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[EllisSimon]

The annual Far Hills (NJ) Steeplechase, which was held Saturday, Oct. 18, a charity fund-raiser that draws over 50,000 people to watch the races, could probably be described as the "world's biggest kegger." I had the privilege of attending this year to party with a friend who rented a spot in the infield. The event tests the capability of NJ Transit's Gladstone Branch as the railroad chucks its regular schedule and sends a fleet of train every 10-20 minutes to handle the throngs. Instead of the standard three-car Arrow (MU) trainset, the railroad runs trains of up to eight Comet cars hauled by diesel locomotives or electric motors. My journey began on Long Island, catching the 10:18 from Rockville Centre. Getting to NYP was no problem, but the throngs headed to Far Hills made ticket lines unusally long at both the staffed windows and the TVMs. I made the 11:11 Midtown Direct train to Dover with just a minute to spare and was lucky to find a seat. The fact that the last three cars of the eight car train were blocked off didn't help. At Summit, about three-quarters of the passengers got off and climbed up the stair to go over to the center island platform serving track 2. Normally, the connecting train would be waiting, but our train, six cars long and hauled by a GP-40-PH-2, would not come for another 20 minutes. Since the first three cars were Comet I's that can only be used at low-level platforms, everyone had to enter through the back of the train. With everyone aboard, we took off and made stops at New Providence and Berkeley Heights before running express to Far Hills. Most of the crowd was young and there was an unusually high quotient of good-looking females among them. Many had begun partying along the way with cans of beer being devoured to help pass the time. Everything went smoothly until we reached Bernardsville, where we sat fo over 20 minutes, waiting for an eastbound to reach the passing siding. Our arrival in Far Hills was 40 minutes late and my total travel time was over three hours. The first and second races were already run, not that we would have been able to see them or even care who won. Going back was no faster. The train left around 6:15 and arrived in Hoboken at 8 p.m. It made every stop along the way, which is ridiculous when one considers that some of the stations in the Oranges are less than a mile apart. Since the conductor informed us that there was no Midtown Direct service running, New York passengers were told to stay on to Hoboken and take PATH to Herald Square. Back at Penn Station I caught a train to Oceanside that got me home at 9:30. The day was fun, but tiring. NJ Transit did a wonderful job of entertaining the (rail) fans, but IMHO it could have done better at moving the crowds. Express trains direct to/from New York would have helped. I know the single-track Gladstone line is capacity constrainted, but this wasn't a good way to run a railroad.

[KevinKorell]

One thing not mentioned is that when they chucked the Gladstone Branch timetable, they also chucked all service west of Far Hills. Thus passengers for Peapack and Gladstone had to use substitute buses to/from Far Hills, and endure the event crowds at Far Hills as well.