18-02-17 PHOTOS: Spring Travels

Spring is usually the down season for rail photography. Short days combine with rain and clouds to create an atmosphere that is dim, cold and muddy. Not the best time to get out of doors and trek off road. However, my usual slate of organized activities often have a rail transit component and this set gathered together a number of events in the March 2018 time frame including some PATCO runs and a trip to Boston. As usually you can visit the complete set of photos here.

Dealing with a jury duty scare concerning my disabled mother brought me into Camden where I grabbed this shot of RiverLINE LRV #3510 at the Rand Transportation Center. Since I was last there a new Rutgers Camden building has gone up.

Rebuilt PATCO car #1116 at Haddonfield.



NJT GP40PH-2B's still have a home on the Atlantic City Line and here we see #4215 passing through the Haddonfield Trench with a typical ACL comet consist in tow.

On a different weekend I got what I thought would be my last PATCO ride with #258 at the end of the morning rush. As a result I grabbed what I thought would be my last videos from the railfan seat, heading into the Mickle Street tunnel and heading eastbound over the Ben Franklin Bridge.



Here we see some views of the classic 1960's/70's interior.

Instead of getting off at 8th and Market I rode this classic all the way to the 15th/16th terminus.

I needed to burn a Club Acela pass before it expired so I decided to try out the lounge at 30th St station and to my delight I can say it is easily the second best lounge on the NEC, easily surpassing the dingy store rooms in New York and DC and coming right behind Boston. With an overhead view of the Spirit of Transportation and all of the dirty peasants down below in the main concourse, Philly's Club Acela lounge also features private elevator access to the platform level, alleviating any risk of picking up a communicable disease xD

Once on the platform I caught a simultaneous arrival of a southbound Regional and a Northbound Acela featuring ACS-86 #646 and Acela Power Car #2032.

18-02-08 PHOTOS: Dallas Union Station

Now I've been to Dallas twice before. The first time, in 2007, I mostly focused on riding the DART system to the ends of various lines and also enjoying the historic McKinney Ave trolley. Ten years later in 2017 I was confined to a more suburban location and had to make do riding the TRE commuter line to Fort Worth. This year I was back and staying downtown near Union Station which allowed me to get photos of the downtown rail nexus of Union Station which combines Amtrak, TRE, DART, UP, BNSF and streetcar operations in one place. I also took a brief side trip into Deep Ellum for some BBQ, You can find the complete set of photos here.

The Union Station area is currently dominated not be the station itself, but by a hotel and convention centre complex surmounted by a ball and stick style observation tower informally known as the Sunphere. While reported to have an information desk, the boom-bust oil economy of Dallas as resulted in the tower being filled with thousands of boxes of unsold wigs leftover from the 1980's. The hotel itself is also notable for having an optical cloaking device that would render it and the occupants safe from communist attack.

Dallas Union Station Amtrak Station is still rather nice for a facility that only sees 2 long distance trains per day. The upper floors have offices and event space and there is at least one Wolfgang Puck signature restaurant.

TOWER 107 originally controlled the southern approaches to Union Station. Today it is preserved as a DART communications facility. TOWER 106, at the north end of the station, is owned by the 6th Floor Museum due to a very minor role in the JFK assassination, and retains at least it's old model board.

The Dallas Streetcar is a new, free, service that connects downtown with the Bishop Arts District to the south. Due to the age of the Houston St Viaduct, it was not possible to mount overhead trolley wire so the streetcars use a battery system to bridge the gap  Here we see streetcar #301 making the turn on the Houston St viaduct. 

DART LRV #245 leading a Red Line train to Westmoreland passes under Houston St. Since my first visit in 2007, a center section was installed between the two cars to increase capacity without needing to purchase additional vehicles.

DART LRV #254 passing by TOWER 107 on the rear of the previous train.

DART LRV #177 with the Union Station long distance platform off to the left.

Because Dallas isn't a communist nanny state, app powered bikes such as these seen at the downtown terminus of the Dallas Streetcar, are plentiful.

Dallas Streetcar #302 laying over at the Union Station terminal. When at this station the pantograph is raised to recharge the batteries. There is also a connection to the DART system and I believe that the Streetcars may be serviced at a DART facility.

Despite it's Art Deco appearance,the Union Station building actually dates from 1916.