SEA RAIL PORTS
Port Newark and Oak Island Yard, Newark, NJ
SEA RAIL
PORTS
Port Newark and Oak Island Yard, Newark, NJ
| On a sunny Sunday, in June 2000, railpipe and friends from the Queens County Model Railroad Association found themselves in the industrial outlands of North Eastern New Jersey. There we beheld a behemoth container cargo metropolis dominated by goliathian machines and magnificent muscle locos. The Marine/Rail transfer facility in Northern New Jersey is one of the busiest in the world; container modules by the thousands are processed daily destined for all parts of North America, and outbound across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond. We were expertly guided through this mammoth maze by John McCluskey who provided the details, below, of what we spotted. (Photos by railpipe) |
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(l to r) a CSX
GP-38 and a Norfolk Southern SD45-2 at Port Newark
| A NS SD45-2 (former Eire-Lackawanna unit) with a fiber optic installation car and support flatcar. Today's railroads are part of the global communications market, with their right-of-ways being used by telecommunication companies to run their fiber optic communication cables underground. |
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Another ex-CR
GP-15, freshly repainted for CSX
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The
"Bowl" at Oak Island Yard. This modern Hump Yard is
used to sort
freight cars using gravity The cars are destined
for points near and far
"Hump
Power" outside the Oak Island Yard tower
CSX SD-45-2s at
Oak Island Yard awaiting
crews to sort and "hump" cars
around the yard
lone CSX GP-40-2
at Oak Island Yard
Ever wonder where
the oil for those deep fryers
comes from? Here is a modern tank
car full
The Oak Island Yard
service facility, where thirsty engines can get re-fueled,
sanded
and crew supplies replenished before going out on the road again
What's this? some
rare power. A NS high nosed GP-38-2
Hey? Where's my crew? A CSX SD-40-2
SD-60M
The Oak Island Yard
Service Facility turntable in the foreground withDRHY NW-2M used
by Durham Transport based out of Raritan Center, NJ and that NS
high nosed GP-38-2
| SAFETY note: A railfan visit to an industrial facility such as this is exciting and rewarding in what can be seen. However, its is absolutely important to keep safety in mind at all times in these extremely busy hard-hat areas. It is essential to stay OFF of facility property and remain in Public areas at all times. The people working in these ports have enough to do keeping themselves safe; they operate gargantuan container transfer machinery and are likely to be unable to see unauthorized trespassers who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Making a nuisance of yourself by entering facility property is extraordinarily dangerous, expensive for port security. All pictures on this page were taken from public access roads, public crossings, and public parking lots. |
