As Penn Station Access ramps up on Amtrak's Hellgate Line between Sunnyside, Queens and New Rochelle Rochelle, it has started to put pressure on the Amber PRR Position Light signals that were installed in the 1980's to replace New Haven era semaphores. Some research indicated that some of the once nd future Hellgate Line signal locations were accessible for photography so I scheduled a NYC day trip to visit those at Mileposts 09 and 11 as well as Amtrak's new LEGGETT interlocking. As a bonus I got some photos of the old Bronx River movable bridge which is adjacent to a new linear park.
As usual the trip started at BWI with ACS-86 #613 ahead of whatever Amtrak Regional had reasonable prices. I then stayed overnight with family in South Jersey to get a jump on the next day's NYC activities.
Since I was unable to secure low cost Amtrak travel to NYC I decided to rely on NJT's RiverLINE making a PATCO connection at the Walter "Ayn" Rand Transportation Center.
There seemed to be a lot of NS road power lined up at Conrail's Pavonia Yard
A CSX road freight was crewed and ready to go with CM44AC #7247 leading.
NJT RiverLINE DMU #3510 at the Trenton buffer stops.
Getting to the southmost platform at the Trenton Amtrak/NJT station, an inbound SEPTA R7 was on the South High track with Silverliner V #809 leading. It departed shortly before my NJT arrived.
Back in 2024 I paid a visit to the Columbia Ave overpass over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in Northwest Philadelphia. When later processing the events of the trip I realized that the location as adjacent to some Conrail era signaling accessible via the Fairmont Park disc golf course. When I was back in the area in the summer of 2025 I set out to rectify this oversight as well as getting some additional photos of traffic on the old Connecting Railway.
Reaching the 33rd St overpass that overlooked Amtrak's MANTUA required me to revisit the Columbia Ave location I visited in 2024. While there I managed to catch the "sequential" classic Acela set with power cars #2013 and #2012.
Amtrak's MANTUA interlocking used to be part of ZOO tower's territory up until the late 1990's. Today it is most notable for being where SEPTA and Amtrak traffic have to switch places for the former to head to 30th St Station's upper level while the latter descends to the lower. To partly remedy this conflict center track #3, formerly used by the PRR for freight, was given a "straight" shot to the "River Line" track to 30th St lower level while the SEPTA trains on outer track #4 are left to navigate a 30mph diverging move. In the videos below we see the 4W signal at MANTUA at first displaying Medium Approach and later Medium Clear to a pair of single unit Silverliners V, including #708, from Chestnut Hill West
Next along was a southbound Regional train with ACS-86 #657.
Next up was a northbound Regional with ACS-86s #636 and #626 running top and tail.
Running behind the Regional was an outbound SEPTA R7 Trenton train.
I was then surprised by the appearance of an Amtrak Next Gen Acela trainset with power cars #2133 and #2124. They were in the final stages of testing before entering service later in the month with simulated revenue trips running to a real, but unlisted schedule.
CP-PARK on the former Conrail Trenton Line has seen some modifications since the CSX takeover in 1999, however the east end still sports Conrail mast signals and the blue station sign.
People might best know the town of Glenwood Springs, CO as that extra long stop on Amtrak's California Zephyr, but there's a reason for the extra long platform and the generally high level of activity. Glenwood Springs is the locus of a non-winter tourism district that aincludes an amusement park, natural scenery and actual hot springs, not the type that just keep one's wagon train from dying. Glenwood Springs is also served by the privately operated Rocky Mountaineer, which preserves the concept of railroad promoted tourism practiced by the Denver, Rio Grande and Western. During a 2025 trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park I managed to manipulate the itinerary to include a stop at the Glenwood Springs Amtrak station in time for the arrival of westbound Zephyr Train 5. Also included in the set are additional photos of the semi-abandoned Tennessee Pass Line near Leadville.
The Glenwood Springs station was constructed in 1904 by the DRGW. It's size and opulence was a direct function of it catering to the upper class tourism market in a similar fashion to the Great Northern station in Whitefish, Montana. At the time western railroads played a large role in promoting tourist destinations as a method to see better returns from their passenger operations that would otherwise see little travel in the sparsely populated western United States. It is currently the second least least used station in Colorado behind Denver.
The original interior has been preserved with both an active ticket office, baggage service and an interior waiting room.
The Rocky Mountaineer maintains its own private waiting room for its ultra luxury offering. Passengers can either travel between Glenwood Springs and Denver or overnight at Glenwood Springs before continuing on to Moab.
Even on days when the Mountaineer isn't running, local hotels will continue to send shuttle vans to meet Amtrak Trains 5 and 6.
Westbound Amtrak California Zephyr Train 5 was running no more than the typical hour late with a trio of P42DC's providing power.
Amtrak P42DC #37 was leading with #22 and #14 behind.
In August of 2025 there was a lot of change afoot in the northeast from new Acelas, to new infrastructure to new NYCT Subway rolling stock. An invitation to visit the International Photography Museum in Manhattan gave me the opportunity to catch a lot of this change in progress and ostensibly say farewell to many long time staples of the region (even if the actual retirement dates were still one or more years in the future).
This was going to be a single day trip so my day started quite early at the BWI Airport Rail station where ACS-86 was leading my 6am Regional train to New York City.
The track #1 platform at BWI was in the midst of a partial reconstruction.
Passing by the Penn Coach Yards were for Acela NG trainsets were awaiting their entry into service later that month,.
The Acela NG power cars are numbered in the 2100-series like #2133 seen here.
The new Amtrak Hackensack River bridge as seen from the 1910 PORTAL movable bridge. All structural work had been completed on the new crossing and work had shifted to completing the trackbed, overhead catenary and signaling.
Despite platform access issues, the new Penn Station train hall has been a pretty resounding success since it opened.
A brand new R211 on the A. The International Photography Museum was located near the Essex Street station which meant a fairly simple transfer to an F at W. 4th St.
Unfortunately a service disruption/weekend change forced me to take a D train to Grand St instead. Here a pair of north and southbound D trains meet at West 4th.
The reason for the service disruption became evident on the return trip when I found work equipment blocking the local track at West 4th. The equipment included R47 #67, R41 #59 and deicing car #RD439. The locomotives were built by General Electric in 1968 and 1975 as extensions of their popular 45-ton series.
MARC's Jessup Station is infamous for its low ridership with, on average, 1 rider per day. Located on the Camden Line, the station was never upgraded with additional parking like the neighboring Savage and Dorsey stations, and generally lakcs connectivity to the surrounding area, including a large prison complex. Ridership is also hindered by the service level of a single round trip in the DC direction per weekday. In the summer of 2025 a service disruption resulted in my friend catching MARC Train 854 which made the Jessup stop, instead of the usual Train 856 that I would meet at Dorsey. Due to the sufficient warning I was able to adjust my pickup and give my friend the opportunity to use Jessup for a bona fide transit purpose. Combined with some additional NEC photos I had enough to fill a photo set.
The MARC Jessup station is directly adjacent to JESSUP interlocking on the CSX Capitol Sub, which itself is at the north end of the giant Jessup Auto Terminal, which handles new vehicle deliveries for the entire region. CSX has invested in capacity improvements on the south end of the yard to keep autorack trains from fouling the main tracks as they are received or assembled for departure. Unfortunately it appears that the north end still sees these sorts of movements spilling into or past JESSUP interlocking. Here ES44AC #3153 pulls a cut of racks out of the yard tracks and onto the main line.
The CSX movement was successful in clearing the main just as my friend on Train 854 pulled into Jessup. He was not alone in getting off as the singular regular rider was also commuting that day. MARC Train 854 had MP36PH-3C #15 leading and cab car #8049 on the rear end
The next train through was my friend's usual Train #856 which of course skips Jessup en route to Dorsey. #856 had MARC MP36PH-3C #24 leading.
Pittsburgh's light rail system is descended from PCC-based streetcar lines running south of the city that had the good fortune to have both their own rights of way and the use of a dedicated tunnel through Mount Washington. These advantages earned the system a light rail style conversion in the 1980's complete with a downtown subway and dedicated bridge across the Monongahela River. While the rebranded Mount Washington Transit Tunnel continued to underpin the network, the Allegheny Port Authority and its predecessors had recognized the Mount Washington Tunnel as a single point of failure and therefore maintained an alternate surface route up and over the hill. Christened the 52 Allentown in 1984, this alternate route, terminating at South Hill Jct, would see declining levels of service until it was discontinued entirely in 2010. However tunnel diversions kept the old 52 Allentown in service as a ghost line, light rail trains running doors closed through the eponymous neighborhood on an as-needed basis. For out of town railfans catching a ride over the 52 was particularly difficult as the diversions were not often scheduled in advance, however in 2025 the tunnel was to undergo a long term renovation with Route 47 and 42 trains diverted over the 52 for the better part of a year. This allowed me to schedule a trip to Pittsburgh to get photos and videos of this rare occurrence.
My arrival in Pittsburgh was too late in the day to properly ride the 52 Allentown, but I was able to catch the arrival of westbound Amtrak Pennsylvanian Train 43 with P42DC leading the usual consist.
It was at this point I had my first ever encounter with a Rule 280a "Clear to Next Interlocking" signal indication displayed eastbound on Track #1 at the former CP-EAST PITT. Displayed as a flashing white marker light next to a standard Medium Clear, the signal us used in cab signal territory without wayside intermediate signals for train movements that are not cab signal equipped. In this case said movement would be Train 43 shoving back to CP-HOME where the turning wye is located.
By displaying Rule 280a instead of a Restricting, the shove move would be able to operate at speeds up to 45mph, saving considerable time across the 8 mile round trip.
The following morning I caught a light rail train at Steel Plaza and was in place to get photos as it crossed over at Panhandle Interlocking and onto the short single track that would lead to the street running up and over Mt. Washington via Allentown.
The whole trip takes about 8-10 minutes, about 5 minutes longer than the trip through the tunnel. The ride was downright exciting as my LRV's operator was really flooring it up the twisty grade. A temporary infill station was also added along the route in the Allentown neighborhood.
My outbound SD400 LRV, running on a 47S service, at South Hills Jct
South Hills Jct is built around a large double track scissors crossover. Although from the point of view of the platforms the crossing routes over the diamonds are in a geometrically straight path, from a railroad interlocking point of view those would be the diverging routes. Normally the light rail trains get a solid yellow lamp for a Restricting indication into street running track. However for the "diverging" route, they get a flashing yellow.
In its original configuration trains from the Overbrook and Beechview lines would merge into the transit tunnel with the option to use the 52 Allentown Route.. With Overbrook Line trains making use of a new flying junction since 2004 and the 52 being discontinued in 2010, the scissors crossover sees rather limited use in its role as a crossover. Here SD400 LRV #4221 crosses northbound over from the Beechview Line to the 52 Allentown line.
Pride month pay have been over, but SD400 pride unit #4239 was still roaming across the light rail system in early July, along with 4202.
Here we see SD400s #4227 and #4201 along with CAF LRV #4317 running out of the junction and up the incline towards Allentown.
CAF LRV #4315 descending southward from the Allentown route. The CAF LRVs were a supplemental order of vehicles to support the re-opening of the Overbrook line, which was closed between 1993 and 2004.
Like the northbound trains, southbounds would roll towards the junction and get a Restricted Diverge flashing yellow signal on the dwarf.
View along the axis of the scissors crossover route from the Beechview/Overbrook lines to the Allentown Line with CAF LRV #4317 and SD400 #4253.. While this routing is physically straight, as far as the interlocking is concerned this a diverging route.
In this video we see an inbound 42S South Hills Village (via Beechview) train with SD400 LRV's #4231 and #4235 passing an outbound 42S with CAF LRV's #4310 and #4313 with #4310 sporting the new "Pittsburgh Regional Transit" paint scheme.
In my previous visit to South Hills Junction in 2023, both PCC loops were still present for short turns both from the north and south. Since that time the southward loop for PCC's coming off the 52 Allentown has been removed along with its boarding platform. PCC's were used through 1993 as the old Overbrook line had wooden trestles that could not support the weight of LRVs.
On the other hand, the old Route 47/52 platform had been re-paved. Before the Overbrook Line rebuild this platform had served the PCC's using the 47 route as well as all 52 Allentown cars which terminated at South Hills Jct.
Another view of LRV's crossing over to the Route 52 with SD400 #4250 and CAF LRV #4308.
The tunnel closing also affected local bus traffic which also had to detour up and over Mt Washington. Here bus #6236 passes inbound SD400 #4227.
All of the construction miscellany made getting a view into the tunnel a bit difficult, but I was able to manage a photo.
Back to the South Hills Jct platforms where I caught SD400 #4224 passing #4201 and #4206 arriving southbound.
The return trip was not quite as exciting, I'm guessing the operators know they have a bit more leeway for speed on the steep ascent since the grade will quickly bring the car to a stop without use of brakes.
Heading north across the Panhandle Bridge I encountered CAF LRV #4314 painted in the new "Pittsburgh Rapid Transit" branding.
Final photo of this set if SD400 #4224 after dropping me off at the Honorable United States Steel Plaza.
All in all Pittsburgh Light Rail is a great little system that still presents a lot of heritage due to the early date of its light rail conversion. If the MWTT ever shuts down again I urge you all to schedule a visit.
