23-08-25 PHOTOS: 36th St Connections

The interlocking and junction known as ZOO and its historical territory perhaps doesn't get as much coverage as it deserves due to being in a part of Philadelphia that lacks access to good rail transit and while also being unpleasant to drive to. One of ZOO's more interesting locations is often known as 36th St Junction where Amtrak trains bound for 30th St Station's lower level split from the Main Line that send SEPTA trains to 30th St Station's upper level. In the late summer of 2023 I the opportunity to go out with a friend who knows how to navigate Philly's bus system to reach 36th St junction and spend some time getting photos there ( mirror ).

Like many of my rail adventures this one started off in the Baltimore area, but unlike many recent trips I caught my Amtrak train from my old stomping grounds of Baltimore Penn Station. I was connecting to Amtrak there as I wanted to get some pics of the new B&O style CPL dwarf installed as part of the new Track F platform.

I had arrived on a MARC local pulled by MP36PH-3C #16 and would connect to a northbound Acela led by power car #2014.

I was lucky enough to get on one of the 2 Acela round trips with a beverage cart. I saw a woman order a $10 glass of white wine and get pretty much a full 16oz solo cup pour.

SEPTA Silverliner IV #408 at 30th St.

One of the most iconic features of 36th St Jct is the double cantilever signal located at the west end. Still controlled from the 1930 vintage US&S interlocking machine in ZOO tower, trains to Suburban Station head straight while trains to 30th St station's lower lever diverge.

Westbound SEPTA R5 comprised of Silverliner IV's including #422 and #367, passing through the junction on main track #4.

ZOO used to see a lot of freight traffic, but today this has been reduced to the single track Trenton Line, now run by CSX and completely separated from Amtrak. Here CSX ES44AC #947 and CM44AC #7000 head eastbound through the old limit of ZOO.

Eastbound R5 train with Silverliners IV #396 and #336

The great ZOO tower was recently given a fresh set of windows and reproduction PRR keystone nameplates.

An inbound R5 with Silverliner IV #436 heading on track #1 towards the 30th St upper level.

23-08-20 VIDEOS: Baltimore Metro Subway

Here we have the videos that go with my main Baltimore Metro Subway post. Due to the impending replacement of the Budd built Universal Transit Vehicle's, I made time to take a round trip from Owings Mills to Johns Hopkins Hospital and back.  Taking video through the forward facing windows, each trip was divided into two parts with the break taking place at West Cold Springs.

The line features manual operation with cab signal based automatic train control using speeds of 0, 12, 20, 40, 50, 60 and 70mph. The above ground section sees main line speeds of 50, 60 and 70mph with the 70mph taking place in the interstate 795 median between Owings Mills and Old Court. The Metro Subway yard complex is located between Reisterstown and Rodgers Ave.

 The tunnel section sees speeds of mostly 40 and 50mph.

While at Johns Hopkins I got a pair of videos of UTV trains departing and arriving. The UTV stock makes use of DC chopper type propulsion systems.






The return trip was largely uneventful, but provided a different perspective.






That's all for my Baltimore Metro Subway experience. I'll be back shortly with photos from ZOO interlocking's 36th St Jct.

23-08-20 PHOTOS: Dorsey and Baltimore Metro

As the Baltimore Metro Subway lurches forward towards replacing its Budd Universal Transit Vehicles, I figured I should take the time to both ride the system again and try to get front facing video that captures the current look and feel of the line. The videos will be in their own part, but here I'll have stills from the two terminal stations as well as other Baltimore area rail activities. The whole set of still photos can be found here ( mirror ).

I'll kick things off at the Dorsey MARC station killing some time between visiting a local mall and trivia night. I got there in time to catch an eastbound MARC Camden line train hauled by MARC MP36PH-3C #33 with Bomber cab car #8045 on the rear.

For whatever reason the CSX dispatcher decided to run a train full mostly of empty NYC waste cubes and powered by C40-10W #5449 and SD70MAC #4560 ahead of the following eastbound MARC train. However the next train into the station was a westbound with single level cab car #7759 and SC44 #81.

Before the Metro stuff I also did another trip up the NEC encountering MARC Bomber cab car #8053 and Acela Express power car #2010 at BWI.

Here is SEPTA #719 posing in front of the tiles at Market East and PATCO #1089 at Haddonfield.

Moving back down to Baltimore to get some photos at WINANS interlocking at the Halethorpe Station. There I caught an inbound MARC weekend train with Kab Kar #7843 plus SC44 #82, in addition to a southbound Amtrak Regional with ACS-86 #654.