25-08-30 PHOTOS: Lower Hellgate Line

 As Penn Station Access ramps up on Amtrak's Hellgate Line between Sunnyside, Queens and New Rochelle Rochelle, it has started to put pressure on the Amber PRR Position Light signals that were installed in the 1980's to replace New Haven era semaphores. Some research indicated that some of the once nd future Hellgate Line signal locations were accessible for photography so I scheduled a NYC day trip to visit those at Mileposts 09 and 11 as well as Amtrak's new LEGGETT interlocking. As a bonus I got some photos of the old Bronx River movable bridge which is adjacent to a new linear park.

As usual the trip started at BWI with ACS-86 #613 ahead of whatever Amtrak Regional had reasonable prices. I then stayed overnight with family in South Jersey to get a jump on the next day's NYC activities. 

Since I was unable to secure low cost Amtrak travel to NYC I decided to rely on NJT's RiverLINE making a PATCO connection at the Walter "Ayn" Rand Transportation Center. 

There seemed to be a lot of NS road power lined up at Conrail's Pavonia Yard

A CSX road freight was crewed and ready to go with CM44AC #7247 leading.

NJT RiverLINE DMU #3510 at the Trenton buffer stops.

Getting to the southmost platform at the Trenton Amtrak/NJT station, an inbound SEPTA R7 was on the South High track with Silverliner V #809 leading. It departed shortly before my NJT arrived.

25-08-22 PHOTOS: MANTUA and PARK

Back in 2024 I paid a visit to the Columbia Ave overpass over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in Northwest Philadelphia. When later processing the events of the trip I realized that the location as adjacent to some Conrail era signaling accessible via the Fairmont Park disc golf course. When I was back in the area in the summer of 2025 I set out to rectify this oversight as well as getting some additional photos of traffic on the old Connecting Railway.

Reaching the 33rd St overpass that overlooked Amtrak's MANTUA required me to revisit the Columbia Ave location I visited in 2024.  While there I managed to catch the "sequential" classic Acela set with power cars #2013 and #2012.

Amtrak's MANTUA interlocking used to be part of ZOO tower's territory up until the late 1990's. Today it is most notable for being where SEPTA and Amtrak traffic have to switch places for the former to head to 30th St Station's upper level while the latter descends to the lower. To partly remedy this conflict center track #3, formerly used by the PRR for freight, was given a "straight" shot to the "River Line" track to 30th St lower level while the SEPTA trains on outer track #4 are left to navigate a 30mph diverging move. In the videos below we see the 4W signal at MANTUA at first displaying Medium Approach and later Medium Clear to a pair of single unit Silverliners V, including #708, from Chestnut Hill West

Next along was a southbound Regional train with ACS-86 #657.

Next up was a northbound Regional with ACS-86s #636 and #626 running top and tail. 

Running behind the Regional was an outbound SEPTA R7 Trenton train. 

I was then surprised by the appearance of an Amtrak Next Gen Acela trainset with power cars #2133 and #2124. They were in the final stages of testing before entering service later in the month with simulated revenue trips running to a real, but unlisted schedule. 

CP-PARK on the former Conrail Trenton Line has seen some modifications since the CSX takeover in 1999, however the east end still sports Conrail mast signals and the blue station sign. 

25-08-16 PHOTOS: Glenwood Springs

People might best know the town of Glenwood Springs, CO as that extra long stop on Amtrak's California Zephyr, but there's a reason for the extra long platform and the generally high level of activity. Glenwood Springs is the locus of a non-winter tourism district that aincludes an amusement park, natural scenery and actual hot springs, not the type that just keep one's wagon train from dying. Glenwood Springs is also served by the privately operated Rocky Mountaineer, which preserves the concept of railroad promoted tourism practiced by the Denver, Rio Grande and Western.  During a 2025 trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park I managed to manipulate the itinerary to include a stop at the Glenwood Springs Amtrak station in time for the arrival of westbound Zephyr Train 5. Also included in the set are additional photos of the semi-abandoned Tennessee Pass Line near Leadville. 

The Glenwood Springs station was constructed in 1904 by the DRGW. It's size and opulence was a direct function of it catering to the upper class tourism market in a similar fashion to the Great Northern station in Whitefish, Montana. At the time western railroads played a large role in promoting tourist destinations as a method to see better returns from their passenger operations that would otherwise see little travel in the sparsely populated western United States. It is currently the second least least used station in Colorado behind Denver.

The original interior has been preserved with both an active ticket office, baggage service and an interior waiting room.

The Rocky Mountaineer maintains its own private waiting room for its ultra luxury offering. Passengers can either travel between Glenwood Springs and Denver or overnight at Glenwood Springs before continuing on to Moab.

Even on days when the Mountaineer isn't running, local hotels will continue to send shuttle vans to meet Amtrak Trains 5 and 6.

Westbound Amtrak California Zephyr Train 5 was running no more than the typical hour late with a trio of P42DC's providing power.

Amtrak P42DC #37 was leading with #22 and #14 behind.

 

25-08-09 PHOTOS: One For the Road

In August of 2025 there was a lot of change afoot in the northeast from new Acelas, to new infrastructure to new NYCT Subway rolling stock.  An invitation to visit the International Photography Museum in Manhattan gave me the opportunity to catch a lot of this change in progress and ostensibly say farewell to many long time staples of the region (even if the actual retirement dates were still one or more years in the future). 

This was going to be a single day trip so my day started quite early at the BWI Airport Rail station where ACS-86 was leading my 6am Regional train to New York City.

The track #1 platform at BWI was in the midst of a partial reconstruction. 

Passing by the Penn Coach Yards were for Acela NG trainsets were awaiting their entry into service later that month,.

The Acela NG power cars are numbered in the 2100-series like #2133 seen here.

The new Amtrak Hackensack River bridge as seen from the 1910 PORTAL movable bridge. All structural work had been completed on the new crossing and work had shifted to completing the trackbed, overhead catenary and signaling. 

Despite platform access issues, the new Penn Station train hall has been a pretty resounding success since it opened. 

A brand new R211 on the A. The International Photography Museum was located near the Essex Street station which meant a fairly simple transfer to an F at W. 4th St.

Unfortunately a service disruption/weekend change forced me to take a D train to Grand St instead. Here a pair of north and southbound D trains meet at West 4th. 

The reason for the service disruption became evident on the return trip when I found work equipment blocking the local track at West 4th. The equipment included R47 #67, R41 #59 and deicing car #RD439. The locomotives were built by General Electric in 1968 and 1975 as extensions of their popular 45-ton series.