CNJ Steamer to Run on R&N

A restored Central Railroad of New Jersey steam locomotive will pull an excursion on June 19 on the Reading & Northern in Pennsylvania.

The 0-6-0 No. 113 will face south en route from Minersville to Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, and be turned at the latter so it will face north on the return leg.

The train will have an open gondola behind the locomotive and five open-window coaches.

The event also includes a pig roast upon the return to Minersville.

The 37-mile round excursion is a fundraising event for R&N engineer Chris Bost, who is suffering from a nerve disease and presently undergoing therapy.

For additional information call 570-544-8300 or visit the Project 113 Facebook page.

Filthy and Clean CNJ Units

All the times I photographed the Central of New Jersey heritage locomotive of Norfolk Southern, No. 1071 was always filthy.

That can be seen in the top two photographs, both of which were made at Unionville, Ohio, on November 25, 2017. The dirt is particularly evident on the head end.

The next two images I made in Painesville on March 8, 2020, on an outing with Marty Surdyk just prior to the statewide shutdown after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In these images, Lady Liberty is barely visible on the front side.

In looking through my collection, I found that back on June 21, 2008, I shot photos of clean CNJ F3s, actually ex Bangor & Aroostook, at Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, during a Reading & Northern 425 steam excursion.

Photo 5 is taken from the train upon arrival at Jim Thorpe while photo 6 was made during the layover.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Trains of 5 Railroads in 6 Hours

New Jersey Transit in Newark station.

I went railfanning out at Bound Brook, New Jersey, last week. I took New Jersey Transit to get there.

At Bound Brook, the old Central of New Jersey and the old Lehigh Valley mainlines are about 50 feet apart.

You can stand on the NJT platform and photograph both lines. The LV line today is Conrail Shared Assets, hosting Norfolk Southern, CSX and local Conrail action.

The CNJ line is strictly the domain of NJT. It was used by the Baltimore & Ohio, Reading and CNJ.

After Conrail formed the CNJ eventually went to NJT and the Reading/B&O connection was switched over to connect with the LV line instead. Any local freight service is handled by NS.

In my travels I also had to change trains at Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey. Here are some shots from the day, including short line Morristown & Erie bringing freight down to Harrison, New Jersey via the old Lackawanna mainline, for interchange with CSX.

It’s a 1964 Alco C424 in actual freight service in 2017. The Pennsylvania Railroad bench is in Penn Station. Some things change, some remain the same.

In all, I made photographs  of five railroads in six hours.

Article and Photographs by Jack Norris