16-10-20 PHOTOS: TUCKAHOE and VINE

So last fall I was invited to a little shindig down at the Jersey Shore and my route to get there passed through both 30th St Station and the critical PRSL junction of Tuckahoe, NJ. Funny how I can always turn most roadtrips into an excuse to do something rail related. Anyway, move over Chuchubob, cause I'm covering the South Jersey scene this week. You can find the set of photos here and be assured that there is more than tired signaling photos.

I had some extra time getting off the train so I walked across the Schuylkill River and down to the linear park built on the east bank. The sun was just right to generate this light show on the underside of the PRR arch bridge.

Up on top I got what would be my only photo of a SEPTA SL-V replacement lease set consisting of SEPTA cab car #2408, a cut of MARC I coaches and brand new Amtrak ACS-86 #696.

The next day I got down to Tuckahoe in time to catch the CMSL crew having lunch in the shadow of the former Reading Company TUCKAHOE tower (built 1906).

Of course PRR GP9 #7000 and CNJ GP7P #1523 on hand in front of the tower.

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.

10-04-04 PHOTOS: ACL Cab Ride

Last April I realized that I hadn't been down to Atlantic City via the Atlantic City Line since 2002 so maybe it was about time I made an effort. Therefore I contacted Chuchubob and en route to an Easter related family gathering my plan to to travel with Bob from 30th St to Atalantic City, catch the departure of an ACES train, and then catch the next westbound ACL train to Lindenwold. Well our plan began to go awry when our eastbound ACL train was hit with massive delays forcing us to bail out at Absecon-Pleasantville in order to ensure we could catch both the ACES train and following ACL train.

Well after the ACES train passed and the northbound local arrived I was hoping that I would be able to get a reverse railfan view as it is standard practice for the crews to leave the rear interior door open. The problem is that ACL crews also believe that taking photos is illegal so I was bracing myself for some sort of nasty confrontation. Much to my surprise not only did the C/R on that particular trip not try to physically block my camera like a target of a 60 Minutes investigation, but suggested I could get better shots from the rear cab. Coincidentally he had never heard of the Railroad.net union hall Internet forums. I could have ridden all the way back to 30th St there, but alas I had an Easter dinner waiting and could not extend my trip :-(

Anyway the full set of photos is here and they mostly consist of a full line documentation. Some of you may find pictures of every signal and most of the bridges and grade crossings on the line between Absecon and Lindenwold, but I know that many of my readers have an allergic reaction to high concentrations of signal photos so I'll just hit some of the highlights here.

Here we see NJT Geep #4219 in push mode with my highly delayed eastbound train.

The new Abseason station was built atop the old PRSL Absecon-Pleasantville station which was constructed during the 1930's as part of a grade crossing elimination project in the area. The project elevated several miles of the high speed main line through the downtown Absecon. Unfortunately with the ACL's budget conscious construction techniques the original station was barely utilized. If you look eastward you can still see the remains of the original platforms on the road overpass.

After botching three other photos of the ACES train I finally managed a good one with ALP-44 #4409 being dragged west in a zoom shot.

Here we see NJT Geep #4201 pulling west adjacent to the old platform stubs as it enters Absecon station.

The trailing cab car was #5016. Here is a view of its Wabso EPIC style brake controller. Let's hope it doesn't FAIL.

Electric locomotive controls? They think of everything!

We pulled into the Pomona Siding to be passed by a southbound train. The ACL was built as a single track with passing sidings in the most literal sense of the word. Instead of short sections (2-4 mile) of double track, it was literally built with the barest bones of passing points like a single width mountain road. These are all a mile or less in length and lack any intermediate blocks. Even when trains are spot on time the schedule will have you waiting in the siding until you are passed by your opposite. No rolling meets here.

All the sidings also come with these nifty little emergency transfer boards as the lack of any two track stations means that all rescue operations will have to take place at a siding.

NJT Geep 4203 (hmm, I'm noticing a pattern here) soon showed up pushing its train southbound. Comet IV cab car #5020 was leading, but I didn't get a very good picture.

10-02-14 PHOTOS: South Jersey Snow

If am sure that everybody remembers the great Snowpocalypse of 2010. Well one week after that event, during the President's Day weekend, I made a trip around South Jersey with Chuchubob checking out his standard list of haunts. I figured it was a good way to be exempt from his daily barrage of photos taken at Cove Road, 36th St and Pavonia Yard :-P

I have also heard that some folks complain that my photo sets don't have enough trains in them. Well this set will almost be entirely trains so you can now sit back and enjoy the exact same sorts of photos that everybody else throws up online.

We'll begin in Baltimore showing the large amounts of snow still piled up in the track area a good week after the Blizzard. Here we see a K-Car split level cab car on the F track waiting out the weekend of inactivity.

And an HHP-8 laid up on #5 track with one of the longer Push-Pull sets also consisting of split level K-cars.

We move onto a video selection of an eastbound NJT Atlantic City Line train crossing the Delair Bridge which currently celebrating its 115th Birthday. The engine involved is #4202



Moving onto Cove Road we catch NJT RiverLINE #3514A heading southbound.

A few minutes later the RiverLINE mast signal at CP-HATCH was pulled up to display Medium Approach Medium for a northbound RiverLINE train. The rest of CP-HATCH consists of dwarf signals and defines the junction between the old Bordentown Secondary, the Fish House connector to the Delair Bridge and another connector to the Palmyra Industrial Track.

A short while later northbound RiverLINE #3508 appeared to knock down the signal. 

To increase capacity a new intermediate signal, 401S, was installed on the RiverLINE between the interlocking at 36th St and Hatch. Seen here with #3514B.

 

Moving on to the 36th St RiverLINE station Bob and I discovered a Conrail Quality SD40 #8817 coupled to a rare NS SD45-2 #1701.

#1701 was one of a batch of SD45-2s ordered by the Erie-Lackawanna in the 1970's for its intermodal service to and from Chicago. The units were equipped with 5000 gallon "coast to coast" tanks, making a unique order for an already rare class (SD45-2).

While hanging at 36th St another northbound RiverLINE showed up. This time with #3515B on the end.

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.