19-01-24 PHOTOS: Selkirk Junction

Once again it is time for my annual ski trip to the New York Capitol Region. As in years past I managed to schedule in a railfan event, however the area has been so depleted by re-signaling efforts it was necessary for me to turn to the late Conrail era signals that remain up at CP-SK, the eastern gateway to Selkirk yard and the junction between the Conrail Boston and River lines. Also included in this set are Amtrak NEW and Hudson Line photos taken on the way to and from Albany. You can find the full set of photos here (mirror).

Like many of my recent Amtrak journeys this one began at the BWI Airport Station where Amtrak ACS-86 #652 was seen in MARC service at the rear of a heavy morning bi-level express commuter run.

At Penn Station my Regional wound up adjacent to Metroliner Cab Car #9638 on a waiting Westbound Keystone Service train.

Departing Penn Station on the Empire Line I got this video from the rear of the train as it crossed the Inwood movable bridge and then crossed over from Metro North Hudson Line track 6 to track 1 at DV interlocking.



At Albany my train pulled in across from Phase III heritage painted P32AC-DM #701.

Due to the bad weather and a general lack of rail stuff to see, my friend and I make a quick visit to the Schaghticoke hydro-electric plant, which was constructed in 1902 with a capacity of 16MW.

Moving on to CP-SK (Selkirk Junction?), I caught a light engine move consisting of CSX C40-10W's #5312 and #5496 splitting the eastbound Conrail style signals as they headed westbound towards the yard. Conrain rebuilt CP-SK in its last year or so of existance and so far CSX has not seen the need to substantially alter it as Conrail signal rules are still in effect on the former Boston and River lines.

19-01-12 PHOTOS: Station Sidetrips

Not much was going on in January 2019 so I patched together a couple of trips to DC area MARC stations and to the SRNJ short line base at Winslow Jct, NJ during the NJT Atlantic City Line hiatus. You can find the full set of photos here (mirror).

The Garrett Park Brunswick Line MARC station, located on the former B&O railroad Metropolitan Sub, is situated between the two prongs of the WMATA Red Line north of the city. It consists of a small inbound shelter and low level platforms for the peak direction weekday service.

Parking is highly limited and the station primarily serves walking distance neighborhoods on both sides of the tracks.

The old mill town of Kensington has been subsumed by suburban housing developments, but the old town core still features a vintage B&O railroad station.

Although largely converted into a coffee shoppe, the station still features a waiting room and ticket vending machines. 

The falling snow would soon start to accumulate making condition a bit treacherous. 

Moving to Winslow Jct, despite some recent scrappings, the SRNJ still has three MLW (Alco) M420 locomotives on the ready service tracks. These consisted of CNJ painted numbers 3578, 3519 and 3517 and NYO&W painted #800.