10-04-16 VIDEOS: Blastin Down the Southern NEC

Alright I am posting a special video segment today because of a series of videos I took from the rear of an Amtrak Regional train between Philadelphia and Baltimore. The first of these is a 10 minute cut of the dash between PHIL interlocking just south of Philly and BELL interlocking just north of Wilmington. It's really worth watching the whole thing as my train is both meets several SEPTA R2 and Regional trains, but also overtakes a R2 as well.



Next we have a shorter segment taken between YARD and RAGAN interlockings just south of Wilmington. These will soon be reconfigured with Stimulus money making RAGAN a complete crossover, eliminating being YARD entirely and a third track being built between them.



Because my train was running so late we got caught by a southbound AX at Havre De Grace. Standard procedure is for the late Regional to be shunted into the middle track at GRACE and then wait at OAK interlocking to cross back over. To avoid delaying the AX we sat at AK for another 5 to 10 minutes. Due to the boredom I was a little late in starting the video, but I think I got enough :-)



Finally we were back on the move south crossing over at OAK interlocking from track 3 to 4 over the only crossover at OAK which also happens to still have its pneumatic point machines. Just listen to our train pick up speed as its signals clear due to the AX quickly clearing the block ahead. Also OAK used to be much more complex and you can still see the original catenary run over turnouts that no longer exist.



Anyway, enjoy and next week look out for some pictures taken on National Train Day 2010.