18-11-29 PHOTOS: Chicago Line Northwest - Part 2

In Part 2 of my 2018 trip to Chicago I will be exploring the METRA Union Pacific (formerly Chicago Northwestern) Northwest line that runs between the old CNW station and Harvard, IL about 60 miles away. Similar to the old PRR Main Line out of Philly or the former Erie Railroad lines in New Jersey, the UP Northwest line is a pretty impressive chunk of infrastructure that stops dead at the end of the commuting zone because it has become largely irreverent in today's modern freight network. While UP still owns and operates the route, there are only about two through freight trains on the line per day. However the passenger density is sufficient to support a three track main line all the way to the intermediate terminal of Barrington.

I was able to cover the UP-Northwest in two phases. The first was a mid-day outbound run to Park Ridge where I could take photos out the back. The second was a morning run from Jefferson Park to Barrington, followed by an express run to Clybourn for video purposes. You can find the gallery of still photos here (mirror).

We begin with METRA F40PH-2 #165 blocking my view of LAKE ST tower upon departure of the CNW Station.

Passing under a classic CNW signal bridge on the 4-track trunk line between the UP-North line junction at Clybourn. Note how the former CNW used the left handed or European style of traffic flow. Also note the Automatic Train Stop inductor shoes as both the North and Northwest lines are ATS equipped. 

CY tower at Clybourn still controls the split between the UP-North and Northwest lines as well as several interlockings on the UP-Northwest line. 

The UP-Northwest Line crosses the METRA Milwaukee North line at grade at MAYFAIR interlocking. The tower here closed in the 1990's with control being passed to CY tower.

Here we see METRA F40PH-3 #149 passing under UP-NW line automatic signal bridge 120. the 3-track line operates under a 2+1 configuration between MAYFAIR and BARRINGTON with only the center track signaled for movements in both directions. While many of the signal bridges are original, the notable horizontal CNW signals have all been replaced with modern Darth Vader types. 

Signal blocks are at 1 mile intervals until one gets past Des Plains.

 METRA gallery cab car #8428 at Forest Park. Stations on the line take the form of a side platform and station building on the inbound local track (so that passengers can keep warm while waiting) and a island platform serving the express track and outbound local track.

To ride the express runs, one has to get up early. CTA Blue Line 2600-series #2652 departing Jefferson Park.

Jefferson Park station from the parking lot. Why the hell are all the towns near Chicago named "Park" when the areas all around them look urban?

18-11-29 PHOTOS: Chicago Line Northwest - Part 1

I've been doing post-Thanksgiving trips to Chicago for a number of years now and 2018 was no exception. This year, like 2016, I decided to use some points on a roomette on the Capital Limited between Washington and the Windy Apple. Unfortunately, Amtrak had chosen to meddle with the food service on the Cap since I had last ridden it, converting the dining car into a first class lounge (which was good), but also replacing the prepared food with meal boxes (which wasn't). My goal in Chicago was to check out the METRA Union Pacific (aka CNW) Northwest Line, which I will be covering in a Part 2. You can find the photos for both parts right here.

We begin with Amtrak P42DC's #186 and #147 at the head of my Train 29, which is standing ready for an on time departure from Washington Union Station on track 15 adjacent to K TOWER.

While I was waiting for departure, a southbound Acela Express trainset wandered into one of the higher number tracks with power cars #2036 and #2017.

MARC MP36PH-3C #19 stood on the adjacent Track #16.

Further up the platform. MARC HHP-8 #4915 was also on track #15 alongside Amtrak Acela Express power car #2019 and behind MARC single level cab car #7754. Due to the limited storage space MARC will often double park trains on station tracks during the day, with short daytime trains arriving and departing from the outer berths.

Amtrak SW1000 #794 in painted in heritage Washington Terminal colors was performing its duties around the terminal area that day.

VRE MP36PH-3C #V59 was sitting in the VRE layover yard as we departed Washington Terminal.

I also caught Amtrak ACS-86 #625 on the wye track after having been previously spotted on WT Track #10 with an arrived regional.

Amtrak was at least making a small effort to make the service downgrades seem not like service downgrades and both myself and my riding buddy found rather fancy shower kits on our seats. (Note these had vanished on a subsequent Capitol Limited trip in March).

18-11-25 PHOTOS: Halethorpe Return

While for years the railfan in the Philly area have been holding Thanksgiving Sunday cookouts at various Septa stations along the NEC, I always had to miss them as I needed to travel back to the Baltimore area for work and school.  After the new high level platforms were constructed at Halethorpe I spent a couple of years taking photos there until the general sameness of the pictures and the track fence finally prompted me to switch to Martin State Airport MARC station north of the city.

Well now that I have officially moved to a location south of Baltimore I am back at Halethorpe, unfortunately it was just in time for Amtrak to cut its traditional NJT Arrow III trainsets used on 1000 series holiday extra trains. Nevertheless, Amtrak was still running its pair of MARCtrainsets along with a number of other Regional extras and hourly Acela Express service.  Moreover Halethorpe sees all day weekend MARC service which was a plus.  You can find all the photos here (mirror).

I'll begin again with the video, which is a little lighter than past years as I was talking with people and kept getting caught off guard or in places where video wasn't practical. 



Moving onto the stills here we have Amtrak ACS-86 #631 moving southbound at speed on track #3.  The light on this day started out great, but faded quickly.

This was followed by a northbound Acela Express on track #2 with power cars #2007 and #2028.  Track #2 is the reverseable "center" track that can provide unobstructed fence free shots at reasonable angles.

Here northbound Amtrak Regional Train 96 with ACS-86 #639 meets a southbound MARC weekend local with SC44 #82 and cab car #7847.  Siemens company high five.

Southbound Amtrak Acela Express #2231 with power cars #2014 and #2019.  Note all the local railfans who have come out for the special day.

Here is the star of the day's show.  Northbound Amtrak Holiday Extra #1056 with ACS-86 #640, 6 MARC single level coaches and a food service Amfleet.

18-11-21 PHOTOS: High Levitt

Yup, it's that time of year again when Amtrak adds extra cars and extra trains to its Northeast Corridor service to accomidate all of the families and students traveling for thanksgiving. This year I returned to Levittown after a botched session at Tacony in 2017. The draw was a new high level platform and station structure that was nearing completion and would hopefully provide a better vantage point and background for the photos. As is traditional I went out with local railfan Chuchubob and we were able to cover the passing NEC traffic from about 11am to 1pm. You can find all of the photos here.

Traveling to the Levittown station involves passing through the town of Burlington, NJ and of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch a RiverLINE LRV passing the old PRR Burlington station. The signal at RiverLINE CP-17.5 was displaying a Medium Clear so we didn't have long to wait for #3519 to show up. Note the Conrail blue BURLINGTON station sign has been removed from the station building that now hosts a local police substation.

Before we were able to leave a southbound RiverLINE LRV, #3505, also made an appearance. 

Heading across the incredibly narrow Burlington Bristol vertical lift bridge.

Since 2015 I have been capturing both video and stills at these Thanksgiving events and the question always arises if I should present the video before or after the stills. This time I am going to just get it out of the way and go for before. Full description of all the trains captured can be found on YouTube.



Immediately upon arrival a CSX local freight wandered by heading south ex-Conrail with GP40-2 #4428 and ex-B&O GP40-2 #6137.

The northbound platform featured better sight lines to Bob and I crossed over via the new pedestrian bridge just in time for a northbound R7 to arrive led by SEPTA Silverliner IV #126.

The SEPTA local was then passed by both Acela Express power car #2038 leading Train 2153 and Amtrak ACS-86 #657 leading Regional Train #141.

The next train was a southbound SEPTA R7 local with Silverliner V #875 on the front.

This was followed by Acela Express Train 32158 with power cars #2036 and #2017.

18-11-18 PHOTOS: Parkesburg Plymouth

When it rains, it pours. The general re-signaling trend is not only affecting old PRR position lights, but also the Morrisville Line with late Conrail era color lights and cab signals without wayside intermediate signals. While plotting a drive up to Philly I noticed I could avoid the Susquehanna River toll by using the Route 1/10/30 back road to drive to the King of Prussia area to document CP-PLYMOUTH, just off the Blue Route near Exit 25A on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. This route also had the advantage of passing through Parkesburg, PA where there is am Amtrak Harrisburg Line stop and a former Pennsylvania Railroad junction between the Main Line and the low grade Atglen and Susquehahha Branch.

In addition I have some photos of action on the NS Potomac River bridge in Shepherdstown, WV. You can find the full set of photos here (mirror).

The Shepherdstown bridge is actually part of NS's freight corridor between the Southern United States and the Northeast. If this seems a bit odd it is because the Southern Railways previous connections with the PRR and Conrail in Washington, DC were rendered defunct by Amtrak's stance against freight and CSX purchasing the Conrail Landover Line. Today NS freight will exit the Southern Main Line at Manassas, travel the Southern "B" Line to Front Royal then head north on the N&W "H" Line to Hagerstown in route to Harrisburg via the former Conrail Lurgan Branch. Here we see a southbound merchandise train entering onto the high level bridge while enroute to points south with a rainbow variety of power in front.

More specifically the power was NS C44-10W #7574, UP SD70M #7179, BN painted SD60M #6021 and ES44AC #8095.

Shortly there after another southbound merchandise train arrived with a former Conrail NS C40-8W #8459, leading a second C-40-8W and C44-9W #9484 in the number three slot.

Moving on to the Conowingo Dam, the bird watchers were out to catch the annual migration of bald eagles that are drawn to the disoriented fish being ejected from the power turbines.

Generally wet conditions required some floodgates to be opened.

The eagles were using the power infrastructure to perch between meals.