In September 2015 I sent one of my operatives to Europe with instructions to take rail photos along his travels to London, Barcelona, Prague and Vienna. While I can't say I was necessarily impressed with the quantity of material that was returned (how do you miss seeing trams in Prague!) it was better than nothing. So anyway, let's dive right in. You can see the full set of pictures here.
After the cable car, those not needing a cardio workout can use two funiculars to reach the attractions. The lower one, Funicular de la Santa Cova features a curved track.
Power house and info board for the Funicular de la Santa Cova.
Above that is the more conventional Funicular de Sant Joan.
If the cable car isn't your thing, there is also a winding rack railway that runs to the base of the funiculars.
If you don't get the title today I'm covering SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line backwards and forwards. Despite being based in Philly, I had never bothered to really take the time to record a railfan window video of the entire MFL one so I figured I might as well get it out of the way in both directions all at once. The videos are of the type that allowed me to edit out all the dwell time so that's a plus. I also took photos and you can find them all right here.
We begin with PATCO car #296 making a station stop at Haddonfield. No, it doesn't have PENNSYLVANIA written on the side, but with the rebuilt cars entering service I can no longer ignore the old ladies.
Speak of the Devil, #1028 seen approaching Ferry Ave.
On weekends PATCO was single tracking over the Ben Franklin Bridge with the eastbound track out of service. Due to a dispatching SNAFU, an eastbound train was sent past the 12th St crossover. This was a problem because the 8th Street interlocking only allows trailing crossover movements and thus required a rare sawback maneuver into the 8th Street pocket track. With a supervisor in the rear cab position the train pulled into the pocket, reversed out of the pocket then proceeded westbound. This video shows the last of those three maneuvers including the US&S A-5 pneumatic throwing and the signal displaying a proceed indication.
The next stop was the Frankford Terminal where I found MFL cars #1086, 1187 and 1173.
Preparing for departure a caught #1109 at the head of a train as it entered the Bridge St interlocking.
Here we are passing car #1083 on the Market St Elevated.
At 69th Street Terminal I found that the Rts 101/102 loading area had gotten a lot more airy. Good for photographs, bad for avoiding the elements. SEPTA K-car #115 signed for Route 102.
K-Car #118 departing for Media.
K-car #114 was waiting on one of the two tracks that lead down to the suburban trolley yard.
Thanks to the hole in the wall I could take photos of trains climbing the loop from the Rt 101/102 departure platform. At least temporarily.
So am I going to save the much hyped MFL videos for a separate post? Nah, here they are!
The first shows Frankford Terminal to 69th St. At 4:30 I catch an eastbound CSX freight on the Delair Branch with CSX ES44AH #879 and SD50 #8520.
Here is 69th St to Frankford Terminal. For some reason this direction ran nearly 4 minutes faster.
Well my post clock has finally wrapped back around to Labour Day and that means another trip up to New Hampshire via Boston and Amtrak's Downeaster. This time the stars of the trip were caught at Boston North Station as both Amtrak Phase III heritage unit #145 was leading one of the Downeaster train-sets and an ex-Amtrak, ex-AMT F40PH was also running around in MTBA service. You saw the video segment last week, now its time for the stills. If you want to enjoy them all, here is the link.
We begin in Sunnyside, Queens as my train emerges from the East River Tunnel, racing an LIRR trainset on the adjacent track. With all the changes going in with the East Side Access I figured it would be prudent to get some shots out the back of my Train 172.
Amtrak crews on the upper new tend to be much more chill and over time I have been able to collect a good number of rear-facing videos between New Haven and Boston. In fact the greatest obstacle to videos has been catastrophic back lighting and extreme weather, like Boston's record snowfall, that results in crap getting on the rear window.
Last Labor Day I was once again headed up to Boston and decided to use my GoPro to get a more complete HD record of Amtrak's Shore Line. Below are a number of videos covering the route from Old Saybrook to Boston Back Bay.
The first video runs from Old Saybrook to New London. I try to get the videos to around 20-30 minutes due to the battery consumption rate of the GoPro. This segment includes the Connecticut River, Niantic River and Shaw's Cove movable bridges.
This next segment runs from New London to Kingston, RI. It includes the Thames and Mystic river movable bridges. This Regional train (172) did not make the Mystic or Westerly stops.
From there we travel from Kingston to Providence. Right off the bat note the work at Kingston to give it two full length high level platforms. That is also in the middle of one of the 150mph Acela runs.
The next part from Prividence, PI to Route 128 contains the other 150mph Acela run.
Finally we proceed through Boston's Southwest corridor trench to Boston South Station.
I hope you enjoyed the ride. Next week tune in the the still photos taken along this route, Boston and New Hampshire.
Electrified by the PRR in 1930, the West Chester Branch was a part of the Philadelphia Commuter Rail network up until the 1980's when service past Elwyn was "temporarily" suspended by SEPTA due to low ridership and budget cuts. This fiction was made a little less fictional about a decade later when SEPTA pulled the wire down to prevent theft (and also to claim the scrap value for itself). While there is some truth in the fact that the line was in driving distance to better served R5 stations, it is hard to fathom a transit agency shuttering a good portion of an electrified rail line just because.
Today the outer portion of the WCB is operated by the West Chester Railroad tourist operation, and while there continue to be rumors of service being restored, the decade plus wait for a new station at Wawa indicates that full restoration might easily exceed our lifetimes.
Last August a friend of mine took a little trip along the WCB, documenting the disused stations and the general character of the route. I have since processed the photos and made them available on my web hosting for you all to enjoy.
We begin at Media with the SEPTA Silverliner V action as #722 pulls into the inbound platform.
This is followed by an outbound train of SL-IV's, #360 in the lead.
The same trainset returning to Center City as it crosses the Ridley
Creek viaduct west of Media. This is the third vintage PRR viaduct on
the branch.
The Elwyn station was chosen as the "temporary" terminal as it marks the end of double track operation.
Previously featuring a spring switch, ELYWN interlocking has recently been upgraded.
One might expect the old Williamson Station to factor into the Wawa expansion plans, but probably not.
The branch is still wired and signaled out past CP-SOUTH ELYWN.
Equipment is stored in the Media yard and makes the short deadhead trip
to Elwyn.
The Glen Riddle station as seen from above.
The Leni Substation supplies 12kv power to the outer end of the line and
marks the end of both the overhead catenary and two 138kv transmission
circuits. One travels the length of the WCB from Arsenal substation
while the other heads cross country roughly parallel to the old PRR
Chester Valley Branch to the Lamokin rotary converter plant on the NEC.
With the Morton substation under renovation, the Leni substation is
probably the last on the PRR network to retain all of its original
equipment.
Back in August I was in DC for three days for a work related conference. Never one to let a railfan opportunity to pass me by, I utilized the lunch breaks to walk over to Washington's Union Station to take some photos from the parking garage. With enough zoom, the garage provides a great vantage point of Amtrak, MARC and DC Metro operations at the station. Bright green overhead catenary and the historic K Tower complete the look. You can find all the photos here.
We start off passing the Ivy City VRE yard with MP36PH-3C #V54.
Rolling in towards the station on a parallel track through C interlocking is MARC MP36PH-3C #14
Under the parking garage where MARC MP36PH-3C #16 sits on one of the low number high level platforms.
MARC Bi-level K-car #7852 sits next to Amtrak ACS-86 #641.
Up on the roof we find more MARC action with MARC MP36PH-3C #10 and Bi-level K-car #7855.
View of K-tower showing an inbound MARC movement into the MARC storage yard, a pair of Amtrak switchers and a MARC HHP-8.
The switchers are SW1000R #793 and 2GS12B #599.
Amtrak ACS-86 #612 shoving back to Ivy City after depositing its passengers on a low level platform.
DC Metro Red Line train with #5090 passing by the non-electrified MARC storage yard with bi-level K-Cab Car #7847.
Inbound Brunswick line MARC trainset with new NJT style bi-levels
passing by the storage yard and into one of the low numbered station
tracks. Engine is MARC MP36PH-3C #29.
The new DC Streetcar was also in test mode with #202 caught laying over at the western terminal serving Union Station.
