Rush Hour at WC Tower

We hosted a “Rush Hour in the Tower” event in the old Erie Railroad’s “WC” Tower in Waldwick. New Jersey, on June 15. For a $20 donation, our guests had access to the tower and surrounding area from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

A half dozen photographers were treated to about 40 trains during that period, featuring six types of motive power and two commuter agencies.

Norfolk Southern even rushed the local back right before the flood gates opened. It was a nice event and everyone went away happy.

Article and Photographs by Jack Norris

Meanwhile, Back in New Jersey

I hope Dave McKay Day went well. I was in Waldwick, New Jersey, on that day, getting the Erie Waldwick Tower and Waldwick Erie Station museums ready to open for the season. Since the famous Erie landmark Waldwick “S” Curve (also known as Collin’s Curve) is right there I decided to take a couple shots. It may be only three tracks now and the only varnish it sees are NJ Transit commuter trains, but it still looks good and is still as photogenic as ever. Also included is a shot of Chesapeake & Ohio 614 when it traveled the ex-Erie back in 1996.

Photographs by Jack Norris

Simulating the Work of a Tower Operator

Being a volunteer at the former Erie Railroad WC Interlocking Tower Museum in Waldwick, New Jersey, I have keys to the place and can access it whenever I want.

I had a day off so I decided to spend a Monday morning rush hour seeing it from the tower operator’s point of view.

Between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. there were 30 scheduled movements, plus deadheads and a local Norfolk Southern freight for good measure.

These trains either passed through the interlocking on the mainline or were originating/terminating in Waldwick Yard.

Each time I watched the computer-controlled interlocking set up for each train, all I could think of was the poor operator setting up the interlocking for up to 10 trains per hour.

Even though WC interlocking was electrified early, the operator still had to throw the switches and signals individually.

When you experience the conditions first hand it makes you appreciate the workers of the past. Here is some of the variety from this morning, including New Jersey Transit runs push-pull trains with a cab car on the south end.

They are suffering from a cab car shortage right now, the result being that some trains are being led by a locomotive on the south end, making for some rare photo ops.

Being a volunteer at the former Erie Railroad WC Interlocking Tower Museum in Waldwick, New Jersey, I have keys to the place and can access it whenever I want.

I had a day off so I decided to spend a Monday morning rush hour seeing it from the tower operator’s point of view.

Between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. there were 30 scheduled movements, plus deadheads and a local Norfolk Southern freight for good measure.

These trains either passed through the interlocking on the mainline or were originating/terminating in Waldwick Yard.

Each time I watched the computer-controlled interlocking set up for each train, all I could think of was the poor operator setting up the interlocking for up to 10 trains per hour.

Even though WC interlocking was electrified early, the operator still had to throw the switches and signals individually.

When you experience the conditions first hand it makes you appreciate the workers of the past. Here is some of the variety from this morning, including New Jersey Transit runs push-pull trains with a cab car on the south end.

They are suffering from a cab car shortage right now, the result being that some trains are being led by a locomotive on the south end, making for some rare photo ops.

Article and Photographs by Jack Norris

 

Memorial Day Weekend in an ex-Erie Tower

On the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, I spent my day volunteering in the former Erie Railroad WC interlocking tower in Waldwick, New Jersey.

Four trains an hour go through the interlocking on a Sunday. Two start and end in Waldwick Yard while the others continue to/from Suffern, New York, or Port Jervis, New York.

Waldwick Tower was built by the Erie in 1880 and for about 103 years the operator controlled movements on the four-track Erie main as well as movements into and out of the commuter terminal.

Today, the main goes from three tracks to two in the interlocking  and it is controlled by an operator at a computer in a location where they cannot even see the railroad.

While sitting up there, one can only imagine the operator on a dark and stormy night listening to the telegraph spitting out orders from the dispatcher.

A new addition this year is the beautiful Erie logo, made from colored stones courtesy of a local landscaping company. A day watching trains from a 137-year-old interlocking tower is a great way to spend a holiday.

Article and Photographs by Jack Norris

Foggy Day at Princeton Junction

The day was nice here in the suburbs of New Jersey. I was in the mood to go see some big time passenger train action so I headed 40 miles west to where the wide open spaces of central New Jersey yield some nice places to photograph the Northeast Corridor.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other ideas and I ended up in a fog bank at Princeton Junction, 47 miles southwest of New York City and 10 miles from the New Jersey capital of Trenton.

The NEC hosts an interesting variety of equipment, including old and new technologies working together to move tens of thousands of people a day from home to work and back again or countless other destinations.

One minute, you see a New Jersey Transit local made up of New Jersey Arrow MUs, originally built in the late ‘70s and rebuilt in the ‘90s. The next minute, an Acela streaks by at 125 m.p.h.

The fast, quiet electric trains running at more than 100 m.p.h. on 140-pound welded rail are hard enough to photograph on a good day.

I picked Princeton Junction due to dead-straight lines of sight for several miles in either direction.

The fog erased the advantage, but also made for an interesting time because you never knew what was going to pop out of the fog.

I had old NJT MUs as well as their modern ALP46 electrics. Amtrak produced modern ACS-64s as well as a pair of cab cars that were at one time the pride of the Penn Central Metroliner fleet, the future of high speed rail back in the late ‘60s.

I didn’t spend much time there today, but if I had waited long enough maybe the ghost of a Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 would have emerged from the fog. Only the out-of-service Nassau Tower knows the answer.

Article and Photographs by Jack Norris

Keeping Erie, EL Alive on New York Division

The restored WB Tower in Waldwick, New Jersey.

Akron Railroad Club blog reader Jack Norris wrote from his home in New Jersey that because many of us here in Ohio are interested in the history of the Erie and Erie Lackawanna railroads that we might be interested in some news from the old New York Division.

In Waldwick, New Jersey (milepost 23.2) on four-track old Erie Mainline is the home of the famous Waldwick “S” curve (a.k.a. Collin’s Curve) and sits WC Tower.

The Victorian style wooden tower controlled the interlocking as well as the entrance to Waldwick Yard, a layover yard for intermediate distance commuter trains.

The tower was manned until 1986 when New Jersey Transit closed it. The tower then languished for several years and was in danger of being torn down.

The community of Waldwick wanted to save their tower as well as the matching Victorian station.

The restoration process was successful and both structures are now property of the Waldwick Historical Society.

WC Tower has been restored and is open infrequently for guests to visit. The building has displays on both the lower level and the operator’s level.

Although the interlocking machine and model board are not in the building at the present time, both still exist and may, in fact, be reinstalled one day, depending on public interest and funding. The Waldwick Station will open this Sunday (May 22, 2016) as a town history museum.

By the way, if you know where to look you can still find seven EL manhole covers still doing their intended job even though their railroad is long gone.

I am sending along some photographs of WC Tower and the restored station.

About 100 commuter trains a day pass through Waldwick on a weekday as well as a couple local freights. One road freight passes through nocturnally five nights a week. I am also attaching the websites for both structures.

For more information, visit

http://allaboardwaldwick.org/

and https://www.facebook.com/WaldwickCommunityAlliance/

The Erie station in Waldwick before its restoration.

The restored Erie Railroad passenger station in Waldwick, New Jersey, as seen in December 2014.

An Erie Lackawanna manhole cover.

The next three photographs show the various exhibits of Erie and EL artifacts.

New Jersey Transit has an extensive network of commuter rail routes in its namesake state.

The current NJT locomotive livery.

NJT trains come with a variety of motive power.

A Metro North locomotive pulls a commuter train.

WC Tower before its restoration.

Another view of WC Tower.

Jersey Boys Being Sent Out to Pasture

On May 6 as it was getting near the time for me to mark off at work, a westbound 15N passed by with seven former New Jersey Transit locomotives now marked for MVPX. The train took a bit of a delay at CP Max but then headed west. It is seen here near Eastland Road just east of Berea and across from Cleveland Hopkins International Airpot. I took grab shots of all seven of the ex-NJT units and while nothing special as far as photos go I figured it would be the last I would ever see of these unique units.

Photographs by Roger Durfee