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. 

25-08-09 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. 

25-05-31 PHOTOS: RUTHBY

In 1997 SEPTA worked with DART First State to extend R2 Regional Rail service from Wilmington to Newark, DE. The project had an additional infrastructure component that constructed a new infill station at Churchman's Crossing and extended the stub end "A" track 2 miles northward from DAVIS interlocking in Newark to the new RUTHBY interlocking near milepost 36.4. Although reasonably accessible, the location is obscure enough to discourage most casual railfans. As a result I undertook a mission to see what RUTHBY was about. 

The size and location of RUTHBY interlocking was dictated by the bridge over Old Ogletown Road being only three tracks wide and the existing Milepost 36.2 automatic signal location being just close enough for reuse with the new configuration. The northbound signal structure is modern style tubular aluminum cantilever governing tracks 1 and A. Here we see a southbound Regional train with ACS-86 #654 passing by the RUTHBY location on track #3.

RUTHBY's party piece is an 80mph high speed turnout that was intended to allow SEPTA trains to diverge out of the way of potential Amtrak traffic at near their top service speed. Compared to a more typical 45mph Amtrak turnout this has 3 M3 point machines instead of 2 and an additional 2 M3 machines driving the movable point diamond. Total length of the turnout is 600 feet.

Although the northbound signal is likely the first tubular aluminum signal structure employed by Amtrak on the NY to Washington NEC, it is also one of the last uses of US&S PL-3 position lights before the product was removed from the catalogue in the early 2000's. The 9N signal governing Track A supports the flashing Green | position for the "Cab Speed" cab signal, which in this case would be an 80mph code. The 9N lower head is a single / position for Medium Approach and the lunar white Stop and Proceed marker, which is also seen on the 1N signa. 

This photo overlook is located behind a sod and gravel supply outfit. In addition to the Regional I was able to catch both Amtrak Crescents due to the northbound Train 20 running late. Train 19 was behind ACS-86 #658 and Train 2 was behind #605.

25-03-23 PHOTOS: Shirley (You Can't Be Serious)

The last time I went to Lowell, MA was during the height of COVID and I only had enough time to walk the length of BY interlocking where the MBTA Lowell line briefly merges with the old Guilford Rail System Freight Main Line. With all of the re-signaling that is currently taking place along that route, I returned with a friend for a day of craft beer appreciation and searchlight signal photos. This post will detail the more interesting parts of the trip along with my return to the Mid-Atlantic via Acela express.

On weekends service to Lowell is pretty awful with trains running on a 1-2 hour headway. Today was no different and the only thing I was able to catch at Lowell's transportation was an empty high-low island platform. Lowell has an interesting layout as the two tracks on the left are used for MBTA service to Boston, while the three on the right are part of the former Guilford Rail System "Freight Main Line" that at one point stretched 714 miles from central Maine to Sunbury, PA.

A few years ago what remained of the Guilford was purchased by CSX which has wasted no time assimilating the line with new chaining, signals and, in this case, bridge art.

Due to the presence of hydro power, Lowell had become an early industrial hub, mostly specializing in textile production. The advent of electricity and modern logistics allowed this industry to move to more suitable locations turning Lowell into the stereotypical "gritty old mill town". In 1978 Federal money was obtained to create the Lowell National Historic Park as an urban renewal. One component of this was a heritage streetcar operation coined the "National Streetcar Museum", which I was able to visit and ride back in 2006. On this march day 20 years later the vintage streetcars weren't running, so I made do with a photo of Boston and Main 0-6-0 switcher #410, which is displayed on the streetcar platform.

Since 2006 Lowell has undergone an impressive recovery as the cost of housing in the core Boston area has exploded. Helped by the presence of UMass Lowell and MBTA service, the city is full of new development with many of the old mill buildings converted into artist lofts or new housing. This vintage service station sign was located across the street from the National Streetcar Museum.

Heading out of town my host suggested seeing the old B&M station at North Chelmsford. The trackside structure is being relocated for preservation with the wooden building already gone and the foundation marked up for disassembly. This project is likely one of CSX's "good will" gestures after taking control of neglected Guilford assets.

The MBTA Fitchburg Line station Shirley might look like something out of the 19th century, but it was actually constructed in 1993 after the station itself was reactivated in 1981 after over a decade of Fitchburg Line extensions and retrenchments. Although the minimal infrastructure gives the station a vibe similar to some of MARC's least used stations, Shirley currently serves a respectable 100+ passengers a day.

Because I had been out all day getting photos of 1940's and 50's vintage railroad signaling I hadn't really noticed that it was almost sunset when I had encountered an actual train movement in the form of a Norfolk Southern run-through freight with a former Guilford C40-8 leading a trio of NS units including SC70ACC #1807, AC44C6M #4857 and C44-9W #9928. In the 2010's NS had invested in a joint venture with the Guilford to run freight from Harrisburg to Ayer in conjunction with NS's of the former Delaware and Hudson route between Sunbury and Schenectady.

25-03-09 PHOTOS: CAPITOL

Like the last Saturday in October, the Harrisburg NRHS Chapter's annual train show now motivates me to make the drive up I-83 as it is perhaps the one reliable date when the old PRR Power Dispatch office is open to the public and I have a lot of tech oriented friends that are eager to view the whole setup. Since the PDO is reaching a steady state I assigned myself a side quest of checking on the former Reading Railroad CAPITOL tower that stands just a short distance from the Pennsylvania Railroad complex. You can find those photos in addition to Amtrak and NS freight action here.  In the parking area adjacent to HARRIS tower a large group of railfans had accumulated at the viewing wall.  It turned out that the occasion was Amtrak 50th Anniversary P42DC #108 leading the eastbound Pennsylvanian.  

Since parking is limited at the Harrisburg Amtrak station where the power office is located, I park by HARRIS tower and walk over. This has the benefit of providing views of whatever Keystone service equipment is hanging out at the station. On this trip Metroliner Cab Car #9641 was hanging out next to the plastic wrapped GG1 #4859 while ACS-86 #613 was standing on an adjacent track. 

On the NS side of things a westbound manifest freight rolled past with C40-10W #7676 and AC44C6M #4122 leading. This was followed by westbound train of largely empty autoracks hauled by a single SD70ACC #1804.

As I said the 1939 Harrisburg Power Office has reached a steady state of restoration with both the Westinghouse and GE SCADA panels attached to their back end relay logic that used to interface with the field substations via the code line. PRR electrification project farmed out work to both Westinghouse and GE as a condition of its government backed loans to help industry recover from the Great Depression. Although inefficient from a strictly business sense, the end result was preserving examples of each technology such that their differences can be compared.  For example Westinghouse stored digit information in relays, while GE used stepper switches.

 

The Reading's CAPITOL tower is the largely forgotten member of the troika of Harrisburg Station area towers. Built in the late 1920's when the Reading was replacing wooden towers with mechanical interlocking machines, CAPITOL managed traffic into the Reading's small Harrisburg station complex as well as transfer movements from the PRR.  CAPITOL shared a design common to many towers built across the Reading system before the shift to CTC with similar examples still standing at Wayne Jct and Newtown Jct and demolished examples having existed at Birdsboro, Norristown, Belle Meade and Perkiomen Jct (amoung others). The extended ground floor housed an air compressor plant to work the pneumatic point machines controlled by a US&S Model 14 interlocking machine similar to those at the nearby HARRIS and STATE. CAPITOL closed in the 1950's with control passed to the CTC panel at R TOWER in Rutherford Yard, however the structure was used as a relay room and radio base up into the early NS era.

The visit to CAPITOL put me in a position to catch the arrival of westbound Pennsylvanian Train #43 at the eastern end of the revised STATE interlocking. Power was P42DC #103.

That's all for now. See you next time as I head up to New Englande to get some photos on the old Guilford Rail System Downeaster Route before it was sanitized by CSX.