Community Corner

UPDATED: Hey Train Buffs! Tell Us About These Vehicles

A curious kind of train passed through town the other day on the NJ Transit tracks. Can you tell us about it?

Update May 7: According to NJ Transit, these track maintenance trains were headed to the Washington Boulevard/Sea Girt Avenue grade crossing in the Borough of Sea Girt for track bed and road surface work. The vehicles passing through town are used for regulating and tamping ballast, which is the layer of crushed rock or gravel the railway track sits on. Another is used to shake tracks to stabilize them. Our thanks to spokesperson NJ Transit Nancy Snyder for filling us in.

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On Friday morning around 10:20 a.m., I found myself stopped at the tracks on Hazlet Avenue at the Train Station. The wait grew so long I turned off the car engine.

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I heard a few bursts of an unfamilar horn, and then a stubby yellow workhorse vehicle came rolling down on the tracks. It made me laugh out loud a little; I wasn't expecting it. A moment passed, and then another yellow vehicle labored by, different from the first. I reached for up my camera and started taking pictures of the rest of the machines in this strange parade.

Train fans, please fill us in! My questions to NJ Transit were not immediately returned, but we know you must know.

Find out what's happening in Holmdel-Hazletwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Obviously these vehicles are involved in rail maintainence, but what exactly do they do? What is the purpose of the different vehicles? How come we don't see them very often? Please post your comments below.


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