11-05-06 VIDEOS: Let's Ride NYC Subway Episode 9 - J Train Eastbound

Well I had so many videos from that R42 trip that I ended up splitting them up into two Let's Ride episodes, one westbound, which I posted earlier, and one eastbound, which I will showcase now. The Westbound trip had the superior shots, not only because it wasn't backlit, but also because I could collect an entire set in the tunnels as well as the Willy B and the M Train meet at Mrytle. However I don't want to just discard these eastbound videos into the ashcan so here they are.

This trip is actually a composite of two trips. The first from Marcy Ave to Jamaica Center and the second from Broad Street to Essex. Due to the back lighting I initially though videoing most of the eastbound trip would be a good idea until I realized how incredibly boring the local runs were. So boring in fact that I probably won't even embed all of the videos in the platlist. However I am sure all those many rabid fans of the line will enjoy it nevertheless.

So, if you would like to view the entire platlist check it out right here. Just hit play and you'll see all the videos in order.



So the story of these videos actually begin at the end of the trip where Rich and I were waiting at Broad Street for the next train back to Essex so that we could transfer to an orange M to get up to Midtown for lunch. We were surprised when our trusty old R42 trainset pulled into the station. After going a stop or two I decided to start getting some tunnel videos in the opposite direction and so we begin with Fulton St to Chambers St.



A Chambers we cross over two tracks to reach the Willy B line from what used to loop around and head over the Manny B. Note the doubleslip switch. Then we break through what used to be a wall at Canal Street onto the rationalized alignment that converted a 4-track line into a two-track one.



Here we are going from Canal to Bowery. Unfortunately I could not complete the set of videos all the way to Essex because the train operator decided that because we were railfanning in both directions that we had to be some sort of terrorist threat and opened the door to inform us that "taking pictures was illegal since 9/11". I told her to call the police and walked back to be prepared to exit the train at Essex. The bitch actually tried to hold the doors closed waiting for the police, but after a few minutes she gave up and we walked down to the F platform instead of waiting around for the M.



Cutting back to a point earlier in the day, here we have my train of R42's approaching Broadway Junction from Chauncey St showing the west end of the junction complex.



As was featured in the photo essay here is the trip from Broadway Junction to Alabama Ave where we can see the R160 that should have been running in our slot descending the ramp into the yard in place of our set of R42s.

11-05-06 VIDEOS: Let's Ride NYC Subway Episdoes 8 - J Train Westbound

Anyone who just saw my R42 trip post is already familiar with the story of how I caught an R42 leaving Manhattan in the morning and then managed to ride it all the way out to Jamaica and back. In fact you have probably seen a few of the videos from that run that I embedded in the photo essay. Well it simply wouldn't be fair to let all those other deserving videos just sit lonely on YouTube without some bit of promotion.

This post will cover the first of two "Let's Ride" episodes westbound from the Jamaica Center to Broad Street. However unlike some of my other "Let's Ride" episodes these playlists are not complete records of the entire line as the mostly local J train would be a downright bore as it trundled from local stop to local stop. So therefore the video coverage is limited to special events like interlockings and junctions as well as the tunnel sections of the line.

So here we have the entire playlist for the Westbound Episode 8



We begin leaving Jamaica Center and traveling to Stuphin Blvd. Here you can see the brightly lit 1980's tunnel and the distance between Jamaica Center and the crossover that trains terminating there used to cross tracks. Jamaica Center was not intended as the lines terminal, it just turned out that way due to funding cuts, so the interlocking wasn't intended to serve a terminal. Therefore instead of being right at the end of the platform it is a good distance down the tunnel. This is a major factor limiting tph on both the E and J/Z lines.



Here we have the nice line run from Stuphin Blvd to 121st St through the deep bore tube under the LIRR tracks. At the end I terminated the video early because we had to slow down for the trackwork at 121st St.



Here we see the east end of Broadway Junction as we depart Alabama Ave.



Now we see the west end of Broadway Junction in the eastbound direction as we travel to Chauncey St. Can anybody explain why with a straight track and no trains ahead of us this service is SO PAINFULLY SLOW??!! In Philly the MFL hits 50 mph on similar stretched of track...and that was even prior to the rebuild!!



Ah, here is the best video of the bunch. The J train switches to the express track and makes a timed meet with an inbound M train at Myrtle Ave just as the M train is switching onto the local track previously used by the J. Give it a second look, its amazing.



That money shot is followed by a second as my train hits the express run between Mrytle and Marcy Ave's. Unfortunately we get creamed by an speed restriction coming into Marcy.



In the longest video of the series we travel up and over the Williamsburg Bridge to Essex Street. At least we are traveling faster than the traffic.



In the tunnel now, Essex to Bowery through the re-signaled portion of the line.



Bowery to Canal Streets.



Canal to Chambers. This is the station where loop service would branch off to the Manny B.



Twisting and turning Chambers to Fulton.



And finally Fulton to Broad. Hope you enjoyed the trip, stay tuned for the eastbound episode tomorrow.

11-05-06 PHOTOS: R42 Round Trip

Ah the R42. The last product built by the St Louis Car Company that actually worked and star of the 1971 hit movie The French Connection. Once slated for retirement 50 of the 400 cars got a reprieve when the abysmal quality of the following St Louie produced R44's forced their early retirement. Today those final 50 escaped to the IND Eastern Division where they tend to work in the peak periods only. If you need a railfan window and if you can find them, maybe you too can ride, the R42.

Seeing as I don't live in the city the only way for me to get there in time is to take Amtrak into Newark, PATH it downtown then run to the J/Z at Fulton Street. Even with this plan the timing was going to be close as I would only be able to catch the last one or two R42 trainsets returning from their rush hour runs to Broad. Even if I was to catch them they would certainly pull back into East New York yard to wait their return to service for the evening peak.

I arrived at Fulton in what I believed was planet of time, but alas trainset after trainset of useless R160s passed by until I assumed that the morning was a wash and I might as well continue on in an inferior vehicle, de-training for the photos I needed.

To see what happened after that you can check out the full photo set posted right here, or keep reading below.

I was to meet Rich Green that day, who in usual fashion was running late, so instead of meeting downtown I just hopped off at Marcy Ave which was closer to where he would be coming from. Due to the Williamsburg Bridge and the HSBC bank dome its pretty hard not to take good pics at Marcy, even if they involve R160's, such as this westbound J train.

Headed my way on an M train was another train of of the new sterile beasts.

Trains stopping at Marcy get to have the motormen play tower operator using this punch box where they can choose a local or express routing.

Just as I was resigned to an entire day of mediocre subway fanning low and behold what trundles down the Willy B ramp, but a shiny train of retro sheek R42's on a K routing. I couldn't believe my eyes and I thanked god that Rich was late least I would have ended up on the previous R160 I had been riding.

 Once on board the front view was a bit disappointing due to both the position of the sun and a good layer of water droplet scuz. However it was far superior to the smear-o-vision on the R160's, one of which is seen here on an express J train headed westbound south of Mrytle Ave.

Everybody loves Myrtle Ave with its pair of single slip switches and diamond crossing.

Assuming I was now on the laast leg of the trip in this trainset I opted for some video out the front as that was impacted by the backlighting less. However as we approached Broadway Junction I noticed that my original R160 trainset was sitting on the middle track and we were to platform on the usual eastbound track.



In an absolutely startling turn of events, while staring at a Clear indication on the 356 signal I watched as the trainset that should have consisted of R42 pull into the yard, while my trainset, which should have been R160s was allowed to continue on towards the Jamaica Center.

11-04-14 PHOTOS: Springilanious

So last spring I was going on some trips, they were just with other non-railfan friends and therefore most of the photos taken were sort of ancillary to the real tasks at hand. I grouped these small batches of miscellaneous photos into a single set for your viewing convenience. Most involves a series of trips taken between Philly, Baltimore and Washington, DC.

We begin with a photo of your stimulus funds at work in the form of a brand new 25hz transmission line stretching between the former PRR substation in Landover, MD to the BRAND NEW substation located in the Ivy City yard (suck on it Will D). This new substation is a much needed supplement for the old arrangement wherein 12Kv power was sent via feeders from Landover about 10 miles to a switching substation at Union Station adjacent to the old express building. This left the entire DC terminal not only under powered, but also subjected to power disruptions.

Back in the PRR era power for Union Station was actually provided by the Capitol South substation which was fed by transmission lines along the Potomac Yard freight yard (later Conrail Landover Line). When freight operations ended Amtrak turned down ownership and support of Capitol South and made do with the Landover feeder arrangement. In the photo below you can actually see the two Landover feeders on the small catenary pole, one on the crossarm and another near the top of the I-beam post. At the time this photo was taken the new transmission lines were still not yet in service.

Switching to the DC Metro we see 2000-series car #2012 hanging out at NCR.

On another day we find nearly new 6000 car #6160 at Greenbelt.

A few moments later a DC bound MARC Camden Line train shows up for a station stop at Greenbelt Station with single level cab car #7745 in the lead.

Providing power was brand new MP36PH-3C #32.

Pulling out of Greenbelt my Metro train has a little race with the MARC train. Of course we quickly got the upper hand, but don't click the video off as when my train flies over the Camden Line the southbound mark train meets a northbound with a GP40-2WH/MP36PH-3C lashup.



Last spring wire work over night on the Shore Line was forcing Amtrak to temporarily utilize an innovative form of reliable dual mode locomotive which was constructed by coupling a P42DC diesel with an AEM-7 electric, a strategy NJT might want to pay attention to. Here we see P42 #109 coupled to AEM-7 #941.

Heritage baggage unit #1241 on the head end of Train 67. The two overnight trains 66 and 67 were the only Amtrak trains that got this special treatment.

  Amtrak #109 and the wet Baltimore platform.

In this busy video we see northbound Amtrak Train 180 arrive with #918 on the point just as Train 67 departs southbound with #109 and #941.



A few weeks later I returned to find P42 #104 providing the diesel pull with #939 attached for the electric.



Here we see #104 waiting to depart from track #7.

MARC K-car #7754 looked on from 5 track, laid up for the weekend.

11-04-02 PHOTOS: Philly Sights

Spring is usually quiet for me rail photography wise due to the rain and mud so here is the first of a pair of "short subject" sets that were taken in March and April of 2011. Here I was taking a quick trip to Philly with a friend from Arizona to show her around and along the way I managed to get in a few rail and semi-rail related photographs.

I began at 30th St Station where I caught a Regional Rail train downtown into Suburban so show my friend around the City Hall area. 

Just like Silverliner II #269, evidence of the old Pennsylvania Railroad is still littered about such as this example at the 16th St entrance to Suburban Station.

And of course the main entrance to Suburban Station.

Across the street the new Kabletown Comcast USB Stick rises from the PRR overbuild. 

And the newly sand-blasted City Hall clock tower rises in the opposite direction. For those of you who don't know this is the second tallest stone masonry building in the world.

While for decades a gentleman's agreement kept City Hall as the tallest structure in the city, #2 on that last is the now Nationally Registered Historic Place PSFS Building, which was one of the first modern style skyscrapers built in the United States, opening in 1932, with such innovations as air conditioning. Because the building is now a hotel that means one can simply walk in and take an elevator to the former PSFS board room, which is now used for event hosting. Here we can see a more even view of the city skyline including Liberty Place 1 and 2 as well as the Comcast USB stick.

Here we can see the statue of Billy Penn and the Concast Stick in the background. Hopefully the rise of the Comcast tower won't result in another 25 year sports curse.

Another unique feature of City Hall is that it is covered in hundreds of sculptures by Alexander Milne Calder (no, the other Calder). There are so many pieces of art that some consider the entire building to be one large public sculpture.

Moving on to Penn's Landing we find the oldest steel warship still afloat, USS Olympia (C-6), moored next to WW2 era, GUPPY converted submarine USS Becuna (SS-319). The museum that owns and operates the two ships is currently having major funding problems and cannot afford to conduct repairs on the Olympia and has been saying that the ship may need to be scrapped or sunk if such funds cannot be sourced.

Driving along the trolley line on Delaware Ave was an Magnette ZB.

I was back on rail transportation with a quick ride on the MFL out and back to Frankford Jct to kill some time. Here my return train pulls out of and crosses over at Frankford Terminal.



Here is a picture of M-4 car #1136 at Berks.

And another railfan window ride from Spring Garden to 2nd Ave. This is the part that runs down the middle of I-95 before diving into the Market Street tunnel.



Well that's it for this little set. Stay tuned for another set covering various random photos taken in the spring.

11-02-05 PHOTOS: Icy Princeton

Have a little winter preview here taken last February at the Princeton Junction train station on a foggy evening with snow on the ground and a nice winter mix falling from the sky. Not a huge photo set, but still interesting.

Here we see an ALP-46 pulling out of the eastbound platform past the 470 signal on 2 and 3 tracks.

NASSAU tower and the Dinky storage track.

ALP-46 #4622 pushing at the rear of a westbound train.

Same train departing.



Empty station with the 470 signals from the eastbound platform.

Close view of the 470 signals over track 2 and 3.

That's it for now. Stay tuned for photos from my Port Road Trip.

11-01-14 PHOTOS: Lucky Seven

It's a New Year for my photos as I charge ahead in clearing the backlog. As I get off for MLK day I figured that the best way to celebrate was to head to New York City and try again to complete a full photo survey of the Flushing Line via its surviving railfan window. Previously every time I had set out to take video or photos of the line I had been thwarted by poor cloudy/rainy weather. This time, while there were some clouds in the sky to begin with, the day was a lot clearer than the others I had been faced with. Also threatening to throw a wrench in the works were the service cutbacks that had eliminated mid-day express service. This forced me to take a very early morning Amtrak train (early enough that I was able to catch T67 southbound at Baltimore) into the city in order to get my ass out to Flushing before the hammer dropped at 10am.

Anyway I did manage to catch literally the last express run of the morning before then meeting up with Rich Greene for a little mid-day action on the G before lunch and then a complementary sunny express run on the <7> in the afternoon when the service resumed at 3pm. In the morning I just took photos out the back of the train as I didn't feel like taking reverse direction video, but in the afternoon I did complete the segments I needed for a full video tour of the 7 which I will post separately. The afternoon run also featured a run in with a douche bad T/O that tried to inform me that taking photos was illegal, but I wasn't about to interrupt my video for that and I just hold him he was wrong. He retaliated by giving me a really slow express run, but oh well, can't really do much to fight passive aggression.

Anyway you can see the full set of photos which include a full signal survey of the flushing line express track right here. You can also read on to see a well chosen sample of high def photos that I took during the trip.

We begin with an exciting catch at Baltimore Penn Station where P42 #107 leads AEM-7 #904 on the southbound Train 67. Catenary work in Boston was causing this odd dual mode mashup where the P42 would power the train through the de-energized sections and then the AEM would provide power the rest of the way.



I begin the 7 line tour at the Hunters Point portal and I was lucky enough to have a nice layer of snow coating the El structure throughout my photo excursions that day. Anyway I'll start things off with this photo of an R62 inbound at 45 Rd.

I caught the NYCTA patriotic car #1776 at 43rd St.

And an inbound express with #1811 in the lead at 50th St.

Express train lead by #1746 inbound at Junction Blvd.

R62 trainset on the layup track caught while approaching 111th St Station.

111th St tower which has control of the line east of Queensbobo Plaza.

My 7 train continuing on from Willets Point. I got off there was I didn't want to miss the last express trying to make the transfer at Flushing Main St.

Despite the presence of a trainset the express track was not being used for express trains so after some confusing I hot footed it over to the inbound local platform where I became increasingly worried that I had missed the last express run as nothing but locals came through.