In past decades, the Sunday after thanksgiving was Amtrak's biggest travel day with thousands of holiday travelers returning home in order to be at work on Monday morning. Amtrak would pull out all the stops with extra trains, some even using leased commuter rail equipment, and almost all of them selling out. Unfortunately in recent years Amtrak has abandoned their commitment to getting people off of I-95 with the leased trains cut along with most of the extras. Part of this was institutional, with the executive in charge of assembling the program retiring. Part of it was due to the COVID pandemic reducing general holiday travel for a second straight year. However much of the new mindset was from a focus on managing demand through pricing. Moving extra riders wasn't worth the cost of running extra trains when it was easier to sell the regular trains out with higher fares. This brings us to Thanksgiving Sunday, 2001 where the sole component of Amtrak's special holiday schedule was a single extra Regional round trip. Since I needed content I made the drive over to the Halethorpe MARC station to catch it and whatever other trains might be in the vicinity. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).
Normally I would build up to the climactic arrival of Regional Extra #1164, but that day it was actually the first train I caught passing through Halethorpe. The northbound train had 10 Amfleets and was propelled by ACS-86 #623.
This was soon followed by the the standard Train 164 with ACS-86 #656 leading.
As luck would have it, Train 164 arrived just in time to meet southbound Cardinal Train #51 with ACS-86 #605 leading three Amfleet II coaches, a Viewlier Sleeper and a new Viewlier II bag-dorm.
After a year off due to COVID I was able to rejoin Chuchubob for our annual Thanksgiving Wednesday NEC carpool. This year, after the traditional south jersey stops at Cove Road and Pennsauken, we traveled to catch the increased Amtrak traffic at the Croydon SEPTA station due to its proximity to a really nice brewpub. Unfortunately over the intervening period, Amtrak had responded to the change in travel patterns and tight labor market by raising prices instead of adding capacity. As a result there were no Thanksgiving Wednesday extra trains, just some extra cars. Still, it was an excuse to get out and take some NEC photos on a really nice fall day. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).
Starting off at the Pennsauken transportation center where we arrived in time to catch an inbound NJT Atlantic City Line train seen here heading over the Delair Bridge before a stop at the station.
NJT RiverLINE trans also tend to pass just north of the Pennsauken transfer station so when you encounter a northbound, a southbound will soon follow. Today #3511 was heading north and #3506 south.
At Cove Road NS SD70ACe #1177 and C40-10W #7516 were in the process of building their train at Pavonia Yard. The train's length was such that the lead units were spraying sand and needed to get routes pulled up at CP-HATCH.
On a hunch Bob drove down to the RiverLINE's 36th St station where we found SD70ACe #1025 in a DPU position ahead of a cut of coal hoppers.
We also caught the next southbound RiverLINE train with #3513.
At Croydon, an outbound SEPTA R7 was first to arrive with Silverliner IV #293.
This was followed by a northbound Amtrak Regional with ACS-86 #625. A major feature of the Croydon station is the proximity to a PRR style intermediate signal location.
A inbound R7 train with Silverliners IV #372, #373, #277 and #296 then arrived. In years past these Thanksgiving adjacent train could be seen with up to 6 cars.
An eastbound Amtrak Keystone was next with ACS-86 #628 and Metroliner Cab Car #9645.
When driving home for Thanksgiving or Christmas I usually take the opportunity to make a side trip to Reading, PA as between the Reading & Northern and NS, it's a reliable location for both train movements and railroad related infrastructure. Since prior to 2021 I had largely exhausted the supply of signaling and infrastructure locations in the Reading area, I decided to meet up with Phil N. at CP-WYOMISSING JCT to see what might be moving on the Harrisburg Line. Luck and the sun were both shining on my that day with a bevy of through freights appearing in the space of an hour or two. After lunch a visit to the Cumru Bridge did not yield any additional results, but I had gotten more than my fill earlier in the day. The full set of photos can be seen here ( mirror ).
CP-WYOMISSING JCT is located on the former Reading Railroad Lebanon Valley Branch just west of Downtown Reading and Reading Yard. The Junction part of Wyomissing Jct is in the form of a connecting track that links the former Reading Belt Line that is currently used by through freights heading east to Philly (via the Harrisburg Line) or New York (via the Reading Line). Needless to say, most traffic is of the New York Variety. Here we see a westbound doublestack intermodal train heading up the ramp from CP-TULP with ET44AC #3645, AC44C6M #4134 and C44-9W #9910 passing AC44C6M #4136 at the head of a westbound manifest freight in the process.
A Medium Approach Medium signal indication on Track #1 implied that an eastbound heading to the Reading Line and North Jersey was approaching. The manifest freight with a trailing autorack block train soon appeared with AC44C6M rebuilds #4122 and #4392 leading.
Rail trails do not generally provide sufficient railroad content to meet the FRA's recommended daily amounts, however once in a while they do provide access to interesting railroad artifacts and locations that can raise them above something like an infrequently operating short line. One of these trails covers the former Pennsylvania Railroad Allegheny Valley branch that ran between Pittsburgh and Erie with connections to the coal and oil fields of North Central Pennsylvania. While on an Armistice Day related road trip this was the closest rail activity that would both involve the whole day and not leave my friend sitting in a car while I took obsessive photos of searchlight signals. Also, because I knew that I would probably need some photos of real trains, I made a point to stop by Altoona and Tyrone on the way out. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).
ALTO tower, built in 1915 and closed in 2012, was still hanging in there. It is slated for preservation, but the process of making it suitable for visitation and restoration is ongoing. Until that happens is sits unoccupied, at risk of vandalism and fire.
While I was on site, an NS PSR special descended the hill with C44-10W #8044 and C44-9W #9826 leading a manifest block ahead of a an autorack block, then AC44C6M #4483 before a long trailing block of RBMN coal hopper cars.
This long PSR monster stopped with the head end near the Rose Yard crew base, indicating an main line re-crew or tail end helper cutoff. As the sun was starting to set I felt it best to get back on I-99 and try to get ahead of the train and get a photo at the Tyrone station about 10 miles to the (railroad) east. Since my last visit, the Tyrone station renovations had been completed with a new platform and ADA parking spaces.
Although the train I had encountered at ALTO did not appear, a replacement was provided in the form of an eastbound doublestack intermodal train with C44-9W #9913, SD70ACe #1116 and C44-9W #9581 leading.
