25-06-21 PHOTOS: Fire Up Searchlights

I have a confession to make, I'm not a steam enthusiast in the way most railfans are steam enthusiasts. For steam people if something goes "chug chug", its an excuse to drive at unsafe speeds and elbow others out of the way to get that perfectly composed photo that looks like everyone else's perfectly composed photo. When I have been in the company of steam excursions it has been to ride the excursion to get both covered in cinders and get an open window view of the line and by extension its pieces of historic infrastructure. However when riding a RBMN #2102 excursion to Pittston in 2024 I was able to make note of the surviving CNJ searchlight signal locations on the former Conrail Lehigh Line. So since I was obviously going to have to come out again to photo these signals, why not do it in conjunction with a #2102 trip and generate some content that everybody can enjoy? So anyway here are photos from my first time being trackside for a man line steam excursion. 

Like I said, my primary mission that day was to get photos of former Central RR of NJ searchlight signals between White Haven and Mountain Top. After the CNJ abandoned operations west (north) of Lehighton in the 1960's, the Lehigh Valley RR incorporated this section of the CNJ route due to its superior alignment and industrial connections. The CNJ vintage searchlights were distinctive for having a square "basket" like structure around each maintenance platform. Here we see the Milepost 146 southbound intermediate signal displaying an Approach indication for the holdout signal at CP-WHITE HAVEN. The former CNJ signals are normally dark, but will illuminate when a route has been established by the dispatcher.

At first I was confused why the Reading and Northern was running a southbound train within an hour of the northbound 2102 excursion. It turns out the signal was for the "regularly scheduled" Pittston to Mach Chunk diesel hauled excursion train featuring Reading and Northern 40th anniversary GP38-2 #2023, which I caught at the northbound Milepost 148 signal.

As expected the previously dark northbound signal popped up with a Clear signal indication for #2102. I could hear the engine approaching in the distance when what I will call the "traveling circus" of train chasers began to show up with their tripods.  When #2105 did arrive it was applying all 5000 of its horsepower to muscle the 21 cars of the excursion train up the stiff grade. This spectacle was quite a bit more thrilling trackside and made it easy to understand what was motivating the traveling circus to chase these trains again and again.

The R&N's latest innovation in making money is open observation car #22 which offers a premium  view to those lucky enough to grab one of the 30 tickets available for each departure. Not going to lie, but #22 is definitely on my radar for a future trip, even if it covers territory I have already traveled.

 

23-11-19 PHOTOS: Lehigh Summit

The Reading and Northern continues to be the only bright spot when it comes to interesting signaling with its deployment of CTC and use of both searchlights an recovered Reading vintage hardware like bracket masts. Over the last few years I have been making regular incursions into Reading country to document this signaling, but with all of the low hanging fruit now harvested I have been having to travel a bit further onto the former Lehigh Valley portion of their "Main Line" between North Reading and Pittston. In the winter of 2023 I used a trip to see my vintage radio/TV and railfan friend Phil, to access the former Conrail Lehigh Line passing point around Mountain Top, PA with its associated interlockings, block signals and RBMN passenger operations. You can find the full gallery of these photos here ( mirror ).

On my way up to the East Branch Susquehanna valley I stopped off at CP-ROCKVILLE north of Harrisburg to catch the late running eastbound Amtrak Pennsylvanian Train 42 as it came off the famed Rockville Bridge with P42DC #104 leading.

I stopped off in Sunbury, PA to hike out and photograph the surviving D&H bracket mast on what is now the NS Sunbury Line. Previously serving as the southbound signal for a CTC siding, the old signal was converted into a fixed distant for CP-KASE on the NS Buffalo Line when D&H successor Canadian Pacific downgraded this part of the line to TWC. More recently NS removed the bracket and fixed searchlight from service to be replaced by one of its own standard cabinet masts.

The next morning I drive directly to CP-SOLOMON at Mountain Top, PA where I was greeted by a former New Haven RR cabin car #C566 which had been acquired by a local preservation group and set up to honor the various coal region railroads. Members of the group were on hand to set up an extensive holiday display, which seemed to be the justification for the ample parking facilities.

A Clear signal indication was displaying on the 2E searchlight mast at CP-SOLOMON for the morning run of the Reading Northern's weekend Pittston to Mach Chunk tourist train via the Lehigh Gorge. Historic Mach Chunk has emerged as a significant food and shopping destination as well as a gateway to the Pocono outdoor recreation scene and the RBMN now serves the community with weekend/holiday passenger services from both the north and south. The name CP-SOLOMON is in reference to Solomon's Gap, the geologic feature that both the Lehigh Valley and Central RR of NJ took advantage of to access the Wyoming Valley coal fields and the Scranton metropolitan area.

The three car train of Budd lightweight stock was being easily handled up the stiff grade by R&N GP38-2 #2023. When Conrail came on the scene it used the best parts of the former CNJ and LVRR main lines to create its new Lehigh Line. The alignment changes from CNJ to LVRR just north of the rock cut seen in the photo.

R&N #3023 and the southbound train to Mach Chunk passing through CP-SOLOMON.

23-02-11 PHOTOS: Albany Jct

As the years pass it has been getting harder and harder to find new signaling in the New York Capitol Region to cover. This has been both due to be success in covering said signaling and the ongoing march of replacements. Efforts to tackle Amtrak Hudson Line surveys via day trips from the NY Metro had only gotten me up to Milepost 110, with some gaps. Day trips working south from Albany had similarly only gotten me to Milepost 125. However after mode shifting my Albany trips in the Covid era from train to car I was able to fill in most of the remaining locations leaving my 2023 up in the air. Now in hindsight I should have hit up some locations on the old B&M Main Line, but instead I looked west to CPF-499 on the former D&H route. This is where SMS lines Albany Division interchanges with NS and is notable for its fairly recent vintage searchlight signaling. I also found one additional location at Hudson Line Milepost 118 and went back to check on what was up with CP-SK and related signals near Selkirk, NY. Lastly to fill things out will be a selection of DC and Baltimore area photos taken on an adjacent weekend. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

Kicking things off we find the Hudson Line Milepost 118 intermediate signal located adjacent to a park at the mouth of the Stockport Creek. The NY Central searchlight signaling north of Hudson, NY was largely replaced during the Conrail era, but with that now 25 years in the past and need for photographic preservation has only increased. Here Amtrak P32AC-DM #709 passes the location with an Empire Service train.

Amtrak's current baseline Empire Service offers 60-120 minute frequencies between New York and Albany. That creates frequent opportunities to catch multiple trains in a single stop. Here a southbound run with P32AC-DM #715 splits the MP 118 signals with Approach still showing on the track 1 signal for the previous train. While fairly homogenous from a signaling perspective, the 110mph section only begins at Milepost 125, where freight trains exit the line via the Schodack Branch.

The Stockport Creek truss bridge showed the New York Central's foresight to make the bridge pylons capable of supporting a 4-track configuration. Unfortunately due to declines in traffic the northernmost 4-track segment ended at Milepost 93 in Barrytown.

To reach this and other northern Hudson Line locations the Rip Van Winkle Bridge allows one to transfer from the Thruway to the east side of the Hudson River.

CPF-499 on the former Delaware and Hudson Main Line in Dealenson, NY sits at the junction with the former Albany Branch (right) that would continue on past the Colonie Shoppes before terminating at the B&M interchange at Mechanicville. Today the route. Today the branch is operated as far as Voorheesville by SMS Lines with the remainder of the branch being abandoned. The Main Line, on the other hand, is now the purview of Norfolk Southern, who bought the route from Canadian Pacific. It is part of a logical Main Line set up by the Guilford Rail system running between central Main (Mp 0) and Sunbury, PA (MP 715) back when the Guilford controlled the D&H.

CPF-499 is also located at the north end of a 4-mile controlled siding and is configured as a "Conrail Crossover" that functions with 2 switches instead of 4 at the cost of capacity.

Canadian Pacific was one of the last users of traditional electro-mechanical searchlight signals and continued to install new examples on the D&H Main Line up into the 2000's. Both the southbound main track mast and northbound gantry are examples of these latter day searchlight installations. Here a Clear signal indicates the approach of a northbound train on the siding track. Low track speeds allow both main routes through the interlocking to rate a Clear signal.

The Clear signal turned out to be for an approaching NS intermodal train led by SD60E #6954, AC44C6M #4462 and C44-10W #7569.

The lfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge was constructed by the New York Central in 1924 as part of its Selkirk Yard project to bypass the congested Albany terminal area. It allows for both Boston Line and Hudson Line freight to rise up and cross the Hudson on a non-movable high level bridge. In the last few years CSX undertook a structural revitalization project that replaced many of the steel crossmembers and gusset plates on the viaduct portions of the bridge. This is the southernmost crossing of the Hudson River since the 1974 fire took the Poughkeepsie Bridge out of service.

Today the western end of the bridge marks the transition between Conrail style and Seaboard style signaling. This demarcation was previously located west of CP-SK, but that interlocking's recent re-signaling forced the change.

At CP-SK I caught a southbound intermodal train departing Selkirk yard with CSX ET44 #3331 leading and AC4400 #538 on DPU duty.

 Cutting back to the Maryland area, here we find MARC Kab Kar #7853 at BWI early in the morning.

WMATA 3k car #3122 at Union Station.

Signs of water intrusion at Howard University Station with 7k car #7265 arriving.

Overhead view of #7265 at Gallery Place.

MARC Kab Kar #7852 boarding at Union Station track #11

MARC SC44 #84 at the head of the train.

Well that about wraps it up. Come back next time as I return to Winslow Jct to see what's been going on there.

22-11-20 PHOTOS: Reading and Northern Searchlights

As the Reading the Northern continues to expand its use of CTC on former Reading and CNJ territory in the eastern PA anthracite coal region I am provided with the increasingly rare opportunity to get photos of new signals that have been recently installed as opposed to those that are on track for removal. Just before Thanksgiving 2022 I undertook a little road trip to document two of the four searchlight signal locations that were installed around 2018 in addition to an interlocking and controlled point I had spotted from the 2102 fantrip earlier in the year. While out on the road I ran into the usual mix of Reading and Northern motive power. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

On my way up to the Coal Region I stopped off at CP-CANNON on the former PRR Main Line just in time to catch the westbound Amtrak Pennsylvanian Train 43 with P42DC #125 leading and PRR Office Car #7503 on the rear.

I was able to spend the night with my rail buddy Phil who has a collection of vintage electric locomotive documentation.

The first stop the next morning was the Milepost 712 southbound distant signal for the CTC island on the former D&H Main Line to Sunbury near Nescopeck, PA. NS recently purchased the line and re-signaled both interlockings at either end of the passing siding, but the two automatic distants remain D&H era solid state Unilens searchlights.

Next stop was the Reading and Northern Milepost 108 (from Reading Terminal) traditional searchlight distant to HAUCKS interlocking. Located just about a mile north of the famous Hometown Viaduct, this signal marks the current northern extent of the R&N's CTC project between North Reading and Mach Chunk. The 20 mile gap of non-signaled DCS territory will likely be filled in the coming years as it is increasingly used by the railroad's popular excursion services. The road bridge just north of the signal location is popular with railfans photographing the R&N's steam trains.

The milepost 102 intermediate signals are located a few miles south of MAHANOY JCT interlocking that I was able to document on a previous trip . Here, the southbound searchlight mast is displaying a Clear indication for an approaching local freight.

The local consisted of two engines, SD40-2 #3068 and SD38 #2004, hauling 4 cars back to Tamaqua Yard. Never a popular model, #2004 is one of just a handful of non-dash 2 SD38's still in existence.

22-03-31 PHOTOS: Hudson

When the gray is in the air and the ground is turning to mush its probably time to take another trip up the Hudson valley to document one of the best preserved examples of New York Central signaling anywhere. For the better part of a decade I have been working to replicate my PRR Main Line signal survey on a smaller scale and with most of the easy locations checked off I am having to go after higher and higher fruit. In 2022 my targets was the Milepost 79 signal bridge, just a few hundred yards north of the historic Hyde Park station, the Milepost 108 masts near Linlithgo and the station and interlocking at Hudson, NY. I also documented some of the "new" (2009) searchlights installed by CP in the Mechanicville area. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

First stop was Hyde Park where I caught Amtrak P32AC-DM #702 passing under the NYC vintage signal bridge with a southbound Empire Service train.

My next stop was a point north of CP-103, which unfortunately had recently had its small target searchlight signals replaced, to catch a northbound Empire Service train led by non-heritage P32AC-DM #706.

Amtrak's train tracking feature is pretty useful as it is now super easy to ensure a train encounter at every stop. At the Milepost 108 automatic signal location I managed to snag a Phase III heritage painted P32AC-DM #713 with a southbound Empire Service train.

Unfortunately I was a day late an a dollar short to document the searchlight signals at CP-114, but the new LED target type color light signals are making use of the same Conrail era cantilevers that even have remnants of the old contrast paint.