The CSX River Subdivision
Bogota NJ (1 of 1)
Added 5/2009 Copyright © 2009 Lewis Bogaty
North of Ridgefield Park, the River Subdivision enters Bogota, NJ. on the double track. After passing the Bogota Defect Detector at mile QR 7.2, the tracks approach CP 7 at mile QR 7.6, where the double track expands into a triple track to CP 10 in Bergenfield.
The triple track from CP 7 to CP 10 was completed in 1999. The first expansion of the line thereafter, and the first begun by CSX after its take-over of the River Line from Conrail, was the double track across the Overpeck Creek in Ridgefield Park and up to CP 7.
Just north of CP 7, along the triple track, sits the pedestrian crossing often referred to by dispatchers, with the cc boards beyond. Dispatchers will often have southbound trains stop at the cc boards for the pedestrian crossing to wait for space in the yard.
The Bogota High-Car Detector
Getting there: From Mount Vernon Avenue in Ridgefield Park, follow Railroad Avenue north along the east side of the tracks. The detector is just south of Route 80, which passes overhead. The detector can be viewed from the side of the road.
The Bogota Detector is the high-car detector at the south end of the River Line. (The Ravena detector is the high-car detector at the north end of the line.) Prior to the double-tracking of the line south from CP 7, the detector reported only northbound trains, but now reports trains in both directions. It is one of the two detectors that were changed to report "CSX" rather than simply dropping the "Conrail," as the others did much later, in 2008.
Above & Below: The high-car detector with Route
80 beyond, and with a northbound freight on October 31, 2008.
Above: With extreme luck, you might happen upon
a daylight SU100 sneaking south
on the Susie Q tracks just down the hill from the River Sub detector. October 31, 2008.
CP 7
CP 7 is the south end of the triple track that runs north to CP 10 in Bergenfield. The easternmost track was extended to Ridgefield Park in 2002, thus creating a new double track south from CP 7.
Getting there: CP 7 is at West Shore Avenue, which begins near River Road. From the high-car detector, continue north on Railroad Avenue, which shortly becomes West Shore Avenue.
Above: The triple track narrows into a double
track at CP 7, seen here from the south
on October 31, 2008. The bridge in the distance is East Main Street.
Below: CP 7, viewed from the pedestrian crossing to the north.
Above: Q433 passes CP 7 on a bright Halloween afternoon as the leaves are beginning to turn. October 31, 2008.
Below: A work train is northbound on the same
day.
The Double-Tracking Project
In August 2001, as the double-tracking project was underway, the section just south of CP 7 sported newly-placed ties awaiting track. The entire project, including a new bridge across the Overpeck Creek, was complete in December 2002.
Above: ROAD RAILER on the River Line! On August 24, 2001, Q162, the east-bound leg of the short-lived Ice-Cold Express, a joint venture between Burlington Northern Santa Fe and CSX, passes the newly-laid ties for the double track south of CP 7. The Ice-Cold Express (Q162 east and Q163 west) was a twice weekly refrigerated train in each direction carrying fruits and vegetables from San Bernardino, California, to Little Ferry, New Jersey. The coast-to-coast train, with CSX doing the Chicago to New Jersey leg, made the trip one day faster than any other intermodal service. It was the only regular road railer on the River Line in recent memory.
Below: On the same day, 8813, one of the many
engines still in Conrail paint at the time, leads
Q418 north under the Route 80 bridge.
The Pedestrian Crossing
If you ever heard the dispatcher tell a crew, "Bring it south and hold up at the pedestrian crossing" or "hold up at the cc boards," and wondered where that was, this is the place.
Getting there: It is not possible to reach the pedestrian crossing by driving north on West Shore Avenue. Instead, drive north as far as West End Avenue. From West End, turn left into Leonia Avenue and then left again into Fort Lee Road. Or coming from Teaneck Road, Queen Anne Road or Palisade Avenue, drive west on Fort Lee Road to the tracks.
Above: The pedestrian crossing looking west as
it appeared on October 27, 2008.
Above & Below: Q433 on October 27, 2008, as it
rolls across the pedestrian crossing
and as, moments earlier, it approaches the pedestrian crossing.
