KADE Railroad RIP

The Friday night operations group we are a part of suffered two losses this month - Two Fridays ago saw the last run on Jake Evaul's Camden and South Jersey Railroad, and this Friday was the last run on  Dave Skinner's KADE Railroad.    We unfortunately missed Jake's last op session and his railroad is now mostly cut up and down.  We did make it to the last op session at the Kade Railroad, a sad event.   The owners of both railroads did a big service to the hobby here in South Jersey.  The friday night operation group is an open invitation event.  There are good things and bad things about that sort of set up, but for us, it was a way for us to meet people, run trains, and get more involved as we got back into the hobby about four or five years ago, and I thank both men for their warm hospitality in that regard.  Here are some final photos of the Kade Railroad:

Besides this sad news, I'd like to thank all of you for your concern with the recent storm that hit here in South Jersey.  We were fortunately spared the brunt of the damage, despite being dead center in the storms path.   We lost power for 16 hours and a few tree limbs fell.  A family place at the shore, on a barrier island, not more than 6 feet from the water also survived unscathed except for several things we didn't want anymore floating away into the sea or wherever.   On the island that home is on (Avalon), less than 5% of the houses are occupied year round so the displacement of people isn't as great as the news would make it out to be.  I was recently talking with a fellow in the affluent town of Haddonfield about damage to his shore house just north of Atlantic City (wet carpet).  He had already applied and received money from FEMA as a "displaced person".  He didn't look very displaced standing on the porch of his $880,000 house an hours drive from the shore.

The day after Sandy, Avalon, NJ - our floating dock resting on a piling.  The railing on the dock was completely under water as was the island in the distance.  Floating dock is at least 30 years old so due for a replacement.  Fixed dock in foreground was built in 1962 - Nothing like that now banned creosote wood preservative - fifty years in a harsh saltwater environment.  

 As you get closer to New York City, there are several towns with more year round residents that suffered horrific damage to life and property.  I was down in Ocean City, NJ today working and the boardwalk was packed with people enjoying the beautiful sunny weather and federal holiday.  By the way, the best pizza in the world -

Here and there piles of sand were being pushed back from the streets just off the beach, back into the dunes.  I did see a lot more damage on the mainland in the neighborhoods just off the bays, many of these are poorer areas and these folks are truly displaced.   This is a photo of Peter Lumber in Pleasantville, NJ -

Salt marsh is just beyond lumber yard property, then the bay, and then you can just make out the tall casino buildings in Atlantic City.  

The water was probably up to about the floor of the boxcar during the height of the storm, maybe higher.  They have damage to structures and are busy cutting three or four feet off the ends of all the 16' trim and pine boards stored vertically.  You can see the cut offs in the bin at the lower right of the photo.

A little work in the basement.  Some scenery, slowly, and I have almost finished the Benzol building - a mere shadow of the benchmark Vince Altiere structure.  More work on dock crane - getting close on this structure and the acquisition of the clamshell bucket has inspired me to get back to work on it.