'Designing & Operating Yards' - Available for Preorder!

Some very exciting news for us here is the announcement of the pre-order status of my next book, Designing & Operating Yards which is due to arrive in November 2024!  It is available from the publisher Firecrown Media at bookstores and hobby shops, as well as on Amazon.com or your favorite online bookstore.   

Like Signals & Interlockings several years ago, this work is an effort to provide an overview of prototype railroad yard design and operations as well as a discussion on how we can model those same elements on our railroads.  The book look at history, engineering, and operations for a variety of prototypes and includes essays by a variety of experts on how different railroads managed yards.  

This work is only possible because of the generous contributions of many talented people and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with them to create the finished product.  

The larger world today seems to be a bit of a wild ride that is accelerating, and this book helps us to focus on real and tangible activity as much as it provides some philosophy on railroading and modeling railroads.  I hope you enjoy it!

The Good Times

This year is the second year that NJ TRANSIT has done the 'Hoboken Heritage Display' setup in September.  Once again I was able to be present with both boys, and this year there were some great displays in place once again.  These are a reminder of the 'good old days' to use a cliché, and also a reminder that there is always a chance that September 2024 will be looked at as the good old days as we move forward. 

We had the 4101 in the NJDOT 'Bluebird' scheme, applied by Conrail crews at Raritan Yard, as well as the 'Erie' decorated 4210 on display.  The GP40PH-2 repaint ideas are some I put a lot of effort into and to be able to share them with the boys is a real joy.  Thanks to Marc Glucksman for the photo!

Also displayed for the first time this year, to commemorate the 'Last Run' of the Edison MU cars is newly restored DL&W Parlor Car 2454, which was a daily car into and out of Hoboken for decades on the Gladstone Branch.  Really cool to see it next to U34CH 3372, and a showcase of how the United Railway Historical Society (URHS) and the Whippany Railway Museum can work with NJ TRANSIT to make good things happen.  

Ahead of the event crews were able to tidy up the yard tracks and to put some time into making the platforms as good as feasible, a benefit that helps customers on regular trains on a daily basis.

The boys loved being able to get into the equipment and look around.

Despite challenges what we do for the railroad can still be a lot of fun and holds a tremendous wonder for our young people.  To be able to share what I do for our family's living with my kids is something I will treasure for the rest of my time!

25 years

Now and again, it is worth nodding here to my day job as a manager at NJ TRANSIT Rail Operations, in the infrastructure engineering group.  The first of September was always a date loosely tied to school starting again, while looking forward to fall colors, crisper air and weather, and football.  

After school I'd hired out as an intern at NJ TRANSIT in Newark, NJ, with my fresh civil engineering degree.  It is a long story that is tied to a longer story, so I will save that for a future post.  But, the key for this post is that I was able to work that internship into a full-time position, my first.  My first railroad job became 'Junior Project Engineer' working out of Red Bank, NJ, on September 1, 1999.

24-year-old Dave Abeles, at CP Plain, Plainfield NJ
Winter 2001

And so when September drew near this year, it gave me pause - as September 1 is my 25th anniversary at work for NJT.  25 years into the Railroad Retirement system, which at NJT is a significant date also as it provides medical coverage for me and my family from here forward.  In my family as many of you might have learned that is no small deal, and it brings me comfort for which I am very thankful.  

Promotion to life in a cubical.  Spring 2004

There is still plenty of time left and a story that is still being written, but I thought for posterity and for all of us who fight the good fight that this date is worth a post of its own.  25 down, and more to come!