04-01-21 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Martinsburg Trip

Back in 2004 I was living in Baltimore without a car and was looking to visit a friend in the Chambersburg, PA area. The closest railheads were in Frederick, MD, served by a new MARC commuter service, and Martinsburg, WV, served on the weekends by Amtrak. So I put together a little trip wherein I would take MARC outbound from Baltimore to Frederick, (something MARC would actually sell you a ticket for) and then catch Amtrak's Capitol Limited back on Sunday from Martinsburg. Of course this allowed me to get photos in both directions that you can view here, along with some guest photos of NA cabin I happened to include , but more on that later.

Here we see MARC GP39H-2 #74 at Washington, DC. As of 2017, these 2300hp M-K rebuilds continue on in MARC service on typically shorter B&O division runs.

Golden Hour at Union Station with MARC Kab Car #7758 and K-Tower in the background.

At the time, the mainstay of the MARC fleet were 19 GP40WH-2's re-manufactured by M-K in 1993. Here #61 sits under the parking deck at Union Station with the front porch door open. Today only #68 remains in service, the fleet having been replaced by MP36PH-3C's.

My train to Frederick was led by Kab Car #7747, seen here at the terminal after sunset.

Martinsburg was once home to a major B&O shoppe complex. Today the shoppes are being converted into a historic attraction that features an 1850's vintage covered roundhouse.

NA Tower (Cabin?) had only been closed by CSX within the last year. Prior to 2000, almost the entire B&O main line was still managed by a series of 8 manned interlocking towers, but by 2004 only 3 remained. NA had been closed later than the two immediately to the west as CSX wanted the State of West Virginia to foot part of the bill for the CTC upgrade between Martinsburg and Brunswick to support the extended MARC service.

As of 2017 NA cabin still stands, although it is in increasingly rough shape. The rail heritage site across the tracks actually hosts the preserved 'R' tower from Cherry Run, WV.

Steam rises from the rails as the electric point heaters do their job to fend off a mild early spring snow event.

Still new CSX SD70MAC #4706 rolls through Martinsburg ahead of Amtrak Train 30. 

Amtrak P42DC #49 arriving on Track 1 with the eastbound Train 30.

04-01-12 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Patchogue

In the early years of my rail enthusiasm I had a recurring issue of failing to document "close by" infrastructure at risk of closure and demolition. Not having a car was a big factor and Amtrak was surprisingly more expensive than it is today, but I would say that I just hadn't been "burned" by enough regret to motivate me to move heaven and Earth to see things before they vanished. The late PD tower in Patchogue, NY is the rare case where I did manage to get out and see something before it was gone and it did double duty by also providing a chance to gather head end videos from the soon-to-be-gone LIRR M1 MU cars.

The trip starts off like so many others from this era by catching NJT at Hamilton on the NEC. At the time my mom still worked on I-195 corridor and was able to facilitate day trips to NYC pretty much on demand with a drop off before work and a pickup after. Here we see a brand new NJT ALP-46 at the head of an Amtrak Clocker Philly to NYC commuter train. Amtrak was extremely short of serviceable electric locomotives at this point in history and because the majority of Clocker riders were NJT monthly passholders, NJT was able to help out by providing the locomotive power for the runs. This hybrid train would last until October 28, 2005 when Amtrak turned over the service to NJT running express trains from Trenton to NYC. 

For the Patchogue trip itself I had teamed up with one and possibly two friends. Here we see a new train of LIRR M7 cars with #7197 leading just west of Valley Stream on the Babylon Line.

Passing VALLEY tower a westbound train of M1 cars are shown coming off the Far Rockaway Branch.

The cold temperatures that day had caused a pull apart on one of the Babylon Branch viaducts. MoW crews were using the old rope trick method to expand the rail for a temporary joint to be applied. A westbound train of M7's, with #7137 leading, was waiting for the MoW team to get in the clear before proceeding over both the broken rail and flaming rope at low speed.

PRR style amber position light controlled by BABYLON tower with an Approach signal indication approaching Babylon station. Babylon would be the last stop for this MU train and my team of railfans would make an across the platform transfer onto the DM30 hauled Montauk Branch shuttle.

Passing Babylon Yard I managed to photograph two M3 MU's, #9801 and #99??.

Typically LIRR diesel runs not involving Penn Station are handled by the single mode DE30 varient, however out train had dual mode DM30 #517 leading.

The LIRR's outermost branches to Montauk and Greenport were run under manual block rules with the tower operator at PD hooping up paperwork in a method unchanged from the PRR era of the 1950's. Both the engineer and conductor would get a copy.

PD tower was renown for its obvious lean, which was caused by the removal of the mechanical interlocking machine when the local area was re-signaled with relay logic and unit lever panels. Due to the weight of a mechanical lever frame, the bulky lever frame support structure can become integral to maintaining the tower's general structural integrity.