03-07-31 CLASSIC PHOTOS: NJT PVL Trip

It's Thanksgiving week so this post is going to be a shorty.  Back in 2003 I came upon an interesting idea for a trip with one of my New York friends to ride the NJT PVL line outbound from Hoboken and then return to the other Port Authority Bus Terminal via an NJT Express Bus.  Because of the complete lack of railfan views I didn't get a lot of photos on the trip, but you can view the photos I did get right here.

As was typical for the time I started the trip at the Hamilton, NJ station.  While waiting for my NJT train I caught a southbound Regional with unrebuilt AEM-7 #908 in Phase IV paint.

Along the way I got some photos of UNION tower and its iconic southbound high PRR PL signals, including a unique cantilever-gantry covering tracks 3, 4 and B.

HUDSON tower was also still operational at this point.  

Early in the day I made it up to 190th St on the A in order to ride the attendant-operated elevators.

At the line the PVL had no passing sidings so was operated in the peak direction on weekdays only.  Therefore we had to spend the day in NYC before making our way to Hoboken for the first northbound trip.  To make things special my friend and I decided to take an NY Waterway ferry and walk through the newly re-opened Winter Garden that had been destroyed during 9/11.

At the time PVL trains were using the pool of 13 former CNJ GP40PH-2 engines that had been equipped with the rather dysfunctional SES PTC system that had been installed on the PVL.  While I didn't get any pics of the CNJ engine on out train I did catch NJT GP40PH-2B #4208 in Hoboken Terminal.

TERMINAL TOWER at Hoboken was still in service as well.

Here an ex-EL Comet I cab car #5119 leads an inbound train past TERMINAL TOWER.  Most of the Comet I cab cars had been converted to accommodate high level boarding.

03-03-27 CLASSIC PHOTOS: MNRR New Haven Line

10 years before it was hobbled by derailments and speed restrictions the New Haven Line was a pretty nice piece of railroad with railfan windows and high quality overhead wires. Due to some pressing time commitments this weekend with a Trip to Albany I am throwing up this set of Classic Photos as filler. Meh, you were going to get it at some point, might as well be this weekend.

These pictures were taken in 2003 when I was taking the New Haven Line for a job interview in New York City. All the photos were taken from the front of a MNRR M2 car both in bound and outbound from GCT.

You can find all the photos here

We begin approaching the Cos Cob movable bridge as my train glides along under the classic 1906 triangular catenary.

The old New Haven power dispatchers tower in front of a still in service "anchor span" section breaker.

Close side view of SS28 GREEN tower.

Eastbound Amtrak Acela Express power car #2038 rounding the curve in the Greenwich area.

Eastbound MNRR M2 local near Port Chester. 

SS26 PIKE.

Short Stamford local with 4 M2s near New Rochelle. 

MNRR GP35R #106 at New Rochelle.

Borrowed LIRR Inspection Car T82 on the curve near Woodlawn Junction.

I was looking forward to getting a good photos of WOODLAWN tower, but was shocked to discover that the top had been popped for reasons unknown.

Switching to the return trip now we find MNRR M2 #8789 at the head of a long westbound train near Burr Road in Bridgeport.

Here is a cool sequence. Because MNRR loves screwing Amtrak they had it wrong railing all the way across 4 tracks at Bridgeport so that our outbound express train wouldn't be delayed. We quickly began to pass the departing westbound Amtrak train with AEM-7 #919 as we left the station. The Amtrak Regional then began to cross back over to the westbound express track at CENTER.

03-03-20 CLASSIC PHOTOS: LIRR Oyster Bay

So its time for another round of classic photos. This week's offering is from 2003 when I went on a short trip to Oyster Bay with American Pig. Due to his knowledge of the Long Island Bus system we didn't actually have to backtrack from Oyster Bay, instead catching a bus at an intermediate station to Port Washington allowing me to cross that line off my last as well.

You can find all the photos here. Like the last set of Classic LIRR photos there is a lot of good stuff here that has since vanished over the last decade.

We begin with newly painted AEM-7 #934 as it blasts eastward through the NJT Hamilton Station which was only a few years old at that point.

I was to meet Pigs at the Atlantic Ave LIRR terminal and as usual he was running late so I went out to the end of the platform where I got this cool Film Noirish shot of BROOK tower.

I saw this cool piece of Futurerama door art decorating the signal maintainers hangour. Can anyone explain what Bender is saying?

A few minutes later Pigs showed up..but not the one I was waiting for. These were the stop and frisk types from the NYPD mistaking me for some sort of terrorist. Taking that picture actually saved by butt because I was able to show them that to justify why I was taking photos at the end of the platform. You know...for kids.

The front car was closed off so I used the railfan window in the rear because the LIRR had those back in the day. Here is a shot of C-1 FB power car #3100 in the Morris Park deadline.

The "protect" pair of LIRR MP15's #102 and 104 hanging out in Morris Park instead of HAROLD interlocking. Note the Wabco N-2 coupler designed to pull stranded LIRR trains out of the East River tubes.

"Standard" service MP14's #165 nad #168 at the Morris Park Engine Terminal.

The late, great DUNTON tower.

Time to change trains at Jamaica. Here is DM30 #507.

EVIL "new" M7's #7012.

Thanks to no railfan windows on the C3 stock not a lot to take pictures of until Oyster Bay. Here is C3 cab car at the Oyster Bay station...no, the not that one.

Our trainset laying over in the otherwise empty Oyster Bay Yard.

Blue banded LIRR M1 #9x27.

Two views of the Port Washington terminal from one of the pedestrian bridges at the end of the platform.

Well that's it. Short set today, but next week look forward to a ride along the new Atglen and Susquehanna mike train.