04-12-30 CLASSIC PHOTOS: IND Tower Hunt

So here's a quick photo set from the tail end of 2004, right after I learned that the NYC Subway IND division was littered with classic interlocking towers, many of them visible from the platform a la West 4th St. After consulting a published list of active towers, I planed out a tour of the Queens Blvd Line to try and get some photos. Long story short I didn't get many and because I was mostly underground in the middle of winter I didn't wind up with many photos in general. Still, since I've been busy for the last couple of weeks, a short set of classic photos is just about all I have time to produce!

You can find the complete batch of photos here

We begin at the 36th St RiverLINE station with #3502a making a stop. The line was so new that the Intrusion Detection System was not yet operational.

At Trenton, because Amtrak Hippo #660 was hogging the Track 4 platform with a long distance train, a southbound Regional with AEM-7 #937 performed a rather extreme wrong railing operation, platforming on Track 1.

In 2004 one could still look into the tower at 5th Ave and watch the operator manipulating the GRS Model 5 interlocking machine to line routes for (V) and (E) trains.Unfortunately it was closed in 2013.

Union Turnpike is another visible tower, this one with a Union Switch and Signal Model 14 interlocking machine.

With service extended to 168th St, the original IND tower at PARSONS was dark and appeared to only be in service as needed.

Returning to Manhattan, I decided to give the Roosevelt Island Tram a try. This was partly motivated by the fact that it was one of the last places on the NYCTA where one could buy and use tokens.

Approaching Manhattan one can see why people are concerned that the Queensboro Bridge might simply fall down on its own.

Two AEM-7's, #929 and #918, were applying their combined 14,000hp to the short 7 car Vermonter trainset. 

The 7th car being the Vermont branded baggage car fitted to carry bikes and skis.

I'll finish up with this photo of a Southbound Inland Shittle train at Meriden, CT with Metroliner Cab Car #9640 in the lead.

Well that's pretty much it. As I work to catch up from my vacation, look for another short subject classic post in the near future.

04-12-29 CLASSIC PHOTOS: SEPTA Mid-Winter Trip IV

The fourth annual SEPTA Mid-Winter Trip took place in 2004 and was built around the mid-day Cynwyd round trip, departing Suburban Station.  At the time SEPTA was actively trying to kill the Cynwyd branch service, but despite all of its efforts people kept riding the line and in the following years ridership would actually increase so much that it started to require a single married pair to serve them (as opposed to a single Silverliner unit).

To fill the morning the trip ventured out onto the Market Street Elevated, which was being targeted for reconstruction, and the R8 Fox Chase Line.  After Cynwyd the trip embarked on a CHE to CHW transfer, continuing up at North Philadelphia and finishing with a BSS Fern Rock express turn.  All in all it was a fantastic trip with a lot of Silverliner II and III action.  I got a lot of photos of "things that aren't there any more" and if you'd like to check out the entire set you can find it here.


First stop in the morning was the Market Frankford Line 62nd St station where a new headhouse was under construction.

Returning to Center City, the group transfered to an R8 Fox Chase.  Here we are getting a Medium Clear signal indication at NEWTOWN JCT.  You can see the removed connections to the Reading Wayne Jct freight bypass that had since been re-designated the Conrail (CSX) Trenton Line.  CSX was in the process of untangling itself from the control of SEPTA dispatching both here on the R8 and northern R3 West Trenton.

The flat junction with a movable point diamond would soon be reconfigured into a more typical configuration leading to a single track line.

SEPTA Lawndale Station.  Today the outbound platform is closed because SEPTA and CSX couldn't learn to share.

At CP-CHELTENHAM JCT the former Reading Newtown Branch diverges from the New York Short Line.  The branch was electrified to the City border in Fox Chase in the 1960's. SEPTA ultimately replaced double track  segment with a single passing siding between Cheltenham and Lawndale.

Budd Silverliner II #257 at Fox Chase.

At one point the Fox Chase siding was bounded by interlockings on each end.  Here NORTH CHASE interlocking stands abandoned, although its signals and overhead lines remain intact.  Beyond this point diesel RDC shuttle service operated until the early 1980's.  Attempts to reduce costs by converting the line into a transit operation also failed.  Service has been "temporarily" suspended since then with SEPTA leading parts of the RoW as trails to pretty much prevent a full restoration of service.

Our R8 train was composed of 3 Budd Silverliners with #217 on the reverse end, seen here laying over at Fox Chase.

Diesel power at 30th St station was in transition.  New P42DC's had taken over from F40PHs and HHP-8's had displaced the E-60's, but AEM-7's and high hood GP-8/10 rebuilds were still on the active roster.

Here a fairly new P42DC #145 sits next to GP-10 #770 painted in MoW orange.

Amtrak N-11 Caboose was of PRR or Conrail vintage.  These utilitarian boxes were built to replace the earlier classically designed N-5 series of cabin cars in PRR service.

NJT GP40PH-2B #4205 arrives into the lower level of 30th St station with an Atlantic City Line train.  15 years later the GP40PH-2B's would still be holding down this assignment.

Heading out to Cynwyd the single SL-IV car departs Suburban and joints PRR Main Line on the same route of such famous trains as the Broadway Limited, which arrived from New York via the NY-Pittsburgh Subway to the left.

Previously Main Track #4, the "Valley Jct" ramp and Flyover were built to send passenger trains over the adjacent Belmont freight yards.  This was because freight trains kept to the middle tracks while most passenger trains stayed on the outer tracks. Valley Junction gets it name from the Schuylkill Valley Branch that departed the Main Line at this point. Here we can see the old 52nd St station that had its platform elevated on the ramp to serve outbound trains on track 4.

In 1994 a new track 4 was constructed so that SEPTA's new Overbrook Maintenance Facility could be built on the old track 4 alignment.  Westbound trains would cross over at the new STILES interlocking just west of ZOO.  This move was intended to remove the burden of maintaining the increasingly dilapidated Valley flyover bridge.  SEPTA, assuming the Cynwyd service would eventually be terminated, put no work into the bridge, eventually seeing train speeds reduced to 5mph.  It was only around 2015 that work was started on a new flat connection between the Main Line and the Cynwyd branch that would allow the bridge to be retired.  Here we can see the old Valley truss and the VALLEY interlocking 68L signal, remotely controlled from OVERBROOK tower.

04-09-11 CLASSIC PHOTOS: 30th St Parking Garage

Amtrak's 30th Street Station always had a parking deck over the tracks on the north side of the complex, however before 2004 the single level structure was well within the eye line of the booth attendant and any attempt to take photos of the Penn Coach Yards or Amtrak movements would get one shooed away within minutes. Then in 2004 everything changed as a new 8 level parking garage opened on about half the footprint of the old deck to support both 30th St station and the Cira Center office tower built on an adjacent parcel of land. Using a largely self-serve payment process, the cavernous structure had practically no security presence which opened up the world of the north end of the 30th St Station complex to railfan photography. In early fall, 2004, I made my first visit to this parking structure and I am going to share some of the more interesting photos below. For the complete set you can locate them here ( mirror ).

Here we see the 2004 Philly Skyline, which has undergone a drastic transformation in the years since with the addition of numerous high rise residential and office buildings including the Comcast USB sticks.

Over an the approach tracks, MoW orange Amtrak high hood GP10 #770 was towing some road-railers to attach to the Pennsylvanian or Three Rivers. #770 was a former Conrail GP9 that was rebuilt by the Illinois Central Paducah shoppes.

With the collapse of Long Distance trains originating in Philly, Penn Coach Yard is no longer filled to the brim with coaches and Pullman cars, however the Race Street Engine Terminal, both then and now, maintains an eclectic mix of locomotive types at the midpoint of the Northeast Corridor.

In 2004 Amtrak's HHP-8 fleet was only a couple years old and for whatever reason a number of examples including #658 shown here were sitting in Race St with their roof shrouds removed. Also in this photo is Phase III heritage GP40TC #523 and Phase IV heritage P40DC #830.

The GP40TC's were a small fleet of GP40 based passenger diesels obtained from GO Transit when that road upgraded to EMD F59PHs. Here we see #527 in a Phase III heritage scheme next to a fairly new P42DC #165. The GP40TC'swere eventually rebuilt into GP38H-3's that were used for either MoW work or rescuing stranded electric hauled NEC trains due to their head end power capability.

Amtrak GP38-2 #723 is just a basic MoW freight unit with no special passenger capabilities. It is sitting in fromt of NJT ALP-46 #4615 and Amtrak P42DC #11.

 The NJT ALP-46's were at Race Street for both corridor testing and to support the Clocker trainsets that were pretty much running as glorified express trains. With the retirement of the E60's, NJT was tapped to provide the motive power. Here we see #4601, #4626 and #4610, sitting near Amtrak P42DC #72 and heritage #830.

04-08-07 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Montpelier

While recently cataloguing my old photos in an attempt to locate some original resolution copies that had gone missing, stumbled upon a set of photos from 2004 I had completely forgotten about and had never posted online. The photos were taken on a summertime trip to the Barre Vermont area to attend a wedding. In addition to some Metro North and Amtrak pictures taken on the way up to Connecticut, I also took some around Montpelier, Barre and Springfield, MA. You can check out the whole set of classic photos for the first time right here (mirror).

For some strange reason my trip began at Stamford, CT where I was lucky enough to catch a Danbury or Waterbury branch trainset pull through on Track #2 with New York Central heritage painted FL9 #2012 in the lead. This trainset would go on to lay up east of the Stamford yard complex.

However I got to New Haven, I was on hand for the power change involving Amtrak's Vermonter. In 2004 the Vermonter was still using the NECR route via Palmer and Amherst requiring a control cab at each end. P42DC #103 was coupled to the rear of the trainset and a blue flag applied while mechanical workers when about connecting the HEP and MU jumper cables.

Seeing as how my girlfriend at the time insisted on driving up to the wedding, I got off the Vermonter at Meriden, CT with #103 pushing the train northward in a direction I would soon follow.

Green Mountain Railway GP9 #803 was parked in front of the downtown Barre station building, now serving as a bank. This unit would later be sold to the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway in New Jersey and renumbered to 1850, reflecting its original C&O designation. 

Barre and Chelsea #14 is a GE 70-ton switcher on static display behind the Vermont Granite Museum. The Barre and Chelsea was a local short line serving various quarries that went bust in the 1950's.

The Vermont statehouse seems out of place in the small mountain community that is the state capitol. Montpelier is the smallest state capitol in the United States with a full time population of only 8,000 residents.  

Most of the state offices are situated in well maintained Victorian houses. 

04-07-04 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Independance Day NEC

Back in 2004 the NEC was a lot more interesting than it has become so it wasn't hard to be able to fill a full set of photos with just what I was able to take on the Amtrak trip to/from my northeast destination. Having coach access to the rear facing window also helped a lot. This set of photos was taken over the July 4th holiday and includes a New Haven power change for what I assume is Amtrak's Train 56 Vermonter. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

Starting off in Baltimore, the MARC HHP-8's were still pretty new and, despite prevailing trends, examples like #4912 here would still be in service far after the Amtrak fleet was put in storage.

Bi-level Kab Kars like #7849 would also remain a MARC mainstay even after the delivery of newer Bombardier split-level stock.

Passing through Philadelphia, SHORE tower still looks to be in reasonably good condition with the wooden staircase still intact. SHORE would continued to see neglect and suffered a fire in 2021.

FAIR tower in Trenton had recently had a passenger friendly sign added to it.

For the NEC's last two active main line towers, UNION would close in 2009 followed by DOCK in 2017.

Speaking of DOCK, I also captured some of the interesting components that make electrification work across the drawspan of it's 3-track movable bridge.

At Manhattan Transfer we find the since sold-on NJT GP40FH-2 #4144 coupled to a Comarrow coach in the Hudson yard likely part of a Raritan Valley Line trainset.