22-03-31 PHOTOS: Hudson

When the gray is in the air and the ground is turning to mush its probably time to take another trip up the Hudson valley to document one of the best preserved examples of New York Central signaling anywhere. For the better part of a decade I have been working to replicate my PRR Main Line signal survey on a smaller scale and with most of the easy locations checked off I am having to go after higher and higher fruit. In 2022 my targets was the Milepost 79 signal bridge, just a few hundred yards north of the historic Hyde Park station, the Milepost 108 masts near Linlithgo and the station and interlocking at Hudson, NY. I also documented some of the "new" (2009) searchlights installed by CP in the Mechanicville area. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

First stop was Hyde Park where I caught Amtrak P32AC-DM #702 passing under the NYC vintage signal bridge with a southbound Empire Service train.

My next stop was a point north of CP-103, which unfortunately had recently had its small target searchlight signals replaced, to catch a northbound Empire Service train led by non-heritage P32AC-DM #706.

Amtrak's train tracking feature is pretty useful as it is now super easy to ensure a train encounter at every stop. At the Milepost 108 automatic signal location I managed to snag a Phase III heritage painted P32AC-DM #713 with a southbound Empire Service train.

Unfortunately I was a day late an a dollar short to document the searchlight signals at CP-114, but the new LED target type color light signals are making use of the same Conrail era cantilevers that even have remnants of the old contrast paint.

22-03-17 PHOTOS: TexRail

For all of its car culture and highway building sprees, the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has some pretty comprehensive rail transit. Not only does Dallas have the fairly expansive DART light rail system and a pair of streetcar routes, but there is also a traditional commuter line to Fort Worth and two DMU based rail lines that connect Denton to Dallas and Fort Worth to Grapevine/DFW Airport. The latter, known as TexRail, opened in 2019 and in the spring of 2022 I was given an opportunity to ride it. Other topics covered in this photo set ( mirror ) include some general DART and Dallas Union Station stuff as well as TRE and the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center.

Arriving in from Love Field via a DART Orange Line train on LRV #163 seen here at the St. Paul St station. The city was much emptier than pre-COVID and like many other cities transit ridership had collapsed.

The next morning I headed to Union Station to catch the TRE commuter line to Fort Worth. F59PH #121 was hanging out with a typically short TRE consist.

I went to go get some breakfast a diner across the street and when I returned #121 had been replaced by #124 and an eastbound Union Pacific freight was passing through through with ES44AC #5515 leading and AC4400 #6457 behind.

Even in the spring of 2022, in Texas, COVID safety theatre was still a thing with a chain keeping people away from the cab car cab and thus preventing any photos being taken out the front or back.

While passing through Mockingbird yard my TRE train encountered a Dallas, Garland and Northeastern Railroad RP20BD genset.

Although the terminal for TRE and TexRail is at the more downtown Texas and Pacitic Station, I got off at the newer intermodal transportation center as there was simply more there to see and do. TexRail makes use of eight Stadler DMU trainsets with 4 coach sections and one central power unit. Although FRA "complaint", and thus able to run on the same tracks as TRE, TexRail trainsets make use of semi-high platforms and require a separate berthing area as can be seen with #108 here.

22-03-05 PHOTOS: Amtrak Northeast

Not all of my trips are blockbusters that cross state lines and/or involve hundreds of miles of travel. Some are completely local affairs or the side effect of a lot of regular NEC travel between Philly and Baltimore. March of 2022 was one such period of regular local travel and I have consolidated it into a set of photos ( mirror ).

Starting things off at the BWI Airport Rail Station we have Amtrak ACS-86 #646 at the head of an afternoon Regional.

SEPTA Silverliner IV #353 at Market East.

PATCO rebuild car #1065 heading westbound at 8th and Market.

Three PATCO trains at Haddonfield with #1080, #1114 and #1122.

SEPTA Silverliner IV #336 on the Suburban Station Ramp.

Back in the DC area I caught Amtrak Super Star Train 92 as it approached Crystal City on the former RF&P. The post-Covid staff shortage caused a consolidation of Florida Service trains with the Meteor being annulled and come of its consist transferred to the Silver Star. This resulted in the unpresented 7 Viewliner lashup seen here behind P42'sDC #188 and #190.