22-08-26 PHOTOS: JO

The JO section of the once sprawling ZOO interlocking complex is a surprisingly accessible yet under visited portion of the former PRR Main Line. Named for the former interlocking tower that was absorbed into the larger ZOO scheme in 1930, the JO section is where the west end of the New York-Pittsburgh Subway joins with the PRR Main Line from Suburban Station and today is used to shuffle westbound Amtrak and SEPTA traffic after the discontinuation of main track 4 over the Valley Flyover in 1994. Conveniently located under the Girard Street overpass, of Route 15 trolley fame, I traveled via the nearby SEPTA trolley Route 10 out to get what photos I could ( mirror ) on a weekday morning in August 2022.

Arriving back in Philly the evening before, I snagged this nighttime photo of the PRR Suburban Station main entrance across from Love Park.

The next morning I transferred from the MFL to the Route 10 at the Juniper Street trolley terminal. Here is K-Car #9055 on a Route 13 run.

From the Girard Street overpass one can make out the current arrangement of JO, from right to left one sees Main Track #1, the NY-Pittsburgh Subway, Main Track #4 and then Main Track #2.

This part of ZOO interlocking doesn't get much in the way of photos due to the high catenary shields on the bridges and the right of way being bordered by rowhomes. However some breaks in the development allow some views such as here where SEPTA Silverliner IV #406 is passing under the westbound PRR position light signal bridge. One can see that the 134R high signal for movements off the NY-Pittsburgh Subway has been recently converted into a pedestal.

While an Amtrak catenary maintenance vehicle waits at the 142L signal on Main Track #1, a SEPTA shop move consisting of Silverliners V #801 and #802 and Silverliner IV #277 crosses over from Main Track #4 to Main Track #2.

Until 1994 Main Track #4 would continue on straight ahead over the Valley Flyover, crossing above Main Track #2 and a number of freight yard tracks to drop back down onto the right side of the right of way. The Overbrook Maintenance Facility, that the Silverliners are moving towards, was constructed in 1994 to replace the ailing Paoli MU shoppes. This necessitated the realignment of Main Track #4 off the increasingly rickety flyover truss bridge, that soon saw use only for Cynwyd trains with a blanket 10mph speed restriction. The flyover would remain in service until 2018(!) until the opening of a new Cynwyd branch ground connection at PAXON interlocking. Here you can see how the Valley Flyover ramp has been recently cut at the 143 switch.

After the passage of the shoppe move, the catenary maintenance vehicle got its lineup and crossed into the NY-Pittsburgh Subway. The Subway was previously used by premier PRR east-west passenger traffic avoiding a time consuming stop/reverse move at 30th St or Broad Street stations. To save additional time the Subway track was given a straight movement onto the Main Track #4 flyover, a configuration that now delays all westbound Main Track #4 trains that have to make a 30mph diverging move through the JO section.

22-08-21 PHOTOS: Wawa

In 1986 SEPTA temporarily suspended service on its R3 West Chester service beyond the Elwyn Station where the line became largely single track. The suspension was ostensibly to fix track issues that had slowed service on the branch, however it soon became clear that SEPTA was looking to truncate service to Elwyn/Media and instead reached a deal with Chester County to expand parking and service to the Exton station on the much faster R5 Paoli. The line was officially taken out of service in 1991 and besides stock traffic to a quarry and the use of a testing and training facility in Leni the line became a zombie, officially still "temporarily" suspended, but with service restoration increasingly unlikely.

In 2005 plans were made to restore service to a new Wawa station and park and ride off busy US Route 1 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. Originally intended to cost $50 million and be completed in 2010, circumstances resulted in near endless delays with the project ultimately being completed, much to the surprise of many, in 2022 for a cost of $100 million. As this was the first expansion of the SEPTA Regional Rail system in over 20 years I naturally had to be there for the inaugural departure and arrival on August 21st 2022. You can see the full set of photos, which include an additional visit to the East Penn Railroad, here ( mirror ). If you are interested in some 2015 coverage of the West Chester Branch before this partial restoration and rebuild, you can read a separate article here.

Although the new Wawa Station was located at the location of the old Wawa station, SEPTA wasn't about to miss an opportunity to shake down the local Philadelphia Area convenience store chain of the same name. After threats to use alternative names like Middletown Township or Sheetz, Wawa eventually coughed up $5 million for the "naming rights", however it did result in some snazzy branding.

The inaugural departure was set to leave the new Wawa station before dawn on Sunday, August 21st requiring those who wished to ride to get up early and, most likely, drive to the new R3 terminus. Intended to be a new transportation hub, the station has a building, vehicle loop and cavernous parking facility. unfortunately the Wawa station building does not (yet) contain a Wawa retail location, although there are two within walking distance for all of one's delicious coffee needs.

On the well lit, high level island platform, Wawa wrapped SEPTA Silverliner V #853 was awaiting its scheduled departure.

As SEPTA has slowly expanded its selection of accessible platforms it has generally avoided the use of costly elevators, instead making do with ramps.

Because of the Silverliner V's railfan windows, I was able to capture the entirety of the outbound trip between Wawa and Elwyn on video. The run took a few minutes longer than scheduled in part due to a report of deer on the tracks and some signal anomalies at Elwyn.



My plan was to be on board both the first departure and arrival from the new station and I pretty much had my choice of R3 station to accomplish this. I selected Clifton-Alden for its proximity to the Route 102 suburban trolley. Silverliner V #830 was on the rear of the first inbound run.

The first outbound (to Wawa) train was led by SEPTA Silverliner V #816.

Once again I was able to grab some video from the head end of the first ever R3 Wawa as it traveled between Media and Wawa.



Local TV news crews were on hand for the first inbound arrival.

The station's single island platform serves one through track and one stub terminal track, although there is space to extend the stub track through if West Chester service is ever restored. The West Chester Railroad briefly ran through excursions from their base in West Chester in the 2000's until SEPTA allowed its portion of the line to deteriorate sufficiently to stop the practice. It is unclear if SEPTA will remedy the situation any time soon.

At the city end of the platform the line immediately enters a series of interlockings built to serve a new storage yard on the site of the old Leni training facility. Note the stub switch to serve the old PRR Octoraro Branch which used to branch off here en-route to a connection with the Port Road.

After the departure of the second inbound trip I headed down to the station building that comes equipped with bathrooms and a bunch of local historical information on the walls.

As it was on my way back south I stopped by the East Penn Railroad Octoraro branch shoppe complex at the former PRR station in Kennett Square. East Penn is currently working the line with GP38-2 #2179 and GP18 #1800.

That's all for the Wawa station opening. Definitely expect a follow-up visit during an upcoming Mid-Winter Trip.

22-08-13 VIDEOS: Fire Up 2102 With 425

In the second part of my 2022 Reading #2102 / RBMN #425 double header Iron Horse Ramble I will be covering my audio/video content from the trip. For those who missed it, Part 1 with the still photos can be found here. This was the 3rd of 4 inaugural #2102 fantrips put on by the Reading and Northern and the only one not associated with a major holiday, instead celebrating RBMN owner Andy Muller's birthday. On the outbound leg of the trip between North Reading and Mach Chunk via Port Clinton and Tamaqua I used my still camera in video mode while on the return I used a fixed lens GoPro. Between the runs I also got a few additional videos of the goings on at Mach Chunk.

I'll kick things off with a "best of" compilation of video taken out of the right hand side window of Lackawanna MU car #308, 4 cars back behind Reading and Northern #2102 and #425. The video clips include:

• Departure from North Reading Yard past the NRFF painted SD50 protect engines and railfan viewing platform at Tuckahoe Road.


• Arrival at and departure from Port Clinton including both PULPIT and CLINT controlled points.


• Passage through New Ringgold, PA.


• Passage through South Tamaqua and the south end of the Tamaqua Yard.


• Passage through the north end of Tanaqua Yard and downtown Tamaqua, PA.


• Passage through East Mahanoy Jct


• Passage through Nesquehoning, PA.


• Arrival at CNJ Mach Chunk (Jim Thorpe) station.


• Climbing out of the Lehigh Valley on the former CNJ Nesquehoning Branch.

As you can see the number of chasers was absolutely insane with all of the associated car pacing and stepladders.



Here we see Reading and Northern T-1 #2102 and Pacific #425 reverse the long August 13th Iron Horse Ramble train after discharging passengers at the Jim Thorpe Station for a 4 hour intermission between the outbound and return legs of the excursion. The 18 car trainset would be turned on the wye formed by the recently constructed bridge over the Lehigh River allowing a direct connection between the former CNJ Nesquehoning Branch and the former Conrail Lehigh Line.




Reading and Northern T-1 #2102 and Pacific #425 move from their cab tour positions just north of the Jim Thorpe station to be recouped to the August 13th Iron Horse Ramble train that had been parked to the south of the station just prior to the photo run-by. The cab tours were part of the activities available during the 4 hour intermission.



Here Reading and Northern T-1 #2102 and Pacific #425 perform the requisite photo run-by at the former CNJ Mach Chunk passenger station at the conclusion of the intermission.




The first GoPro video covers the return portion of the ride between the famous Hometown Viaduct and the Milepost 102 intermediate signal. As with the previous side window videos the camera was held outside of the #308 Lackawanna MU, 4 cars back from the locomotive on the right hand side. This video includes views into the Little Schuylkill River valley some 130 feet below Hometown Viaduct and the interlockings at HAUCKS and EAST MAHANOY JCT. The RBMN signal department made use of period correct searchlight and color light signals on what was the first segment of restored CTC signaling between North Reading and Jim Thorpe Jct.



The second GoPro video covers the action from just before the Tamaqua Tunnel, through downtown Tamaqua and through South Tamaqua Yard to the curve at the coal yard. Note the milepost 99 searchlit intermediate signal as well as TAMAQUA and EQUILATERAL interlockings.



The third GoPro video video captures the route from the photogenic S-curve at Copperhead Chemical in Atlas through the town of New Ringgold to the Milepost 87 intermediate signal. New Ringgold was a popular photo location for train chasers as PA state highway 895 provided a straight shot to catch the train again near Molino.




The final GoPro video begins right before the small town of Drehersville and continued through Molino to the RBMN steam servicing facility at Port Clinton where #2101 and #425 were pulled off to be wyed. Note the monster photo line set up on a small farm road a bit before passing the surviving Reading Railroad passenger shelter at Molino.



Well I hope you enjoyed all of the photos and videos from this trip. Next time I'll be back with coverage of SEPTA's opening day service to the new Wawa, PA station.

22-08-13 PHOTOS: Fire Up 2102 With 425

I haven't been the biggest steam excursion enthusiast. Although broadly popular within the railfan community for all of the pomp and circumstance associated with steam locomotion, they tend to be limited to tourist/shortlines and their popularity means that any resulting content will be in no way unique and not as good as those with much more expensive camera equipment (or drones). However in 2021 I was given the opportunity to attend a CNJ 113 trip on Reading Blue Mountain and Northern trackage in the former Reading RR coal region and I had a standout experience given RBMN management's pro-railfan attitude even compared to steam tourist operations like Strasburg. When RBMN announced their new series of steam excursions for the 2022 season featuring rebuilt Reading T-1 class 4-8-4 #2102 I purchased a ticket for the August seating. This turned out to be particularly fortunate as RBMN later sweetened the deal by adding 4-6-2 #426 to the consist for a rare steam doubleheader. Anyway here are the photos ( mirror )from the August 2022 RBMN Iron Horse ramble with videos to follow in a later post.

Upon the advice of Kevin Painter I arrived early enough to get a parking spot and seated myself in former Reading MU car #308, located 4 cars back from the engines, when boarding opened just a few minutes later. As I was unable to secure myself a partner for the trip I could not leave the seat to get initial terminal photos at the North Reading passenger station.

The doubleheader increased the number of trackside photographers and train chasers and made for large crowds at every location with easy vehicle access such as the Main Street grade crossing in Leesport, PA.

For those riding behind, curves near the town of Berne allowed for our first view of the two leading engines.

Making a station stop at Port Clinton to pick up additional passengers.

I was excited about the trip as it would allow photos of some of the RBMN's recent CTC signals like these examples at mileposts 84, 87 and 91.

A double S-Curve near the old Atlas chemical plant was the official location for excursion passengers to get running photos of the engines.

Here we see the duo passing through South Tamaqua Yard.

Although a feature of the regularly scheduled RBMN steam and RDC excursions, I had never been across the Hometown viaduct north of Tamaqua. Built by the CNJ to connect with its corporate parent at Haucks, economic conditions including reductions in anthracite coal use prevented the planned second track from being constructed.

Passing the signal at JIM THORPE JCT, the excursion is approaching its layover/shore activity at the town of Mach Chunk. The RBMN recently completed a new bridge over the Lehigh River that allows through freights to run between Reading and Scranton without a reverse move. It also created a turning wye that can be used by steam locomotives, like 2102, that are too large for the old Mach Chunk turntable. JIM THORPE JCT also marks the northern end of the last gap in CTC coverage on the RBMN's hybrid main line.

RBMN SW1500 #1548 hanging out at Mach Chunk.