Springfield Team Track

n the mid- to late-1960s, there were a few customers patronizing the Springfield team track: M&N Boychuk Stone Co., Columbia Lumber, and Andrew Wilson. Boychuk would get flatcars of stacked slate and sometimes loose fireplace stone. Columbia would get boxcars of dimensional lumber and plywood. Wilson would seldom get a car but since their siding at Baltusrol was out of service they were obliged to have it spotted on the team track whenever they got something in.

The Springfield team track sat a bit higher than the level of the main and there was a bit of a slope from the switch to get up there. Once, the crew spotted a car up there and cut away from it. The car started following them back out to the main. So they looked, the hand brake was on as tight as it would go, the piston was out as far as it would go. The brakes were maladjusted as the shoes were still hanging loose. So, George Davis - the RV's Superintendent - had to come up from Kenilworth to adjust the brakes. In the meantime, the crew chocked it and left a car ahead of it so it wouldn't roll out.