NJ: I-280 Temp RR. during construction.

[Brian556]

I ran across this on Railpictures.net and thought it was interesting. A temporary railroad was built upon the grade that I-280 was being built for the purpose of hauling materials during construction.

[mgk920]

The contractor determined that the railroad would be more cost efficient than using oversized trucks to haul all of the spoils from a very large rock cut.  The bedrock in that area is very hard and jagged and would have eaten those trucks' tires (think $$$$ for each one) for lunch.  After the work was complete (IIRC, a little over a year), the contractor removed the track and sold off all of the equipment, including two new-bought locomotives.

Mike

[mgk920]

BTW, this is 'I-280' in New Jersey.

Mike

[Alps]

OK it's really cool to see a railroad in the WB lanes at Exit 6. I wonder if it tied into the freight spur near Exit 4.

[Duke87]

Well, that is a pretty huge rock cut.

Interesting example of using one mode to build another. Is it unique?

[NE2]

Well, that is a pretty huge rock cut.

Interesting example of using one mode to build another. Is it unique?

They use roads to build railroads all the time

They used temporary railroads for the Panama Canal: http://www.panamarailroad.org/canal.html "Nothing in the Canal Zone during construction days was moved by truck. For the shortest, even temporary hauls, ties and rails for trains were laid. Even the steam shovels in the cuts were on rails, and as they moved forward, the old tracks had to be torn up and new ones laid ahead of the shovel."

[Roadgeek Adam]

DOT probably gave the Morristown and Erie money to build and do the hauling, since that's the only freight rail line, besides the Erie-Lackawanna, which was waning at the time.