03-12-29 CLASSIC PHOTOS: SEPTA Mid-Winter Trip III

The third annual SEPTA Mid-Winter Trip took place in 2003.  It was only the second where I had my digital camera and still early enough in the series so that almost everywhere we went was a "first".  That trip's first's included a Route 36 run to Eastwick with a walking transfer to the R1 Airport, followed by a round trip run to Warminster where we had lunch at a nearby pizza place.  Finally it was back downtown via a Broad Street Subway transfer at Fern Rock. Weather was bright and sunny, although a recent snow storm had left a coating of white on the ground that made the Eastwick transfer a little slippery.  You can find the full set of photos here.

The Route 36 was recommended  for this trip because it had a dedicated right of way down the middle of Island Ave on the final leg of the trip.  After we got off at the Eastwick Loop, our trolley looped and rocked out as it had a follower, #9084 shown here, close behind.

This K-car laid up on the loop while the operator went into the small crew base to use the facilities. 

The Eastwick R1 stop is about half a mile away and we got there with plenty of time to spare before the next outbound R1.  The Eastwick station was an infill and had been opened only a year or two before. Here Airport bound  SEPTA Silverliner IV #102 makes a stop on the far track.

 Another former Reading SL-IV, #178, was on the rear.

Heading back towards Center City we passed the closed ARSENAL tower on Amtrak's NEC.

In Center City we changed trains to an R2 and continued on to the Reading side of the system.  Passing though HUNT interlocking I caught SL-IV #289 heading out of Roberts Yard.

 The Wayne Junction station still had a low level platform for inbound and Hill East trains.  An outbound CHE train with SL-IV #382 was making a stop.

At the far end of the high level platform a vintage Reading mast signal had been upgraded with LED lamps.  Unfortunately this signal was replaced by a dwarf to make room for an ADA staircase.

03-11-26 CLASSIC PHOTOS: MORRIS and RiverLINE Testing

Morrisville, PA is a great place to catch action on the NEC. Best known for the stone arch Delaware River bridge, it also boasts MORRIS interlocking complete with all the PRR accoutrements such as overhead catenary, position light signals, a flying junction and an interlocking tower. The right of way cuts straight through town with many good sight lines from public locations so back in 2003 I teamed up with Chuchubob to stop by Morrisville and some additional points of interest in New Jersey as part of our traditional pre-Thanksgiving NEC outing. If you are interested in the full set of photos you can find them here.

MORRIS tower, in built in 1941, replacing an earlier structure that controlled a 4-track full crossover and junction with the Trenton Cut-Off that allowed east-west through freights to bypass the congested Philadelphia terminal area. The tower contained a 47-lever US&S Model 14 interlocking machine. After being closed in the late 1980's, it now serves as a S&C crew base.

In 2003 a few of the late model AEM-7's were still wearing their Phase III paint, line #950 shown here passing through MORRIS interlocking. Ordered in the late 80's along with SEPTA's units to supplement the fleet and replace losses from the Chase, MD wreck, the newest AEM-7's were never rebuilt and thus were ultimately the first to be retired. 

SEPTA Silverliner IV #288 passes through MORRIS interlocking without stopping at the long since defunct Morrisville Station that used to stand at this point. This R7 train had originated from Trenton just a few minutes before.

AEM-7AC #940 is in the Phase V paint as it rumbles through MORRIS interlocking just moments from a station stop at Trenton.

Before NJT built its Morrisville Yard, the only traffic on this side of the Delaware River Bridge was Amtrak, SEPTA R7 trains and the occasional Atlantic City Line deadhead movements. Here an outbound R7 bracketed by SL-IV's #350 and #299 passes through MORRIS on track #1.

Hippo HHP-8's like #650 here were still new to the scene in 2003. Unfortunately they would be retired less than 15 years later in the interests of fleet uniformity.

Track workers were aout and aboot as MORRIS interlocking had its turnouts replaced with the panel variety using movable point frogs. Here AEM-7AC #918 passes by the watchman.

03-11-08 PHOTOS: Baltimore Belt Line and SMS

In my first semester of grad school I was largely confined to the Balt-Wash metro area, however the week of Thanksgiving still provided for a chance to go on some weekday railfan adventures with my (then) new buddy, Chuchubob. This set of photos contains both my continued coverage of Baltimore Penn Station and the Baltimore Belt Line as well as my Thanksgiving week visit to SMS's operations at the Penn Warner industrial park in Morrisville, PA. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

We begin with CSX AC4400 #5117 exiting the St. Paul tunnel on the westbound downgrade towards Mt. Royal Station and Camden Yards. The fall foliage provided by the curbside maple trees was regrettably lost in 2014 when the retaining wall collapsed after a 3 day rain storm.

It was about this time that I discovered a technique to take timed exposure of night Belt Line movements as they emerged from and/or approached the two tunnels adjacent to the open cut between St. Paul and Charles Streets. Although this technique revived my interest in Belt Line photos again. my enthusiasm for monitoring to my scanner and booking it down the back alley to get a photo eventually waned again. Note the westbound CPL dwarf signal for HUNTINGDON AVE interlocking mounted to the side of the tunnel.

At Baltimore Penn Station I caught MARC GP39H-2 #72 hanging out on track #4. The MARC GP39 fleet would survive the coming of the MP36PH-3C fleet that replaced the GP40WH-2's that were actually several years newer (although based on older donor equipment).

Also at Penn Station a fairly new Acela Express trainset with power cars #2003 and #2015 heading northbound on Track #6.

It's hard to overstate just how much the white LED revolution improved night photography. Here Amtrak SW1500 #541 couples to the rear of a Regional trainset in order to tow it back to the yard.

SMS Lines is a Class 3 terminal railroad that operates divisions in South Jersey, Morrisville, PA and Albany, NY. SMS is best known for its daily revenue use of Baldwin diesel locomotives and although most of these are located near their South Jersey shoppes, a single unit is typically detailed to switch the Penn-Warner industrial park in Morrisville, PA. In 2003 this unit was DS-4-4-1000 #302.

The Penn-Warner also used 2 cabeese, an ex-PRR N5C and an ex-PC N11, for office space and storage.

Thanks to Bob knowing the crew, we got to go around with them as they shifted a few pre-holiday carloads. #302 was outfitted for winter with plastic sheeting covering the radiator to help prevent the cooling water from freezing up. The prime mover was a Baldwin model 608NA 8-cylinder inline diesel developing 1000hp.

03-10-13 PHOTOS: Last Redbird Trip

Well this little gem from my archive should be a real crowd pleaser. Back in 2003, the MTA had already disposed of its classic Redbird fleet on the main line portion of the IRT, leaving only venerable (7) line with their slightly updated "World's Fair" R36 models that were purchased in anticipation of the unsanctioned 1964 Worlds Fair. As more and more of the bland, monotonous R142s were delivered, R62's were displaced from a number of main line services to in turn retire the holdout R36's. As the number of Redbirds continued to dwindle, I made a special trip up from Baltimore in the fall of 2003 in order to get one last ride before they were gone for good. Accompanying me was still active Subchatter, Spider Pig.

You can find the full set of photos here.

Back in 2003, the MARC service HHP-8's were brand new. 15 years later they are circling the drain, just like the Redbirds were after 40 years of service. Here #4913 hangs out at Baltimore Penn Station's track 5.

The brightly colored GP40-2WH's, like #56 seen here, have also been displaced by newer MP36PJ-3C's.

MARC AEM-7's like #4901 seen here, have also disappeared from service, despite having been supposedly refurbished just a few years ago. They will be replaced by diesel power because clean energy and all that.

At least the new NJT ALP-46's and Comet V's have not yet been replaced like the HHP-8's. #4614 and #6033 seen here at Hamilton, NJ.

One problem with Riding the WF Redbirds late in their career was that they only made appearances during the peak periods. Throughout the rest of the day it was all R62's. Imagine the irony when 13 years later it would be all one could do to catch R62's in place of the newly arrived R142/188's. These photos were taken of R62 local and express trains at Woodside. Note the all-day express service and still active 65th St. interlocking and tower.

In this view of Sunnyside Yard you might notice three ALP-46 hauled Amtrak Clocker trainsets. The ALP-46's displaced the Amtrak E60's and then Amtrak turned the slots over to NJT entirely since 90% of the traffic originated in Trenton.

Behind the REA building on the Sunnyside engine tracks, an NJT push-pull set comprised of Arrow IIM cars sits next to an Amtrak Regional trainset hauled by AEM-7AC #919.

 The sad state of affairs at the Corona Ready Yard with only a single Redbird trainset in the lineup :-(

03-09-10 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Belt Line AC6000's

When I first started grad school in Baltimore I managed to secure a low cost apartment about half a block away from the Baltimore Belt Line, the 1890's link between the B&O's original network and a new expansion t Philadelphia. Known for being the site of the first main line railroad electrification in the world, it features stiff grades and several tunnels to get trains from sea level at Camden Yards up to the more inland elevations. For the first few months I was there and before the novelty eventually wore off, I would use my scanner to get just enough advance warning of approaching trains to run the cut and grab some photos. The following set of photos ( mirror ) covers this period of time.

So something I didn't notice for years was the prevalence of CSX AC6000 locomotives on whatever "service lane" the Philly Sub was a part of. Ultimately part of a failed Y2K era fad in super horsepower diesels, CSX came away with the largest fleet of full power AC6000's with 117 units. At the time they looked like every other bland GE AC4400 or C4x-9W so I just filed them under "typical GE" and only noticed all the photos of them years later when I was reviewing my old photos. Here #5001 emerges from the Calvert St tunnel and into the cut between St. Paul and Charles streets. CSX #5011 also happened to sport a special "diversity" scheme, which in typical CSX fashion consisted of a rather minimalist patch on each side of the long hood.

This was also the tail end of the era when standard cab -2 era engines were regularly seen on road freights. Behind #5001 was lease BN SD40-2 #8161 and CSX SD40-2 #8055.

The very next train I managed to get a photo of was also led by an AC6000, in this case #688. If one is unable to look up the roster, one can tell the difference by the larger radiator, twin stack exhaust and yellow long hood CSX lettering outlined in blue. Behind #688 was a fairly new AC4400 #75 still in its original livery with a gray long hood and blue lettering.

As this was only 4 years removed from the Conrail break-up, it was still possible to catch Conrail painted locomotives in the wild, such as SD60I #8722. The small batch of "whisper cab" SD60I's were loved by crews, but were ultimately excessed by both CSX and NS.

Adjacent to HUNTINGDON AVE interlocking and its B&O CPL's, were a bunch of rusting box cars that had been involved in the Howard Street tunnel fire of 2001 and had yet to be removed/scrapped due to ongoing insurance litigation.

I also got my first taste of the Baltimore Light Rail, walking over the bridge to the North Ave station. This was also when I became aware of the Baltimore Streetcar museum by literally seeing it from said North Ave bridge.

03-08-29 CLASSIC PHOTOS: NEC Vestibule Ride

Back before Amtrak made all of its seating "reserved", many peak period Regional trains would run standing room only. While most travelers probably found this sub-optimal, I saw a distinct silver lining in having an excuse to ride in the rear vestibule. While normally frowned upon, crews would let it slide, if they could even get back there, if the train was sufficiently SRO. During one such occasion in 2003 I wound up with a pretty good set of photos running between Baltimore and Philadelphia.

We'll kick things off exiting the Union Tunnels north of Baltimore Penn Station. Unlike the problematic B&P tunnels, the "old" two track tunnel was supplemented by a new one in the 1930's as
part of the electrification project.

BAY interlocking was no longer is service on main tracks #2 and #3, however the old tower still stands behind the Milepost 91 intermediate signals.

Two former Conrail GP38-2's at Bayview Yard, #5304 still wearing Conrail colors.

Passing an AEM-7 hauled southbound Regional near milepost 79 north of the Gunpowder River bridge.

Closed WOOD tower at Edgewood, MD.

Bush River Movable Bridge. Unlike the bridge over the Gunpowder River this span still opens once each in the morning and afternoon on summer weekends. However it requires an MoW crew to un-bolt the rails.

Some sort of MoW vehicle on the center track near Aberdeen.

Movable span on the Susquehanna River bridge and adjacent PERRY tower in Perryville, MD.

Kicking up dust passing the closed Elkton. MD station.