I'm already slacking on this thing but three days late is better than a month I suppose.
On Friday, Oct. 8, Sean and I planned on heading out since the weather was absolutely perfect. A bit of a late start narrowed down our (read: MY) ideas on what to shoot so it was decided that lunch would be first and then a quick check of Browns Yard in Old Bridge to see what would be heading out. I had checked Builders General in Freehold on my way home from visiting my girlfriend, Miranda, at Monmouth earlier in the morning. Lucky for us (read: me) there's a Five Guys in neighboring Sayreville. It was almost 1PM by the time we got to the yard office which is usually when the Freehold Local, WPSA31 or SA31 for short, leaves. As we pull into the parking lot, I was elated to see the usual '31 crew getting onto NS 5281, still in Conrail paint. I hadn't been able to catch it out on any of the lines in the month or so that its been based out of Browns (mostly because of the weather) so I was excited to finally get the opportunity.
We sat in the gravel lot at the west end of the yard listening to the radio until they started doing their air test and a car pulled into the lot to change a flat they had just gotten from a monster hole on Sandfield Rd. We moved down to the other gravel lot at River Rd. and Rte. 615 so I could get the shot of the South River bridge. As the radio got quiet I decided it was best to get into position for the shot which required getting to the park on the other side of the tracks. The tide must have just gone out so the shore line was still wet which creates a muddy mess so some ingenuity was needed to create a wooden walkway so I could shoot under the low hanging branches. After 5-10 minutes of screwing around with various logs and wooden boards, I was ready; now I just need a train. Waiting. A few test shots. Waiting. 1:15PM and still nothing. I get a text from Sean who stayed at the car: "Where'd you go? The CSX OCS is moving around Port Newark and North Jersey." Ughhhhhhhh. Internal dilemma.
"Wanna try to find that," I responded somewhat reluctantly.
"I've never seen the 9999, so yes." Well, the decision was made. NS 5281 would have to wait for another day or perhaps even just a few hours.
We get back into the car and take off for Port Newark. A quick stop is made along the New Jersey Turnpike to document what we assume is the first of the new Canadian Pacific run-through ethanol trains sitting crewless. A little further up, the CSX OCS, CSX P921, is sitting in the yard in Port Newark as was reported, backlit but who cares. Within a few minutes of getting into the bank parking lot giving a clear view of activity around the train, a crew gets on board, step stools are put away, and gates on the staircases closed up. This thing is getting ready to take off! Okay, but which way, back south towards Jacksonville or up to North Bergen? A painfully long stop for gas allowed them time to get rolling and make their way through the yard at 2:15PM. Since the Port Newark area is exactly that, a port, there are a ton of trucks and gated roads to contend with along Corbin St. so there is no easy spot to wait and watch so we pulled off under the I-78 bridge until the OCS rolled into view. As we pass over the tracks on Port St. looking at the tracks we get a good idea that they will be taking a left at the junction meaning they are heading back south. Since this is North Jersey and there are barely any road crossings and all highways and interstates interchanging and converging, Sean pulled some nifty moves to verify if our assessment was correct and ended up on the Northbound Route 1&9 bridge and sure enough CSXT 9998 was winding its way through the switches heading towards us. He pulled off on the should allowing a great view of the train with the Jersey City and New York City skylines in the background and the [almost] perfect light made it all the sweeter!
The chase was on! Our next goal was further west on the Shared Assets Lehigh Line close to Bound Brook. We get back onto I-78 west where we'd eventually hit the Garden State Parkway...follow signs for the GSP...errrt...DEAD STOP. Now what?! Sean takes matters into his own hands and pulls some *cough* interesting maneuvers to get back onto 78. We'll worry about how we're gonna get down to the line in a few miles for now we're trying to put some distance on the OCS which will be able to do 50mph. We agree that the best bet would be to go all the way to I-287 and backtrack a little at *cough* 65mph rather than the 25mph we'd be doing on backstreets. A few phone calls later Sean learns of a northbound Q418 heading up the Trenton Line and a Q439 waiting to head south meaning the OCS will also get stuck at the junction providing the chance of getting two more shots....IF we make it. We get off of 287 and see Q418 meeting Q439 above South Main Street in Bound Brook. Our goal is to make it to Prospect Ave. in Piscataway before the OCS knowing he'll be getting bad signals for essentially the rest of the day. Crossing our fingers that the detector at Middlesex doesn't go off before we pass it, we have a mini heart attack as the radio comes to life...its okay its 418 setting it off, duh. We make pretty good time and make the right onto Mountain Ave. at 3:18PM, look to the left, "crap"...headlights. A quick U-turn and we're need a new plan. Unfortunately, early afternoon shots on the west end of the Shared Assets line are hard to come by with no way to get to the south side of the tracks. We settle on the Cedar Ave. crossing which I had NO idea even existed and, unfortunately, the light was directly up the tracks at the point.
The train was doing 13.7mph through the detector at Middlesex and didn't appear to have picked it up at all which was good for us with no easy way of getting south of Manville without getting close to it; always dangerous in terms of traffic. Again, Sean picks his way around Manville and gets us to the Sunnymeade Rd. crossing as 439 was still clearing up. About 10 minutes later P921 finally trundles past the signal at 4:00PM still doing no more than 15mph as it catches approach signals behind Q439.
Wanting to get the shot from the bridge in Belle Mead, I convinced Sean to continue the chase which quickly ended when we hit the line of cars on 206. Oh, well. One amazing shot, one grab shot and one very decent shot at a new location. That's a win in my book even though I still hadn't gotten my shot of NS 5281. Turns out they didn't go to Freehold but down the Southern Secondary to Lakehurst. I'll take my shots of the OCS over that any day!
