One easy way to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points it to take a number of short trips on the low cost, unreserved Amtrak Keystone Line. To this end I partnered with the Xen Master of AGR points, Chuchubob to take a milti-part trip on the Keystone line over last year's Thanksgiving Week. The trip would check in on what was up at the Middletown and Hummlestown's Middletown yard and then travel to Lancaster to check out the recent re-signaling of CORK interlocking.
It's a pretty simple concept so I might as well get started. You can find the entire set of photos here.
The New Hope and Ivyland seems to be in the process of turning a yearly ritual into an annual tradition by running its Fall Foilage Express trains all the way from the R2 station in Warminster to their usual base of operations in New Hope, PA. The trip is not cheap, costing about $40 per person for a round trip, and it is also not steam, normal motive power being a GP30, however it is still a great ride and the GP30 is more classic than a lot of diesels.
These photos were taken in 2009 in conjunction with an informal West Jersey Chapter NRHS trip. Unfortunately the weather was somewhat dismal, but at least the precipitation stayed in the mist category instead of outright rain and drizzle. Despite the grayness this was the last possible week for the trip so I pressed forward with taking pictures in the less than ideal conditions.
The all day event consisted of riding the FFE to New Hope, then taking a steam round trip to Lahaska and back, then catching the last return FFE back to Warminster.
You can see the full set of photos here in chronibetical order.
We begin with a shot of SEPTA S-IV #308 which delivered the majority of the informal trippers to the Warminster station.
It happened to be operated by the last former Reading RR employee still serving with SEPTA's T&E department.
Also hanging out at Warminster was single unit S-IV #298.
The Fall Foilage Express soon arrived, backing about 2 cars into the high level platform.
Departing Warminster we passed the turned signals for the new STREET interlocking that would be placed in service in March 010.
Not even the crappy weather could keep local railfans at home.
The bad light encouraged me to take more videos such as this one of the train as it hit the Alhouse Rd grade crossing. The horn on the Gp30 is clearly no K5LA.
Despite the gray weather the leaf color was as advertised, in this case overlooking the Little Neshaminy Creek.
The Southern Serves the South is how the saying goes and while I normally prefer to have nothing to do with the Confederacy, when a friend of mine moved to Georgia I decided to make lemons out of caustic soda and travel there via Amtrak's Crescent. I have since made multiple trips there, one every six months or so, and have found ways to shake up the itinerary beyond a straight shot on Train 19 and 20, but for my first trip I just took a straight coach seat down and got a roomette back. While the sleeping accommodation turned out to be a partial waste of money seeing as how I got screwed out of BOTH dinner and lunch, I was able to enjoy use of the rear facing railfan window to take a full survey of the Southern Main Line north of Charlottesville, VA and the southern portion of Amtrak's NEC to Baltimore.
Because some people complain about large quantities of signaling photos I will leave most of them featured on my website so I urge everyone to please go and check out the full set here in chronibetical order.
Because Train 19 runs mostly in darkness below Washington late in the year I didn't really bother with photos on the southbound trip. The generally rainy weather didn't help matters any, but I did fool around a bit with video. Here is a video of my GPS rolling over to a 100mph average speed as my train blitzed south toward Washington.
And another side video of my train passing through New Carrollton at Speed.
I did catch HHP-8 #655 hanging out on the lower level of Washington Union Station.
And he soon took off lite into A Interlocking in order to run back to Ivy City or another station track. At the same time a northbound VRE commuter pulls in on an adjacent track.
4 states and about 700 miles later my train dropped me off in Gainsville, GA at about 7am. It were there I was able to capture that epic "Double Rainbow" shot, but there were a couple others that ended up on the cutting room floor. Anyway, here's the good one again.
Hanging out at the station (which was also an NS crew base and local freight yard) were a number of high-hood SD40-2 of former Southern RR heritage. Here is number 3262.
And Conrail Blue painted unit #3371.
The Gainesville station sees far more use by freight crews than passengers which is a useful flip from the normal case of old passenger stations being seen as liabilities for freight railroads. On this trip the station still had a QuikTrak machine, which it has since lost. BTW, the station is located near a number of disused and collapsed factories and is served by local Bus 22-A after the Little Newark and Crackton stops.
Again we skip ahead to my night of departure. The local NS crews were just getting to work and after being started #3371 was exhibiting a slight emissions control problem. d.d b.b
Last October I attended a Wedding in New Hampshire and I was pleased to discover that the venue would be in walking distance of the Amtrak Downeaster station at Durham, NH. For those of you who don't know this is the station that serves the University of New Hampshire's flagship campus. I also met up with a friend who lives in the area and he was gracious enough to provide me a ride to the Downeaster station in nearby Dover, NH. I guess you can see where my focus was at one of my best friends' wedding. d.d b.b
Um, not much to really explain here. You can see the whole set of photos here and let's begin.
I will begin with the station at Durham. Years ago when the Boston and Maine ended passenger service the station building was eventually purchased by UNH or a related interest and turned it into a Dairy Bar for students in the vicinity of the athletic fields. When the Downeaster service was restored a small partition was added to house the QuikTrak machine. Frankly I see a lot of synegery in being able to order both Amtrak tickets and frozen snack treats from the same window.
The station still had a few nifty flourished such as a slate roof, copper trim and a classic train order semaphore signal.
NEPRA was cleverly able to save money on station construction by using the highway overpass as shelter the mini-high platform from rain.
If you noticed the Clear signal two photos ago that means a train is approaching the station as otherwise it would be dark. In this case I did indeed time my visit to coincide with a northbound Downeaster arrival. Here Amtrak P42 #25 pulls in at the end of a standard trainset.
In order to avoid interfering with wide freight loads the high level
platforms had to be set back from the train by a foot or two. This
requires the use of special bridge plates. Here the conductor checks
his watch before giving the signal to depart.
The train departed with Cabbage Car #90214 bringing up the rear.
Here is a video of that departure and the train knocking down the MP 429 automatic.
Unlike the controversial 115lb rail the Downeaster project did end up upgrading the signals along this part of the line. While always bi-directional the new signals used LED target type color lights to replace the old GRS model SA searchlight signals. The signals use a triangle of modular units and can be seen elsewhere on the NEC.
Here we have the 249-1 automatic signal close up still displaying Stop and Proceed until the Amtrak train leaves the block in front of it at which point it will go dark again.
Moving back to the previous day we come to Dover, HN. Unlike Durham,
this town is much larger and can support an Amtrak station without the
need for a large college campus. Unlike Durham the station at Dover was
rebuilt new for the service and also serves as a multi-modal
transportation center.
The platform follows the same model as the other Downeaster stations
having both high and low level components. You can see here the amount
of offset for the high level portion and also the presence of low level
bits on either side of the mini-high.
Directly east of the station is controlled point CPF-244 on the Guilford Rail System's Freight Main Line (that's its name) between Mechanicsville, NY and Brunswick, Maine (approximately), via Lowell and Ayre. This is a holdout signal for movements making flat switching movements into and out of the small yard about 1/2 mile to the east. Like the other signals this one is also approach lit and provides timely warning of approaching trains as it did in this case for another eastbound Downeaster. Also note the Delay in Block rule signal due to the push-pull operation and lack of cab signals.
As the westbound signal is neither a distant nor displays its lower head
is an interesting version of the GRA model SA searchlight, chopped down
to eliminate the moving filter element inside. The eastbound signal has two searchlight elements as it displays Approach Medium for the diverging movement into the controlled siding at the yard.
Of course the train soon arrived once again pulled by P42 #25.
Off-peak trains only open up one door on the high level platform to deal
with any ADA or baggage issues. Peak trains will often open one
additional car on the low level platform. Here we see one of the
volunteer(?) train guides (old guy with ID badge) helping passengers
board the train. These "guides" work both the train and the stations to
help with customer service functions. A similar system is used by
Vermont for its station agents.
While cabbage cars are attached I am unsure if they can be used by
passengers with large amounts of baggage. The Cabbage cars used on the
Downeaster service are decked out with the Downeaster logo.
Cabbage car #90214 again brought up the rear as the train cleared the controlled point, the signal now displaying Stop.
Well that's pretty much it for this set. Next time stay tuned for a tour of THORN interlocking and/or a trip to Georgia on Amtrak's Crescent.
As part of my ongoing series of trips to intermediate LIRR terminals which happen to have interlocking towers last year during the Friday before Labour Day I took an excursion out to Babylon via the LIRR. Now due to the retirement of the M-1's there wasn't much I could do FROM the train, but when I did get to Babylon I was treated to a plethora of LIRR MU and diesel trainsets as well as an authentic PRR-style interlocking. Later after riding around on the V train I returned to Jamaica Station to catch the last run of the Cannonball for the 2009 summer season. To my surprise I spent about 15 minutes at the HALL end of the station completely unmolested by LIRR employees or police for taking pictures.
This time I can let me pictures do the talking so I might as well cut to the action. The complete set in chronological order can be found at:
To begin I caught a ride to Hamilton station to catch a morning NJT express train into the city. While waiting I was surprised by a southbound 5-car Keystone train with Metroliner 9638 on the tail.
I also caught this Northbound in push mode.
Catching a train of M-7's on a Babylon Express run I was forced to make use of the *sigh* side window for my signal shots. Here is the re-signaled westbound gantry for the new WOOD interlocking. Even the 37 automatics were converted to color light, although the eastbound PL automatics were retained. Compare with two years prior. At least they aren't Darth Vaders.
JAY tower is still doing it's thing, at least for the time being.
Leaving the Jamaica station complex my train passed M-7 #7071 passing under the Meathouse signal gantry.
New signal masts were up on the Hempstead Branch at VALLEY with the cutover to the new interlocking still about 2 months away.
I was getting desperate as we reached Freeport. I went out the door to get a shot of PORT interlocking.
Arriving at Babylon, the tower of the same name was located just past the east end of the platform.
The signal on Track 2 was displaying a Medium Clear on the PRR tyle pedestal signal for the diesel shittle to Speonk.
Behind me on the platform I caught a Babylon Full House with M-7's
trainsets on tracks 1 and 3 lead by numbers 7796 and 7258 and the diesel
shuttle on track #2 lead by DE30 #402.
Closeup of #7796 with Subtalker Spider Pig standing on the platform doing whatever a Spider Pig does.
You may have heard about plans for the future New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center in Phillipsburg, but even without an official building or staff the NJHTC does exist and one can arrange tours. Last August the West Jersey Chapter of the NRHS organized an informal trip to Phillipsburg visit the NJHTC and ride the adjacent Black River and Westers steam tourist train along the Delaware River.
The NJHTC is currently split between several sites. These consist of the downtown Phillipsburg Union Station, which is probably the only part that can really be opened to the public, the adjacent CNJ PU interlocking tower, undergoing restoration, the nearby Phillipsburg Railroad Historians Museum, which if the NJHTC is ever built will contain most of the full size outdoor exhibits and/or trolley line and finally a storage facility north of town a the former Phillipsburg water pumping station where all of the miscalculation transportation related artifacts are stored.
The Black River and Western line runs a steam excursion service on the former PRR Bel Del Line between Phillipsburg and about halfway to Millford. The train uses former LIRR 1950's Ping Pong rolling stock with a 2-8-2 steam locomotive purchased from China in the late 1980's. This is the only operating steam locomotive in New Jersey and everything is branded with New York Susquehanna and Western markings.
We will begin with the Phillipsburg Union Station and PU tower, then move onto the steam excursion, the storage facility, the Railroading museum and finally cross the river to check out the former LVRR Easton, PA Station.
We're start out with the public face of the NJHTC which is the old Phillipsburg Union Station which served both the CNJ main line to Scranton and the DL&W Washington Branch. This last saw passenger service under NJDoT in the early 1980's and has been temporarily suspended ever since. Te building is owned by the city and has several tenants, including the NJHTC and a local railfan club's archive. The building had been drastically rehabilitated in recent years with the top level completely fixed up along with the roof.
From the other side we can see the platform level and the various doors
and stairways providing access. Back in the day the station here was as
sophisticated as any currently serving Amtrak with checked baggage and
different gates to different platforms. Still there are still occasional
issues with vandalism included someone breaking in and setting a fire
which fortunately did not spread to the whole structure.
The station is adjacent to CP-PHILLIPSBURG, a simple interlocking between the NS/Conrail Lehigh Line and the Washington Secondary. I was lucky because not long after I took these pictures NS re-signaled the interlocking when the signals had to be relocated to accommodate a track realignment on the adjacent Delaware river bridge. It's sort of bizarre that it's preferable to replace perfectly serviceable signaling equipment than just move it :-(
Here we see a clear signal pulled up on the main track signal for an approaching NS intermodal train. The lack of a top head yellow aspect is due to the short 2500 foot signal distance between here and CP-EASTON so trains in either direction approaching a stop signal will get a Restricting instead. The re-alignment has since moved the single track on the bridge from the south to the north trackway and you can see the fresh ties already installed.
The Washington secondary gets a three head slow speed signal for
movements out onto the main line. Here you can see the deteriorating
Lehigh Valley RR bridge in the background, parallel to the CNJ bridge.
While the Lehigh Line makes use of the former LVRR alignment, when
Conrail took over both lines the former LVRR bridge was abandoned due to
it being significantly older than the parallel CNJ span. The Lehigh
Line flips to the CNJ alignment about 1 mile to the east and then
switches back at the western end of the bridge.
The surviving CNJ PU tower was built in the 1930's to replace a number of other towers in the area. PU had one of the longest territories of any single interlocking under direct wire control with a total length of around 3 miles. Currently undergoing restoration many of the windows have been replaced as has the slate roof.
The red and white ID plate is original to CNJ days as we look past
the bay window towards CP-PHILLIPSBURG and the union station. The door
to the relay/compressor room is clearly new with work on the second
floor currently under way.
