06-06-10 PHOTOS: NJT Gladstone

In June 2006 I stopped by the NJT terminal in Gladstone. It was a Sunday and there wasn't too much action, but I happened to arrive to catch the inbound/outbound hourly train swap. There was also some relay-action going on. In the yard, in addition to the Arrow III MU, were some ALP-46 sets for Midtown Direct trains.

Gladstone Pix at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/06-06-10_NJT_GLADSTONE/-Thumbnails.html


Arrow III car #1324 moves past #1305 which is waiting at the platform to be the next inbound train to New York.

ALP-46 #4627 with a Midtown Direct trainset laying over for the next weekday.

Happy little Gladstone Station

06-06-01 PHOTOS: Memorial Day NEC

Over Memorial Day 2006 I took a trip up to Connecticut and managed to photograph some of the new signaling and interlocking changes on the NEC while returning back down south .

These include the new GREENS FARMS high speed 4-track crossover in the New Haven Line b/t Norwalk and Bridgeport. The recently completed tweaks to SHELL interlocking (5+ years in the making). The new crossover on the Amtrak Hellgate line right before SHELL and finally the new signaling gantries on the NEC between ZOO and NORTH PHILADELPHIA.

I also got some sweet pics of the Hallgate bridge complete with CSX freight train as well as Sunnyside yard and F interlocking pics.

You can see the whole set at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/06-06-01_MEMORIAL_DAY_06/-Thumbnails.html

The signals (if you can call them that) have been turned on at the restored GREENS FARMS interlocking. There used to be a crossover here until it was eliminated by Metro-North, but the large gap between crossovers at South Norwalk and Bridgeport created operational problems and the railroad restored it with 80mph high speed turnouts for all routes.

Here is perhaps the best photo I have of an Amtrak train taking the "Straight Shot" at SHELL.  This route will be eliminated when westbound Amtrak trains are crossed over east of the New Rochelle station and then make the diverging move from the former eastbound express train. 

View in the opposite direction of the twin movable point diamonds that will be eventually reduced to one.

New crossover on the Hellgate Line going in at the new MANOR interlocking. Who says position lights are dead! From the installed indications on the signal, these turnouts will be rated for 45mph.

Nice shot of automatic 68 on the Hellgate line complete with the Hellgate bridge and CSX freight train with SD40-2 #8846 providing power.  The westbound signals use the reduced dimension US&S style position light where the lamps are compressed together. 

06-05-04 PHOTOS: San Francisco Cable Cars

Heh, I know it took two months, but I finally processed all of the pics from my trip to San Fran back in May. (2013 note, my backlog would grow to nearly 11 months by 2010).

This third and final set was taken on the morning of my departure. I got up early and rode all of the "interesting" Cable lines. I went down to Hyde Beach, took some pix of the Golden Gate Bridge, got back on it and Rode to Market, got on a Powell, rode down to Bay, then back to Mason where I transferred to a Hyde again, then back down to Beach and finally all the way back to Market.

In the photo sets I compiled two nice phototours of both the Hyde and Powell lines. so you can enjoy those. I also got pics of most of the cars out that day.

You can see the full set of pics at:

http://palter.org/~brotzman/06-05-04_SAN_FRANCISCO_CABLE_CARS/-Thumbnails.html

#28 on Mason St

#27 rounds the curve onto Powell

06-05-03 PHOTOS: San Francisco Transit

Ok, here is part two of my San Francisco Trip photos. Over the course of the conference I had some time to get around San Fran an ride the various modes of transit. I bought a weekly MUNI pass and tried to ride as many lines as possible. I managed to get out to West Portal, the Light Rail Center at Balboa Parque where the JKM lines terminate. I also encountered things like Trolley Buses, Cable Cars and scary 70's decor. I also grabbed some night shots of things like City Hall and a classic BART/MUNI sign.

I paid a second visit down to the 4th and King Caltrain terminal to grab some more shots of the A-5 Pneumatic Switches and Caltrain Locomotives Unfortunately they LOCK the doors to the platform after the train leaves so you can get out there to take pix...but you can't come back.

Also when I was down there I took some pics of the N Line terminal along with the new T light rail line. Speaking of the N Jeudah, I rode it all the way to the Ocean Beach terminal. I will say that the trip time was fucking slow. The line is in serious need of light pre-emption and stop elimination. Once at Ocean Beach I decided to throw caution to the wind and go touch the pacific ocean. Of course the ocean wasn't the only thing there to greet me. BTW, the SF beach looked like ass...and that's comming from a New Jerseyian.

Finally, I got some pictures of the famous bridges. Here's the Golden Gate and a sweet pic of the Oakland Bay Bridge..

The rest of the pics can be found at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/06-05-03_SAN_FRANCISCO/-Thumbnails.html

Hmmm, this trolley looks familliar...almost like something I've seen in Philly once...but nah...that's on a totally different coast!!!

Lots of action at West Portal with ah (M) train heading in bound passing through the half-grand junction.

06-05-01 PHOTOS: Caltran Caltrain I

Here is my first set of photos from my big trip to San Francisco. On my first day I went from SFO to the Caltrain station at Millbrae and from there took the Caltran Caltrain to see a friend in San Jose.

It was a fun ride, although the stops were a little close together and the line had been recently resignaled, (although at least they are using speed signaling now) Caltrain its a pretty good operation easily up to the standards set by the east coast and chicago. At the San Jose terminal I got to see trainsets from ACE, Caltrain and Amtrak all together.

On my return trip I took one of the new express "Baby Bullet" trains (although fortunately my train was not using the new shit Baby Bullet equipment) so I got a nice railfan window express run all the way back. Yes, all the gallery cab cars have a railfan window, however all the cab cars are also "bike" cars so seating is limited.

I took the express all the way back to the 4th and King terminal which is perhaps the only location on the West Coast with pneumatic switch machines.

Anyway, the whole set of photos can be found at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/06-05-01_CALTRAN_CALTRAIN/-Thumbnails.html

SFO station on BART with a 'C' style car that has a flat front cab.

My southbound local train to San Jose arrives at Millbrae with F40PH-2CAT #900.

MP36PH-2C with gallery car stock. Too bad we don't get to see these in NJT colours :-(

06-03-11 PHOTOS: Baltimore Streetcars and LRVs

In March 2006 I took a small trip with a Baltimore trolley enthusiast to see the new double tracked northern segment of the Baltimore light rail. Also I got a chance to take some photos down at ye Olde Baltimore Streetcar Museum where they recently bought a fleet of firesale SEPTA PCC's.

Anyway, I don't have much time here. The photos can be found here or here.

The BSM's flagship former BTCo PCC and the "new" SEPTA 2187 MoW pumpkin.

Front of former SEPTA PCC work car #2187 sitting on a patch of Pennsylvania Trolley Gauge (5' 2 1/4") rails as it awaits work to convert it to Baltimore streetcar gauge.

Front of the still working 2728 still in its silver PTC paint scheme.

Rear view of a PCC truck showing the gearbox and longitudinally mounted traction motor.  Unlike other designs, the PCC truck was fabricated, not cast, which allows for easier disassembly and repair.

The Penn Station Shittle pulling out of Mt Royal with MTAM LRV #5001 in the Maryland Flag scheme.

Flag scheme Baltimore light rail LRV #5023 waits at Timonium for the passengers to discharge.  For the previous two years parts of the line had been shut down to complete a double tracking project to increase capacity.  To save on costs the line had been built as a single track with passing sidings.  With the increase in capacity a new short turnback was completed at a location known as "Texas Station" north of Timonium.  Timonium trains will relay there before returning.  A platform was built at Texas in case there is ever need for an infill station in the future.

The second LRV is the train is #5052, still wearing the original blue stripe scheme.  The new LRVs were numbered in the same sequence as the previous Baltimore Transit Company streetcars that finished service in the 1960's and also used the same serif font for the numbers as well.

Same train after having made its relay move now about to depart south over the new double track crossovers en-route to Cromwell.

Open window on HHP-8 #4913 at Penn Sta. Not a good idea to leave the window open in Baltimore...train might not be there on Monday.

HHP-8 #4913 waiting out the weekend on Track #5 in Baltimore Penn Station. 

 MARC GP40WH-2 #60 sitting on track #4 at the head of another commuter trainset.

06-02-03 PHOTOS: NJT Binge

Here are the photos from my NJT Binge taken during their free ride week for college students. Felt I should take advantage of it before I started working full time on the 6th. I went on this journey with my NYC friend Pigs.

You can see the main trip photos at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/06-02-04_NJT_BINGE/-Thumbnails.html

And the Tower photos at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/Towers/-06-02-04-Thumbnails.html

Pigs and I met at Newark and proceeded to take an early RVL train to Raritan. I was impressed about the frequency of inbound rush hour trains. Conrail SA must have a mighty headache during every peak period trying to get trains movin along the Lehigh Line. Unfortunately the segment from NK to CP-ALDENE is no longer controlled from NK tower, which has also been demolished.  All the signals were also freshly painted silver and black. I also saw the new Union Union Station complete with gauntlet tracks for the freight trains.

We pulled onto the RVL proper, cutting in front of an eastbound waiting at the base of the Aldene Ramp. The NJT RVL is a haven for Bracket Signals. The RoW is 4-6 tracks as it was the old CNJ main line into Jerey City. Only two tracks remain today and NJT erected bracket masts on the empty roadbeds. The first station on the line, Cranford, was built by the CNJ as a pair of high level island platforms and so at that point the tracks have to widen to meet the platforms.

Along the line I was surprised to see that QUEEN tower was still standing as well as BOYD tower in Raritan, which is now a crew base.