18-09-30 PHOTOS: Rockhill Trolley Museum

So while this photo set is labeled as "Rockhill Trolley Museum" it is actually Part 1 of another PRR Main Line signal documentation project targeting the West Slope between Altoona and CP-CONPIT. This was a two day road trip and my partner in the activity wanted to stop by the trolley museum as it was literally on the way. The Rockhill Trolley museum sourced most of it's collection from central Pennsylvania cities like Johnstown, but is also a destination for Philadelphia area equipment as Philly lacks its own dedicated streetcar museum.

Because the trolley museum generated much of the non-signal content in this set I just decided to use it for the headline. Anyway, since we didn't have all day to spend at the museum I am sure there is a lot of stuff I missed, however that means this set also includes NS action on the PRR Main Line west of Huntingdon including locations such as Allison Road, Fostoria and Altoona's Rose Yard. You can find the full set of photos here (or here).

We begin with Newark City Subway PRR car #6 sitting on the storage track adjacent to the main museum building. I believe that this was the heritage painted car on the NCS and did not need to be re-painted by the museum. Somewhere I have a film photograph of this car operating on the NSC days before the line closed in 2001.

Car #311 is a former Johnstown car in a wonderful orange livery similar to that used in Baltimore. The thing on the front that looks like a bicycle rack is actually a pedestrian safety device that scoops up wayward jay walkers before they can be mangled by the running gear.

Hiding between buildings is a 1936 art deco Philadelphia Bridge Line car. Fortunately this beautiful class of rapid transit car is well represented in preservation.

Car #172 is an immigrant from the tram system in Porto, Portugal. 

This relatively modern fellow is a Siemens–Duewag U2 from the San Diego Trolley. As more of the older Light Rail systems approach their 40-year anniversaries there will be more and more of a need to preserve their equipment. The U2 design, dating from 1965, is likely still able to be maintained with basic tools, but increasingly computer controlled vehicles may actually be less preservable than their analogue counterparts. Anyway, here car #1019 sits at the Orbisonia Station where museum visitors purchase their passes. The San Diego transportation agency away a number of U2's to museums in exchange for PCCs and PCC components in order to create a historic streetcar operation in downtown San Diego. 

Heading out on the museum's "main line" we find a stretch of dual gauge track that is shared with the adjacent East Broad Top Railroad. The EBT is a preserved narrow gauge coal hauling railroad that operated until 2013 before going on hiatus when the family that owned it grew tired of subsidizing the losses. The Rockhill Museum uses the former EBT Shade Gap branch and support for the 3 foot gauge track is needed as the museum was built around the EBT's turning wye. Also note that the Rockhill Museum operates on standard gauge despite generally preserving Pennsylvania streetcars built to the 5' 2.25" Pennsylvania Trolley Gauge. 

Approaching the Shade Gap station with cars #172 and #163 already waiting to return.

18-09-09 PHOTOS: Boston Backwards

Traveling to Boston typically involves a return and a surplus of Amtrak class upgrade coupons means that I was positioned in the rear car of a Regional allowing me to survey the Shore Line between Boston and a point in Rhode Island where the low light and high speeds made good photography impossible. Also included in this set are some Downeaster photos and a brief trip I took on the Orange Line for the purpose of killing an extended layover in Boston. You can find the full gallery of photos here or on Google.

We begin at the Exeter station waiting for my southbound Downeaster train. While I waited the northbound train appeared with a rather shabby looking Amtrak P42DC #104 in the lead and Amtrak Great Dome car #10031 trailing behind. Through 2018 the New Englande Passenger Rail Authority would pay to have this car added to the Downeaster as a leaf season extra, however it's future availability is in doubt due to Amtrak cost cutting :-(

Cabbage car #90220 was on the rear.

As the passing siding was only a few miles to the north the southbound Downeaster soon arrived with Amtrak P42DC #120. 

Due to work on the Lowell Line, my train was diverted down the Reading Line, affording this view of the Amelia Earhart Dam.

MBTA GP40MC #1120 at North Station.

MBTA 1200-series Orange Line car #1260 at Wellington. These cars are in desperate need of replacement, although the Chinese cars purchased for the task will likelt be little better even upon delivery. 

18-09-07 PHOTOS: New Haven Line - Part 2

While the Amtrak Shore Line between New Haven and Boston is a bit more interesting than the Metro North segment of the former NYNH&H Main Line to Boston, it's easy to forget that the trip between New Haven and Boston still takes around three hours and on many past journeys I have started out taking photos from the rear of the train only to get tired and loose interest some time around the Rhode Island border. Well this time upon departing New Haven I took a break and resumed taking photos at or around Westerly. Unfortunately I had to content with a rain front that suspended photo operations around Providence, but I continued through to Boston.

Also included in this set are photos of my cross town transfer to a Downeaster train at North Station.

Starting at New Haven I caught repainted GP40-2H #6698 in Springfield commuter servicewaiting at an adjacent platform.

Amtrak P40DC #833 has seen better days as it now works out of New Haven toting Shore Line East trains between here and New London.  In a callback to the perpetually bankrupt New Haven, #833 is in dire need of a paint job.

Amtrak ACS-86 #662 was in the motor storage yard while P42DC #4 drifted by lite for some upcoming power change.

I came back on the line as my Regional was passing Westerly and the high speed crossovers at HIGH STREET interlocking.

The Kingston, RI station has been expanded with an island platform an a third track to accomidate future MBTA service. A new interlocking named LIBERTY was also installed west of the station so that the new third track did not have to be stub end.

18-09-07 PHOTOS: New Haven Line - Part 1

The New Haven Line is dull. The signals are dull, the catenary is dull and even with the M2/4/6's the trains were dull too. I used to ride Amtrak over the line a lot and the best use of the time was to sleep or catch up on some reading. I had previously recorded video over the line between New Rochelle and New Haven, but I had never seriously tried to do a photo survey because, like I said, the whole damn line is dull.

Well with my videos all captured I really needed some content and so on my annual Labour Day-ish trip to Boston I brought along some cameras and lenses to shoot out the back of an northbound Amtrak Regional en route to Boston. This would be paired with some Amtrak NEC and Hellgate line photos along with some Shore Line photos east of New London. Part 1 covers everything up to, but excluding New Haven and Part 2 will cover New Haven through Boston and beyond. You can find the full set of photos here or on Google.

Waiting at BWI for my Regional, a southbound MARC commuter train rolled in with Kab Car #7850 and HHP-8 #4912. MARC was trying to retire the HHP-8's after Amtrak threatened to withdraw support, however they soon discovered that their monster length peak trains were no match even for the intended HHP-8 replacement, diesel SC44s. Therefore MARC got the HHP-8's refurbished.

MARC MP36PH-3C #28 with a solid train of bi-levels awaits its departure from the Perryville, MD station early in the AM.

Since my last Boston trip in 2017 HAROLD interlocking has been completely re-signaled with new scissors crossovers installed east of the main plant. All of this is to support the boondoggle East Side Access project, which is ultimately intended to reduce congestion on the (7) train.

Here we have a GoPro video documenting the Amtrak Hellgate Line between F Interlocking in Sunnyside and SS22 in New Rochelle. This pretty much completes my NEC GoPro series between Gunpow and Boston.


A trio of P&W C40-8W's, including #4050, sit on the freight track east of Oak Point yard. After the takeover, short line conglomerate Genesee & Wyoming wasted no time in re-painting the P&W fleet in perhaps the only paint scheme that less attractive than the old red and brown.

Passing an inbound Metro North local train of M8's just east of the Mamaroneck station.

MoW work underway on track #2 at Harrison.

Passing another westbound train of M8's east of Rye.

Cos Cob movable bridge and it's famous catenary break.

18-09-01 PHOTOS: Milepost 121

As plans for the re-signaling of the PRR Main Line drew near, I realized there was some low hanging fruit, distance wise at least, that I had yet to tackle.  Therefore over Labour Day weekend I headed back up to the Harrisburg area to shoot the Milepost 121 signal bridge that served as the eastbound distant to CP-CANNON.  Unfortunately there wasn't much train action during my expedition so I fleshed out the trip with a visit to CP-ROCKVILLE and the HARRIS tower museum.  You can find all of the signal and train photos here and on Google Photos.

As I mentioned, the Milepost 121 signals are located in view of the US 15 bridge over the Juniata River north of Duncannon, PA. The PRR signal bridge dates from the 1920's or 30's while the position light signals were reconfigured in the 1980's.

CP-ROCKVILLE is located on the opposite bank of the Susquehanna River and encompasses the east end of the Rockville Bridge. The present day relay shed was built adjacent to the old PRR Rockville tower.

NS ES44AC #8008 and NS SD70ACe #1166 showed up with a westbound TOFC intermodal train.

 

Included in the mix were some potentially new intermodal container road trailers.

From there I drove to the Rockville Bridge wye crossing just in time to catch a local freight heading up the Buffalo Line with NS SD40-2's #3347 and #3423

Although this part of the junction was technically part of CP-WYE on the Buffalo Line, replacement signals were still going up. With PTC and operating practices in general there is less of an appetite to signal trains around low speed routes at junctions and the dwarfs will be replaced by high signals displaying "full" Clear.