18-11-25 PHOTOS: Halethorpe Return

While for years the railfan in the Philly area have been holding Thanksgiving Sunday cookouts at various Septa stations along the NEC, I always had to miss them as I needed to travel back to the Baltimore area for work and school.  After the new high level platforms were constructed at Halethorpe I spent a couple of years taking photos there until the general sameness of the pictures and the track fence finally prompted me to switch to Martin State Airport MARC station north of the city.

Well now that I have officially moved to a location south of Baltimore I am back at Halethorpe, unfortunately it was just in time for Amtrak to cut its traditional NJT Arrow III trainsets used on 1000 series holiday extra trains. Nevertheless, Amtrak was still running its pair of MARCtrainsets along with a number of other Regional extras and hourly Acela Express service.  Moreover Halethorpe sees all day weekend MARC service which was a plus.  You can find all the photos here (mirror).

I'll begin again with the video, which is a little lighter than past years as I was talking with people and kept getting caught off guard or in places where video wasn't practical. 



Moving onto the stills here we have Amtrak ACS-86 #631 moving southbound at speed on track #3.  The light on this day started out great, but faded quickly.

This was followed by a northbound Acela Express on track #2 with power cars #2007 and #2028.  Track #2 is the reverseable "center" track that can provide unobstructed fence free shots at reasonable angles.

Here northbound Amtrak Regional Train 96 with ACS-86 #639 meets a southbound MARC weekend local with SC44 #82 and cab car #7847.  Siemens company high five.

Southbound Amtrak Acela Express #2231 with power cars #2014 and #2019.  Note all the local railfans who have come out for the special day.

Here is the star of the day's show.  Northbound Amtrak Holiday Extra #1056 with ACS-86 #640, 6 MARC single level coaches and a food service Amfleet.

Southbound Amtrak Norfolk Regional Train #157 with ACS-86 #623.

Northbound Amtrak Acela Express #2242 with power cars #2008 and #2005.

The other MARC trainset operating that day with SC44 #80 and cab car #7848.  On Sundays MARC runs a 2 hour headway using two trainsets.

Class leading Acela Express power car #2000 passing through WINAS interlocking with a southbound train.

Northbound Amtrak Acela Express #2244 with power cars #2016 and #2038.

Southbound Amtrak ACS-86 #635 at the head of a southbound Regional on track #1.

Northbound Amtrak Regional Train #132 with ACS-86 #632.

Southbound Amtrak Acela Express #2221 with power cars #2018 and #2004.  The photo angles at Halethorpe are far inferior to Martin Airport, however traveling to the latter would cost time and $6 in tunnel tolls.

Northbound Amtrak Regional Extra #1134 with ACS-86 #619.

Southbound Amtrak Richmond Regional Train #99 with ACS-86 #649.

Due to some delays, here we see the northbound and southbound MARC local trainsets meet with the SC44 #80 and #82 each making their second appearance.

Here I finish the day with northbound Amtrak Acela Express #2214 with power cars #2019 and #2014.

Well that's it for the 2018 Thanksgiving holiday railfan season.  See you all next year, probably back at Halethorpe.