23-01-06 PHOTOS: LEAMAN Distants

When the western end of Amtrak's Harrisburg Line was rebuilt in the mid-2000's, the 1940's vintage PRR signaling was replaced by a flavor of cab signaling without intermediate wayside signaling. However at the time Amtrak would install wayside distant signals in advance of interlockings to provide implicit directional information and to ease operations in case of cab signal failure. Recently Amtrak petitioned the FRA to remove these signals citing that they were not actually necessary. As a result set out to get photos at some of the affected signal locations east of Lancaster along with any Keystone Service activity that might show up. To full out the post I have also thrown in some photos from the NEC at Newark, DE and Perryville, MD. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

The Milepost 64.5 automatic is the distant to HOLLAND interlocking, formerly part of CORK tower's territory around Lancaster. HOLLAND is only in service on track #4 with a trailing post connection to the New Holland industrial track in the westbound direction. It is displaying an Approach indication as an eastbound Keystone train led by ACS-86 #669 with Metroliner Cab Car #9638

The signal is co-located with a radio alarm Hotbox-Dragging Equipment detector that replaced older ones that read out in the local towers before they were closed.

The milepost 55.3 signals are the westbound distants for the new CTC crossover at LEAMAN, a hand operated temporary block station under the old system. Despite the new interlocking, the original slow speed crossover alignment was retained which is why both distant signals can display Approach Slow. Here ACS-86 #648 pushes past en-route to Harrisburg.

This part of the PRR Main Line was electrified between 1937 and 1939 after the PRR had dialed in a lower cost cable span suspension system. Here ACS-86 #665 rounds the curve just past the Strasburg Rail Road junction at Paradise.

Amtrak #665 with its keystone train closer to the Vintage Rd bridge near Kinzers, PA. When the new signaling was installed it was somewhat overbuilt with a high density block arrangement that is almost never fully utilized at today's service levels. This resulted in some interesting signal progressions, especially around LEAMAN with distants displaying Approach, Approach Slow, Cab Speed 60 or 80 and Clear. The track 1 westbound signal can also support Approach Medium/Limited. Recently Amtrak has been simplifying the signal logic, cutting out certain block states so it is not uncommon to see these signals go directly from Stop and Proceed to Clear.

Metroliner cab car #9649 after passing Vintage Road. This right of way originally sported 4 tracks, but was cut back to two tracks in 1948 due to the post-war reduction in traffic and the more efficient use of parallel electrified low-grade freight lines. However the 4-track legacy is still reflected in the track numbering of #1 and #4.

The new Amtrak distant locations did not exactly align with the old PRR Rule 251 ABS signals. Whereas the original PRR era distants would be located a standard 2 mile block length away from the interlocking, the Amtrak signals were about 1 mile away. Here we can see #665 and #9649 passing under the old PRR Milepost 54 signal gantry.

Jumping to Newark, Delaware we find ACS-86 #624 heading a northbound Regional with the Milepost 39 intermediate signals in the background.

This was followed by ACS-86 #613 and a southbound Regional heading through DAVIS interlocking and Newark, DE Penn Station.

A Newer-ark station building has already been constructed and will support a high level island platform for both MARC and SEPTA commuter trains.

Throughout 2023 Amtrak was pressed by equipment and crew shortages. One partial solution was to run a single Regional set with a Metroliner cab car to reduce the turn time in Washington, DC. Today #9649 is giving off some real OG Metroliner vibes as it blasts through the Perryville MARC station on New Year's Day with ACS-86 #629. A couple of more committed railfans were standing on the derelict track #1 platform at Perryville to avoid backlighting.

With my stock of interesting photos now exhausted I will see you next time as I travel back to New York City to check out the new LIRR Elmont station.