URHS Vintage Equipment Movement - Whippany to Boonton 4/30/17

On the morning of the last day of April, Morristown & Erie and Norfolk Southern crews would go on duty and collaborate in order to transport some vintage equipment owned by the URHS in Whippany to their facility in Boonton. The equipment in question consisted of Rahway Valley Railroad GE 70 Tonners 16 and 17 and Erie Bucyrus Crane 03125, which were being stored at the Troy Hills Road Transload Facility. Morristown & Erie sent out C-424 18 to retrieve the equipment, while Norfolk Southern GP40-2 3010 set out from Dover to Morristown to pick up the equipment and take it the rest of the way to Boonton. This was a very interesting operation for me to see, even though it was hampered by a few issues along the way. Please enjoy! Starting out in Whippany, we see the Rahway Valley Railroad GE 70 Tonners, 16 and 17, Erie Bucyrus Crane 03125, and Morristown & Erie RS-1 21 silently sitting on the transload track off of Troy Hills Road as they await the arrival of the Morristown & Erie crew. The crew in question arrived at 7:54 aboard C-424 18 and got to work preparing the equipment for transfer. This process took over an hour, compounded by the fact that the old equipment was having issues with their brakes. Eventually, everything was all set for 18 to pull its train off of the transload track. In addition to the URHS stuff, RS-1 21 was brought along for the ride to Morristown to assist with the braking. With the train finally on the move, I began my chase by heading over to the nearby Route 10 crossing. The vintage locomotives and crane had to be moved very slowly, limiting the train to about 15MPH for the entirety of the run. This, of course, made getting ahead of the train very simple. From Route 10, I moved over to South Jefferson Road to get the train again. My next stop was East Frederick Place in Cedar Knolls, although I found myself waiting far longer than expected for the train to appear. I soon learned this was because GE 70 Tonner 16 was causing a number of problems, so it had to be set off at the South Jefferson Road Transload Facility to be picked up at a later date. Upon reaching Morristown, I chose to set up at Abbett Avenue by the entrance to the M&E headquarters. To my surprise, I found Norfolk Southern GP40-2 3010 shoving Conrail caboose 21303 east past the crossing to pick up the URHS equipment, which 18 had dropped off on the siding by Ridgedale Avenue. 10 minutes later, 3010 crossed Abbett Avenue once again with the Boonton-bound locomotive and crane in tow, minus the Conrail caboose. Only a few minutes afterward, 18 carefully passed by shoving 21303 and pulling 21 into the headquarters. With the two trains finally in one place, 18 pushed 21303 onto the end of the Norfolk Southern train, running as H0N, to get the train ready for its run over the Morristown Line to Denville and the Boonton Line. While this was being done, I was able to see the rolling stock and locomotives at the facility, including NJT Comet V Cab Car 6022, SW1500 20, and ex-Norfolk Southern MP15DC 2354. With its part of the job done, 18 moved into the headquarters with 21 and tied down while H0N ran up the hill to pull onto the Morristown Line at Baker Interlocking. H0N was limited to 10-15MPH while pulling the URHS equipment over NJ Transit trackage, so I took the opportunity to get ahead of the train and wait for it at the Mount Tabor station. It took awhile for it to get to my location, and it also had to stop briefly while Train 6920 pulled in and made its stop at the small station, running 5 minutes late. Multilevel Cab Car 7050 was on the point of this train, and ALP-46A 4644 was at the end. Once 6920 departed, H0N was able to pass through. To finish up my chase of this unique train, I made a stop at the Denville station to see it shove onto the Boonton Line. It came to a stop for a couple of minutes in the station, but soon continued on its way towards Boonton. And with that, I decided that it was time to call it a day and return home.