Daytripping Freights in Central Jersey
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(46 votes)
Published: Jan 09, 2001 12:00 a.m.
Viewed 453 times |
As I set out to head for the tracks that run through the woods next to where I live, I told the Lord that, if He provided a train, I’d get on, but I was thinking I’d be getting it at the yard! Well, I walked to the store at the end of my street, bought a 12 pack of Dew, and heard a train running through the woods as I was putting the soda in my pack. I’m thinking ’Duh! If I’d been a little quicker getting out of the house, I might have been on that train. Anyway, it’s about a 3 minute walk from the store to the tracks, and about 2 minutes into the walk (about 5 minutes after I heard the train), I hear slack action, from the train starting back up! Trains never stop there! I’ve seen 2 trains stopped in those woods IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! And I grew up running around in those woods. Anyway, I grabbed a gon 2nd from the end. I rode along in the gon, and, as I rode past a golf course, there were people on it, and there was one guy who was staring at me, so I waved, and he waved back, then he pointed me out to a guy who was with him, and they stared as I rode out of sight. Then, as I approached a place where the trains that are staying in the area go straight, and the ones that are heading towards NYC veer off to the left, I had to choose: Either I had faith that the Lord would get me home, or wherever He wanted me (the south-bound trains rarely slow down there, so, if I caught a return train, I’d end up in the city), or I had to get off, because this train was going to NYC. Well, I stayed on, and as I rode along, it was an absolutely beautiful day, and I waved to people who waved at me. About an hour later, my train stopped in Manville, NJ and I got off. There was a ballast train there, with power already hooked up, so I got on it, but it didn’t go anywhere. As I waited, a few kids rode by on their quads, and we waved (one of the kids almost fell off his quad when he saw me:) Anyway after a while, I got off, and rested against a tree in the grass. A few more northbound trains came through, then my train started to move, so I hopped on. As I boarded, I saw a man standing at a switch, so I ducked on the other side until I thought he’d gone by. Well, right after I got back in a normal position on the end of the car, I passed him. He saw me, I waved, and he said, ’You can’t do that!’. I said, ’You want me off this train?’, then I got off, walked down a block, waved to him, then, as soon as I was out of sight, I doubled back to a point farther up the tracks, and got ready to board again. I questioned why it was difficult, getting on this train, when the Lord handed everything else to me on a silver platter. Well, the train was picking up one more cut from a another part of the yard, so I waited off to the side of the tracks until it started up. After they pulled the 2nd cut onto the main line, I got on. I was waiting in the top of the ballast car, on a pile of ballast, about a hundred feet away from an overpass. As I was sitting there, a kid went walking across the bridge, and he yelled down to me. It turns out that he was one of the kids on the quads. Anyway, he and some friends walked down to the train, and we talked there until the guy who was at the switch got too close, at which point they walked back to the overpass, and I went over to the other side of the train. After he passed, I hopped into the hopper by the bridge, and talked with them, until the train started back up again. I rode for about 10 miles, then all of a sudden, the train stopped. I looked out, and there were people walking back towards me, so I hid, and again questioned why things were being difficult on the way back home. As I sat in the stopped ballast train, I became increasingly fearful that they might be planning on dumping the ballast, something I’ve never seen done, and thus I don’t know what the signs are. So, I got out of the hopper, and stood on the platform. Well, I looked out the side, and saw people approaching from behind. So, I got off, and walked into the woods, then walked parallel to the train until I felt it was ok, then I walked back towards the train. I was about 20 feet from the train when the same man who saw me in Manville was heading towards the engine again! (he was the only one there, I must have mistaken a bush or something for the other person I thought I saw). When he saw me the first time, I was wearing a blue-gray t-shirt, and the second time I was wearing a blue pull-over, with the hood up. He said, ’Do you want to cross the train?’, and I said, ’Yeah, do you mind?’. He replied, rather amusedly, ’No, go right ahead...’, then he said, in a confused manner, ’Hey, aren’t you the same guy from back in Manville?’. I gave a sheepish smile, pulled off my hood, and said, ’Yep, I was just trying to make sure that you didn’t think I was on the train, so you couldn’t get in trouble’. As we walked closer to the head of the train, he asked where I was going, and I said to Woodburne Yard, but I could make my way to where I was going from anywhere in Philly. The guy (his name is Reggie) told me that the train would probably blow straight through Woodburne, but that he’d slow the train for me to get off, and suggested that I get on a car closer to the engine, so they’d know when I got off. As we walked and talked, he then suggested that I grab the tail unit, so I could sit down, and it’d be easier to get off. Then he said he wanted to check with the other guy (his name was Jeff) to make sure that it was ok with him. He said Jeff was pretty cool, but that he was a stickler for rules. Reggie went into the engine, then opened up the window, and said, ’Hey Rob, come on up!’. So I boarded the lead engine, as Reggie was pulling the other seat into position. Jeff seemed quite pleased and amused that I was riding his train, and apologized for a few rough starts. (Truth be known, aside from sitting on gravel, it was a very nice ride, the weight of the cars makes any change in movement very gradual.) As we rode along, we talked about hopping, about train movements in the area, about the merger stuff, and other things. As we approached Woodburne, they slowed the train down to a crawl, and let me hop off. As I was exiting the cab, Jeff said, ’Bye, I’m sure we’ll see you around!’, and Reggie waved as the train pulled away from me after I’d disembarked.
Looking back, I see that, if the things I saw as inadversity hadn’t happened, I never would have gotten to ride in the engine. If Reggie hadn’t seen me the first time, he wouldn’t have recognized me the 2nd time, and if the train hadn’t stopped, he wouldn’t have seen me the 2nd time. Everything I thought was a bad thing had to come to pass for a very good thing to happen, and I thank the Lord for a very cool trip! |
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 | Aug 24, 2005 8:45 pm -
are you riding a horse??? it sound slike u a cowboy or somthings o and ur gay this isnt agg and second its too long and why would i care 0 |
 | Aug 25, 2005 2:24 pm -
ur fingers r sore arent they |
| Jul 21, 2006 4:53 pm -
Cool story of a type of transportation that for the most part is a thing of the past.
5*’s |
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