| This is as local as railroading gets. A SPLAT car (short for shoving platform) leads a train of scrap metal east on the Sayreville Running Track (formerly the RRRR) for the Gerstel Ameristeel Steel Mill. The crewman is riding on what is basically a caboose without the housing. Hes radioing back to the rest of the crew in the locomotive perhaps to give warning of a lurking railfan. To the right of the knuckle coupler is a F.R.E.D. For the first leg of the trip, the SPLAT car brought up the rear as the train traveled up the Gillespie Branch from Browns Yard to the Sayreville Running Track wye. The train then pulled west onto the wye so that it could shove east to the steel mill as seen here. This scene was reminiscent of being at a car wash as the train took a good brushing from the trees. |