20-05-30 PHOTOS: Reading and Northern - Part 2

Here is Part 2 of my May 2020 trip with Kevin Painter into the coal region of Eastern Pennsylvania to check out the recent improvements made to the Reading and Northern railroad that operates on the former Reading Railroads freight network in the region. You can find Part 1, which covers the North Reading terminal, Reading Railroad Heritage Museum and R&N Port Clinton yard freight engines, right here. Part 2 will cover passenger stock at Port Clinton, following the line up to Tamaqua and then catching the North Reading Fast Freight at East Mahanoy Junction. The entire set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

Originally founded as a tourist operation on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Valley branch, the Reading and Northern has always had a strong commitment to passenger operations and current runs excursions out of its North Reading terminal as well as the former CNJ station in Mach Chunk, PA with the latter branded as the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad. Some of the LGSR equipment was in Port Clinton, including this ex-Reading Blueliner, converted into an unpowered coach.

Although they are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, the R&N has a pair of Budd RDC cars, that are a frequent and popular presence on the North Reading excursion runs.

Former Reading signal gantries, rescued from around the R&N network, currently stand empty, but will likely host live signals if the CTC project ever includes the Port Clinton yard.

New split block signals at Milepost 87 south of New Ringgold, on the way to Tamaqua.

The next major base of operations north of Port Clinton is South Tamaqua Yard. There we found R&N SD40-2's #3052 and #3056 hanging out next to caboose #92850.

The Reading and Northern also owns some ultra rare SD38's, one of which, #2003. was standing near Tamaqua Yard office. Only 50 of these were built for North American railroads with another 90 of the -2 variety.

20-05-30 PHOTOS: Reading and Northern - Part 1

Since 1990 the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern has been an outstanding success story revitalizing both passenger and freight rail transportation in the former anthracite region of eastern Pennsylvania. In recent years it's success has only accelerated with a new passenger terminal north of Reading, a CTC signaling system and a new bridge over the Lehigh River creating a unified main line between Reading and Scranton. While I am no stranger to Reading area railfanning, my priority had been with various Norfolk Southern locations as the big Class 1 was always looking to replace its Reading and Conrail vintage equipment with sterile modern stuff. The R&N on the other hand was actively expanding its use of vintage equipment so giving them time to improve further was in my best interest.

In May of 2020 it was finally time to cash in some of my R&N To Do list so I hooked up with the esteemed Kevin Painter for a driving tour of the R&N main line between North Reading and East Mahanoy Junction with a special stop at the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, PA. This set will be delivered in two parts, the first covering things south Port Clinton and the second north of Port Clinton. If you can't wait you can browse the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

Just prior to my visit, R&N owner Andy Muller had just completed the purchase of two of NS's company train F units that has been part of the their 2020 equipment fire sale. Still being prepped for service, Andy parked them on the display track at the North Reading passenger terminal, just ahead of 4-6-0 steam locomotive #225, so as to be visible from the road. 

The North Reading station is located at the south end of the North Reading yard where traffic is interchanged with NS. Locomotives are typically on hand to facilitate these moves and today there was a pair of end cab switchers,MP15DC #1543 and SW1500 #1548. These locomotives represent the ultimate evolution of the EMD end cab switcher with the difference between the two being mostly different trucks.

The new station features an expanded passenger boarding area along with a reproduction 19th century Reading interlocking tower that houses the station's restroom facilities.

The on duty road power at North Reading consisted of SD40-2's #3058 and #3057.

At the northern end of the North Reading freight yard, a line of road power stood ready to pull assembled trains throughout the R&N's coal region freight network. Leading the pack was R&N GP38-2 #2011 in a fresh reproduction 1970's Reading paint scheme.

Behind #2011 was a trio of SD40-2's comprised of #3054, #3050 and #3055.

The yard crew was assembling that day's freight trains with MP15DC's #1542 and #1543.

20-05-25 PHOTOS: DuBois

Du Bios, Pennsylvania is an important hub on the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad, a G&W owned regional line with over 700 route miles. Originally built by the Baltimore and Ohio as the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh to serve the Central Pennsylvania coal region and connect it to port facilities in Rochester, it was cut loose from the Chessie System in 1988. Today the B&P is known for it's Class 1 style freight trains (if you can catch them) and a number of CTC Islands using the original B&O vintage signaling. One of these CTC islands is centered on Du Bios, PA along with two original B&O interlocking towers, so while on one of my trips through the area I took some time to document everything the town had to offer. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

FC (Falls Creek) tower might look familiar to Metro North commuters as the poured concrete structure used the exact same design as those built for the New Haven Railroad on much of its system in the same 1910-1920 time period. In the first two decades of the 20th Century, reinforced concrete was cutting edge technology and a number of northeastern railroads, most notably the DL&W, went hog wild pouring buildings and bridges alike. Many of these structures exist today due to the strength and quality of the concrete. 

 
FC tower is located at the crossing of the PRR's Low Grade line to Driftwood. Today most traces of the crossing are gone, however the former PRR line is used as far as Brookville, providing the only currently active rail access to that city and the associated Brookville Equipment Company that manufactures a wide variety of mining, transit and railroad rolling stock. Here we can see the former PRR bridge over Falls Creek from the tower with the B&P main line track in the foreground.

Both the operator's and relay rooms retain some of their original fittings and the tower continues to hold up well after about 35 years of abandonment with the radiators and central heating unit avoiding the attention of scrappers.

At the nearby FALLS CREEK interlocking B&O Color Position Light signals from the Chessie Era remain in place along with the original interlocking equipment.

As I was there on a Sunday, not much was going on in B&P's DuBios Yard. Former Conrail GP38 #7803 was hanging out amongst the freight cars. 

20-05-19 PHOTOS: Greenbelt

For the better part of a decade the Baltimore and Ohio Color Position Light signals at Greenbelt, MD have stood alone as the last main line CPLs in the B&O's home state. The cause is a quirk of GREENBELT interlocking's creation in that it exists solely for the benefit of MARC commuter trains to use high level platforms at the Greenbelt intermodal transpiration center where passengers can transfer between the DC Metro and MARC commuter trains. The CPLs were installed in the 1992 time period at the very end of era when CSX would bother to install precursor specific signals and were likely funded from the same pot of Federal funds that was building the transportation center. In 2013 the entire CSX Capitol Sub, with the exception of GREENBELT, was re-signaled as I assume maintenance and/or replacement of an interlocking with zero utility for CSX was the responsibility of the State. This state of affairs persisted until 2020 when new signaling hardware appeared on sight. With nothing better to do I headed down to catch at least one part of MARC trains on their Covid service patterns, and whatever DC Metro trains were passing near by. The full set of these photos can be found here ( mirror ).

The GREENBELT complex consists of two signaled pocket tracks serving the high level platforms without any other main line crossover. Between here and Hyattsville, MD the MARC Camden Line (CSX Capitol Sub) shares the right of way with the DC Metro Green Line. 

Unlike many modern stations, track and ADA access were provided via tunnels and ramos instead of elevators.

There was so little CSX traffic that day that the dispatcher displayed the signals for the first pair of MARC trains almost two hours early. This allowed me to capture a wider variety of CPL aspects than I had been expecting Medium Clear for movements into the pockets, Slow Approach for a Stop at the other end of a pocket and a Medium Approach Medium indication on the westbound dwarf reflecting a back to back crossover at the next interlocking.

Metro Green Line trains were running on a 20 minute headway. All trainsets were made up of 7000 series cars.

20-05-16 PHOTOS: Flyover Country

With train service largely shut down due to COVID in the spring of 2019, it is time for an infrastructure week and what better infrastructure is there than the remains of the Pennsylvania Railroad Philadelphia and Thorndale low grade freight line! Specifically the P&T junction with the Main Line at Thorndale, PA and the magnificent flyover at Whitford, PA. Not much more to say except that you can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

The P&T low grade line extended the Trenton Cutoff about 10 miles from its original terminus at Glendale, PA to Thorndale, PA to avoid a number of significant grades on the original Main Line alignment. Although its hard to notice today. what is now the high speed Keystone corridor has all sorts of grades that often required helpers in the age of steam. Thorndale itself served as a helper base even after the coming of electrification in 1939. Because the PRR didn't want to disrupt the busy Main Line passenger operations flying junctions were constructed at Thorndale and Glendale. Here we see Main Line at Milepost 34 looking eastward as it approaches the P*T flyover that takes the form of a short tunnel on tracks #1 and #2. While originally 4 tracks, track #3 was lifted between Thorndale and Downingtown around 2010.

The P&T itself was reduced to a single track under the Penn Central and then removed entirely in the 1980's. Today only the ballasted right of way remains as an access road. Here is the view from on top of the flyover tunnel looking westbound then eastbound.

Here is the west portal to the tracks 1 and 2 flyover tunnel looking in the eastbound direction. Sheet metal shields were added to the 1906 tunnel to discourage people from coming in contact with the 12kv overhead wire.

The catenary structure dates from the 1939 Harrisburg electrification project and retains many original components.

The P&T junction with the previously covered THORN Interlocking is out of sight to the west.

East of the Thorndale flyover is Amtrak's Thorndale Substation. Built for the 1939 electrification project, it is associated with one of three Phase Breaks on the Amtrak 25hz power system that can isolate the western end of the PRR's electrification system which is chiefly supplied by the Safe Harbour Dam.

Thorndale Substation is also one of only 3 locations on Amtrak's 25hz system to have high voltage oil filled breakers for the 138kv distribution circuits, as the PRR found it easier to switch load on the 12kv side of the breakers. The HV breakers at Thorndale and other places are 1939 pieces of equipment.

Due to multiple rounds of government funding over the years, Amtrak has largely replaced the PRR's 1930's stock of 25hz single phase transformers with updated models. However the Thorndale substation features one of the few remaining 1939 units, with the GE logo still present on the glass globe oil bushing.

20-05-10 PHOTOS: New COLA

Columbia, Pennsylvania, home to COLA interlocking and tower, was a key node on the PRR's eastern "low grade" freight network between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. Effectively serving as the junction between the Port Road Branch to Baltimore and points south, and the Columbia and A&S branches to Philadelphia and points east, the entire area was electrified in 1939 with a brand new CTC interlocking plant coming online in 1938. In May of 2020 I was looking for some outdoor activities and re-visiting Columbia had been on my to do list for a while. Since my last visit in 2007, the interlocking was completely re-signaled, but a new Susquehanna Bike trail had been installed providing access to an old PRR tunnel and CP-LAKE north of town. Since I didn't feel like trying to get my bike up to speed I settled for a more leisurely walking tour.

The PRR's Columbia Station still stands, not serving as a cafe and ice creame shoppe. A railroad themed mural adorns an adjacent wall.

COLA tower also still stands, although it's 1930's vintage interlocking equipment was decommissioned in 2012, the sturdy brick building still serves a function with Norfolk Southern's signal department.

The interlocking was rationalized by Conrail in the 1980's when the Atglen and Susquehanna branch to Parkesburg was abandoned and traffic was re-routed to the former Reading system lines. Today the single track Columbia Secondary to Lancaster branches off from the two main tracks of the Port Road/Enola Branch to Perryville, MD. The 1939 catenary structure still stands to support a single 138kv 25Hz circuit between Safe Harbor and Royalton for Amtrak's Harrisburg Line electrification.

The quirky interlocking had its position lights and pneumatic point machines replaced in 2023, but was not otherwise altered.

The used 152lb Pennsylvania Special rail on the MoW siding was made in 1947 about 20 miles up the rider at the Bethlehem Steel plant in Steelton, PA.