opening of the Secaucus Jct transfer stop, which have contributed to the need for trains to run Trenton-NY instead of Trenton-Newark.

Thanks, AJT. Good stuff.