24-08-31 PHOTOS: Free NJT

After spending something like $40 to get from Trenton to Long Branch and back earlier in the summer, when I heard that NJT was doing one of those free fare promotions around the Labour Day holiday I decided to pounce and take a trip up the NEC to get some photos at the Edison and Metutchen Stations. Both offer great NEC views along with position light signals and, in the case of Metutchen, the old LINCOLN interlocking tower. Also included in the photo set ( mirror ) are some pitches in and around the Trenton station.

To make NJT truly free I parked at the Bordentown RiverLINE station to avoid having to pay to park in the garage at Hamilton. Weekend scheduled have the LRV's passing just south of the station so I managed to catch #5313 heading south and #5306 heading north.

Because NJT hates creating reliable connections I had to book it from the RiverLINE to the Northeast Corridor platform to catch the NEC local. I typically relax and catch the express, but my plan was to move that layover to the Edison Station platform. As soon as I got off at Edison I spotted the Amtrak Acela Express trainset with power cars #2012 and #2013 approaching southbound and I got video of it passing my northbound NJT Northeast Corridor Line local with cab car #7048 and ALP-46 #4633. After departure, the local knocks down the 1N signal at EDISON interlocking to a Restricting indication.




EDISON interlocking provides access to the west end of the Edison Yard from NEC tracks #1 and #2. Back in the region's industrial heyday the yard was a hub for local shippers including a large Ford assembly plant. Most of these have since closed, but there is enough traffic to keep the infrastructure around. Unlike most interlockings, EDISON's limits extend nearly a mile between what would normally be automatic block signaling locations. Here we see a fox crossing over tracks 1 and 2 in EDISON interlocking.

Just before the NJT weekend express train arrived, I was able to witness a pretty epic race between southbound Keystone Train #663 on track #3 and Regional Train 153 on track #4. Train 663, hauled by ACS-86 #670, made up a 30 second deficit with Train 153, hauled by ACS-86 #663, eventually passing it just before the New Brunswick Station!

The weekend express was hauled by #4612 with cab car #7060 on the rear seen here at Edison and Metutchen respectively.

The Metutchen Station features PRR era station buildings with Penn Central era canopies.

A westbound NEC local was quick to arrive with cab car #7001 and ALP45 #4548, but I was going to take the hour long headway to explore the station area.

Crossing over to the westbound platform I caught an eastbound Keystone with Metroliner Cab Car #9638 and ACS-86 #632.

This was followed by eastbound Amtrak Acela Express with power car #2023 and #2025. I got a video passing through LINCOLN interlocking and the Metutchen NJ Transit station.

LINCOLN tower was built by the PRR around WW2 as part of a general trend to replace older wooden towers with mechanically worked switched. It was closed in the early 1990's, but still stands as an MoW office.

Here I caught a southbound Amtrak Regional with ACS-86 #621.

The Metutchen station platforms extend on bridges over Main St.

The arrival of another eastbound weekend express with ALP-46 #4652 and cab car #7002, indicates its almost time for my own train back to Trenton.

That train came in the form of a single level set with Comet V cab car #6039.

Fast forward to Trenton and my train, with ALP-46 #4659, pulled into Track #5 adjacent to a laid up SEPTA Push-Pull set with ACS-86 #912. For some reason I saw multiple ALP-46 number boards with stenciled digits.

I had a few minutes before the RiverLINE departure and while I was waiting an inbound SEPTA R7 pulled in from the storage tracks east of the station. The leading pair of Silverliners IV, #101 and #102, were the first of 44 pairs delivered to the Reading in early 1976.

While the SEPTA R7 pulled in, and eastbound Amtrak Keystone arrived across the platform with Metroliner Cab Car #9635.

While walking back to the concourse, southbound Amtrak Crescent Train 19 arrived behin ACS-86 #619.

Comet V #6039 again at Trenton track #5 and ALP-46 #4628 pulling in from Morrisville Yard.

My final travel leg of the day was RiverLINE the back to Bordentown using the same LRV that had taken me out to Trenton, #530.

That's all for my trip to Metutchen, if you'd like to learn about the super rare left handed PRR dwarf signal at LINCOLN you can read about it on my other blog.