23-01-29 PHOTOS: The Wave

Since the COVID pandemic my friend group and I (along with a lot of other people it seems) decided to engage in more destination type outdoor activities. As you have seen in previous posts this includes places like Alaska and various national parks. Since sitting in giant queues tends to defeat the purpose of outdoor travel, we have specifically looked to go places away from seasonal peaks, or are difficult to access or are simply obscure. One suck Journey that managed to hit all three was to experience The Wave, a natural feature near Page, Arizona that you probably know from Instagram or a computer desktop background. Limited by lottery to a maximum of 60 visitors per day, this wind eroded sandstone amphitheater is notoriously difficult to visit for anyone with a hard and fast travel itinerary. Fortunately for groups without kids and with a retiree who can hit up every iteration of the lottery, the chance of getting an off-peak permit is actually pretty good and in October of 2022 my group hit on a date near the end of January 2023. Flying into Phoenix I was also able to get some actual rail photos driving up through Flagstaff, as well as some other non-rail points of interest such as the Glen Canyon Dam. You can see the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

Visiting The Wave is much like trying to get tickets to a live taping of SNL. You don't get to pick when you go, are assigned a date and you take it or leave it. Getting a date in the January off season was more statistically likely than the in-season, but we dodged one major bullet in the form of Super Bowl 57, sponsored by Levi's. If our date had been just one or two weeks later, travel costs into Phoenix would have skyrocketed. 

For anyone looking for a place to retire, Arizona features Gila Woodpeckers, saguaro cacti and hot air balloons. 

In Flagstaff the former ATSF Main Line and current Amtrak station are right in the center of town. Choosing to eat at Lumberyard Brewing allows one sufficient time to get photos of passing BNSF traffic upon activation of the San Francisco St crossing signals. The first train of that day was a westbound doublestack intermodal led by BNSF ET44AC #3788, C44-10W  #7607, Ferromex SD70ACe #4052 and ES44AC4 #8082. The Amtrak station sees the passage of the daily Southwest Chief in the early morning and evening so during the day it was all freight, all the time.

I was a little late to the party for the next two trains. The first, an eastbound autorack and manifest train, was led by ET44C4 #3994, C44-9W #5234 and ES44C4 #7038. This was followed by an eastbound intermodal with ES44C4 #4246, C44-10W #7611, ES44C4 #6901 and ES44C4 #8323.

This was followed by a westbound oil train with ES44C4 #8090, ES44C4 #6625 and C44-9W #5483 leading and two ES44C4's, #6905 and #6951, on the rear as DPUs.

A second westbound of the intermodal variety soon followed with ES44C4 #4298, C44-9W #4304 and C44-9W #4465 leading. 

Heading out of town I caught C44-9W #5191 hanging out as local power on a siding.

23-01-21 PHOTOS: GLX

The big news in Boston for 2023 was the opening of the GLX or Green Line Extension to Union Square and Medford/Tufts. The multi-billion dollar project would extend the E Branch from its terminus at the Lechmere loop several miles up the MBTA New Hampshire Route Main Line as well as the D Branch from a previously downtown terminus to a new stop at Union Square located on the MBTA Fitchburg line. As winter travel to Boston is pretty cheap I booked a round trip on the Acela from Washington, DC. This set of photos ( mirror ) will cover both legs of the Amtrak journey as well as both branches of the GLX.

Starting things off at Washington, DC, the Acela platform was populated with two trainsets with #2016 being my scheduled 10am departure with #2028 standing by.

This would be my first trip over the high speed New Jersey section at 150mph. Crossing the Hackensack work was evident for the replacement PORTAL bridge.

Acela power car #2016 at NY Penn.

While en route to the Seaport District I caught MBTA Silverliner trackless trolley #1124 at the World Trade Centre station.

I was staying in the new Seaport District, and although it lacks the ambiance of the Old Towne, it does have some quirky bits.

The next morning I managed to catch one of the new Type 9 LRV's at Park St on a D Branch routing to Union Square. The small order of Type 9's will cover the GLX expansion and are planned to replace the Mattapan PCC's after the Type 10 order.

Passing Type 8 #3890 on the Lechmere Viaduct.

The GLX included the construction of a new yard and shoppe complex located adjacent to the existing MBTA commuter rail heavy maintenance facility.

Passing Type 8 #3877 approaching Union Square. Both legs of the GLX were built to light rail standards as opposed to streetcar operation.

MBTA Type 9 #3903 at Union Square along with Type 8 #3838.

23-01-15 PHOTOS: Elmont

As the LIRR steps up its efforts to replace its position light signals with Metro-North-like dwarfs I scheduled a trip up to NYC to visit the new Elmont station that conveniently provided a vantage point from which I could photograph more parts of QUEENS interlocking, that was in the midst of bring reconfigured for the Main Line Third Track Project. An additional plan to travel out on the Port Washington branch was thwarted by another re-signaling project being completed so instead I took the 7 line out to Willets Point for Corona Yard and LIRR photos there. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

My day got off to a bang with my first ever ride on an LIRR M9, #9034 to be exact. As expected the UX was no different than an M7 with the same union-friendly blind cab doors. Maybe I'll finally get something better with the M11's in 2040.

Pulling into Jamaica I spotted a train of M3's adjacent to JAY tower.

LIRR M7's #7366 and #7848 passing in JAY interlocking.

LIRR M7 #7595 and #7492 at Jamaica Station.

HALL tower and M7's #7573 and #7727 passing in HALL interlocking.

LIRR MP15AC #165 on one of the HALL storage tracks.

LIRR DE30 #423 passing through HALL's eastern approaches en route to Jamaica.

Due to the lack of Elmont service outside of events I got off and Queens Village and walked the remaining distance. Even if trains had been stopping I would have been inclined to do the same since Elmont is across the border with Nassau County where my $5 ShittyTicket wouldn't apply. Here is a video of my outbound LIRR M7 train departing Elmont and heading through QUEENS interlocking towards Hempstead.



QUEENS interlocking is the junction where the Hempstead branch and Belmont spur split from the Main Line to Hicksville and points east. Until recently this involved a 4-track wb local-wb express-eb express-eb local configuration turning into an wb Main eb Main wb Hempstead eb Hempstead via a series of 80mph high speed turnouts that were installed when the QUEENS tower was first re-signaled in 2005. Looking west from the Elmont ADA overpass we can see two of the 2005 HST's as well as the old QUEENS medium speed crossovers used by Belmont and some westbound Hempstead trains.

The Elmont station was a political project championed by Governor Cuomo as an alternative to direct service to the UBS Arena via the Belmont Spur. It's placement in the middle of QUEENS interlocking and the new crossovers needed for Hempstead locals to serve the Elmont platforms resulted in there being insufficient space for a new set of 80mph HST's planned to support the new Main Line 3rd track. As a result new standard speed crossovers were installed and the #3 Signal Bridge was replaced by ground mounted signals due to altered switch locations.

The silver lining is that the Elmont platform provides a photo vantage point for the previously inaccessible westbound position light cantilevers that were installed in 2005.

23-01-06 PHOTOS: LEAMAN Distants

When the western end of Amtrak's Harrisburg Line was rebuilt in the mid-2000's, the 1940's vintage PRR signaling was replaced by a flavor of cab signaling without intermediate wayside signaling. However at the time Amtrak would install wayside distant signals in advance of interlockings to provide implicit directional information and to ease operations in case of cab signal failure. Recently Amtrak petitioned the FRA to remove these signals citing that they were not actually necessary. As a result set out to get photos at some of the affected signal locations east of Lancaster along with any Keystone Service activity that might show up. To full out the post I have also thrown in some photos from the NEC at Newark, DE and Perryville, MD. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

The Milepost 64.5 automatic is the distant to HOLLAND interlocking, formerly part of CORK tower's territory around Lancaster. HOLLAND is only in service on track #4 with a trailing post connection to the New Holland industrial track in the westbound direction. It is displaying an Approach indication as an eastbound Keystone train led by ACS-86 #669 with Metroliner Cab Car #9638

The signal is co-located with a radio alarm Hotbox-Dragging Equipment detector that replaced older ones that read out in the local towers before they were closed.

The milepost 55.3 signals are the westbound distants for the new CTC crossover at LEAMAN, a hand operated temporary block station under the old system. Despite the new interlocking, the original slow speed crossover alignment was retained which is why both distant signals can display Approach Slow. Here ACS-86 #648 pushes past en-route to Harrisburg.

This part of the PRR Main Line was electrified between 1937 and 1939 after the PRR had dialed in a lower cost cable span suspension system. Here ACS-86 #665 rounds the curve just past the Strasburg Rail Road junction at Paradise.

Amtrak #665 with its keystone train closer to the Vintage Rd bridge near Kinzers, PA. When the new signaling was installed it was somewhat overbuilt with a high density block arrangement that is almost never fully utilized at today's service levels. This resulted in some interesting signal progressions, especially around LEAMAN with distants displaying Approach, Approach Slow, Cab Speed 60 or 80 and Clear. The track 1 westbound signal can also support Approach Medium/Limited. Recently Amtrak has been simplifying the signal logic, cutting out certain block states so it is not uncommon to see these signals go directly from Stop and Proceed to Clear.

Metroliner cab car #9649 after passing Vintage Road. This right of way originally sported 4 tracks, but was cut back to two tracks in 1948 due to the post-war reduction in traffic and the more efficient use of parallel electrified low-grade freight lines. However the 4-track legacy is still reflected in the track numbering of #1 and #4.

The new Amtrak distant locations did not exactly align with the old PRR Rule 251 ABS signals. Whereas the original PRR era distants would be located a standard 2 mile block length away from the interlocking, the Amtrak signals were about 1 mile away. Here we can see #665 and #9649 passing under the old PRR Milepost 54 signal gantry.