I am sitting at this computer, and it may be a month before I can get up from this chair. The Hoboken Festival was today and it was a dandy! I have pretty much been on my feet since 9 AM this morning. Took about an hour to have an early dinner at Arthur's Steak House on Washington St. in Hoboken. Hey, had a great 24 oz. steak for $15.95. Hope my stomach goes down before I have to go back to work tomorrow. The station was filled with scores of railfans and average folks. Lots of people were checking out my Deshler shirt! We started out by riding the NJT Light Rail System on it's opening day out of Hoboken all the way to Bayonne. A 26 minute trip, one way. It has been up and running for about a year, but today it finally started out of the Hoboken Terminal. We each got commerative tickets, which were for a free ride too. It's beautiful. What a nice run! Good thing we did it early. The line around 2 PM was long!!!!!!!!! The station was filled with assorted NJT engines, both brand new and some rather old. Plus, the Morristown and Erie had some motive power there. A couple of private varnish cars were there too. One was an observation car from the 20th Century. (I had Fitz and Hank on my mind when I saw that)! Beautiful! But, they wanted $5 to go into it! No sir. Sorry. The "conductor" had a WAD of cash in his hand. I do mean, a wad. It should have been free just like everything else was. And there were assorted commuter cars on display from NJT and Path. And some neat MOW vehicles on the tracks. A beautiful old caboose in a deep maroon from the Lackawanna was nice. Oh, the other passenger car we did get to walk through was the Ohio River, a L&N car. The free giveaways from NJT and Path included pins, pens, cups, rubber Path trains, OP Lifesaver pamphlets.........schedules, info on the new Light Rail......posters............New Orleans type beads for the kids.............and lots more. My friend Eric a police captain, talked to many cops from Hoboken, NJT, Path......and traded patches with them. And there was a very, very long street festival out on Washington St. It must have been at least a half mile long. The stage outside the terminal featured music such as bluegrass, rock, country........there were tens and tens of thousands of people there! Clowns, guys on stilts, face painting and so much more stuff was free to the kids. A PCC (retrired) from the Newark Subway was on display on a heavy duty trailer outside. This morning we saw an FDNY fireboat spraying red, white and blue water out in the harbor for a memorial to a firemen who died at ground zero. Incredible stuff. Thank you NJT and Path. What a wonderful show they put on each year!
Thanks for going Johnny! You saved me many steps! I sure hope someone was taking photos, and maybe we will see it on TV one of these days as a special.
Watash, I'll send Russ a couple of pictures to post, along with his bag of goodies from the festival!
Now wait just a doggone minute there John .... the Century was an "Extra Fair" train, so of course you should expect to pay "extra" to go aboard one of her Obs ... ! BTW, I never(!) rode the Century ... saw her once at Harmon while she changed engines .... S I G H
Hank, like you, I was a Po kid and never rode the Century, and it WAS an extra fare train. Johnny, what car was it? Hickory Creek, Sandy Creek?
Oh oh. Hank, ya got me there! LOL! But, we just felt if someone could afford to own and run that car, it wasn't the place to charge an admission. I'm sure lots of people were not thrilled either. It sure kept a lot of kids out of it. And the riff raff too. (Like myself!!!) And I kid you not when I say the wad of cash in the conductor's hand (the money was folded in two) was five inches thick. Must have been a lot of singles! Fitz.........yikes. I think it was the Hickory Creek if I remember correctly. Yes. I'm sure. It was a tail observation car. I sent Russ some pics to post. Only got the tail, because it was the only place I could get a shot from because of the crowds. My shots seem to show few people (thank you!) but it was mobbed. Most of my shots were taken an hour before the event officially started anyway. I had several selfish people walk right in front of me while trying to line up shots. I waited and didn't waste any photos. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys would have loved the show. We also toured the old L&N 's Ohio River. Those folks were really nice. Non railfans might have thought the freight diesels and other things are common in the station. During the week, and 364 days a year it's only commuter trains! And I do suggest that anyone coming to New York or Jersey for a visit, get over to Hoboken to see the beautiful station, and ride the Light Rail to Bayonne. Whew! It's nice! EVERYTHING is new! The entire ROW is new! Amazing! Costs about $3 on a normal day to ride roundtrip. Unless that was "off peak" fares. I sent Russ the photos Express Mail. LOL! LOL! Hope they survive the trip with his other things! The envelope was stuffed.
Johnnie, while checking out other RR sites, on Railway Preservation News I found some stuff on Hickory Creek. That is the car that was restored all right. It was stored at the Black River and Western in Ringoes, NJ for a long time and folks thought it wouldn't make it. Evidently it did. This is what it looked like in Ringoes. Hickory Creek Hmm, that won't work. I'll be baaaaaack, like Arnold. [ 01. October 2002, 23:05: Message edited by: fitz ]
GET OUTTA HERE! (As we New Yorkers like to say)! I can't believe that's the same car. Wait until you see the butt end of it now. It one of the few butts to have improved with age! LOL! Photo to come soon! Check out the reflections. Jus-s-s-s-s-t ever so polished up. Jus' a wee bit. I saw some guy was flossing his teeth in that shine! Like a mirror it is! sidenote: the Black River & Western was where I had my first cab ride over twenty years ago. It was in an RS1 or 2. I forget anymore. Think they sold it off too since then. I bought one of their t shirts last year at the Hoboken Fest. They had one of their cabooses there. Or their only caboose it might have been! I heard the same conductor who got us into the cab is still there too!
FUGHEDDABBOOUUDIT as I used to say when I lived back there. You got a cab ride in a diesel on the BR&W? When we were back there in 95 I got video of the little consolidation 2-8-0 No. 60. I was in some farmer's yard right near the station at Ringoes. He came by and I asked if it was OK to film. He said "Sure, and thanks for asking. Most people just do it."
The BR&W used to run a steamer from Flemington to Ringoes, then I think it was that you boarded a diesel train and went further to a town I can't remember. I remember that we just took the diesel all the way back, because it was the last train of the day. The conductor was from Long Island, and so was my Mrs. That's what made him like us and he stopped the train and put both of us into the cab! But we had ridden two trains. One steam, one diesel. Don't know if that's the case anymore! It's been 20 years and a lot of trains have gone under the bridge since then so maybe I'm a little forgetful about how the operation actually worked. I know whatever the town was (and maybe it was Ringoes??), it was across the river from the New Hope and Ivyland in New Hope, PA. We could hear their whistles blowing!
Just got johnny's pics. Here they go. ohnny will provide the commentary: Pic#1- Johnny- Is that the Morristown & Erie? If yes, that must be a new safety paint job. I have not seen that before: Pic#2- Observation (BTW Johnny- I sent you an article via the Tristste railnews on this) Pic#3- Pic#4- NJ Transit's Light Rail (Cars made by Siemens- the german electrical company based in california): Pic#5- You all wondered how Johnny gets through that Midtown Traffic!!!!-
Thanks for the pix, Russ and Johnnie. Wow, did they do a restoration job on the Hickory Creek, or what??? I'm impressed!!
THANK YOU RUSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a good friend!!!!!!!!!!! Cool! PIC #1: Yep! That's the M&E. I have never seen that paint scheme either! The PATH car was towed in too because there is no third rail in the terminal. Those PATH cars are getting along in years. Time to start thinking about new ones! pic #2: I can't believe that the same car either! The Hickory Creek. WOW! pic #3: A little sampling of something old and something new. That's a futuristic NJT engine next to the L&N's Ohio River and Hickory Creek. pic #4: The Light Rail system has been around for a year or so. It was the first run out of Hoboken that day. Those buildings through the smog are the World Financial Center. The Trade Towers should be right behind them. The run was 26 minutes from Hoboken to Bayonne. It's amazing. We could have done without the empty beer bottle rolling around at our feet though. I'd be more than happy to set up a TB meet one day if folks are around to ride the line. Then we could go out to Newark which is fun! pic #5: A brand new NJT High Rail! There's always MOW stuff on display at the Fest! Thank you Russ again!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't the wee bit of the station you can see just grand! Thank you NJT and the City of Hoboken! [ 04. October 2002, 01:30: Message edited by: Johnny Trains ]
I believe that is what it was! An Acela lookalike, but man.......can the Disco Stripes already. It long past the disco era!
