24-12-25 PHOTOS: Hammonton

It's getting harder and harder to find interesting railroad signals these days. On Christmas Day 2024 I followed the NJT Atlantic City Line all the way into Atlantic County to check out ( mirror ) three locations around Hammonton, NJ, the self styled Blueberry Capitol of the World.

The first location was the Milepost 28.5 intermediate signal just south of the Old Forks Road crossing. I arrived in time to catch a northbound ACL train with NJT GP40PH-2B #4216 pass by.

This location is just south of the more popular railfan spot of WINSLOW JCT, with the old tower and Ocean City Branch flyover visible in the distance. The arrow straight southern end of the Atlantic City Line provides numerous locations where the next signal location is visible from the previous one.

Hammonton, NJ is one of the larger towns in the area with good regional connectivity. Getting its start in what I have to assume was the pork industry, it later became a center of blueberry production with "high bush" cultivars having been developed by notable Pine Barrens naturalist Elizabeth White. The extra wide right of way through downtown Hammonton, NJ once saw a parade of trains taking vacationers from the Philly metro area to the consumption free air of the Atlantic City Boardwalk. As indicated by the milepost Hammonton is 30 miles from the line's junction with Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which makes it about the halfway point of the service.

While the ACRL might seem straight and level from a rider's perspective, it actually undulates quite a bit. Here is the Hammonton Station as seen looking northbound from the milepost 31.9 signal location.

The new NJT Hammonton Station was built on what used to be a layover yard for local commuter services to and from Philadelphia. Up through the 1950's one could catch photos of 3 Reading G3 or PRR K4 Pacifics side-by-side. The new high level platform and parking lot replaced the PRSL era downtown station when the line was reactivated in 1989.

23-02-18 PHOTOS: WINSLOW Exposed

Winslow Junction makes a frequent appearance on my visitation schedule, but since the Southern Railroad of New Jersey changed ownership in the 2010's, there has been far less to see and do as the yard full of old passenger cars, F-Units and Alcos has dwindled after successive waves of scrapping. However the bones of the old high speed railroads to the boardwalk are still in place if one knows where to look and over President's Day in 2023 I took one of my DC area railfan friends down to show him this gen of South Jersey rail history and make use of our expiring Amtrak companion coupons. Although much of Winslow was unchanged, we were treated to a few unexpected surprised. The full set of photos ( mirror ) includes both those Winslow surprises and other content from the Amtrak journey to Philly and back.

I'll start things off with this view of Amtrak Acela power car #2036 departing the BWI Airport station. Not sure why I was there, but this was a few days before heading up to Philly.

I recruited the same friend to be a reserve on my local pub trivia team. To avoid the horrendous DC area traffic he catches the MARC Cemden Line to Dorsey where I can pick him up. When his train is on time he will meet a westbound train from Baltimore and arriving a few minutes early I found the track #1 signal at DORSEY interlocking displaying Clear for said westbound move led by MARC split level cab car #8058.

The eastbound train from Washington arrived with cab car #8051 on the end. Ridership on the line has been growing, but is still well below pre-COVID levels.

Heading up to Philly on the 7am Acela with power car #2022 leading. With the BOGO coupon this premium service only cost us each about $25.

Completing the cross town transfer from 30th St Station to South Jersey with SEPTA Silverliner IV #184 and PATCO car #1104 (see departing for 15th/16th.).

Winslow Junction was hosting the same quartet of MLW M420 locomotives, #3517, #3519, #3578 and #800, which still in the NYO&W paint job that indicated the personal railfan interests of the former owner.

Our first surprise of the day was CMSL GP38-2 #2661 switching cars on the Conrail interchange up on the former Atlantic City RR (Reading) main line. For some reason I thought Conrail still delivered the cars to Tuckahoe, but I guess this makes sense what with the passenger operations at Richland.

19-01-12 PHOTOS: Station Sidetrips

Not much was going on in January 2019 so I patched together a couple of trips to DC area MARC stations and to the SRNJ short line base at Winslow Jct, NJ during the NJT Atlantic City Line hiatus. You can find the full set of photos here (mirror).

The Garrett Park Brunswick Line MARC station, located on the former B&O railroad Metropolitan Sub, is situated between the two prongs of the WMATA Red Line north of the city. It consists of a small inbound shelter and low level platforms for the peak direction weekday service.

Parking is highly limited and the station primarily serves walking distance neighborhoods on both sides of the tracks.

The old mill town of Kensington has been subsumed by suburban housing developments, but the old town core still features a vintage B&O railroad station.

Although largely converted into a coffee shoppe, the station still features a waiting room and ticket vending machines. 

The falling snow would soon start to accumulate making condition a bit treacherous. 

Moving to Winslow Jct, despite some recent scrappings, the SRNJ still has three MLW (Alco) M420 locomotives on the ready service tracks. These consisted of CNJ painted numbers 3578, 3519 and 3517 and NYO&W painted #800.

15-11-27 PHOTOS: WINSLOW

I don't get out to Winslow Junction as much as I should, and by "as much as I should", I mean more than once a decade. WJ used to be my go to place for railfanning in South Jersey, usually on random weekends with my father. However in recent years my general unavailability combined with his decreased activity lead to Winslow Junction being that place we'll get around to visiting "next time". Well, finding myself at a severe loss for content in 2015, I decided to take a little detour from my Black Friday shopping to swing by what used to be one of the busiest rail interlockings in the entire world.

You can find the full set of photos of my trek around the old complex here.

Of course the real stars of the Southern Railroad of New Jersey are the two F7A cab units that used to work the Salem Branch between Salem, NJ and Swedesboro, NJ. They are former B&LE units and numbered 727 and 728. #728 is painted in NYO&W colors because the former SRNJ owner had a bit of a crush on the NYO&W.

#727 is painted in a CNJ heritage scheme, but after years out in the elements, some of the B&LE heritage is showing through.

 

The SRNJ had a couple of old GE 44-toners and NYOW painted #105 is the one that is still around.

This is what happens when you park your locomotive in a bad neighborhood. #1801 is a rare GE U18B U-Boat. 

CMSL Tony doesn't have a monopoly on RDC's in South Jersey. SRNJ #7 used to belong to the NYS&W running a passenger service in Syracuse, NY. When that railroad's eccentric owner died the service was promptly shut down and the RDC's sold.

Former CN MLW M420 #3519 is up on the good kind of blocks, getting its front truck rebuilt.

Traction motor armature. Um...you might want to cover that.

11-07-02 PHOTOS: PRSL Artifacts

Well I am finally returning to me regularly scheduled programming with an informal railfan trip organized by the West Jersey Chapter NRHS that consisted of a driving tour around the former PRSL territory looking for interesting historical artifacts that have survived in the decades since their abandonment. Stops include Winslow Jct, Tuckahoe,Woodbine Jct. Vineland, Newfield and Glassboro. Of course I'm not usually one for taking pictures of overgrown rights of way or an odd tie poking out of the sand, but there were more than a few subjects of general interest available on the trip and my featured photos will focus on those.

You can locate the entire set of photos here at: http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/11-07-02_PRSL_ARTIFACTS/-Thumbnails.html.

We start off at the Southern Railroad of New Jersey yard at Winslow Junction. Old Red and White CNJ painted GP-7 #100 was once the mainstay of SJRR operations, but today is buried deep in the storage track as newer power has come in to supplement it.

After demise of the OnTrack commuter rail line in Syracuse, NY, former NYS&W RDC unit #7 was purchased my the SJRRto facilitate some sort of passenger operations, which were put on hold after the death of the previous SJRR owner.

Here is a rare beast indeed. Former Providence and Worcester U18B #1801 is one of only a small handful of 1960's era "Universal Series" engines still remaining. GE's first cut into full sized diesel locomotives, the Universal Series were not as robust or reliable as the dominant EMD equipment of the same vintage and most were traded in for Dash 7 or Dash 8 units in the 70's and 80's. 

Of course the real motive power that the SJRR is renown for are late model Alcos, some in fact are so late that they were produced well after Also itself went bust by the Montreal Locomotive Works. Here is one such unit, an MLW M420 #3578 painted in CNJ red, which was a lisence built Alco Century Series model C420 with a 2000hp 251C engine. 

The former SJRR owner was a huge fan of the New York, Ontario and Western railroad and were we see another MLW century unit painted up as NYO&W #800.

The pair of SJRR F Units, which used to hold down the local assignment on the Salem Branch, are now stored deep in the power line collecting rust.

Also hanging out is one of a pair of SJRR GE 44-tonners. 

If you head several miles south of Winslow Junction there is a hot mix plant that still gets its stone shipments via rail. Just south of this location on a heavily overgrown siding are a pair of locomotives, one EMD, one Alco, heavily stripped and decaying away. One is former Amtrak CF7 #538, which is still painted in in Amtrak MofW grey. CF7's were former F7 cab units converted into hood style road switchers by the AFST railroad back in the day.

Here is a view of the electrical cabinet inside the generally stripped cab.

Valve train on top of the cylinder bank on #538's EMD 567 prime mover. With all that oil the engine still seems t be in pretty good condition and there is no reason that old 538 might not run again some day.

Hanging out with 538 is ALGX C420 #7221. This is an authentic Alco unit, not some MLW knockoff, but like 538 it was the victim of parts and scrap theft back in 2007 with the head covers and inspection ports being stolen off the 251 engine. Taction motor cables were also removed from both units.

Closeup view of the stripped 251C engine.

Skipping head to Tuckahoe, home of the Came May Seashore Lines, we find everybody's favourite wooden interlocking tower with a pair of disc brake equipped passenger rail truck axles sitting around due to bad roller bearings.

Sitting on he CMSL power line we have former CNJ HEP equipped GP7 #1523, which was used in the CNJ's commuter operations before the GP40Ps were delivered.

Also in attendance are the pair of Lehigh Valley painted F Units along side PRR GP9 #7000.

07-09-01 PHOTOS: Abandoned South Jersey

Last Labour Day I spent some quality time roving around South Jersey checking out a number of interesting "Forgotten" locations interspersed with more standard Railfan locations. So the photos here will include something for everyone.

First off is the old Dydee Service building in Westmont. For years cloth diapers were cleaned there and delivered back to peoples houses. Shuttered by the advent of disposable diapers the building stood vacant for decades before being razed for a new development. I sort of regret not getting in there for a look around before it was demolished.

Next is SOUTH RACE interlocking at Utica Ave in Westmont. Despite being the closest interlocking to my house I had never bothered to go out and take a complete photo set.

After SOUTH RACE I popped over to the adjacent abandoned Westmont sewage treatment plant. This was actually the first of two Sweage treatment plants in this area before things were centralized with the CCMUA. The old plant only had primary treatment, while the second plant had secondary treatment. Today it sits decaying in the woods.

After the jaunt around Westmont I took a jump to the the legendary Haddonfield Waterfall. This is located on the Cooper River deep in the bowls of the Crows Woods recreation area. The river drops over about an 18" clay pan creating a little waterfall. Over the years the fall has retreated some 150 feet.

Next I ventured a little farther afield to the Winslow Junction area. After a bit of railfanning I took off down the RoW to a tip I had on something called Ancora Village. This was a community of assisted living houses for low-risk patients of the Ancora Psychiatric Hospital. Closed probably due to cost reasons the houses stood for several years before all being demolished. Now the site is left to be reclaimed by nature.

Finally, I walked back to Winslow Jct in time to catch an unannounced employee special labour day train as well as the new Alco C420 in its NYO&W Paint.

That was a little whirlwind summary and you can find the full set of pics at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/07-09-01_FORGOTTEN_SOUTH_JERSEY/-Thumbnails.html

And more of a guided tour below in the same order as described above.

Here is the landmark Dydee Service building with the demolition fence already erected. This building has literally stood vacant here for 20 years or more.

In the forest next to SOUTH RACE interlocking the original Westmont sewage plant. Probably in service until the 1950's. Here is the primary settling tank.

Here's the input channel. Hard to believe this setup managed to "treat" anything at all.

Moving on to the Haddonfield Waterfall. Cute ain't it.

Here's where it used to be 10 years ago.

Also saw this on my way out. Nasty surprise for any lineman.

Finally some railfan stuff. WINSLOW Tower 2008. The bay windows have finally been boarded up from the inside.