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.

03-11-08 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Baltimore Streetcar Museum

In 2003 when I first moved into Baltimore for a graduate degree, I was walking along the Route 1 "skew arch" bridge over the Jones Falls valley when I heard the unmistakable sound of steel wheels negotiating a tight curve. Upon investigation I discovered it was not a product of the Baltimore light rail, but from a streetcar museum just a few blocks from Penn Station. In early November, 2003 I biked down to get my first look at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum (BSM), which I would proceed to visit on and off to this very day. Although the photo set is fairly small, you can find it here ( mirror ).

Over the long term, the BSM's limited stock of streetcars and track caused my interest to drop and I began to limit my visits to once per year. However over my first several trips it was fun to get to know "the BSM's cast of characters. First amoung these was #4533, a brightly painted car that was built in 1904 and then rebuilt twice before it finished service in 1963. It was equipped with air brakes in 1924, making it an easy car for the volunteer staff to operate, but single truck arrangement makes this car the king of wheel noise as it negotiates tight trackage.

Another common attraction in the early 2000's was car #1050, a hand braked car from 1898. This car was unfortunately involved in an accident with the back wall of the carbarn in the early 2010's that would also mark the end of superstar volunteer Dan Lawrence's time with the museum. Car #1050 remains out of service to this day awaiting repairs.

Peter Witt type streetcar #6119 was built by Brill in 1930 and would be the immediate predecessor of the ill fated PCC competitor "Brillliner". Although the carbody and passenger accommodation was all metal and more modern than the previous generation of clearstory cars, its propulsion system was entirely conventional.

At the time the BSM only had one PCC car, #7407, which was stuck way back in the barn where I couldn't get a photo, forcing me to settle for these PCC axles.

The BSM sits in the literal shade of the CSX Baltimore Belt line. The small hut in the background its the BSM's 600V DC rectifier.

As I said this was a pretty limited set of photos, but I would return over the years to see the other cars and to watch the museum's operating collection grow several times over. Today their main line is largely double tracked, the carbarn got an extra storage track and the terminal trackage was largely re-worked. It has also become the defacto Philly streetcar museum due to lack of any closer competitor with Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys storing some of their equipment on site.