Long Train Runnin'
Engineer
Its the last day of my winter break before I must return to school. So how else would I want to use it to max? Ride the Rails, of course.
This report will include NJT North Jersey Coast Line an overview on Secaucus Junction station and the NJT Pascack Valley Line.
NJT North Jersey Coast Little Silver to Secaucus:
(My 5th TR on this piece of rail.)
Well this journey started at a decent hour for a change, compared to my other rail trips this week. With the 10:15 Arrival of the New York Penn Station bound train. This trip would again feature a traveling companion. One of my best friends agreed to join me on this trip, for reasons he never made clear. Well anyway, I told him to meet me at the station 5 minutes before the train was scheduled, which for NJT isn't really cutting it close since 80% of the time they operate with in 1 to 2 minutes of the schedule. Plus, I already had the tickets we need for the trip. It pulled up right on time. Again the usual variety of Comet cars.
Once we got under way, we soon realized that this was going to be one full train. As we rolled on, we picked up more and more people. Luckily, he enjoys things like APM, and Monorails. So, we were able to talk about the rails. He had never been in Secaucus, and I haven't been there in quite so time. I admitted that I might actually not be to sure what we were doing when we got there. Then we stopped at Rahway and picked up quite a crowed. I was worried about the crowds since usually I am alone, and was hoping that I got a good seat-mate. Then it dawned on me, I already have a seat-mate and, so that part of the crowds left my mind. When we got to Newark and even more passengers joined us; it became a standing room only train. I was more then happy to disembark at Secaucus right on time.
Thoughts on Secaucus:
This being Sunday we had an hour to kill before the Pascack Valley train would show up. I can say this, I was totally impressed with every aspect of Secaucus Junction Station. To me everything was laid out in an easy and sensible manner. A first for anything designed to work inside New Jersey. The station is laid out with 2 levels of tracks. The upper level houses trains that go to New York and arrive on the NEC. While the lower level tracks are for trains coming and going to Hoboken. To get to any of the tracks you just have to go into the main hall and around the concourse are color Solari boards that match the color of the line your trying to catch. That lists the tracks and times for the next few trains on that line. There is on kind of Newsstand/Convience Store that provide some light lunch options, as well as well as an assortment of other snacks. The station was bright and clean, and frankly I really, really, really, like Secaucus. Alright enough of that, lets get back on the rails.
Pascack Valley Line Secaucus to Spring Valley.
I know, technically I didn't ride the whole line since the train starts in Hoboken. Well I counting it anyway, since it doesn't mean anything to anyone but myself. The train pulled up one minute late. As we get a pair of seats in the second to last car my friend tells me this is the first time he's gone anywhere on the train other then the NJT North Jersey Coastline. I laugh and say well now its not. My friend started me asking a few questions about this line, and what the stations were like. I looked at him laughed and said, "I have no idea I've never ridden this line, so we'll find out soon enough." This line was a little weird at first as usually on Commuter trains like this you pick up very few going away from the major cities. On this train for the first few stops the number of people getting on was higher then those getting off. We got pulled into a passing siding to let the inbound train go by and from that point had no other stoppages. As we head further North we began to loose a few people at station. I noticed that there was no major station where a majority of people got off. Just a few at a time until the second to last stop where there were only about 15 people left in my car, of which 7 got of in Nanuet. That left just a handful of us heading to the lines end in Spring Valley.
Layover in Spring Valley:
We had about 50 minutes to kill before the return train. The Spring Valley train station, although the building is still standing has turned into a Chicken/Pizza delivery place, which does not do business on Sundays. So me and my friend sat on a row of 5 chairs with armrests in between I guess no benches since Spring Valley unfortunately had a homeless population. It wasn't the nicest town I'd ever been thats for sure, but it wasn't like I felt in danger or anything like that during the layover. Me and my friend passed the time discussing school and things that you would fall asleep reading about so with that lets go to the return trip.
Spring Valley to Secaucus:
The return train was the same train that brought us up, as well as the same crew. It pulled up 3 minutes ahead of its schedule although it didn't leave until the printed time (12:15). We boarded along with 10 or so others. For kicks me and my friend sat in the same seats we had taken on the ride up. Since, they don't turn the train I suggested we sit on the same side of the train so we an see the sights on the other side. Which to me provides adequate variety, as well as seeing more of the landscape (cityscape). The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful. We lost a minute some where along the route. Which was bad news for me and my friend as we only had 4 minutes to make a connection the earlier train. We figured we'd give it our best shot to catch that one instead of spending another hour in Secaucus. Since I was in such a hurry to catch my train home I did not check the OTP of the return although I think we must have made it a minute early based on how we made our connection.
Secaucus to Little Silver
After an ahead rush of the platform in Secaucus up two sets of stairs and into the main concourse I looked up at the board for our train it said it was on Track B and that it had departed!! I figured we missed it but we ran to the tracks down where there was an agent who said it hadn't arrived yet. Great news, we swiped our cards and the gates slide open and we barreled down another flight of stairs. To find no train there. We stood there wondering if we had missed it or not. I asked a few people milling around and, they said that the Coastline train hadn't arrived yet. Phew! The train was 3 minutes late when it pulled into Secaucus. I'd never been happier to have a train be late. If it were on time I am pretty sure we would not have made it. The rest of the ride was uneventful. The train was run with the bilevel equipment so it got full but it never got crowed. They never opened the first car which they had sealed off. We got Little Silver a minute ahead of schedule. Great trip! I took some pictures which I will work on after this gets posted. Another great day of rail riding. A great way to end my break.
Conclusion:
It was a great trip and the Pascack Valley line is worth the ride.
I would have waited for warmer weather since you have to wait outside.
My friend agreed that we should take another trip sometime to ride the AirTrain at Newark Airport.
Thanks for reading
Disclaimer: No editing was done to this report aside from a spell check
Please leave your comments/thoughts below
Pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenmontero...lleyLine?pli=1#
This report will include NJT North Jersey Coast Line an overview on Secaucus Junction station and the NJT Pascack Valley Line.
NJT North Jersey Coast Little Silver to Secaucus:
(My 5th TR on this piece of rail.)
Well this journey started at a decent hour for a change, compared to my other rail trips this week. With the 10:15 Arrival of the New York Penn Station bound train. This trip would again feature a traveling companion. One of my best friends agreed to join me on this trip, for reasons he never made clear. Well anyway, I told him to meet me at the station 5 minutes before the train was scheduled, which for NJT isn't really cutting it close since 80% of the time they operate with in 1 to 2 minutes of the schedule. Plus, I already had the tickets we need for the trip. It pulled up right on time. Again the usual variety of Comet cars.
Once we got under way, we soon realized that this was going to be one full train. As we rolled on, we picked up more and more people. Luckily, he enjoys things like APM, and Monorails. So, we were able to talk about the rails. He had never been in Secaucus, and I haven't been there in quite so time. I admitted that I might actually not be to sure what we were doing when we got there. Then we stopped at Rahway and picked up quite a crowed. I was worried about the crowds since usually I am alone, and was hoping that I got a good seat-mate. Then it dawned on me, I already have a seat-mate and, so that part of the crowds left my mind. When we got to Newark and even more passengers joined us; it became a standing room only train. I was more then happy to disembark at Secaucus right on time.
Thoughts on Secaucus:
This being Sunday we had an hour to kill before the Pascack Valley train would show up. I can say this, I was totally impressed with every aspect of Secaucus Junction Station. To me everything was laid out in an easy and sensible manner. A first for anything designed to work inside New Jersey. The station is laid out with 2 levels of tracks. The upper level houses trains that go to New York and arrive on the NEC. While the lower level tracks are for trains coming and going to Hoboken. To get to any of the tracks you just have to go into the main hall and around the concourse are color Solari boards that match the color of the line your trying to catch. That lists the tracks and times for the next few trains on that line. There is on kind of Newsstand/Convience Store that provide some light lunch options, as well as well as an assortment of other snacks. The station was bright and clean, and frankly I really, really, really, like Secaucus. Alright enough of that, lets get back on the rails.
Pascack Valley Line Secaucus to Spring Valley.
I know, technically I didn't ride the whole line since the train starts in Hoboken. Well I counting it anyway, since it doesn't mean anything to anyone but myself. The train pulled up one minute late. As we get a pair of seats in the second to last car my friend tells me this is the first time he's gone anywhere on the train other then the NJT North Jersey Coastline. I laugh and say well now its not. My friend started me asking a few questions about this line, and what the stations were like. I looked at him laughed and said, "I have no idea I've never ridden this line, so we'll find out soon enough." This line was a little weird at first as usually on Commuter trains like this you pick up very few going away from the major cities. On this train for the first few stops the number of people getting on was higher then those getting off. We got pulled into a passing siding to let the inbound train go by and from that point had no other stoppages. As we head further North we began to loose a few people at station. I noticed that there was no major station where a majority of people got off. Just a few at a time until the second to last stop where there were only about 15 people left in my car, of which 7 got of in Nanuet. That left just a handful of us heading to the lines end in Spring Valley.
Layover in Spring Valley:
We had about 50 minutes to kill before the return train. The Spring Valley train station, although the building is still standing has turned into a Chicken/Pizza delivery place, which does not do business on Sundays. So me and my friend sat on a row of 5 chairs with armrests in between I guess no benches since Spring Valley unfortunately had a homeless population. It wasn't the nicest town I'd ever been thats for sure, but it wasn't like I felt in danger or anything like that during the layover. Me and my friend passed the time discussing school and things that you would fall asleep reading about so with that lets go to the return trip.
Spring Valley to Secaucus:
The return train was the same train that brought us up, as well as the same crew. It pulled up 3 minutes ahead of its schedule although it didn't leave until the printed time (12:15). We boarded along with 10 or so others. For kicks me and my friend sat in the same seats we had taken on the ride up. Since, they don't turn the train I suggested we sit on the same side of the train so we an see the sights on the other side. Which to me provides adequate variety, as well as seeing more of the landscape (cityscape). The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful. We lost a minute some where along the route. Which was bad news for me and my friend as we only had 4 minutes to make a connection the earlier train. We figured we'd give it our best shot to catch that one instead of spending another hour in Secaucus. Since I was in such a hurry to catch my train home I did not check the OTP of the return although I think we must have made it a minute early based on how we made our connection.
Secaucus to Little Silver
After an ahead rush of the platform in Secaucus up two sets of stairs and into the main concourse I looked up at the board for our train it said it was on Track B and that it had departed!! I figured we missed it but we ran to the tracks down where there was an agent who said it hadn't arrived yet. Great news, we swiped our cards and the gates slide open and we barreled down another flight of stairs. To find no train there. We stood there wondering if we had missed it or not. I asked a few people milling around and, they said that the Coastline train hadn't arrived yet. Phew! The train was 3 minutes late when it pulled into Secaucus. I'd never been happier to have a train be late. If it were on time I am pretty sure we would not have made it. The rest of the ride was uneventful. The train was run with the bilevel equipment so it got full but it never got crowed. They never opened the first car which they had sealed off. We got Little Silver a minute ahead of schedule. Great trip! I took some pictures which I will work on after this gets posted. Another great day of rail riding. A great way to end my break.
Conclusion:
It was a great trip and the Pascack Valley line is worth the ride.
I would have waited for warmer weather since you have to wait outside.
My friend agreed that we should take another trip sometime to ride the AirTrain at Newark Airport.
Thanks for reading
Disclaimer: No editing was done to this report aside from a spell check
Please leave your comments/thoughts below
Pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenmontero...lleyLine?pli=1#
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