In June of 2017 I embarked on another of my PRR Middle Division signal documentation sweeps and visited about as many signal locations as I could cram into daylight hours. However both on that trip and some others I later realized that I had missed some locations that were easily accessible or I had screwed up important photos due to an errant camera setting. Whatever the cause when a friend expressed interest in attending a New Year's gathering in Clarion, PA I jumped at the chance of being able to pick up some of these missed photo opportunities on the way out.
All in all I would be able to pick up previously ruined photos at CP-HAWSTONE, document automatic signals at MP 167, MP 174 and MP 225 and lastly get a few shots of CP-GRAY in the snow.
Also included in this set are photos taken of the old Lakeshore and Michigan Southern Northwestern Pennsylvania Branch, which was started in the 1920's, but never lived up to expectations despite a massive outlay in infrastructure. You can see both sets of photos here and here.
We begin with Amtrak P42DC #125 leading Train 44, the eastbound Pennsylvanian, past the Milepost 167 automatic signals located between CP-LONG and CP-LEWIS.
Because of the early departure from Pittsburgh and the high speed of the PRR Main Line, the Pennsylvanian is a surprisingly early train reaching Harrisburg before noon, so I am frequently surprise when out on the main line to have it just sort of show up xD
The 3-trackMilepost 225 automatic signal bridge located at Tipton, PA is a very popular railfan location due to the sweeping curve and easy access from a major highway. There are almost always railfans on hand and today was no exception.
Here we see a westbound NS intermodal train with lead unit C44-9W #9374 that appears to have had some front end work done.
The trailing unit was C44-10W #7649 with an EMD SD70AC in in the middle.
A short while later NS C44-9W #9643 leads UP ES44AC #5281 under the signals with another westbound intermodal train.
Just as the end of the stack train passed, an eastbound coal train appeared on the controlled siding with classic cab SD70 #2576 in front, rolling towards a stop at CP-GRAY.
Aw yes, it's that most wonderful time of the year, mid-winter, and that means it is once again time for the SEPTA Mid-Winter trip, now in it's 17th year! Despite being run for almost two decades there are always new places to go on the SEPTA system. This year we would return to Cynwyd, but this time using the new 52nd St connector, instead of the now out of service Valley Flyiver. We would also for the first time take an R5 trip to Thorndale, via Paoli, returning to 69th St with a transfer to the Route 100 at Villanova. To finish things out the group returned through Center City via the MFL, catching a Rt 15 PCC back to the Broad Street Subway at Girard and then proceeding to the North Philadelphia Amtrak station via Fern Rock.
All in all it was great weather (if not a little brisk) and we had a pretty good turnout.
We begin with a somewhat truncated video from a rebuilt PATCO car of the express run between Westmont and Ferry Ave. The lack of railfan window and conservative use of the horn really diminished the experience.
Unlike most years this MWT did not kick off from Market East, but instead started at Suburban because Cynwyd trains all originate and terminate there. After descending the rarely used track 6/7 stairway, we find single unit SEPTA SL-IV #300 waiting on the platform.
The "new" 52nd St connection actually makes use of an old PRR right of way that connected the Belmont freight yard to the old PRR Schuylkill Valley branch. It also makes use of the existing PAXON interlocking, which was built in 1994 for the Overbrook shoppes project. The connection eliminates the use of the 10mph Valley Flyover bridge that used to carry main track #4 over the old freight yards, but was rendered largely redundant by the same Overbrook shoppes project.
The reason it then took 15 years to simplify the layout was SEPTA's desire to simply close the short 3 station branch line, something that would not be politically possible after a major capital improvement.
After leaving Amtrak territory we enter SEPTA at the rebuilt JEFF interlocking that replaced an automatic controlled point.
Although not open yet, the Wynnefield Ave station was receiving a new high level platform. This is a puzzling choice for the perpetually cash strapped SEPTA that could have probably spent the money elsewhere.
Entering the Cynwyd station on a Restricting signal indication at the new CP-CYN controlled point. This replaces and old PRR position light automatic signal displaying Approach.
Unlike past trips where the train would lay over with doors open at the Cynwyd platform, the crew of SEPTA SL-IV #300 decided to pull into the layup track and make prospective passengers wait out in the cold.
Official group photo for SEPTA Mid-Winter Trip XVII! Gotta take it early before half the attendees bail out ;-)
Front or back, it's still just #300 at Cynwyd.
After riding #300 back to 30th St, we passed a lone passenger boarding for the short hop to Suburban.
Heading back out on the PRR Main Line, this time in a Silverliner V with better photo opportunities! Here we are passing through ZOO interlocking.
This holiday photo set has a little bit of everything! Of course the headline content, continued from last week's video post, covers my trip to NYC to ride the Holiday Nostalgia Train on it's new (and long delayed) routing up the 2nd Ave Subway to 96th St. From there I take a holiday road trip to the Easton, PA area where I was alas too late to photograph some former Lehigh Valley searchlight signals on the former Conrail Lehigh Line. Instead of grabbed some photos of the new signals at some area interlockings. Finally I grabbed a few more holiday photos from the Baltimore Streetcar Museum.
You can find the full set of still content right here!
I took NJT to NYC, but earlier in the month I was in 30th St station on other business where I caught a snow covered Metroliner Cab Car #9644 in Keystone service.
NJT ALP-46 #4606 at Newark Penn Station. Catching the Nostalgia Trains at the 2nd Ave terminal is best accomplished through taking the PATH and then catching an (A) train at World Trade Center.
The new World Train Center PATH station is quite pretty, but not at all worth the cost. I dearly miss the old rabbit warren mall as it gave an advantage to savvy commuters over the tourists in terms of speedy navication.
The Nostalgia Train parked on the 2nd Ave center stub tracks that I believe were built to support the original Second Ave Subway plan, which today only runs between 63rd St and 96th St. The leading and training R1/9 cars were #1802 and #381.
With interest from the 1950's vintage cosplay set, the Holiday Nostalgia trains are more popular than ever, even on the "early" morning 10am run. A GoPro window mount or selfie stick are easy ways to avoid the crush of kids at the Railfan Window.
In 2017 the long delayed Second Avenue Subway was (partly) completed from 63rd and Lexington to 96th St and 2nd Ave. Fittingly, the NYCTA decided to run it's annual holiday Nostalgia Train on a new routing up the Second Avenue line, instead of it's more traditional run to Queens Plaza. I say it was fitting because some of the 80 year old cars were probably built with the expectation that they would operate in regular service on the planned IND Second Avenue Subway that wound up being postponed again and again as the city lurched from one financial disaster to the next.
Anyway, there was no way I was going to miss such and event and I brought my GoPro camera with me. To help you the viewer I split the ride videos into two sections, one covering the classic route, the other the new route. I will begin with the northbound run from the 2nd Ave F train station to Rockefeller Center.
And now instead of turning left onto the Queens Boulevard Line, we head straight onto the 63rd St line, diverging at Lexington onto the brand new Second Avenue Subway.
Follwing tradition, the Nostalgia Train laid up at the northern end of its run, forcing the standing room only crowd to discharge.
Here we go on the return run. Starting at 96th St and heading to Rockefeller Center.
And bringing it home, the return leg down the 6th Ave line from Rockefeller Center to 2nd Ave.
Well that's the end of the Nostalgia Train trip, but here is some bonus nostalgia in the form of some video of the now closed W4TH ST interlocking tower and it's GRA Model 5 pistol grip interlocking machine.
Tune in next time for all the still photos from this trip and some others as well!
It's December so what better time to travel to Chicago! As I mentioned in the associated video post it is getting harder to find convenient METRA express runs to video, however with a little bit of creativity one can assemble an action packed outing and get back to one's friends in time for lunch. This day I traveled on the CTA Purple Line from the Loop to Evanston Davis Street where I transfered to METRA for an express run into the CNW station.
Not yet satisfied I hopped on the CTA again and walked over the the famous 16TH ST JCT, south of downtown and then walked up to Roosevelt Ave along the Rock Island District trunk line into LaSalle St. From there I enjoyed absolutely perfect weather conditions in which to photograph the Amtrak Chicago Union Station operations from the Roosevelt Ave Viaduct.
Yup, that's pretty much it. You can see the entire photo set here.
To catch an inbound peak period express train usually involves getting up at insane-o-clock in the morning to get downtown and then get back out to a suburban station. While on the purple line I didn't get reasonable light until my train was passing through CTA BELMONT junction, which is still controlled by the tower seen here as an inbound Purple Line train passes by.
It was still pretty dark when my train pulled into Howard past the doubleslip crossovers south of the station.
Here we see CTA 5000-series car #5522. Destination wasn't marked, but it might have been a Skokie Swift shuttle.
CTA 5000-series car #5352 sitting in the Howard layup yard.
CTA Purple Line station at Davis St. Evanston.
Platform of the adjacent Davis St METRA Station on the former CNW North Line.
Inbound METRA UP North Line train with gallery cab car #8472 leading.
METRA F40PH-2 #169 pushing out of Evanston Davis St. Fill light provided by the morning sun reflecting off a nearby office building.
F40PH-3 #141 leading an outbound local train. The CNW ran trains in the European (left hand) fashion ostensibly because it would allow inbound passengers to keep warm in stations build on the eastern side of the tracks on this very line. Note the small windowed gallery cars are of Budd manufacture.
METRA cab car #8425 bringing up the rear of the outbound local.
CAT 5000-series car #5402 passing over the Davis St bridge in Evanston.
METRA cab car #8420 pulling into Evanston Davis St station.
Third time was the charm as METRA cab car #8408 was leading the express train I was waiting for.
METRA F40PH-3 #144 hanging out on the CNW Terminal's west side engine track.
Every year when I take a trip to Chicago I need to find something new to do with my limited time. Because of the presence of railfan window equipped METRA gallery cars I usually build my itinerary around video opportunities with nice long express runs because a video of an all-stops local is just demoralizing. Anyway, the only railfan window opportunity on the CTA elevated system is the Purple Line or Evanston Express as the 4 car trains with their rear cab in the half position. Checking with the scheduled I noticed that I could combine a northbound Purple Line express run from the loop with a soundbound METRA UP North line express run from the Evanston Davis St station.
For the Purple Line express run I would attach a Go Pro to the rear railfan window because it's a transit car running virtually empty in the morning reverse peak. I broke the video up into two parts, first a "local" section from Merchandise Mart to Belmont, and then an "express" part running from Belmont to Howard. In the first video you can why the State Street Subway was built as the old elevated alignment endures a number of sharp twists and turns. The Red Line emerges at Armitage and runs express between there and the Brown Line junction at Belmont.
After Belmont the center Red Line tracks assume local status with the Purple Line tracks on the outside. I had shot this run once before in 2012 and at that time the Purple Line track were beset with 5-15 mph speed restrictions due to a general state of disrepair. Moreover, the Wilson Voit Station complex was slated for a rebuild, removing the remnants of the old yard and restoring the station as a Red/Purple transfer point. Despite the extra stop marring the formerly unbroken express run, with the Purple Line outer tracks now repaired, the overall runtime improved by 5-10 minutes!
At Howard I waited a headway to get some photos before continuing on to Evanston Davis St. There I found myself with more than a little time to kill so I got stils and videos of the passing METRA parade. While there were many inbound trains, only one would stop at Evanston Davis and then run express to the CNW Terminal with only a single stop at Clybourne. Here we see outbound Metra train on the UP-North line departing the Evanston Davis
St station with Cab Car #6401 and F40PH-3 #141 as it is passed by an inbound
express with cab car #8431 and F40PH-2 #161. Note that on the the ex-CNW line trains run reverse or European Style because the stations were built on the lake side of the tracks and the railroad didn't want the passengers to have to wait in the cold in winter.
Here is one of the inbound trains I had to pass up in order to get the really primo express run. I don't know why anybody would choose a local over an express like so many commuters were doing. The The inbound Metra train on the UP-North line is seen here departing the Evanston Davis St station with Cab Car #8406 and F40PH-2 #151. Note the small-windowed trains are original Budd and Pullman equipment, some dating to the 1950's!
Finally we get to the part you have all been waiting for. A METRA UP North Line express run from Evanston Davis to the CNW Station with a single stop at Clybourne. Note the Automatic Train Stop inductors and the active CY tower past the Clybourne station. Video gets a little backlit, but not much I could do given the time of day. Also I had to hand-hold the camera to avoid attracting undo attention from the crew. Note between 4:30 and 7:00 there is a viaduct renewal project going on that seems to be halfway done with replacing all the vintage bridges.
Well that's it for this special video edition of my series. Next week tune in for the still photos which include a morning visit to 16TH ST JCT and Roosevelt Ave.
Here we go again with Thanksgiving's Amtrak Sunday, 2017 edition. This year I returned once again to the Martin State Airport station for my NEC Sunday photos, but to mix things up a bit I stopped off at Perryville to and from visiting family for some photos at the MARC station and PERRY interlocking, but also the former CP-MINNICK on the Port Road Branch, which was facing the imminent prospect of a re-signaling. There I was lucky enough to catch a daylight oil train moving north on the corridor towards the oil refineries of Delaware.
The Amtrak Sunday photos are the typical affair of extra trains with commuter equipment and a Michael Bay level golden hour. I caught three of the 4 commuter trainsets along with a Regional Extra and a couple of ACELA extras. You can find the complete set of photos here.
We begin at CP-MINNICK with an approaching eastbound oil train with new NS AC44C6M #4036, which was rebuilt from a standard cab C40-9. CP-MINNICK once featured a trailing point crossover and a connection into the old Perryville yard, but in the early 90's the yard was pulled out and the interlocking was converted into an automatic signal location. With the re-signaling MINNICK will turn into a controlled point featuring a single cantilever mast with absolute signals in both directions. The reason for the new controlled point, set midway between CP-QUARRY and Amtrak's PERRY interlocking is unknown, but might have something to do with the Rule 562 cab signal operation and needing a wayside signal at that location.
NS 4036 up close and personal as it passes under the westbound PRR Position Light signals at CP-MINNICK with NS C44-9W #9081 trailing in the third position.
Thanks to the slow speeds involved I was able to race ahead of the train and catch it at the Ostego St crossing in Perryville. A Slow Clear signal was being displayed on the 18L dwarf signal into Amtrak territory. Here we see #4036 and NS C44-9W #9016 at the grade crossing and then entering Amtrak territory.
At the MARC Perryville Station I found these silly deer waiting for the next train, completely unaware that there is no MARC service to Perryville on weekends.
The former PRR PERRY tower is still standing, having closed in the late 1980's.
While there I caught Amtrak ACS-86 #639 with a southbound Regional.
Also being eliminated was the old cab signal code change point hardware on the Port Road, which included an old PRR catenary pole complete with a raptor's nest and the CSX Philly Sub bridge over the Susquehanna River in the background.
The MARC Martin State Airport station had been upgraded with a station-trailer in the year since my last visit.
Martin Airport is now the terminus for a number of weekday trains as well as the Saturday weekend service. To this end there is a small storage yard and some sort of shoppe complex. Here we see some trainsets with bi-level K car rolling stock.
Unlike the year before I actually had some company for Amtrak Sunday.
I'll start off with the video compilation of most of the trains that passed by. Image quality isn't as good as the photos, but the photos don't capture the horn salutes ;-)
