| Title: |
A Rough Night on the Lehigh Line |
| Description: |
Its was a terribly stormy night in South Plainfield, NJ on this March evening. In the midst of a powerful noreaster a westbound CSX Q417 holds just east of the Front Street crossing with an ex-Conrail SD80MAC on the point. All the railroads in North Jersey were taking a beating based on all the radio chaos and Conrails Lehigh Line was no exception. NS 65J (who had literally just cleared Front Street a few minutes before) was reporting they were in emergency after a car drove through the gates and into the north side of their trailing engine at Clinton Avenue just a few miles ahead. This mess caused all traffic on the Lehigh Line to grind to a stop as the powerful storm raged on. A few moments after stopping the conductor of the Q417 emerged from the beastly 5,000HP engine and told us about their adventurous trip from Newarks Oak Island Yard. What was normally an easy journey of less than 30 miles turned into an 8+ hour escapade. Faced with signal problems, multiple crossing failures and downed trees obstructing the rails this crew was not going to set any speed records on tonights trip. The delay caused by the disabled NS 65J was the final nail in the coffin and a few short hours later they hit the 12-hour mark and expired on the main. This train and its stranded crew spent the remainder of the night weathering the storm waiting on a fresh crew to relieve them and try again the following morning. |
| Photo Date: |
3/14/2010 Upload Date: 5/19/2018 2:52:45 PM |
| Location: |
South Plainfield, NJ |
| Author: |
Michael Sullivan |
| Categories: |
Scenic,Night |
| Locomotives: |
CSX 4601(SD80MAC) CSX 5345(ES40DC) |
| Views: |
390 Comments: 1 |
