Some, if not most of the "Star-Ledger's" commenters are pretty sharp and entertaining to read.
Unfortunately, if the moderators of the comment sections aren't paying attention the comments tend to descend to the "You suck!" "No, YOU suck!" level.
Not everyone keeps it civil like we do here, but then as railfans we ARE a cut above average.
The comments to the article are also interesting to read.
Here's an article from the Newark Star-Ledger about NJTransit spending $28M to repair 11 ALP-45DP locomotives that were damaged by Superstorm Sandy. The article does not state if these 11 locomotives include the 9 that NJTransit insists are not their responsibility, since they had not accepted the titles to them from Bombardier.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/04/nj_transit_to_pay_285m_for_11.html#incart_river_default%3E
Overmod Firelock76 Hey John it's New Jersey! Something's ALWAYS going on! Look at the big doin's at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton! Fun, fun, fun! If Spyropoulos goes into the dinner train market, look for his consist to include the Tip-Top-Double-Tap car..
Firelock76 Hey John it's New Jersey! Something's ALWAYS going on! Look at the big doin's at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton! Fun, fun, fun!
Hey John it's New Jersey! Something's ALWAYS going on!
Look at the big doin's at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton! Fun, fun, fun!
If Spyropoulos goes into the dinner train market, look for his consist to include the Tip-Top-Double-Tap car..
Excuse me while I catch my breath, I'm choking from laughing!
Hey, it looks like we're only 43 comments away from an even 500. Keep it rollin' gang!
Wayne,
My morning Star-Ledger had a large front page article about the Tick Tock Diner along with the management philosophy there. I thought working in a diner would be fairly routine, even dull. Was I ever wrong.
John
John, I never went to Schaffers, that's one I missed.
The health violations? The word was when I was in high school 40-plus years ago it was all the health code violations that gave that extra flavor kick to what they served at Pizza Town in Paramus! Great pizza, and boy do I miss the zeppoles! Pizza Town's long gone but still sorely missed by those who remember.
As far as the "fun" at the Tick Tock, I think you missed my meaning. Check www.northjersey.com or www.nj.com. Wow! Like something on the "ID Channel".
PS. Do you remember Schaffer's in Hoboken, right across Hudson Place from the terminal. It was open 24 hours a day so if you missed your 2 am train and had to wait to 5 for the next one you could always get a cup of coffee at Schaffer's. I enjoyed eating there more than once.
Several years ago it was closed for some rather disgusting health violations.
I've never been to the Tick Tock although Allwood Road is pretty close to me. My dinner of choice is the State Street Grill.
But in a dinner I don't want fun, fun, fun. I want my breakfast in piece.
I saw no signs of a rebuilt or rebuilding project for the substation. I was with my grandson. We walked out to the end of the track 6 platform. The yard looked as it always had. However, the control tower was in front of us and it blocked a large portion of the yard so something could have been going on I could not see.
John no one has yet stated if NJTransit raised the substation at Hoboken. Were you able to see it or has any of our posters noted the rebuilt traction susbtation and its elevation?
sandyhookkenToday's Bergen Record has an interesting column on the current status of Hoboken Terminal, along with some sarcastic comments about NJTransit management.
I was in Hoboken Terminal last Saturday and actually came in the front doors of the waiting room, when out the back doors to the ferry slips, came back through the waiting room and back out again to the PATH station.
The room was warm and clean when I went through it. It was comfortable. However, I did not see any benches in it to sit on at all. The center benches which were there before the storm were covered with plywood. The entrance to the rest rooms, the ticket windows and one set of entry doors were covered with plastic. The boot black stand was also covered with plywood. I can only wonder where Doblin sat.
Tickets are sold outside from a trailer. Another trailer houses the rest rooms.
Doblin has been riding NJT trains for many years as I have. NJT did bring back good to excellent rail commuter service to New Jersey and, where bus service is available, that too is good to excellent. But our state transportation authority does not provide public transportation for the whole state; only for portions of the state and it does a lot better in north Jersey than in mid and south Jersey. Yet all people are taxed to support NJT. And NJT is a rigid and hide bound bureaucracy with no sense of being accountable to the public. For years we had off peak fares. NJT just arbitrarily abolished them for no particular reason. They alienated a lot of people when they did that. When they feel like it they stop service with 10 days' notice and no concern for people who are affected. That has happened to me; fortunately I could deal with it. And they never, ever explain a decision. They just announce it. I think Alfred Doblin has experienced this too. But he is an editorial writer for one of the two most influential newspapers in the state, The Bergen Record. New Jersey Transit has created in enemy and now they have to live with him.
Today's Bergen Record has an interesting column on the current status of Hoboken Terminal, along with some sarcastic comments about NJTransit management.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/doblin/
Firelock76Mr. M must be spinning in his grave.
Plenty of other people have their heads spinning too. How could people who are supposed to be so smart (like the Athletic Director who got RU into the big 10 and the President who didn't bother to look at the video tape until after everyone else in the state saw it as well as the Board of Governors) be so dumb?
Nothing NJT has done has even begun to cause the uproar over Rutgers.
It's a shame what's happened to Mr. Magoo's "Alma Mater". Mr. M must be spinning in his grave.
Firelock76Yep, as long as people get their "bread and circuses"..... Sports, sports, sports.
Actually, I think we should change Rutgers name to Rutgers -- The State Football Team. They are good enough to allow a few academic classes, though.
John if the unions didn't bring the working off the books issue to the State Legislature it's probably because NJT didn't push it to the "or else!" level. But like I said, these quotes from un-named sources are in the "take it for what it's worth" category. Maybe they're true, maybe they're not. Who knows?
By the way, is there some unwritten law that says basketball coaches have to be borderline psychos? Every photo I see of a B-ball coach during a game makes me wonder. Or maybe it's only the psychos that get the press.
Yep, as long as people get their "bread and circuses"..... Sports, sports, sports.
But a new scandal about Rutgers' oversight of its basketball coach has now claimed public interest and distracted attention from New Jersey Transit. It's an ill wind that is blowing NJT a lot of good.
Here's the link to the NorthJersey.com report: http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_Transit_chief_Equipment_moved_to_Meadowlands_facility_just_before_Sandy_flooding.html
NJTransit is still using the "Security" tactic to avoid comment, even though the equipment they won't comment on can easily be seen by the public. NJTransit Executive Director Jim Weinstein is still claiming “There was not reason to believe it {Meadowlands Maintenance Complex} would flood by Sandy.”
After all of this time, they still don't get it!
NJT could probably explain away the delay in restarting the Hudson Bergen Light Rail line. Large parts of Hoboken were flooded and they could say they needed time to inspect the line for damage.
As far as asking people to work off the books, frankly that is hard to believe even for New Jersey Transit. If the evidence is there the unions should bring it to the attention of the State Legislature.
John, there's even more.
According to my last issue of "Railpace" a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail official stated they'd moved their equipment well out of the danger zone prior to Sandy's landfall and were ready to begin operations again almost as soon as the waters receded but were ordered not to by NJT until after November 4 so as not to make the rest of NJT look bad.
Also according to some NJT employees when NJT officials finally realized just how bad Sandy was going to be and hit the panic buttons they tried to call in off-duty crews to the Meadowlands facility to try and move the equipment stored there, but "off the time cards" and without pay. Needless to say the crews refused, not just for the no pay part but because if they went to the Meadowlands at that point they'd lose their cars, as some Meadowlands personnel did.
These were un-named "off the record" quotes so take them for what they're worth. They DO make you wonder, though.
Accountability? I'm not holding my breath.
Wayne
Every time I think of something to say in response to this latest disclosure it is unprintable. Will the legislature demand some kind of accountability from NJT? I wait and hope.
Well, just when we thought we were done here along comes a story on www.northjersey.com : NJ Transit Chief Says Equipment Moved to Meadowlands Before Sandy...
Check it out.
I tell ya boys, it's like the Celine Dion song, it "goes on and on and on..."
Additional details are available in The Star-Ledger. That article is more focused on the details of the repairs than on the issue of transparency:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/03/nj_transit_board_approves_17m.html
(Transparency is certainly important).
Finally !
http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_Transit_approves_17M_more_for_Sandy_recovery.html?page=all
Here is NJT's news release with some added detail: http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=PressReleaseTo&PRESS_RELEASE_ID=2850
Today, NJTransit announced the restoration of electrically powered trains to Hoboken, beginning on March 24th.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Electric_NJ_Transit_trains_returning_to_Hoboken.html
Dave,
The New Jersey Transit Board of Directors has already announced they will seek a new repair facility in a higher location. Certainly, when rebuilding after a storm you can always upgrade to protect yourself from future storms. However, ordinarily insurance covers losses and not the upgrades in and of themselves.
the LIRR, MN, and possiblly the NJT people as well, are not idiots, and whatever they can do with the funds avialable will certainlly be spent in ways to mitigate effects of future floods.
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