Freight Trains Through Hackettstown
Hi!
I was wondering, does anyone know where the freight trains that periodically go through town go/are from? Usually they're pretty small in length, and I know they're operated by Norfolk Southern, but more information would be awesome.
Thanks to anyone who could help!
Best,
Jonny
Jonny Bechaud As far as I know:
- To/from all points, the big yard in Allentown.
- Local freight train, Allentown-Washington NJ
- Local freight train that runs between Washington NJ and Dover. This passes through Hackettstown.
So an incoming hopper from, say, Illinois to Dover, is delivered to the Allentown yard, then switched into the daily local to the small yard in Washington, where it is picked up by the daily local from Dover to Washington and back.
jd2 
BatmanBorealis is significant, BASF has been big, but is closing or has closed. M&M Mars has a rail spur but I don't know that it is being used.
Up to the 1950's/1960's rail lines in NJ had much manufacturing and other commerce along the rights-of-way. There is very little left in most places.
My h initially worked for Conrail 35 years ago..When the passenger rail service(became NJ Transit) separated from the rail service(Conrail) a couple of years after he was hired, he went with the passenger service...If you research the commercial aspect, you can find out the past info and recent info....
reedfamilyrocks There are freight trains twice a day heading east to west and back. Sometimes there will be a special run at night. This is a secondary railroad. Since Norfolk Southern took over operations on this line things have been very different. Here is a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTo02RL-j5w
What's a secondary railroad? Is that in reference to it's limited usage, or is it a backup route?
ThomasTank 
The designation " secondary line" means that rail line is not a primary mainline railroad track.The track speeds are slower and the railroad serves local customers rather than bringing large trains with through freight. The railroad line through town was up for abandonment back in the 1980s. Conrail also embargoed certain freight shipments to the Mars factory for quite a while.
The portion west of Hackettstown Station, which is Norfolk Southern, looks to be a 10 MPH route. No important through freights can use this line. Hence, secondary.
Something like that, anyway.
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