23-05-19 PHOTOS: Potomac Yard

Every time the DC Metro opens one or more new stations they give out promotional pennants. The last two were fairly major consisting of the Silver Line phases 1 and 2. However infill stations also count and in May of 2023 the Metro opened its last new station for the foreseeable future, Potomac Yard (or Potomac Yards if one happens to be from Baltimore). Located between the Pentagon and downtown Alexandria, VA, the Potomac Yard is located on the site of the former RF&P rail yard of the same name where Pennsylvania Railroad and Conrail freight trains from the NEC would forward their carloads to either the RF&P or Southern Railway for destinations in the south. Ultimately railroad consolidation made this practice unnecessary and Potomac Yard the railroad yard ceased to be a thing in the mid-1990's. The availability of Potomac Yard for development happened to coincide with Northern Virginia's economic boom and in the 2010's plans by Amazon and other tech companies to build out the former Potomac Yard site spurred the need for direct DC Metro rail service. You can check out my photos of the opening day festivities here ( mirror ).

The DC Metro is known to open some of its new stations at odd times with Silver Line Phase 2 opening at 2pm on a Tuesday. However unlike both Silver Line phases, Potomac Yard did not have a mid-day ribbon cutting with an official first train. It would open with the regular start of service on Friday May 19th. Because there was no way (or incentive) for me to get there for the pre-dawn first train, I picked an appropriately early MARC commuter train, led by Kab Kar #7856 at the Halethorpe station, to get me to DC in time to hopefully get a station pennant before supplies ran out.

To get to the new Potomac Yard station I would take the Read Line from Union to Gallery Place and then transfer to a Yellow Line. While waiting for the latter here is a photo of WMATA 6k car #6098 on a Green Line routing at Gallery Place.

For much of the previous year the DC Metro's Long, aka Fenwick Bridge over the Potomac River was closed for repairs, resulting in the temporary elimination of the Yellow Line. The bridge had re-opened in time for the Potomac Yard inauguration and I got this forward looking video document whatever work had been carried out.



Although I wasn't on any sort of official first train, I still grabbed some video of my own personal first arrival at Potomac Yard with this southbound car view video starting at National Airport.



The new station is a pretty basic side platform affair with a new crossover and direct fixation track. Potomac Yard is on the Blue Yellow concurrency so there was a pretty constant stream of trains. The arrival board made use of LCD screens instead of LED dot matrix displays.

While most were 3k and 6k trains, like #3004 below, a few of the 76-car 2k fleet, like #2066, was still running around due to lingering issues with the 7k wheelsets.

The station has a single point of entry and exit at the north end, which results in a long walk for anyone getting on or off at the southern end of the train. Here 6k car #6168 sits under the north end mezzanine.

I was joined on the opening day festivities by Sandbox John, who had attended every Metro opening since day one, and even appeared on a pre-opening promotional film. Unfortunately he neglected to collect the pennants early in his streak and therefore lacks a complete set.

The old C-line right of way had already been planted over for visual remediation. Because the station was on park service property, a lot of work was put into the aesthetics of the station. This contributed heavily to the $300 million cost. The station does contain a "secret" exit to the adjacent Potomac bike trail via two elevators from the mezzanine outside of fare control.

Of course the 7k cars were out and about, but their proportion was still lagging due to the ongoing wheelset repairs.

Because the new station would create additional power draw from acceleration and deceleration, the existing substation was expanded with two new transformers.

23-05-18 PHOTOS: Elkins Park

In May of 2023 I was invited to give my PRR Main Line signaling talk to the Philly Chapter NRHS which has their meetings in the SEPTA Elkins Park station building on the Reading side trunk line. In this set of photos I will feature my travel up via Amtrak and SEPTA followed by some unrelated NJT Atlantic City Line photos and a visit to the 30th St parking deck to check out the growing stash of Acela II's in the Penn Coach Yard. The full gallery can be found here ( mirror ).

I actually started my trip in Silver Spring after a dinner with friends. Here is my inbound 2k series Metro train with #2024 on the rear.

Approaching Union Station I passed K TOWER along with a rather dreary looking MARC GP40WH-2 #68 that is currently used in work, switching and rescue service.

I was catching an Acela up to Philly that day because Amtrak's price structure makes it pretty affordable. Here we see power cars #2019, #2015 and #2029 lined up on tracks 17, 18 and 19.

A first class upgrade took care of dinner and drinks. This was described as Italian stuffed chicken.

MARC MP36PH-3C #27 at Baltimore Penn Station.

SEPTA Silverliner IV #127 arriving 30th St and PATCo car #1017 at 8th and Market.

To be fair I spent a night in South Jersey before the presentation. Here is PATCO Car #1032 at Westmont as I head back to Center City to connect with SEPTA.

As I was heading out during the evening rush were were a lot of express trains in play like SEPTA Silverliner IV #155 leading an express to Norristown and Silverliner IV #165 another express to Doylestown.

The parade of 300 series Silverliners IV continues with #361, #313, #345 and #357 all leading various trains.

There were a few Silverliners V like #715 and #733 shown here.

Here a 4-car train of Silverliners IV departs the SEPTA Market East station northbound on track #1. The consist includes #361, #362, #457 and #458

23-04-29 PHOTOS: Iron Horse Valley

In 1927 the Baltimore and Ohio railroad organized the Fair of the Iron Horse to celebrate the company's centenary in Halethorpe, MD, on a sizable tract of land adjacent to its original main line just south of Baltimore. This pinch point between the Baltimore harbor coastline and the steep Patapsco River valley was also used by the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, forerunner of today's Northeast Corridor. Today this often overlooked patch of land is home to surprising around of rail action and in the spring of 2003 I took some detours off my normal driving routes to get a closer look at what it had to offer ( mirror ).

The first stop was the St. Dennis MARC station where I just happend to see a sizable spike of railfans out with their tripods. Popping in to see what was the matter, I was informed about an upcoming heritage unit (presumably CSX). While I was not successful in catching the heritage engine that day, I did catch an eastbound autorack train lead by CM44AC #7025 with AC4400 #789 in the DPU position.

A few days later at Dorsey I caught the usual 6:30pm Camden Line meet staring MARC single level cab car #7760, Bomber cab car #8051, SC44 #80 and MP36PH-3C #?.

HX or HALETHORPE tower is located immediately next to the old 1927 fairgrounds, which have since been converted into an industrial park. Previously controlling a 4-track full crossover, the interlocking was replaced by a new one, ST DENNIS, about half a mile to the west. Since my last visit the tower is not longer being used by maintenance crews and has had new plywood installed over the doors to keep out the homeless and urbexers.

The 4 tracks between HALETHORPE and LANDSOWNE interlockings are often used to park trains through trains needing a re-crew before they enter the largely single track Baltimore Belt Line and Philly sub. That day CSX ES44AC #836 was parked on the siding track at the head of a manifest freight.

The new ST DENNIS crossovers allow for longer trains to be stacked on the 4-track zone. Here we find C40-10W #5212 and SC70MAC #4543 leading a westbound consist sitting just ahead of the westbound signal bridge.

A short distance away at the Halethorpe MARC station, Track A was closed for MoW work with a large hi-rail crane truck and platform bridge gondolas adjacent to the eastbound platform. I had pulled in due to the scheduled passage of a southbound Amtrak Acela Express run and caught the rare trainset with connectively numbered power cars, #2030 and #2031.

23-04-04 PHOTOS: Reading Viaduct

In 2020, with transit on the ropes and outdoor activities all the rage due to the pandemic, I converted my usual SEPTA Mid-Winter transit trip into an all-day rail history walking tour. Part of this tour included abandoned Reading Company rights of way including the City Branch and the famous Reading Viaduct in and around the old Spring Garden St station. While on this excursion I discovered the secret entrance up onto the viaduct itself, but since I was unable to suddenly transition my event to one of urban exploration, I had to retreat from the viaduct with a plan to return at a future time. In September of 2021 I acted on this plan due to the impending demolition of the Reading Spring Garden Station platforms and northbound head house. Not only was I too late in terms of the demolition, but I found the summertime viaduct to be a to be completely overgrown with vegetation, blocking sight lines and hiding homeless persons who might not take kindly to having their living space intruded upon by a long explorer with camera gear. Again I made a plan to return during the winter months when the vegetation would be more see through and I could return with a buddy. A planned attempt to return in early 2022 fell through when an interested urbexer flaked out and once again I had to put off the trip. Finally, in the Spring of 2023 did I find someone with schedule availability and we were able to get up on the viaduct as the leaves were just starting to re-appear. You can find the photos from my exploration of the viaduct and related spring transit photos here ( mirror ).

We begin at the BWI Airport rail station with Amtrak ACS-86 #659 at the head of a southbound Regional.

Two views of SEPTA Silverliner V #829 at both 30th St Station and Market East.

Back down at BWI on a rather foggy March night.

Between NEC trips I managed to sneak down to Garrett Park, MD to catch the westbound Capitol Limited led by P42DC #83.

On the day before my planned Reading Viaduct expedition I was back at BWI to catch an Acela Express lead by power car #2006.

SEPTA Slverliners V #709 and IV #425 at 30th St station.

The Reading Viaduct was largely constructed in the 1890's in conjunction with the Reading Terminal we all know and love, replacing a previous station near Broad and Vine that had been accessed via a right of way along the Schuylkill River. The viaduct ran from the old Philadelphia and Germantown Railroad terminal near today's North Broad to the new Reading Terminal at 12th and Market. Construction is largely of steel, however there is a brief section of fill between Buttonwood and Hamilton Streets. Shown below is the structure as it crosses Noble St at Ridge Ave.

Reading Terminal served as an active railroad station until November 6th, 1984 when all service was rerouted to the new Center City Commuter tunnel and the replacement Market East station. After the closure of Reading Terminal both the train shed, the approaches and most of the related infrastructure south of the cutover point at Fairmount Ave were abandoned in place. This included overhead signaling infrastructure like the southbound home signal for RACE STREET interlocking seen here.

The reason most of the infrastructure was left intact was due to the continued use of the Reading Callowhill rail traction power substation at the southern apex of the old City Branch Wye at Callowhill St. The substation made use of the 12kv overhead catenary and 24kv feeders as well as the rails and also required SEPTA to generally maintain and secure the right of way. In 2010 the substation was retired and most maintenance activities ceased.

23-03-16 PHOTOS: McKinney Ave Extension

When I first visited Dallas in 2007, I was pleased to discover the McKinney Avenue heritage trolley line (apparently now rebranded as the M-Line) that ran from the art museum to the McKinney Ave arts and entertainment district. By that time the system had already been expanded once with a spur to the CityPlace DART station and a northward expansion to Blackburn Ave. The operation had an impressive fleet and level of service for a donation-funded non-profit and I rode it several times during my stay, despite the difficulty in reaching the Art Museum terminus (it was easier to take DART to CityPlace). Although I have been regularly visiting Dallas since 2017, I was never "downtown" enough to make time to revisit the McKinney Avenue trolley. However in 2023 I found myself back in the same hotel I had used in 2007 and to my complete surprise I realized that the long planned McKinney Ave Trolley extension into downtown had been completed and instead of being some 5 blocks away the streetcars now stopped across the street. With that level of convenience of course I was going to ride it again ,especially since I would be able to use it to access a greater variety of eateries. You can find the full gallery of photos here ( mirror ) and the previous coverage of my DART excursion to Buckner and the Dallas Terminal Railway here.

Due to the rainy weather I actually hit up the trolley before heading to Buckner with the hope that the weather would clear up some. The new station stop was at the corner of Federal and Olive and was where I caught the M-Line's smallest vehicle, Birney Safety Car #636.

The operator was new on the job and was receiving instruction from a comparatively veteran young lady. Watching the process it was interesting to see how much more complicated streetcar operation was with a huge amount of forethought to get stopped at the right place and not get into conflicts with the Texas sized vehicles it was sharing the road with.

I captured two long videos showing the training process, the first taken on Olive Street and the second on Cole. When the streetcar approached the more challenging McKinney Ave, the instructor took over.





In 2007 the CityPlace extension had been a stub terminal affair with the streetcars changing direction at the end of the line. This precluded the use of single ended cars like PCC's so at some point the M-Line installed an electric turntable. Here we see #636 taking a spin

After getting back to downtown I snagged this video of #636 turning off Federal St onto Olive St to begin a new run to the McKinney Ave food and arts district.

Later in the week the weather improved and I caught #636 again near the Klyde Warren Park, that was built on top of the Texas Route 366 urban highway.

I only rode it a few blocks until it McKinney Ave. The junction here was built new for the downtown loop expansion.

After picking up my food I managed to catch former Dallas Peter Witt car #754 making the turn onto what used to be the Saint Paul Street single track stub to the Art Museum.