13-01-13 PHOTOS: Princeton Junction Nighttime

Back in January I drove up to Princeton with a friend to catch an ECAC Hockey game between the Princeton Tigers and the Engineers of RPI. I'm not going to talk much about the game because the action at Princeton Junction station proved to be much more exciting. I was able to stop off briefly in the afternoon and then again for a longer stretch at night after the game. In my short two there I caught three NJT light equipment movements on the NEC, one in daylight and two at night, which I later found out are due to the wheel mill at Morrisville yard being the only one left in operation after Hurricane Sandy so NJT was being forced to run any equipment needing wheel work light down the NEC.

The daylight move was headed westbound and consisted of GP40PH-2A 4147 running long hood forward with ALP-45 #4504 behind it and PL42 #4006 in the rear. The second move went by in the eastbound direction at 8:13 PM and consisted of 3 or 4 single level cars with a C5 in cab car in the lead and at least 1 or 2 more in the consist. Providing power were 2 or 3(!) Geeps. I can't be sure of the exact number as I mistook it for a Regional and opted to get a 4 second timed exposure instead of video. The final train was also headed east at 8:29 and consisted of a C5 cab, 2 C2M;s, a C4, 2 more C2M's, 1 more C4, one more C2M, an ALP-46, 2 Split levels, a PL42 and finally a Metro North F40PH in the new livery. Due to the darkness I was unable to get any numbers in the video of that last train.

Anyway, aside from the cool equipment moves was the usual parade of NJT commuter trains and Amtrak Regionals/Keystones/Acelas. I also made sure to stop by the Princeton dinky station and take some pictures before the town relocates the station and turns the building into a student centre (although this won't be the first time the line has been cut back). If you are interested in the whole set of photos you can find them all right here.

I am going to start things off with the first equipment move consisting of GP40PH-2A #4147, ALP-45 #4504 and PL42 #4006 in the rear. After they passed I kept rolling and caught a eastbound train of NJT Arrow III MU cars with 1380 on point departing Princeton Jct.


At Princeton a pair of consecutive Arrow III singles were laying over at the short station platform. Here is #1315.

And #1314. 

With NJT starting to install single arm pantographs I got a few chose-up shots of the current twin-arm pans manufactured by the United Knitting Machine company.

Closeup of the pantograph grounding handle and grounding hook.

Video of 1314 and 1315 departing Princeton.



Switching day for night we find an NJT push-pull set with split level cab car #7033 in the rear position on a westbound train.

ALP-46 #4602 had been providing power when the train pulled in.



Another ALP-46 #4614, this time at the head of an eastbound train, lights up NASSAU tower at the east end of the inbound platform.

 Same train departing past NASSAU tower.

Another westbound train hauled by ALP-46 #4624 arrived at princeton Jct while a few seconds after the dinky arrives to meet it.



NASSAU tower with the PRR substation behind it.

The second equipment move with 1 C5 car and 3 Geeps heads eastbound back to the Meadowlands Maintenance Complex. 

Former NASSAU eastbound home signal and now 470 automatic signal displays an Approach indication on #2 track after the equipment move clears the block.

A few minutes later the signal flipped up to Clear.



Princeton Jct is located at milepost 47 on the main line between New York and Philadelphia.

Amtrak AEM-7 #953 has been stalking me for a while. Here it is again strapped to its usual Keystone trainset blasting westbound through PJ at 125mph.



We will conclude with the third equipment move consisting of one ALP-46 hauled single level trainset with three split level coaches, a PL42 and Metro North F40PH-2CAT behind. As this pulls through the station the local train headed by #4624 departs toward Trenton.



Well that's it for this time. Since I have actually caught up with my backlog of photos I am not quite sure what I'll have next week, but it will probably be something with Baltimore Light Rail.