[ Website Contents ] [ River Sub Intro ] [ Scenic Highlights ] [ Milepost 0 ] [ North Bergen ] [ Ridgefield Park ] [ Bogota ] [ Teaneck ] [ Bergenfield ] [ Dumont ] [ Haworth-Closter ] [ Harrington Park ] [ Norwood-Northvale ] [ At The Border ] [ Orangeburg ] [ C712 Switching At Aluf Plastics ] [ Blauvelt ] [ West Nyack ] [ Valley Cottage - Congers ] [ Haverstraw-West Haverstraw ] [ Stony Point-Jones Point ] [ Last Tomkins Cove Coal Train ] [ Coal to Tomkins Cove ] [ E473 Sets Out A Hopper ] [ Iona Island ] [ Fort Montgomery ] [ Double-Tracking CP43-45 ] [ Fallen Signals 2007 ] [ Highland Falls-Newburgh ] [ Balmville ] [ Roseton-Highland Landing ] [ Balloons Over The River Line ] [ Walkway Over Hudson ] [ West Park ] [ Esopus-Ulster Park-Port Ewen ] [ Kingston ] [ Lake Katrine - Glenerie ] [ Mount Marion ] [ Saugerties ] [ Malden-Eavesport-West Camp ] [ Cementon - Alsen ] [ The Ditcher ] [ Catskill ] [ Athens ] [ Coxsackie ] [ C711 switching at MP 120 ] [ Hannacroix-New Baltimore ] [ Ravena ] [ CP-SK, Selkirk ] [ Infrequently Asked Questions ]
The CSX River Subdivision
(The River Line; The West Shore)
by
Lewis Bogaty
**To see
new photos and info added since your last visit,
Click Here**
Introduction
Copyright © 2008 Lewis Bogaty
Page added 2008; last updated December 2009
CSX #1 pays a rare visit to the River
Subdivision, leading intermodal train Q118 south
through CP22 in Blauvelt, NY. June 23, 2007.
The CSX River Subdivision is one of the most beautiful and interesting train lines in the East -- running alongside the majestic Hudson River, cutting through Revolutionary War battlefields and the legendary Catskill Mountains. A 24-hour-a-day mainline, it is made even more interesting because it is a single-track line with passing sidings.
Southbound on the Popolopen Creek Trestle looking toward the Fort Montgomery
Revolutionary War battle site. October 5, 2006.
The River Sub, heir to Conrail's River Line, and The New York Central's West Shore Line, was earlier the New York, West Shore, and Buffalo Railway. It runs nearly 130 miles from North Bergen, NJ, to Selkirk, NY, near Albany. It is CSX's easternmost north-south artery, connecting with east-west routes to Chicago and Boston at the massive Selkirk Yard.
Movement on the River Subdivision of the Albany Division of the Northeast Region of CSX Transportation is controlled by the Selkirk-based CSX NI Train Dispatcher since the NJ Dispatcher was abolished in March 2009.
In 1999, Conrail ceased to exist. Its assets, with several exceptions, were divided up between Norfolk Southern and CSX. The River Line was awarded to CSX. Until 2002, the territory from the North Bergen Yard to the Selkirk Yard continued to be called the River Line and was dispatched by the River Line dispatcher. Then on July 31, 2002, the River Line was renamed the River Subdivision and the River Line Dispatcher became the CSX NJ Dispatcher. The River Subdivision ran from CP SK in Selkirk to CP 7 in Bogota. The track from CP 7 south to the North Bergen Yard was transferred from the Albany Division to the Baltimore Division and renamed the Bergen Subdivision. After several years, however, this territory was restored to the Albany Division and was again a part of the River Subdivision.
Set your scanner to 160.980 and 160.260 to follow the action.
CSX autorack Q268 southbound in Jones Point, NY, on November 1, 2005
The Usual Suspects
The regular traffic on the River Sub is intermodal (stack and trailer) and mixed freights, along with auto carriers and the occasional unit train. Beginning in 2007, unit ethanol trains became common sights on the River Sub. While there is no guarantee trains will keep to their schedules with any regularity, on the average day there will be a parade of intermodal trains in the early morning with mixed freights dominating the afternoon, and a garbage train or two in the late afternoon or early evening. The auto carriers and ethanol trains squeeze in throughout the day. Trains can come in bunches, as often as fifteen or twenty minutes apart, but there are also dead periods with no trains for over two hours. The dispatcher has to manage north- and southbound trains on the same track, so if you are lucky (and he is not) you will see two trains, one behind the other, on the controlled siding waiting for two, three, or even four trains to pass on the main track.
In the early evening of May 2, 2005, a mixed freight snakes southward, leaving Iona Island.
Locals
The local trains are based in the Kingston Yard and service factories along the River Line. C712 works south of Kingston and C711 north. You can see the action close up at Aluf Plastic on Glenshaw Street in Orangeburg, MP21.5, usually in the late afternoon, at least once a week. This is a complex switching of plastic pellet cars that takes close to an hour, and is well worth catching.
Local train C712 works at Aluf Plastic in Orangeburg, NY, on September 27, 2005.
Quicker jobs that can be easily watched from close by include Beckerle Lumber off Route 9W in Haverstraw and "Xerox" at CP 22, Bradley Parkway in Blauvelt.
Circus Trains and Carnival Trains:
The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus travels the River Line once a year in May, with one trip north and another south. Check their website to determine the most likely date (usually the day after the close in a city south of New York prior to an opening several days later in a city north of New York).
Strates Shows, the last of the railroad carnival trains, also comes up the River Line, once a year in June. It actually has a more interesting display of equipment and cars than the circus train. Check their website to make best estimate of timing.
If you want to photograph rail photographers, Iona Island is the
place!
The Ringling Brothers Red Unit Train northbound on May 2, 2005.
Note:
With the addition of the section on Ridgefield Park, this mile-by-mile guide is now continuous for the whole length of the River Line, from MP 0 to CP-SK. You can read this guide from beginning to end by clicking the link at the bottom of each page; or you can use the menu at the top of every page to find a particular chapter. The chapters run in geographic order from south to north. Stop back for frequent changes. We will soon be adding additional text and photos to some of the oldest sections and will be adding new sections. The most recently added new section is on the "ditcher" at work.Also please note that nothing in this guide should be considered as encouragement to take photographs from anywhere but public property. We often use a very long telephoto lens. On various occasions we have received permission from private property owners or railroad personnel to photograph from private or railroad property. Indeed on several occasions we have been invited to come aboard trains and take photographs. Above all, for your safety, under no circumstances should you ever go on railroad tracks.
Next Page: Scenic Highlights of the River Subdivision
