21-09-12 PHOTOS: Vermonter

Well what goes up, must come down. After heading up to New Hampshire on Amtrak's Vermonter and then trolling around for signal photos, it was time to return via the same route. Because I was lucky enough to snag a business class upgrade I was able to conduct a second line survey in the southbound direction with the lack of rain and clouds improving the quality. Also included in this set are photos around New Haven and a westbound survey of the Amtrak Hellgate Line. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

My southbound Train 57 was scheduled to depart White River Jct around 11am, however my ride needed to drop me off closer to 6am. To help mitigate the 5+ hour wait, I changed the drop off point to a diner in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, and after a filling meal and a couple cups of coffee, I set out to walk across to the Amtrak station on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River . Along the way I passed by Claremont & Concord Railroad GP9 #1907 that switches and industrial park in West Labanon.

The CCRR works on the remains of a Boston and Maine line located about 142 miles from Boston. I used the rail bridge over the Connecticut River to reach White River Jct.

New England Central GP38-2 #437 was still on site, waiting for that day's crew to show up to the G&W side of the stately brick station building..

My Train 57 showed up close to on schedule with Amtrak P42DC #101 in the lead.

There were quite a few people seeing loved ones off at Claremont Jct, NH.

View from the rear of Train 57 as it passes through the famous Mill St tunnel, just south of the Bellows Falls station and diamond.

The passing through the connection with the Guilford Rail System's Freight Main Line just south of the Greenfield, MA station.

Arriving at the new Springfield, MA high level platform as a 3-car Amtrak Springfield shuttle sits on the low level track #8 with P42DC #104 in front and a second engine on the rear.

19-09-06 PHOTOS: NEC Cleanup

I've been taking bottom to top (Baltimore to Boston) NEC trips multiple times a year for about a decade now and there seem to be always bits and pieces that I don't get a chance to photograph from the rear of Regional trains.  For example, as I used to get on in Baltimore it would take until about Martin State Airport to get my ticket collected and between Providence and Boston I was often shooting video.  Well, here in 2019 I did my best to fill in some of the gaps, starting in BWI, running up to Boston and then transferring to a Downeaster train to Exeter, NH. You can see the complete set of photos here (mirror).

Starting at BWI during the morning peak the first train to pass through was a southbound MARC Penn Line express led by bi-level K-cab-car #7857 and propelled by HHP-8 #4915.  The HHP-8's have returned from refurbishment after the SC44's proved unable to handle long peak period trains.

Speaking of the devil, here is SC44 #86 with a shorter northbound consist running express on the center track at BWI.

My Regional train 170 was being hauled by Amtrak ACS-86 #612.

Ticket collected I managed to catch this southbound Regional passing through BRIDGE interlocking south of Baltimore.

Southbound view Baltimore Union tunnels.  The tunnel on the right is the original bore with the tunnel on the left being added in the 1930's to support increased traffic and electrification.

NS C44-9W #9478 at Bayview Yard.  MoW work on Track #3 pushed my train over onto track #1, normally the domain of MARC.

 Heading north on track #1 at Martin State Airport with MoW equipment and Amtrak GP15D #579 on track #3.

 Passing a southbound Acela on Track #2 with power car #2002.

CSX GP40-2 #6212 waiting on the ramp at MORRIS interlocking to gain access to the NEC from Morrisville Yard.  This is likely a Conrail SAO move to service local freight customers on the NEC. 

 Pacing an NJT Midtown Direct train as it heads towards the Secaucas connection with ALP-46 #4620.



Amtrak ACS-86 #623 in Penn Station. 

18-09-07 PHOTOS: New Haven Line - Part 1

The New Haven Line is dull. The signals are dull, the catenary is dull and even with the M2/4/6's the trains were dull too. I used to ride Amtrak over the line a lot and the best use of the time was to sleep or catch up on some reading. I had previously recorded video over the line between New Rochelle and New Haven, but I had never seriously tried to do a photo survey because, like I said, the whole damn line is dull.

Well with my videos all captured I really needed some content and so on my annual Labour Day-ish trip to Boston I brought along some cameras and lenses to shoot out the back of an northbound Amtrak Regional en route to Boston. This would be paired with some Amtrak NEC and Hellgate line photos along with some Shore Line photos east of New London. Part 1 covers everything up to, but excluding New Haven and Part 2 will cover New Haven through Boston and beyond. You can find the full set of photos here or on Google.

Waiting at BWI for my Regional, a southbound MARC commuter train rolled in with Kab Car #7850 and HHP-8 #4912. MARC was trying to retire the HHP-8's after Amtrak threatened to withdraw support, however they soon discovered that their monster length peak trains were no match even for the intended HHP-8 replacement, diesel SC44s. Therefore MARC got the HHP-8's refurbished.

MARC MP36PH-3C #28 with a solid train of bi-levels awaits its departure from the Perryville, MD station early in the AM.

Since my last Boston trip in 2017 HAROLD interlocking has been completely re-signaled with new scissors crossovers installed east of the main plant. All of this is to support the boondoggle East Side Access project, which is ultimately intended to reduce congestion on the (7) train.

Here we have a GoPro video documenting the Amtrak Hellgate Line between F Interlocking in Sunnyside and SS22 in New Rochelle. This pretty much completes my NEC GoPro series between Gunpow and Boston.


A trio of P&W C40-8W's, including #4050, sit on the freight track east of Oak Point yard. After the takeover, short line conglomerate Genesee & Wyoming wasted no time in re-painting the P&W fleet in perhaps the only paint scheme that less attractive than the old red and brown.

Passing an inbound Metro North local train of M8's just east of the Mamaroneck station.

MoW work underway on track #2 at Harrison.

Passing another westbound train of M8's east of Rye.

Cos Cob movable bridge and it's famous catenary break.

15-06-20 PHOTOS: Worcester

Derived from the Latin root "Chester" meaning castle, the pronunciation of Worcester has been twisted over time from Wor-chester into Wor-cester, Wooster, Woostah and finally, it's current pronunciation, Gritty Old Mill Town. Located about an hour east of Boston, Worcester used to be a center of new Englande industry, pumping out both textiles and precision products. Today little of that is left, the mills converted into community colleges and inexpensive lofts for people who can't afford to live in Boston. Still, one indication that Worcester is on the rebound is its fabulous downtown train station, rehabilitated in 1999 for both the extended MBTA service and as a civic event space.

Today I will take a look at the Worcester Union Station complex including both CSX, MBTA and P&W services. You can find the full set of photos here

Worcester Union Station was built in 1911 by the New York Central railroad with the Providence and Worcester and New Haven being other important tenants.

The main hall can be reserved for events like this wedding that was underway behind the white curtain.

Just south of the station, Conrail established an intermodal terminal on its Boston Line. Today the terminal is operated by CSX and I found AC4400 #439 idling ahead of a cut of doublestacks.

At the western end of the station platform are the signals for Boston Line interlocking CP-45. The 'C' lamps are for the Rule 562 cab-signal only operation which is in place between Framingham and CP-187.

When I got up to the platform level it started to rain, slightly degrading this shot of SRS Doodlebug #125 that was hanging out west of the station.

Behind it was CSX ES44AC-H #736.

Part of the B&A platform was raised when MBTA service was extended. The P&W platform is now used for outdoor restaurant seating.

CSX AC4400 #439 was occasionally making some odd chugging noises.



The old platform and Amtrak station is still in place and perhaps still used by longer MBTA trains.

Hanging out in the ready yard were three generations of MBTA power. Oldest was F40PH-2C #1029.

On the adjacent track was GP40MC #1122.

And finally brand new HSP-46 #2032 was on the far track.

15-02-28 PHOTOS: Shore Line Snow

Back in February I took an early morning Amtrak train up to Boston for an event. Normally I would have been tempted to take the overnight train 66, however it is about 2 hours slower than other Regional trains, is full of loud party-goers all the way to NYC and finally i find it nearly impossible to fall asleep on until departure from NYC since I normally stay up late. Combined with surprisingly heavy travel that might make getting a seat pair impossible I have developed a real loathing for T66.

This time instead of catching T66 at ~10pm and suffering through until 3am, I just stayed up until 4am and caught the next day's Train 190. This was a far better strategy. I instantly fell asleep upon boarding and didn't really wake up until well past New Haven. Unfortunately the timing of the train and the nature of the event somewhat limited the photos I could take, but I figured I should post them anyway.

First up are a pair of P&W GP30-2's #2006 and 2009 working the Providence Yard.

In case you hadn't heard, Boston received a record amount of snow this year so it's good that the point heaters were doing their job. Here Train 190 passes through PAWTUCKET interlocking.

New Haven RR interlocking towers SS 154 "Lawn" and SS156 "Boston Switch".

Three track RoW south of Attleboro on the 150mph section.

Four tracks at Attleboro.

Passing SS165 Attleboro tower.

Meeting an outbound MBTA commuter train at HOLDEN interlocking.

Of course thanks to my GoPro I was also able to shoot video at the same time. Unfortunately the blowing snow began to cloud the rear window forcing me to cut the video early.



Side window shot of AEM-7 #941 departing from South Station.

On an unrelated trip a few days later I was back in South Jersey catching PATCO. Here is Budd built married pair with #234 arriving at Haddonfield.

A low rumble in the distance heralded an outbound Atlantic City train with Comet V cab car #6063 in the lead.

Video of the same as it passes through the Haddonfield Trench with GP40PH-2B #4215.



I'll finish up with this photo of SEPTA SL-IV #442 at 30th St Station.

Next week I'll be featuring a set of guest photos from 2013 so stay tuned!