21-02-26 PHOTOS: Cannoli Run

In early 2021 I had just been fully vaccinated, but most events were still cancelled leaving me with a hole in my schedule where I would normally use some of my Amtrak class upgrade coupons that expire at the beginning of March. Because travel was still pretty light and therefore cheap, I decided to book an overnight trip to Boston from BWI, heading up on Train 66 and back on a mid-afternoon Acela Express with enough time in between to do some railfanning and pick up a box of cannolis from Mike's Pastry on the North End. You can find all of the Amtrak, MBTA, Orange Line and Red Line action here ( mirror ).

Power for my northbound Train 66 was Amtrak ACS-86 #611, seen here at Penn Station.

Also at Penn Station were some brand new M9 cars undergoing testing.

Upon departing Penn Station the opportunity availed itself to get some late night video of the Hellgate Line showing off all the ESA progress.



After getting some shuteye I managed to wake up by Providence and got a photo video of the Southwest Corridor trench between Forest Hills and Back Bay stations.



At South Station Amtrak had installed some ersatz position light dwarfs at TOWER 1.

MBTA HSP-46 #2019 was sitting next to F40PH-3C #1031 at the far end of the platforms.

At the station end of the platform, about a car's worth of capacity was being removed to make way for a new hotel overbuild that will eliminate the open air track area and change it into another rail basement.

Bi-level cab cars #1825 and #1722 were at the new stopping point.

On the MBTA Red Line, Pullman built 1500 series cars like #1517 here, are likely the oldest North American subway cars still in regular operation, having entered service in 1969.

The two level platform at Porter allows for overhead views like this one. The 1700 series cars seen here were built by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation of Canada (formerly Hawker Siddeley, not yet Bombardier).

21-02-20 PHOTOS: East Broad Top Winter Fest

The East Broad Top railroad in Rockhill Furnace, PA is a narrow gauge steam tourist railroad that was preserved in 1956 by the scrap merchant that bought the entire railroad after's its closure. The railroad was then run by the Kovalchick family as a steam tourist operation until 2009 when the family decided that they wanted to focus on other things. At that point there was a real risk that the entire operation would be scrapped for real, but a "Friends Of" group managed to raise the money to purchase the property outright in 2020. In 2021, after a good deal of work to bring the physical plant up to a state of minimum repair, the EBT partly re-opened for its traditional Winter Festival offering rides on its Brill gas-electric motor car. Since I had nothing better to do that weekend I put on my coat and hit the road. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

The southern end of the EBT bars the name of Orbisonia, PA, despite the fact that it is across the river in Rockhill Furnace. I arrived to find the small inspection car, M-3, in front of the station while the larger gas electric Brill car, M-1, was still out on an excursion run.

The EBT shares some infrastructure with the adjacent Rockhill Trolley Museum, that has been operating since 1960. Although focused on Central PA cities like Johnstown, the trolley museum draws equipment from all over including former Newark City Subway PCC #6.

Rockhill has perhaps the most modern preserved streetcar in the United States with former San Diego Trolley Siemens–Duewag U2 #1019, seen here next to former York streetcar #163. #1019 was traded to the museum for a number of PCCs and PCC parts so that San Diego could run a historic streetcar service on a downtown loop.

Due to the crowds for the EBT event, Rockhill was running multiple cars that day including former Johnstown trolley #355.

EBT motor car M-1 was discharging at the trolley museum after each of its runs. Unlike most other examples of this type, I believe M-1 was still operating its its original gasoline engine, despite its age and risk of fire. The sound, smell and sight of steam from the cooling system were all indications of this.

Shortly thereafter #163 and Johnstown car #311 also came out to join the party.

The EBT was also doing shop tours and narrow gauge GE 44-ton M-7 was idling outside.

EBT M-1 was running with caboose #28 to accommodate as many riders as possible. Due to Covid and the truncated nature of the Brill car runs, I saw no reason to buy a ticket and ride that day as there would be plenty more and better EBT excursions in the future.

The EBT line parallels US 522 to the former PRR interchange in Mount Union, however since 1960 the line has only been operated to the Colagate Grove picnic area and wye about 3.5 miles north of Rockhill. Today the excursions were only going about 1.5 miles to the line's "summit", but there were ample locations along the route for photos. This location was across from the local hotel on Route 522.

A grade crossing over the driveway of the local water treatment plant allows one to avoid parking on the shoulder of US 522.