I had been to New Jersey once.  That was 2013 and the trip really did not go as planned.  It was cloudy and I did a poor job of finding trains.  With just two photos taken, I left for New York as I had pretty much given up the chance to get any decent photos that I would be happy within New Jersey.  I have a personal goal of getting to as many different states as I can and photograph trains.  But it seemed my chances for checking “The Garden State” off the list had failed.

But a second chance came about in April 2019.  My sister Laurie and I were going to Cleveland, OH on vacation where she wanted to do family genealogy.  I on the other hand was going to find trains to photograph.  I had already checked Ohio off the list so I looked over a map to see where the closest state I had not been to was.   North Carolina was about 500 miles from Cleveland, but New Jersey was 430 miles due east on I-80 crossing the entire state of Pennsylvania to get there.  Second chance.

We arrived in Ohio Saturday 4-13-19 and I was on my way east Sunday afternoon April 14 on a 200 mile drive via I-80 to Clearfield, PA where I had planned to stop for the night.

Monday morning 4-15-19 came the remaining 230 miles to Denville, NJ and plans to photograph westbound afternoon commuter trains on New Jersey Transit hoping for some of the 23 older GP40P’s before they are replaced by new locomotives this December.  Research and inquiries on different rail forums said Denville was the place to go.

Once I crossed into New Jersey I set my phones mapping feature for Mount Tabor, NJ.  Google maps had shown some nice locations at Mount Tabor right off Lackawanna Ave with grade crossings at either end so that looked like a good place to start.  My arrival at Mount Tabor was about 3PM.  It was windy and clouds were rolling in and out but there were enough sun breaks to give me some hope for decent photography.

It did not take long for the first commuter train to show up.  NJT 4620 with train 6631         arrived at 3:10 PM.

This is where I was confused at first.  The train is westbound in the afternoon but the front is backlit.  Turned out the line here is not east-west but north-south!  Eastbounds in the afternoon with full sun on the front was going to take some getting used to!  I had also been told westbounds have the power unit up front and that eastbounds run cab car first.

At 3:24 PM horns from the other direction, an eastbound was coming.   But not cab car first.  NJT Bombardier built ALP-46A 4655 was leading train 6654 and in nice sunlight!  And the double deck commuter cars are nice too.

 

Thank goodness that info about cab cars leading east was apparently wrong.  Next up just a few minutes later at 3:27 PM was westbound 0877 with NJT PL42-AC 4004 built by Alstom leading.

Not a fan of these things at all, at least from the front end.  Luckily this was the only one I saw leading this trip.  At 3:53 PM I had cab car 7047 leading on eastbound 6656 but I actually liked the looks of the double deck cab cars!  Bring them on!

NJT commuter car 7552 on train 6656 had slogans on it.  Both sides were different.

Shoving on the rear of train 6656 was ALP-46A 4645 and it had a nice Veterans decal on the side.

Once this train had departed the clouds rolled for the rest of the day and I decided to was time to head for the motel.  I may not have seen any of the GP40P’s but after seeing the electrics in person I have to say I like them. Certainly not a Little Joe or a GG1 but they look like an electric should, boxy (like a Milwaukee Road boxcab kinda sorta).

Excellent way to make my return to New Jersey.  Much better than 2013!  Tomorrow is forecast to be Pt Sunny and about 65 so it should be a great day!