This Trackage is the Dundee Spur, an ex Erie Lackawanna, exx Erie RR line. This trackage appears in relatively good shape, after not seeing a train in close to, if not over a decade. The last movement that took place on these tracks, was the removal of a few cars and a locomotive or two, if I'm not mistaken a year or so ago. This trackage is slated to be pulled up in the not so distant future, maybe not the "trolley tracks" portion as that may just get "blacktopped" over by the city and get forgotten about for the next few decades or so. The last operator. the New York & Green Lake, embargoed this trackage as there wasn't any more customers after about 2014 or so.
What I was referring to in this instance as "Trolley Tracks", are train tracks that are sometimes installed in a street, that may look like trolley tracks, but are actual railroad tracks. (You'll see this with some industrial rail lines and even terminal switching railroads in some major cities.) This allows trains to do what's known as "Street Running", operating on trackage laid in the street. This is done whenever a "traditional" Right Of Way can't be built separately from a street, as there's simply no other place for it to be built. Some times a railroad will be built before a city and when the city is built, those tracks are paved over with blacktop to become a street and becomes known as "Flush Rail Track." (Trolley Tracks) The track structure is covered with pavement, but not the top of the rails and they appear as if their trolley tracks. New Bedford, MA is one such example, as well as New York and in Indiana, to name a few. Their was equipment that was removed from an out of service railyard around 2014 and this included some historical passenger cars, freight cars and even a freight locomotive or two. However, this wasn't a revenue move, just a "rescue" operation to remove railroad equipment off of a property that was being redeveloped. Had this movement not have taken place, all of this railroad equipment would have met the scrappers torch by now and would have been scrapped. @@jackwilliams5474
Wow, thank you for this thoughtful, detailed response. As a train Lover, this information is so touching, and valuable to me. So how common is street running? I have not seen it before. And why would they run it in the middle of the street instead of off to the side? Seems like an accident waiting to happen? Again, I much appreciate your insight, sir. BTW, I lived in NJ for quite a while, but I didn't see this, unfortunately. @@joshbenton4080
Jack, "street running" used to be very common here in the US in the early 20th Century. And in many instances, train crews would often times "walk the train" to prevent accidents from occurring. (Folks that live in these regions where street running is still practiced are used to seeing train activity in the middle of the streets. In Oakland CA, the Western Pacific Railroad (now UP) built a line down Embarcadero Way, along with SP and Amtrak trains still travel down the street. There's even some street running still being done in Brooklyn, NY and these tracks are ancient and looks like actual trolley tracks with "Tongue & Nape" turnouts. (Tongue & Nape turnouts have only one movable point rail and the switch mechanism is controlled with a lever by the train crews. These turnouts has a distinctive box, where it looks like a square cover for a gas valve.) If you want to learn more about street running and where it still exists in the US and elsewhere, I'd encourage you to do a google search to find out more about it. @@jackwilliams5474
I need to do that. I googled street running railroad, but couldn't find that much, are there some keywords I should put in? Or a specific website I should look at? I would like to see some pics of this in Brooklyn, for example.@@joshbenton4080
Decades ago there was a lot of industry in the Dundee section of Passaic. Quite a bit of freight was handled there by the Erie railroad and its successors. The New York Susquehanna and Western also service that area by way of a bridge that crossed the Passaic River about a half mile North of the bridge shown in this video. I think the Susie q bridge has been gone at least 50 years. I don't remember if it just fell down or if flooding swept it away..
Imagine what a nice museum operation that would make. It would be perfect for a trolley museum. Just clean it up, weed the right-of-way and put up some trolley wire. It's tailor made for it. That track and the ties don't look bad at all. The New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center has been looking for a site for years. Well, here ya go.... Does it still exist in 2022?
You see out here in California they put in this stupid switch tax. Any intact switch is taxable. SO the railroads here are motivated to pull up rails. There are SOME abandoned tracks out here but not as much as you might think. NOT because it is all being used but because of the tax laws. STRANGE...
The rail and old railroad ties should be recycled. Think about it the rail can be used to make new rail and the old railroad ties can be used for landscaping.
when i was on the bridge gang in 87 my foreman pointed this out, telling me he was on the timber gang that redecked this in the mid 80's on conrail 'half moon' bridge is its name
