RE: (erielack) Last Run, Great Notch station to close Jan. 16th

["Gary R. Kazin" <gkazin_@_yahoo.com>]

- --- On Wed, 12/23/09, Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul) <paul.tupaczewski_@_alcatel-lucent.com> wrote:
> http://lists.railfan.net/erielackphoto.cgi?erielack-12-23-09/DSCN2089.jpg
> Looking east, I'm assuming the train is a Great Notch turn ready
> to go back to Hoboken?

There haven't been any 'Great Notch Turns' or 'Lincoln Park Turns' since the Montclair Connection opened, over five years ago - no trains terminate at those stations.

Montclair/Boonton Line trains that don't go to Dover or farther west turn at Montclair State University.  They USUALLY go west of the station, either just off the platform or into the yard - it depends on how long they have to turn around and whether or not the crew changes.  Some trains turn IN the station, with the doors closed between runs.  These trains nearly always use station track 2.

The two round-trip diesel shuttle trains from the west USUALLY stay in the station between runs, sometimes with the doors OPEN.  They are always on station track 1.

Initially, ONE morning train from New York went to Great Notch on track 1 - on the employee timetable, but not on the public one. That no longer appears.

Interestingly, this photo shows TWO diesel train sets coupled together.  Something unusual has happened, but I have no idea what.  The east end of the train is on the through track from MSU to this point, not actually in the yard.

> > Was the catenary extended so far beyond the MSU yard to permit
> > trains to to enter from the west/north end of the yard?
> 
> Yes, and also to facilitate backing out this end of the yard.

The yard is called GREAT NOTCH YARD, not MSU Yard.

The wire extends far enough west to allow an ALP/Comet train to access to the yard if it's six cars or less; eight car sets can only do this if the ALP is at the east end of the train - the rails go two car lengths beyond the 'AC MOTOR STOP' sign.  Diesel and Arrow sets would be limited to eight cars, but the longest diesel set used on the line is six cars and the Arrow sets used for Hoboken trains are only three cars.

> > why would a Manhattan Direct train back into the yard.

MIDTOWN Direct, and the trains in these photos have diesels so they are Hoboken trains.  Normally, diesel trains run through between Hoboken and Dover or points west.  There would be only one shuttle here at a time, and the new weekend service uses one train at a time.  So I don't know why two diesel sets are coupled together in this photo.

> I don't think he's backing in, I think he's ready to head
> east on Track 1.

The eastbound track is TWO.


      

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