For Columbus Day weekend 2024 I set myself the major goal of finally going to Hartford to explore the former New Haven station there and hiking out to the derelict HART interlocking tower north of the Central Business District. Despite going to school in the area and passing through Hartford countless times on Amtrak's Springfield Line, I had never found the time to get off there, even after the opening of the CR Rail Hartford commuter rail line in the 2010's as a stopover always seemed to involve getting to New Haven by like 8am. Well in 2024 I finally decided to bite the bullet and take overnight Train 66 to get to New Haven, but given some other priorities the plan became a bit more complicated ( mirror ) than catching it at the BWI Airport Rail Station.
The complication was needing to stop by Philly to see family at some point this weekend. My solution was to catch an afternoon Amtrak Regional to Philly, pop across the Delaware River on PATCO, deal with stuff, then return to 30th St in time for Train 66's midnight departure. This had me setting off from BWI in daylight where I managed to catch Veterans ACS-86 #642. MARC MP36PH-3C #35, SC44 #80 and cab cars #7852 and #8054 before my Regional with ACS-86 #616 arrived..
For some reason my Regional set had been reversed and I was able to get some photos and video out the back. Here my train transits northbound through the ailing B&P tunnel.
Making the cross-river transfer courtesy SEPTA and PATCO.
Finally returning to 30th St Station close to midnight where the short consist Regional Train 66 was sporting two ACS-86 electric locomotives, #664 and #662.
Because Train 66 can be pretty loud, to ensure a good night's sleep I managed to book a single seat one one of the old Metroliner Service first class cars that now serve as Business class on Train 66/67. I conked out at some point before Penn Station and when I got off New Haven and #664 was nowhere to be seen.
It was perfect October weather and Metro North M8 EMU's were hanging out on various shoppe and storage tracks.
With Shore Line East service having been M8-ified, the previously diesel hauled equipment was now on Hartford Line duty. My train was waiting on Tack 12 with P40DC #6711 in the Coke Zero scheme and Mafersa cab car #1701.
One might assume that things would be pretty quiet at 8am on a Saturday morning, but when I got out on Platform D I found three adjacent signals for track 10, 12 and 14 into SS78 FAIR ST interlocking displaying proceed indications.
Since visiting the Least Used Amtrak Station (tm) in various states is all the rage these days, when offered chance to visit Benson, home of the Least Used Amtrak Station in Arizona, I quickly accepted and booked a flight out. I know that technically one is supposed to use Amtrak to visit these stations, but my friend had an airline companion pass and I'd be able to complete the trip in the same amount of time an LD train could get to the station. In addition to the Benson Amtrak station I have other photos taken along the old Southern Pacific main line ( mirror ).
The route between Phoenix and Benson along I-10 directly parallels the Southern Pacific and one will inevitably have the opportunity to catch Union Pacific freight trains rolling between the Southern California ports and Texas. Some highlights on my trips include ES44AC #7730, C44ACM #9817 and SD70ACe #8611.
The Benson, AZ Amtrak Station is the Least Used Station in Arizona with only 2071 boardings in 2024. The "station" consists of a dirt parking area, a shelter with two seating benches, an info sign and a one door "platform".
It wasn't long before an eastbound doublestack rolled past on track #2 with AC4400's #6859, #5660, #6524 and C44ACM #5868 leading.
After spending something like $40 to get from Trenton to Long Branch and back earlier in the summer, when I heard that NJT was doing one of those free fare promotions around the Labour Day holiday I decided to pounce and take a trip up the NEC to get some photos at the Edison and Metutchen Stations. Both offer great NEC views along with position light signals and, in the case of Metutchen, the old LINCOLN interlocking tower. Also included in the photo set ( mirror ) are some pitches in and around the Trenton station.
To make NJT truly free I parked at the Bordentown RiverLINE station to avoid having to pay to park in the garage at Hamilton. Weekend scheduled have the LRV's passing just south of the station so I managed to catch #5313 heading south and #5306 heading north.
Because NJT hates creating reliable connections I had to book it from the RiverLINE to the Northeast Corridor platform to catch the NEC local. I typically relax and catch the express, but my plan was to move that layover to the Edison Station platform. As soon as I got off at Edison I spotted the Amtrak Acela Express trainset with power cars #2012 and #2013 approaching southbound and I got video of it passing my northbound NJT Northeast Corridor Line local with cab car #7048 and ALP-46 #4633. After departure, the local knocks down the 1N signal at EDISON interlocking to a Restricting indication.
EDISON interlocking provides access to the west end of the Edison Yard from NEC tracks #1 and #2. Back in the region's industrial heyday the yard was a hub for local shippers including a large Ford assembly plant. Most of these have since closed, but there is enough traffic to keep the infrastructure around. Unlike most interlockings, EDISON's limits extend nearly a mile between what would normally be automatic block signaling locations. Here we see a fox crossing over tracks 1 and 2 in EDISON interlocking.
Just before the NJT weekend express train arrived, I was able to witness a pretty epic race between southbound Keystone Train #663 on track #3 and Regional Train 153 on track #4. Train 663, hauled by ACS-86 #670, made up a 30 second deficit with Train 153, hauled by ACS-86 #663, eventually passing it just before the New Brunswick Station!
The weekend express was hauled by #4612 with cab car #7060 on the rear seen here at Edison and Metutchen respectively.
The Metutchen Station features PRR era station buildings with Penn Central era canopies.
A westbound NEC local was quick to arrive with cab car #7001 and ALP45 #4548, but I was going to take the hour long headway to explore the station area.
Crossing over to the westbound platform I caught an eastbound Keystone with Metroliner Cab Car #9638 and ACS-86 #632.
This was followed by eastbound Amtrak Acela Express with power car #2023 and #2025. I got a video passing through LINCOLN interlocking and the Metutchen NJ Transit station.
LINCOLN tower was built by the PRR around WW2 as part of a general trend to replace older wooden towers with mechanically worked switched. It was closed in the early 1990's, but still stands as an MoW office.
Here I caught a southbound Amtrak Regional with ACS-86 #621.
The Metutchen station platforms extend on bridges over Main St.
The arrival of another eastbound weekend express with ALP-46 #4652 and cab car #7002, indicates its almost time for my own train back to Trenton.
That train came in the form of a single level set with Comet V cab car #6039.
Fast forward to Trenton and my train, with ALP-46 #4659, pulled into Track #5 adjacent to a laid up SEPTA Push-Pull set with ACS-86 #912. For some reason I saw multiple ALP-46 number boards with stenciled digits.
I had a few minutes before the RiverLINE departure and while I was waiting an inbound SEPTA R7 pulled in from the storage tracks east of the station. The leading pair of Silverliners IV, #101 and #102, were the first of 44 pairs delivered to the Reading in early 1976.
While the SEPTA R7 pulled in, and eastbound Amtrak Keystone arrived across the platform with Metroliner Cab Car #9635.
While walking back to the concourse, southbound Amtrak Crescent Train 19 arrived behin ACS-86 #619.
Comet V #6039 again at Trenton track #5 and ALP-46 #4628 pulling in from Morrisville Yard.
My final travel leg of the day was RiverLINE the back to Bordentown using the same LRV that had taken me out to Trenton, #530.
That's all for my trip to Metutchen, if you'd like to learn about the super rare left handed PRR dwarf signal at LINCOLN you can read about it on my other blog.
