Transferring trains at Long Branch, New Jersey

[50cobra302]

no electric lines south of long branch. gotta switch to diesel

[NHRHS2010]

@50cobra302 yeah diesel can't go into the tunnels that lead to the New York Penn Station. Same thing goes with some Long Island Rail Road trains, where a transfer in Ronkonkoma, for example, is mandatory for Greenport

[hhp8]

ahhh, i remember this

[NHRHS2010]

Transferring trains at Long Branch to travel to/from the New Jersey shore area? I remember doing this too in November 2008.

[hhp8]

yeah, i did that alot

[NJT4211]

Those F40PH-2CAT locomotives are very loud. They are more louder then the GP40PH-2 locomotives.

[NJT4211]

Wow it's more easier to transfer at Long Branch then Secaucus Junction. Because if you take the Main/Bergen County Line to the North Jersey Coast Line at Secaucus Junction and you have to wait extra minutes for the other train. But you made two transfers at Secaucus Junction and Long Branch. And you got an F40PH-2CAT. And plus at Long Branch when you get off the train you can get right on the other train.

[murjax]

That was an easy transfer. I like when they purposely schedule the trains like that so you could hop right on the next one. I remember the last time I was supposed to make a quick transfer like this, my connecting train was 20 minutes late. I was able to get some good shots while waiting on the platform though.

[NHRHS2010]

Yes, this transfer is easy, compared with Secaucus Junction, Penn Station, and other larger train stations. And in the same train line, the trains usually wait if the other train is late. But in larger stations for different lines, the trains won't wait. I remember making a similar transfer in 2005 at Ronkonkoma, New York with Long Island Rail Road.

[murjax]

The transfer I made was in New Haven, CT. I had gotten off a Shore Line East train from Old Saybrook and was supposed to get on a Metro-North New Haven Line train right away, but as I said, he didn't pull in for 20 minutes. It's not typical for trains to be late departing their originating terminal like that.

[NHRHS2010]

Yea, it's VERY annoying when a train is late, especially if the late train will cause you to miss the connecting train, which has happened to me a few times.

[murjax]

That has happened to me a few times too, but it happened on Amtrak and it involved my train north from Florida getting into Washington, DC late where I was supposed to pick up another train to Connecticut. Unlike regular commuter trains, long distance Amtrak trains often have delays ranging from 30 minutes to 9 hours. I remember one story where Amtrak managed to pick up a 48 hour delay. Not fun.

[NHRHS2010]

Yes, not fun to be in such delays. The 48 hour delay could be the result of some kind of a disaster.

[murjax]

Actually, it was the result of a CSX derailment in Savannah, GA, but I don't see how it took them 48 hours to clear the derailment at least slightly so the train could get by.

[NHRHS2010]

Looks like they were very slow at clearing the derailment. Doesn't make sense.

[murjax]

Yeah, I know. You would think they'd hurry up considering a passenger train is waiting. I think the train even started running out of resources like food after the first 24 hours.