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[Sloan]

I waas in Spring Lake Lake , NJ on November 15, 2014, and I had a luncheon engagement in New York. Free parking at Spring Lake station; and, this being a weekend, I had no trouble finding a slot. Skies were clear, but temperature hovered around 40. Kudos to New Jersey Transit for restoring the station and many stations up the line. No platform canopy, but one could get in out of the cold by stepping into a small waiting room in one half of the station. The other half was once a branch bank complete with drive-in lanes. But the bank had decamped to another location. No ticket agent, but the on-site vending machine dispensed my tickets quickly along with a credit card receipt. As a senior citizen, I paid half price. The line is double track, although just south of the station is a siding. Shiny rails indicate that third track sees frequent use. Right on time at 7:34 AM, I saw headlights of a Bombardier cab car heading towards the station. The "kat-ting ka-ting" warning gong announced the train was getting close. Crossing gates lowered on Warren Ave., which ran perpendicular to the station, much to the apparent consternation of impatient motorists. When the train stopped, I headed for the nearest coach door, but it did not open. Darn it! I started to walk to the next coach; but suddenly the reluctant door opened, and I boarded. I took advantage of the coach's walk-over seats so I could face forward. Courteous and friendly conductor punched my ticket. I would surrender it to a new conductor on a train to which I would transfer. At Long Branch, I joined my fellow passengers as we hurriedly made cross-platform switch to a train powered by overhead catenary. The train made good time, but the ride was annoying. Something was either wrong with the electric locomotive or the coach couplings. After departing from each station, the engineer would release brakes. The train would roll backwards for a foot or two; and then, SLAM!, coupling slack would tighten with a big jerk. "This is what steam engines used to do," I thought. There was a kerfuffle at Elizabeth (I think) where a lady conductor confronted an argumentative passenger (might have been under the influence) who refused to exit the train. Using a command presence voice and gentle pressure on the man's elbow, she guided him onto the platform. Buzz. Buzz, and off went the train. The train raced through the Hudson River tunnel at speed. I was pleasantly surprised that the yardmaster allowed the train to proceed through Penn Station throat to assigned platform smoothly. It's been my past experience that trains had to creep through the yard. For the return, I entered Penn Station at 4:00 PM from Seventh Avenue. At the bottom of the entrance steps, I ducked into a nearby bakery to buy a loaf of seeded rye bread. I ate some next day. Mmmmmmmmm! No place to sit, so I loitered at NJT's concourse where I observed multitudes coming and going including Amtrak Police. A numerator board announced my 5:07 train ready for boarding on Track 2. I joined a throng of people, in a hurry because of a ten minute boarding window, who squeezed down a narrow and steep stairway. The adjacent escalator was not running. Go figure. Jerk. Slam. The train departed on time. New crew, but same courteous and friendly attitude. Somewhere around Perth Amboy, the pantograph hit dead wire so the train coasted for a bit until it could get fresh electricity. There were two more such "outages" of short duration during the trip. Then the HVAC went goofy—a for a short time—but nevertheless producing an unpleasant situation. Blowers kicked in sending a blast of foul methane gas coupled with urinal deodorant through my coach. EEEEEEEEEWWWWWW! Gross! The switch back to diesel power at Long Branch went well, and the southbound train proceeded smoothly without coupler banging. I was back in Spring Lake about five minutes down. Sloan

[KevinKorell]

Thanks for the report, and welcome to the Jersey Shore! That wasn't urinal deodorant you smelled, since the trains have no urinals. Rather you smelled the product of the lack of said deodorant and somebody who couldn't handle the movement of the train. The doors not opening right away when the train stopped is nothing strange either --- crew to their credit probably was in process of a longer than expected onboard ticket transaction .... otherwise they should know when the stops are coming and be prepared with the traps. They used to leave them down much of the time on the diesel-only portion of the Coast Line, but now with more stations having high level platforms that is not possible.