04-12-30 CLASSIC PHOTOS: IND Tower Hunt

So here's a quick photo set from the tail end of 2004, right after I learned that the NYC Subway IND division was littered with classic interlocking towers, many of them visible from the platform a la West 4th St. After consulting a published list of active towers, I planed out a tour of the Queens Blvd Line to try and get some photos. Long story short I didn't get many and because I was mostly underground in the middle of winter I didn't wind up with many photos in general. Still, since I've been busy for the last couple of weeks, a short set of classic photos is just about all I have time to produce!

You can find the complete batch of photos here

We begin at the 36th St RiverLINE station with #3502a making a stop. The line was so new that the Intrusion Detection System was not yet operational.

At Trenton, because Amtrak Hippo #660 was hogging the Track 4 platform with a long distance train, a southbound Regional with AEM-7 #937 performed a rather extreme wrong railing operation, platforming on Track 1.

In 2004 one could still look into the tower at 5th Ave and watch the operator manipulating the GRS Model 5 interlocking machine to line routes for (V) and (E) trains.Unfortunately it was closed in 2013.

Union Turnpike is another visible tower, this one with a Union Switch and Signal Model 14 interlocking machine.

With service extended to 168th St, the original IND tower at PARSONS was dark and appeared to only be in service as needed.

Returning to Manhattan, I decided to give the Roosevelt Island Tram a try. This was partly motivated by the fact that it was one of the last places on the NYCTA where one could buy and use tokens.

Approaching Manhattan one can see why people are concerned that the Queensboro Bridge might simply fall down on its own.

Two AEM-7's, #929 and #918, were applying their combined 14,000hp to the short 7 car Vermonter trainset. 

The 7th car being the Vermont branded baggage car fitted to carry bikes and skis.

I'll finish up with this photo of a Southbound Inland Shittle train at Meriden, CT with Metroliner Cab Car #9640 in the lead.

Well that's pretty much it. As I work to catch up from my vacation, look for another short subject classic post in the near future.

04-12-29 CLASSIC PHOTOS: SEPTA Mid-Winter Trip IV

The fourth annual SEPTA Mid-Winter Trip took place in 2004 and was built around the mid-day Cynwyd round trip, departing Suburban Station.  At the time SEPTA was actively trying to kill the Cynwyd branch service, but despite all of its efforts people kept riding the line and in the following years ridership would actually increase so much that it started to require a single married pair to serve them (as opposed to a single Silverliner unit).

To fill the morning the trip ventured out onto the Market Street Elevated, which was being targeted for reconstruction, and the R8 Fox Chase Line.  After Cynwyd the trip embarked on a CHE to CHW transfer, continuing up at North Philadelphia and finishing with a BSS Fern Rock express turn.  All in all it was a fantastic trip with a lot of Silverliner II and III action.  I got a lot of photos of "things that aren't there any more" and if you'd like to check out the entire set you can find it here.


First stop in the morning was the Market Frankford Line 62nd St station where a new headhouse was under construction.

Returning to Center City, the group transfered to an R8 Fox Chase.  Here we are getting a Medium Clear signal indication at NEWTOWN JCT.  You can see the removed connections to the Reading Wayne Jct freight bypass that had since been re-designated the Conrail (CSX) Trenton Line.  CSX was in the process of untangling itself from the control of SEPTA dispatching both here on the R8 and northern R3 West Trenton.

The flat junction with a movable point diamond would soon be reconfigured into a more typical configuration leading to a single track line.

SEPTA Lawndale Station.  Today the outbound platform is closed because SEPTA and CSX couldn't learn to share.

At CP-CHELTENHAM JCT the former Reading Newtown Branch diverges from the New York Short Line.  The branch was electrified to the City border in Fox Chase in the 1960's. SEPTA ultimately replaced double track  segment with a single passing siding between Cheltenham and Lawndale.

Budd Silverliner II #257 at Fox Chase.

At one point the Fox Chase siding was bounded by interlockings on each end.  Here NORTH CHASE interlocking stands abandoned, although its signals and overhead lines remain intact.  Beyond this point diesel RDC shuttle service operated until the early 1980's.  Attempts to reduce costs by converting the line into a transit operation also failed.  Service has been "temporarily" suspended since then with SEPTA leading parts of the RoW as trails to pretty much prevent a full restoration of service.

Our R8 train was composed of 3 Budd Silverliners with #217 on the reverse end, seen here laying over at Fox Chase.

Diesel power at 30th St station was in transition.  New P42DC's had taken over from F40PHs and HHP-8's had displaced the E-60's, but AEM-7's and high hood GP-8/10 rebuilds were still on the active roster.

Here a fairly new P42DC #145 sits next to GP-10 #770 painted in MoW orange.

Amtrak N-11 Caboose was of PRR or Conrail vintage.  These utilitarian boxes were built to replace the earlier classically designed N-5 series of cabin cars in PRR service.

NJT GP40PH-2B #4205 arrives into the lower level of 30th St station with an Atlantic City Line train.  15 years later the GP40PH-2B's would still be holding down this assignment.

Heading out to Cynwyd the single SL-IV car departs Suburban and joints PRR Main Line on the same route of such famous trains as the Broadway Limited, which arrived from New York via the NY-Pittsburgh Subway to the left.

Previously Main Track #4, the "Valley Jct" ramp and Flyover were built to send passenger trains over the adjacent Belmont freight yards.  This was because freight trains kept to the middle tracks while most passenger trains stayed on the outer tracks. Valley Junction gets it name from the Schuylkill Valley Branch that departed the Main Line at this point. Here we can see the old 52nd St station that had its platform elevated on the ramp to serve outbound trains on track 4.

In 1994 a new track 4 was constructed so that SEPTA's new Overbrook Maintenance Facility could be built on the old track 4 alignment.  Westbound trains would cross over at the new STILES interlocking just west of ZOO.  This move was intended to remove the burden of maintaining the increasingly dilapidated Valley flyover bridge.  SEPTA, assuming the Cynwyd service would eventually be terminated, put no work into the bridge, eventually seeing train speeds reduced to 5mph.  It was only around 2015 that work was started on a new flat connection between the Main Line and the Cynwyd branch that would allow the bridge to be retired.  Here we can see the old Valley truss and the VALLEY interlocking 68L signal, remotely controlled from OVERBROOK tower.

04-10-24 - CLASSIC PHOTOS: Altoona Day Trip

In 2004 Amtrak was still running two daily trains on the old PRR Main Line making it possible to achieve Sunday-only day trips to Altoona with a couple of hours to hang out and explore the city. My goal in 2004 was to check out the then active ALTO tower where I had an hookup for a inside tour. You can read about that visit in another post, but here I am going to cover the other photos taken on that trip ( mirror ).

Amtrak's Pennsylvanian once ran to Chicago via Cleveland, but due to the termination of Amtrak's main and express freight hauling operation this had had already been cut back to its original New York to Pittsburgh endpoints on the general schedule it still runs today. However because the not-yet-cancelled Three Rivers from Chicago was able to offer Pittsburgh a daily 10am eastbound departure, Amtrak ran a special Sunday only Pennsylvanian Train 44 departing Pittsburgh at 130pm instead of the normal 715am. This created a 3 hour layover at Altoona where one could arrive on Train 45 at 1:11pm and depart on Train 44 at 3:59pm. Here we see P42DC #122 at the Altoona Transportation Centre heading up Train #45. It is about to depart westbound over a Medium Clear indication displayed by ALTO's 38L signal onto Pittsburgh Line main track #3. Note the Conrail painted SD40-2 laying over in the helper pocket. 

After Train #45's departure, an eastbound NS coal train rolled down the hill with NS C44-9W #9522 leading and a former Conrail C40-8W behind. The pedestal signals, part of ALTO interlocking, replaced Penn Central era mast signals during Conrail's 1986 Pittsburgh Line re-signaling project.

Built in 1915, ALTO tower was still an active interlocking station 89 years later. The nearby 17th St bridge provided a superb photo location and naturally became a railfan hotspot. As of 2026 the tower is still standing with goals to preserve it at the nearby Railroad's Museum, however its structural condition is poor making any movement difficult.

Looking eastward, this signal bridge dates from the Penn Central era and was installed as part of a 1974 rationalization scheme that upgraded ALTO from a slow speed (15mph) interlocking to one that supported through movements at main line speeds. NS SD40-2 helper #3342 sits in the pocket track coupled to a Conrail painted unit. At this time trains needing assistance up the east slope and the famous Horseshoe Curve would pull past ALTO then stop for the helpers to roll out of the pocket and tie on. Later NS would realize it was more efficient to stop trains on the main track near Rose yard where helpers could be attached during a re-crew process.

The star attraction at the Pennsylvania Railroader's Museum is PRR GG1 #4913, which at the time was open for self-serve cab tours.

Pennsylvanian Train #44 making an on-time arrival at Altoona behind P42DC #55. If you look closely you can see smoke from the brake pads that had literally caught fire during the descent down the Horseshoe Curve and east slope. My rail industry friend who had arranged the tower tour was unfortunately left behind as he went forth to grab an additional photo of #55. He was also unfortunately carrying my dinner leaving me to the mercy of AmCafe pricing. After attempting to get a ride back on an NS freight (none were scheduled) he was forced to pay for a cab ride back to Harrisburg.

Speaking of Harrisburg the last photo of the day is of P42DC #55 at the Harrisburg station high level platform after sunset. Today this late running Sunday Pennsylvanian is a thing of the past and the modern Train 42 arrives Harrisburg around noon daily.

That's all for my 2004 Altoona trip photos. If you'd like more information about ALTO tower you can find it here.

04-09-11 CLASSIC PHOTOS: 30th St Parking Garage

Amtrak's 30th Street Station always had a parking deck over the tracks on the north side of the complex, however before 2004 the single level structure was well within the eye line of the booth attendant and any attempt to take photos of the Penn Coach Yards or Amtrak movements would get one shooed away within minutes. Then in 2004 everything changed as a new 8 level parking garage opened on about half the footprint of the old deck to support both 30th St station and the Cira Center office tower built on an adjacent parcel of land. Using a largely self-serve payment process, the cavernous structure had practically no security presence which opened up the world of the north end of the 30th St Station complex to railfan photography. In early fall, 2004, I made my first visit to this parking structure and I am going to share some of the more interesting photos below. For the complete set you can locate them here ( mirror ).

Here we see the 2004 Philly Skyline, which has undergone a drastic transformation in the years since with the addition of numerous high rise residential and office buildings including the Comcast USB sticks.

Over an the approach tracks, MoW orange Amtrak high hood GP10 #770 was towing some road-railers to attach to the Pennsylvanian or Three Rivers. #770 was a former Conrail GP9 that was rebuilt by the Illinois Central Paducah shoppes.

With the collapse of Long Distance trains originating in Philly, Penn Coach Yard is no longer filled to the brim with coaches and Pullman cars, however the Race Street Engine Terminal, both then and now, maintains an eclectic mix of locomotive types at the midpoint of the Northeast Corridor.

In 2004 Amtrak's HHP-8 fleet was only a couple years old and for whatever reason a number of examples including #658 shown here were sitting in Race St with their roof shrouds removed. Also in this photo is Phase III heritage GP40TC #523 and Phase IV heritage P40DC #830.

The GP40TC's were a small fleet of GP40 based passenger diesels obtained from GO Transit when that road upgraded to EMD F59PHs. Here we see #527 in a Phase III heritage scheme next to a fairly new P42DC #165. The GP40TC'swere eventually rebuilt into GP38H-3's that were used for either MoW work or rescuing stranded electric hauled NEC trains due to their head end power capability.

Amtrak GP38-2 #723 is just a basic MoW freight unit with no special passenger capabilities. It is sitting in fromt of NJT ALP-46 #4615 and Amtrak P42DC #11.

 The NJT ALP-46's were at Race Street for both corridor testing and to support the Clocker trainsets that were pretty much running as glorified express trains. With the retirement of the E60's, NJT was tapped to provide the motive power. Here we see #4601, #4626 and #4610, sitting near Amtrak P42DC #72 and heritage #830.

04-08-20 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Staten Island Railroad

In mid-2024 the Staten Island Railroad re-signaling project was well under way and I figured it would be worthwhile taking a ride down to Totenville to see what photos I could get. The answer to that latter question was "not many" ( mirror ), but a good time was still had by all.

Starting things off on the Staten Island Ferry I managed to score the MV John F. Kennedy and its famed open air promenade. This vessel would remain in service until 2021 before being purchased by SNL cast members Pete Davidson and Colin Jost in 2022 for use as a floating entertainment facility.

Of course the Andrew J. Barberi was running because it always is.

Because the MTA had yet to crack down on the practice, my friend and I did the hack where we walked to the Tompkinsville station to avoid the faregates at Saint George. Of course the primary reason was to get pictures of the signaling changes along that segment of the line. In 2004 the AIR's R44 fleet was also just kinda old and not disastrously old. Here is an outbound train seen from above south of the St. George tunnel.

Built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the SIR used mostly B&O color position light dwarf signals with a single "high" mast heading into the St. George terminal. Most of the line used single direction automatic block system rules with interlockings only around the St. George and Tottenville terminals. The new signaling, seen below with the blue plastic covers, would convert the line to bi-directional operation with cab signals and wayside signals only at interlockings. However the B&O CPL "style" of signal would be retained, even if the MTA had to purchase PRR style hardware to implement it.

It seems that quite a few people were aware of the fare hack, which is why the MTA ultimately installed faregates at Tompkinsville.

Here is an example of an automatic block B&O CPL dwarf signal installed on the line during the last re-signaling in the 1950's. Because B&O CPL dwarfs use the same signal aspects as the "high" signals, there was little risk of confusion using dwarfs where a high signal might normally be employed. A replacement CPL dwarf on a stick mount can be seen in the foreground.