In August of 2025 there was a lot of change afoot in the northeast from new Acelas, to new infrastructure to new NYCT Subway rolling stock. An invitation to visit the International Photography Museum in Manhattan gave me the opportunity to catch a lot of this change in progress and ostensibly say farewell to many long time staples of the region (even if the actual retirement dates were still one or more years in the future).
This was going to be a single day trip so my day started quite early at the BWI Airport Rail station where ACS-86 was leading my 6am Regional train to New York City.
The track #1 platform at BWI was in the midst of a partial reconstruction.
Passing by the Penn Coach Yards were for Acela NG trainsets were awaiting their entry into service later that month,.
The Acela NG power cars are numbered in the 2100-series like #2133 seen here.
The new Amtrak Hackensack River bridge as seen from the 1910 PORTAL movable bridge. All structural work had been completed on the new crossing and work had shifted to completing the trackbed, overhead catenary and signaling.
Despite platform access issues, the new Penn Station train hall has been a pretty resounding success since it opened.
A brand new R211 on the A. The International Photography Museum was located near the Essex Street station which meant a fairly simple transfer to an F at W. 4th St.
Unfortunately a service disruption/weekend change forced me to take a D train to Grand St instead. Here a pair of north and southbound D trains meet at West 4th.
The reason for the service disruption became evident on the return trip when I found work equipment blocking the local track at West 4th. The equipment included R47 #67, R41 #59 and deicing car #RD439. The locomotives were built by General Electric in 1968 and 1975 as extensions of their popular 45-ton series.
