Jersey Mike's Rail Adventures: 02-08-17 CLASSIC PHOTOS: NEC Towers

In the summer of 2002 I still had occasion to use the NEC to travel between an internship opportunity in Connecticut and my home in South Jersey. With my digital camera capability still pretty new I had not yet grown tired of taking side window photos from Amtrak corridor trains. This set of classic photos ( mirror ) covers one such NEC round trip where I took a sizable number of tower photos mixed in with a good variety of things that aren't around anymore.

Starting off at the Meriden, CT station on Amtrak's Springfield Line, I captured a rare use of the holdout platform by a northbound 400-series shuttle train led by Metroliner cab car #9641 in Phase III heritage paint and propelled by Amtrak P40DC #815 in a Phase IV heritage scheme. Note the rustic ambiance of the station area that was wiped out by the Hartford Line commuter rail station and associated redevelopment.

My southbound Springfield Shuttle made the meet with the northbound somewhere off camera and then showed up on the main track with Amtrak P40DC #821, also in a heritage Phase IV scheme.

For whatever reason this Springfield Shuttle had both a Cafe Car and two P40DC locomotives, #821 and #827, both seen here at New Haven in Phase IV heritage paint schemes.

Also at New Haven, Amtrak Metroliner Cab Car #9640 was hanging out with a bunch of Metro North M2's.

On the New Haven Line to New York, NHRR SS62 CENTRAL was in its last year or two of existance before being demolished for reasons unknown. On the flip side SS444 BERK had been rehabilitated into the South Norwalk Signal Tower Museum. Meanwhile SS3 OAK was still sporting its Penn Central vintage sign, that would also vanish within a year or two.

Passing Sunnyside Yard, LIRR SW1001 HAROLD protect engines #102 and #104 were still on duty to pull disabled trains promptly out of the East River Tunnels. This job would be eliminated in future years as a cost cutting measure.

In the Penn Station hole I managed to get a shot of NJT ALP-44 #4410. The ALP-44's would suffer from early retirement while the hole itself would be overbuilt by some flashy hotel.

Although the PRR Main Line between Philadelphia and New York was electrified between 1930 and 1933, the earlier generation of wooden towers remained in place until World War 2. Here we see the MILLHAM (1940), MORRIS (1941) and GRUNDY (1947).

At Philly's 30th St coach yard some Acela sets were undergoing some on-delivery related testing. Here power cars #2023 and #2003 are seen without their roof shrouds due to some sort of manufacturing issue with wind or vibration.

The old guard was also still in service with Amtrak E60 #609 hanging out for a power change. Because the E60's were limited to 90mph, Amtrak tended to shift the change to electric power to Philadelphia from Washington DC as the P42 diesels had a maximum speed of 110mph. The E60's would soon be replaced by HHP-8 locomotives as part of the general Acela Express project.

At this point in time ZOO tower was still working with a two person staff on daylight and middle shifts and retained hints of its PRR/PC era paint scheme.

FAIR tower in Trenton was a ~1911 vintage duplicate of NORTH PHILADELPHIA tower, however it was built with an electro-mechanical interlocking machine with large manual switch levers. It would get a new interlocking machine in the 1930's or 40's and would close around 1994.

UNION tower in Rahway, NJ was still in service and would remain so until 2009 with the interlocking was rebuilt.

My trains locomotive for the return trip was AEM-7DC #910 in Phase IV heritage paint.

F was built in 1910 as part of the Penn Station project between the west end of Sunnyside yard and the East River tubes. Closed in 1994 it would be demolished within the next year or two following this photo. Q on the other hand, the eastern tower within Sunnyside Yard, would still be in service as of 2023.

The early 2000's was really a second Rainbow Era for Amtrak with a large number of heritage paint schemes colliding with an eventually aborted Acela branding campaign. Here one can see the crazy quilt of colors in Sunnyside Yard.

Also a veritable bevy of NJT Arrow III MU's.

Hard to tell what is more retro, that reasonably sized Metro North pickup truck or SS26 PIKE.

The New Haven RR's 1906 vintage triangular catenary was unfortunately not landmark protected and was fully replaced around the time of its 100th birthday without any associated increase in train performance.