10-09-25 PHOTOS: SEPTA Rodeo 2010

Well I am back from my July 4th Weekend break with a really great set of photos. Once again the fact that these photos cover a well attended event exposes me to still being about 9 months behind, but that's a lot better than the 12 month backlog I had built up at its peak so I am making progress!!

Anyway in case you all forgot or missed the plethora of photos posted by more up to date Railfans, last September SEPTA invited a selection of about 200 rail enthusiasts to its annual "Rodeo" and Family Picnic at the Broad Street Subway Fern Rock shoppes. Now I know what you all were thinking, but the event turned out to be legitimate and it was not just some sting operation to arrest railfans taking pictures on SEPTA Property. The even consisted of three main sections. You had the BSS Fern Rock shoppe floor where many of the assemblies and heavy components of SEPTA transit vehicles were laid out for inspection. You had the BSS rolling maintenance shop where one could walk in and between BSS trainsets as they waited for minor inspections and repairs before being sent back out and then there was the Fern Rock Regional Rail station where examples of every piece of SEPTA rolling stock (except for PP coaches) was on display.

 Now this article will be missing one critical part of the show and that is information regarding the original BSS Cam Controllers and the new IGBT replacements. I feel this deserves its own special segment so if you are impatient you can see it here or just read this first and then view it next.

Anyway you can view the entire set of photos at this link. SEPTA vehicles will be near the top with Fern Rock interlocking and shoppe photos further down.

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/10-09-25_SEPTA_RODEO_2010/-Thumbnails.html

Alright, we'll begin with a sunny show of Fern Rock tower. The tower was made redundant a few years ago when its operations were taken under control by the dispatch office at 1234 Market, but before then it has hosted a US&S style unit level panel machine, which has fortunately been preserved. There is still a local control station available here for contingency plans, but it us normally under remote control.

While the pneumatic switch machines in the Fern Rock yard had been replaced with electric models back around 2003, the Fern Rock wye interlocking still retains its pneumatics, which were recently upgraded with A-10 machines salvaged from the MFL re-signaling. Here is the #21 switch and you can see the cover for the previous A-5 machine sitting nearby.

As this was a Saturday, Ridge Line train service was still running. Here we can see such a train begining its run around the loop track where one of the direct yard access switched has been removed. Don't worry, the other direct yard access switch and its super diamond are still in place.

Here is a video of the same train emerging from the tunnel portal.



Locals were also running and here we see an example as it emerges from the portal and poses in front of the 14LA, 14LC and 12L signals that divide the yard tracks from the signaled Main Tracks. These too date from 2003 when the terminal area was re-signaled. The original signals were much cooler.

The power operated yard switch machines were changed from pneumatic DA-10s to electric YM2000s back around 2003, but the point indicators remain in their original 1920's housings on high quality concrete bases, although with a modern LED upgrade.

The Fern Rock shoppes were full of everything that a BSS car could ever need. Here we see a collection of BSS axle sets with their attached gearboxes, but note the examples with disc brakes that come from some other vehicle.

As seen with those foreign axles above, Fern Rock is a repair facility for the entire SEPTA enterprise with things like wheelsets, brake packages and gearboxes being trucked in from other shoppes for rebuild and repair. Here we see a truck assembly from an N5 Rt 100 car on display.

Some of the BSS trucks on display were those still attached to BSS cars, like this one seen on a car-lift. Hmmm, not sure I exactly trust that little wooden chock to keep the car from rolling off there :-/

Here we see one of the M-4 trucks that had to have half of their brakes removed for the cars to make weight. If you wonder why the system slowed down after the M-4s were introduced, don't blame the new signaling system, blame the pathetic friction-only brake performance.

The BSS trucks are wonderfully simple compared to the high tech M-5 and N-5 examples. Note the use of "package" type tread brakes that were a step up from older cylinder designs and newer disc designs. 

Hmmm, I'll touch that third rail shoe if you touch it first. The General Steel Castings logo means that most of this truck assembly was made in America. WOO!!

BSS cars needing heavy repair are rolled into the back of the shop where they can be hooked up to 600V jumper cables.

Moving over to the Rolling Maintenance shop where inspections and light repairs are carried out we find...AHHHH!! THE DEVIL CAR!! RUN!!

10-09-24 PHOTOS: Sevens and ACES

Last autumn both the economy and business at the Atlantic City casinos were still in the pits so the financial viability of the NY-ACL ACES service was being increasingly called into question. Therefore I felt it was incumbent upon me to fuck over the $35 and actually try the service on a one way trip from New York City to Atlantic City followed by a quick ACL line train back to Lindenwold. Because I wasn't about to simply waste my time taking Amtrak to NYC then the ACES train straight to AC, I planed some activities around the only interesting thing remaining on the NYC Subway, namely the railfan window equipped 7 train.

Now I was hoping to carry out a nice photograph line survey with shots of all the stations and signals, but the weather was less than cooperative being overcast and misty so therefore while I was able to get photos I was unable to check off the whole definitive line survey box. Still it;s subway stuff and there's a lot of people who will drool those sorts of pics so here there are along with a few video clips, what I could manage from the side of the ACES train and what I could get in Atlantic City.

The entire set of photos are located here in chronibetical order.

We begin in the underground portion of the 7 with some video of my train departing the Tines Square terminal, crossing over to the correct track and continuing to 5th Ave.



We continue from 5th Ave to Grand Central.



Now a year earlier I had taken video in the Steinway Tunnels between Grand Central and Jackson Ave and again from Jackson Ave to Hunters Point so I won't bore you with them again. But I did get some new footage as we exited the tunnel portal and traveled from Hunter's Point to 45 Road passing two inbound 7 trains in the process.



And then from 45 Road to Queensboro Plaza. The general idea was that with suck sucky light it would be best to capture some video for a playlist I will eventually compile convering the entire express run. Because there is no express service before Queensboro Plaza I could shoot the video on a run of the mill local train such as this. In this segment we pass another inbound 7.



Waiting at the 420 signal at Queensboro Plaza we encounter both an outbound N train departing from across the platform and a 4th inbound 7 train diving down to the lower level.

Time for some more video as we pull out of QB Plaza (N train still adjacent to us) and take the take the switch to the local stop before finishing up at 33rd St.



Just short of 46th Street we pass the 5th inbound 7 of the journey.

And a 6th approaching Woodside.

Here we see the somewhat recently closed tower at 65th St.

Another inbound 7 passes us while waiting at 75th Street.

10-09-04 PHOTOS: Flugtag Philadelphia

Last Labour Day weekend the Red Bull Flugtag event came to the Camden waterfront, just south of the Benn Franklin Bridge. As I was traveling home from my previously documented trip to New Englande I had the opportunity to attend the event by walking over the BFB instead of taking my usual PATCO train from 8th and Market. Now normally I wouldn't be posting about an event that barely qualifies as transport related let along rail transport related here on this forum, but where the Ben Franklin Bridge is involved PATCO is involved as well.

Unfortunately the Flugtag organizers were setting the "flights" off in conjunction with eastbound PATCO trains running across the bridge so it was a bit difficult covering both, but I did the best I could and cam away with some pleasing results.

This set of photos is a lot smaller than normal, but you can see the whole thing here.

The southern pedestrian walkway on the bridge wasn't too crowded, but there were was a healthy crowd all along the suspended span watching the proceedings. Here you can see the west anchorage complete with a traffic jam on the bridge and one of the iconic signal gantries spanning all 7 lanes.

While still ascending the bridge the first PATCO train passed and I was able to get an ok picture of it with the large mass of boats on the river in the background.

After moving closer to the action I staked out a spot and sent my friend ahead to find a better one. At this point another PATCO train passed. They were running 6 car trains that day on a roughly 10 minute headway.

I also got some video of its passing.



My friend called in with a better spot so I moved ahead pausing to take a picture of the east tower and its integrated signal gantry. I am not sure I am aware of another bridge with such early examples of integrated traffic control structures.

From the Bump Out where the tower interferes with the regular position of the walkway I was able to get a much less obstructed view of passing PATCO trains such as this shot of a train as it crests the summit of the bridge arch also showing the extent of the crowd that lined the walkway.

Here is a reasonable close up shot of PATCO #287 as it descends the grade eastbound.

Same train continuing on towards the east anchorage with more people lining the walkway.

10-09-01 PHOTOS: Downeaster Dover

Over Labour Day 2010 I took a trip up to the Boston area to visit a friend who lived in Portsmouth, NH. While I had ridden the Amtrak Downeaster service to Portland, ME and back in 2006 and been able to visit both the Dover and Durham stations when I was in town for a wedding in 2009, this would be my first purposeful trip on the Downeaster. My plan involved taking a Regional train to Boston and then complete the self-transfer to North Station where I would wait for the Downeaster. Due to Amtrak's issues with tight connections I believe I had an hour or two to kill waiting at BON and due to the MTBA's anality about hanging out on platforms I only had a relatively short window for Photos. However I made the most of my time.

You can see the comparatively short gallery of photos right here.

Now I was hoping to be able to take photos out the back of my Regional as we traveled up the Shore Line. I'm not on that line often and when I am the last car is more likley than not to be closed. Well good news was that the last car was not closed. The bad news was that Amtrak's company car, #10001, the Beech Grove, was attached to the back of my train. While some people would be thrilled at this, I was going to be limited to photo sessions at NYP and BOS. Here we see 10001 with some Amtrak officials at Penn Station. Date and time noted.

At this point the Amtrak folks were nice enough to give me a little tour of 10001. Inside is a rear seating area, then three bedrooms, each of which appeared to have beds with double mattresses in them, then finally a kitchen area. I was told that the Grove was being moved up to Boston for some meeting between with Federal officials, some of which would be boarding at New Haven along with a Pizza delivery to re-fuel the movers and shakers in the company car. Here we see 10001 at New Haven. Note the larger sized Amfleet II windows in at the observation end of the car.

Also at New Have was Amtrak P40 #843 in SLE service.

Now I called Rich Green who posted about the 10001 move on SubChat and Fred G said he would be able to meet the train at Old Saybrook. Now I figured he'd be on the opposite platform due to sight lines and the angle of the sun, but alas he was on the near platform and I missed taking a literal railfan photo.

Since there wasn't much going on at Electric Boat my next chance for an interesting photo was when my train finally arrived at BOS and I could head back for more photos of 10001. Here we see the business end of 10001 with MTBA F40PH #1065 on an adjacent track.

Here is a side view of the observation platform with both #1065 and GP40MC #1115 in the background.The hump on the roof of 10001 contains a camera for conducting line inspections.

Full view of  F40PH #106.

Parked ahead of our Regional train on BOS track 8 was class leading K-Car split level #1700 with MBB euro-car #1524 on adjacent track #7.

After self-transfering to North Station, in an effort to kill time I took a little walk along the east side of the terminal towards the Charles river hoping to get some reasonable vantage point for photos. All I came away with was this picture of MTBA F40PH #1032 on the #1 track at BON.

When my train was finally announced and I could be a "ticketed passenger" on the platform I had about 15 or 20 minutes to linger at the end of the track 7/6 platform. Here you can see Amtrak P42 #173 at the head of my downeaster train with MTBA GP40MC #1125 on track 8. Note the effect that Main black flies have had on the Atrak locomotive compared to the Geep which stays safely in Massachusetts.

10-08-21 PHOTOS: Point-of-Rocks

Point of Rocks, Maryland is located at the the point where the Catoctin Ridge crosses the Potomac River. It is also the junction between the Baltimore and Ohio's Old Main Line to Baltimore and its Metropolitan Branch to Washington, DC. The junction takes the form of a Wye with an interlocking at each apex and a station building/MoW base in the middle.

The Old Main Line is exactly that, the original B&O Main Line between Baltimore and Ohio constructed in the years after 1831. Today most traffic heads to and from the double track Metropolitan Branch as the OML has a large number of tunnels and is not cleared for double stacks. Furthermore to improve clearances from their 1830's design the line was single tracked in the 1950's further restricting capacity and combined with its slow curvy track it made the Metropolitan-Capitol Sub route the preferred one even if it is several miles longer.

Point of Rocks remains a passenger station on the MARC Brunswick Line and sees weekday directional service to Washington, DC. It also sees the daily passage of Amtrak's Capitol Limited with the eastbound Train 30 passing around 11am and the westbound Train 29 passing around 5:30pm.

This selection of photos was taken on a trip to Point of Rocks last August and highlights the various rail action as well as the fixed infrastructure available. The presence of the station makes Point of Rocks a very accessible railfan location with platforms and walkways that put you right in the middle of the action.

You can find the full set of photos here. As usual I will be posting a variety of select photos, but the train shots will be down at the bottom to encourage you to read through the entire essay :-P

We begin with the Point of Rocks station building. It was constructed in 1873 and is a Nationally Registered Historic Place. I believe it is still staffed by a CSX ticket agent, one of the last in the entire company and the job position probably stretches back to the early days of the B&O, nearly two centuries ago. A newspaper article profiled the woman who worked there and at the time CSX had opted not to bid to continue running the MARC commuter service and there was a big thing about her finally going into retirement. However with CSX continuing to run the service I am assuming that the agent position was saved and with it a piece of living history.

The station also serves as a crew base for local CSX track and signal maintainers and there is a large parking area for CSX owned trucks and hi-rail vehicles. The south side platform canopy was damaged in the February 2010 blizzard, but as of January of 2011 work had been started to restore it.

Of course as a railroad crew base the required motivational safety poster was present.

The inbound platform had been provided with rather austere bus type shelters for waiting passengers, but in 2008 these were replaced with a new design that matched the look and feel of the 1873 station building across the tracks.

The main island platform between the two main lines is still equipped with its original brick paving as well as cast iron lampposts and signs. (Alert Forgotten NY!) Still a second, modern type sign has been provided at a lower level, probably for ADA reasons.

POINT OF ROCKS interlocking comprises the west apex of the wye and is a double-track flat junction between the Old Main Line and Metropolitan Sub with the OML being given the straight route and the Metropolitan Sub the diverging. As the Metropolitan Sub begins a few miles to the west at Brunswick trains taking the same logical route at the junction must actually make a diverging move. In this case looking east we see a Medium Clear indication displayed on the #2 track mast for a diverging route from #2 track to...#2 track.

A conveniently placed set of duckboards allow one to stand right in the middle of the interlocking. Here we are looking west at the parallel set of crossovers for the double track main line split between the OML and Met subs. While each individual interlocking that makes up the Point of Rocks Wye only contains a half crossover, combined there exist a full set of crossovers for all tracks.

Here we see CSX C44-10W #939 splitting the westbound OML mast signals as it moves from OML track #3 to Met Sub track #1.

Behind 939 was fellow AC4400 #501 at the head of a long strong of empty coal cars headed westbound.

10-08-13 PHOTOS: Along the Waterfronts

Well that's the best title I could think of for a compilation of random photos taken in August of 2010. Yes I will visit at least two waterfronts in this series, but there's not much more binding things together. Also, because there are not enough train photos available I'll sprinkle in some gems of Baltimore's outer harbor. That's right, outer harbour. Think bigger and much more industrial.

You can see the entire potpourri of photos right here, but if you don't feel like looking at some thumbnails strap yourself in and feel the burn of large photos downloading!!

We begin driving along the NEC on I-495 in Delaware. I was probably heading home for the West Jersey NRHS Chapter Picnic. A friend had decided to drive me so my hands were free to shoot from the side of the car and was lucky enough to capture Acela Express power car #2013 as it blasted southbound.

Not far south I got a great picture of BELL tower.

And the old PRR freight flyover...made obsolete by the replacement of the center freight tracks with express passenger tracks.

Since the picnic no longer includes any rail related action we now cut to Haddonfield, NJ where I was waiting for a PATCO train when NJT Geep #4212 showed up in the trench with a Philly bound Atlantic City train. It was actually pretty common to catch ACL trains here given my schedule so instead of stills I went for video.



And zoomed in for a shot of its C-IV cab car #5023.

Then much to my surprise another ACL train showed up about 5 minutes later. It was sequentially lead by NJT Geep #4211 and this time I decided to go for some some stills.

And the trainset had Conet IV cab car #5031 on the rear.

Later that week I was in Washington, DC for a conference and the MARC MP36PH-3Cs were just starting to become commonplace. Here is #14 waiting to lead a train outbound.