20-10-01 PHOTOS: RAVE

If you don't know what Larry's Truck and Electric company of McDonald, Ohio is, you have certainly seen the photos of derelict locomotives stretching as far as the eye can see. Better known by its LTEX reporting mark, Larry set up shop on the grounds of an old US Steel mill and started purchasing just about every cast off locomotive under the sun to become a major player in the locomotive leasing and parts market. In the fall of 2020 I used the opportunity of an unrelated trip to Cleveland to pay my first visit to the famous Larry's Truck Electric facility followed by an additional stop at CP-RAVE in Ravenna, Ohio to document the former Conrail signals at the interlocking there as well as the NS freight traffic on the line. You can see the complete set of photos here ( mirror ).

Larry's Tuck is best known for images like these of his massive storage yard. The crazier part is that there is an equally large separate stash of engines on the western end of the facility. 

Some of the standout engines visible from the bridge include this pair of ex-US Navy GE 44-ton switchers along with Raritan Center Railway B23-7 #3110 that used to operate in North Jersey.

On the other side of the bridge was former Amtrak F40PH #344 that still looks to be in pretty good condition.

The whole place reminds me of the aircraft boneyard at Davis Montan Air Force Base where all sorts of historic oddities are just littered about like these END SW series switchers with trees growing out of them.

Of course not everything Larry owns is up on blocks and a number of MP15DC's including #1563 and #1551 were hanging out in fresh paint with brand new engine modifications.

SW1500 #1532 in B&LE colors was parked out a bit further away.

Moving on to CP-RAVE, once a side operation off the PRR Main Line to Chicago via Fort Wayne, the Cleveland Line had seen a massive increase in traffic starting in the 1980's as traffic patterns changed under Conrail to send "PRR" freights via the former NY Central's Lake Shore and Michigan Southern route by way of Cleveland. Despite this new traffic, by the time of the Conrail split in 1999 the line still retained its PRR era single direction ABS Rule 251 signal configuration with limited crossovers. A late term closure of RAVE tower in 1995 resulted in a fairly modern interlocking with Conrail style target signals replacing it.

When Conrail moved forward on the second phase of its Pittsburgh to Cleveland cab signal project in the 1998 time frame, there was no reason to re-replace such a new interlocking and when the project was completed under Conrail successor Norfolk Southern, 'C' lamps were simply bolted to the existing color light masts to support the Rule 280a Clear to Next Interlocking indication that were part of Conrail's process of eliminating wayside intermediate signals in favor of cab signals.

I didn't have to wait long for a train to show up in the form of an eastbound manifest freight with NS C40-10W #7658 and C44-9W #9184 leading and AC44C6M #4271 with C44-9W #9184 helping mid-train.

18-06-08 PHOTOS: SEPTA Toaster Hunt

Normally when I go on some rail outing I often end up with far more infrastructure photos than train photos. Trains run infrequently yet stuff often requires 360o documentation. However when camping out at SEPTA's North Broad St station during the morning rush it was all trains all the time and also represented the best opportunity to catch most of SEPTA's AEM-7 push-pull fleet before it was replaced by bland ACS-86's. With seven AEM-7's, one ALP-44 and a bunch of Comet coaches, SEPTA cobbles together about 6 scheduled push-pull round trips on a typical weekday. They run in express from an end terminal, hang out all day at Powlerton or Roberts yard, then make an outbound run. This means that one can potentially catch ALL the push-pull trains from both the Reading and PRR lines on the central trunk between 30th St and North Broad.

Of course location was no guarantee of success. Not only is some equipment held out as spare or for maintenance, others might be substituted with no warning in case of a mechanical issue. However on this morning I did pretty well for myself, catching 5 of the 7 AEM's. You can see the complete set of photos here and I urge you to check it out because if I were to post every train photo this blog post would have something like 150 photos! For the sake of brevity a lot of good content had to get cut.

I arrived at North Broad from the Broad Street Subway in time to catch the first push-pull set with Comet II cab car #2408 and AEM-7 #2303.

North Broad is just south of 16TH ST junction where the Norristown Line branches off. Previously all passenger traffic to Reading and coal country would also diverge at this point. Morning push-pull sets from the former PRR territory are deadheading to Roberts yard at this point for mid-day storage.

Although the signals at North Broad look as if they might be for the 16Th ST interlocking, they are actually the Milepost 2.9 automatics governing a short signal block in advance of the 16TH ST home signals. here we see SEPTA Silverliner IV #184 n the tail end of a northbound train.

What I assume to be an outbound Silverliner V equipped R6 train makes a stop at North Broad while a longer train of V's proceeds towards Center City on track #3.

SEPTA SL-IV #398 heads inbound under the MP 2.9 signal bridge. The presence of bi-directional peak flows between here and 30th St generally precludes the 3+1 style directional operation seen in the New York region.

This push-pull set led by AEM-7 #2305 is still full of passengers as is breaks out from under the Broad St overpass and heads towards Center City with Comet II cab car #2404 on the rear. Although popularly considered to have a rating of 7000hp, the figure is actually 7000 "diesel equivalent horsepower", which is a marketing way to describe having a 5700 continuous horsepower rating with a short duration overload to something around 7000.

No sooner had the inbound push-pull set passed than another outbound set appeared with cab car #2402 and AEM-7 #2304. The push-pull sets themselves consist of about 5 or 6 mixed Comet II and Comet III coaches. I think at one point SEPTA tried to keep the single set's worth of III's together, but have since stopped.

At some point signal problems developed in the form of a bobbing track circuit, backing up northbound trains approaching 16Th ST. To avoid the risk of unintended cab signal penalties, the trains just passed the MP 2.9 signal at Restricted speed and southbound traffic returned to normal. Here we see one train of SL-V's approaching 16TH-ST on track 2 while what might be an R6 waits at North Broad trying to figure out the signal situation. Traffic was still flowing southbound as attested by the train of SL-V's passing both V's on track 3.

The conductor on the outbound train observes the track 1 block signal as the train departs North Broad.

SEPTA SL-IV #160 on the rear of a northbound train waiting at 16TH ST while being passed by southbound SI-IV #309.

SEPTA northbound SL-V #711 passing trailing southbound SL-IV #811 at North Broad. 700-series cars are single units while 800-series units are married pairs.

Congestion was still evident as northbound trains approached 16TH ST JCT.

In this video you can see an outbound R6 waiting for an outbound Main Line train to clear up on track 2 before getting the signal for a diverging move onto the Norristown Line while an inbound R6 is routed into track 4 (efficiency!) as well as a plethora of SL-V trains passing North Broad.


Another PRR push-pull approached northbound on Track 1 with Cab Car #2405 and AEM-7 #2307. I was able to get a bunch of photos of this set due to the signal issue reducing speeds. At this point 4 of the 2 push-pull sets run to/form the PRR territory (1 Wilmington and 3 Thorndale) with the other two originating at West Trenton. Recently there was also a Trenton run and in the past sets have originated from Warminster, Norristown and Doylestown.

SEPTA SL-V #712 at the rear of a train creeping towards a Stop signal at 16TH ST JCT while SL-IV #400 and friends is signaled through towards Robert's Yard and Wayne Jct.

Now this is what I call a winning hand! SEPTA Silverliner IV's #298 and #299 leading on different trains on adjacent tracks!

SEPTA SL-IV #350 and SL-V #712 heading under Broad St at the same time to either wait at 16Th ST JCT or proceed through. For anyone looking to capture photos of every SEPTA railcar, North Broad is really the best place to do so.

Southbound SEPTA SL-IV #130 on track #3 passes northbound SL-IV #430 on track #1.

Here northbound SL-IV #423 on track 2 passes southbound SL-V #729 on track #4.

Yet another PRR trainset heads for Roberts Yard with Comet cab car #2410 and AEM-7 #3202. The SEPTA AEM-7's were ordered as part of a final batch in 1987-88 with 4 others going to MARC and 7 more to Amtrak. As The Budd Company had folded by this time, Simmering-Graz-Pauker constructed the stainless steel carbodies. Because of their recent construction and single run, 5-day a week usage pattern, the SEPTA AEM-7s were actually very low mileage and likely could have been rebuilt as has been done with even older Rc family locomotives in Swedish service. However when one is spending someone else's money the temptation is to always buy the newest and fanciest thing on the menu :-(

This is probably as good a time as any to discuss the old Reading North Broad station, which is the limestone building visible to the left behind #2302. Back before the neighborhood became a war zone, it was actually quite prosperous with both the PRR and Reading building their "125th St-Harlem" stations in the area which also hosted the Philadelphia Athletics and Phillies baseball teams. The collapse of the local economy caused ridership to crater and now both North Broad and North Philadelphia see only a handful of riders as most residents have shifted to the more frequent and more affordable Broad Street Subway. Both old station buildings have been re-purposed and both have had tracks removed with North Broad now only consisting of a pair of bare bones side platforms.

With #2302 heading off into the shadows the morning parade was over and it was time to pack up and get out before I wore out my welcome xD

That's all for now. Next time some photos from the B&O's old Main Line.

12-02-04 PHOTOS: S is for S-Motor

Yes its a Sesame Street theme this week, although instead of me teaching basic vocabulary and how to count to 12 you are all going to get a lesson on early New York Central electric locomotives and DC motor control systems. Sounds fun doesn't it? The framing device for today's lesson comes in the form of a number of locomotives "preserved" in a forested flood plain south of Albany, NY. These locomotives belonged (or still belong) to the Mohawk Chapter NRHS which received them from Amtrak and Conrail sometime around 1980. The collection includes an ex-NYC, ex-PC, ex-Amtrak Alco RS-3, an ex-NYC, ex-PC, ex-Conrail General Electric U25B and two former Ney York Central electric locomotives. While RS-3s and U25's are great, the two electrics are the real gems here because not only are they quite old, they also represent about half the total number of ex-NYC electrics that have been preserved.

The first of these electrics is the only surviving T-Motor, built as class T-3a in 1926 and represents the last batch of the second generation of NYC electric locomotive power. The second of these locomotives is S-Motor #100, which isn't just a member of the first class of New York Central electrics, but is in fact the prototype for the first class of New York Central electrics and because the S-Motors were the first class of independent main line electric locomotives ever built anywhere, #100 is the world's first main line electric locomotive.

Now I know what you're thinking, wasn't the first main line railroad electrification built on the B&O's Howard Street Tunnel in 1895? Well you would be right, but remember that that system was designed for electric assist of steam locomotives over a short stretch of steeply graded track with tunnels. Electrics would tow the steam engines, still fired up and making steam, through the short electrified section and then cut off to allow the steam hauled train on its way. The New York Central embarked on a much more ambitious scheme to both eliminate steam engine exhaust from its Park Avenue Tunnel and build a Grand new downtown rail terminal completely below ground level, which would make any sort of steam locomotive, under load or tow, completely infeasible. The S-Motors were the locomotives initially designed for this task with #100 being constructed in 1904, two years before the start of electric operations, in order to be throughly tested by both Alco (who built the locmotive) and GE (who supplied the propulsion system), on a test track in Schenectady, NY. #100 was originally assigned the class of L and the number 6000 while undergoing this testing. When it was time to enter service with 34 additional sisters #100's class was changed to T-1 and the number changed to 3400. After a deadly derailment on the second day of electrified service exposed a design flaw, #100's class was changed again from T to S and she was given the number she wears to this day.

Anyway, enough with the Wikipedia summary, its time to get onto some photos. You can see the whole set here (scroll down a bit), but I will actually urge you all to finish reading the remainder of the presentation here first. In fact you should start by viewing this little video tour of the two units. Inside some interesting items are obscured by darkness so reading the photo essay afterwards may help make things clearer.

So how exactlyis the world's very first main line electric locomotive being treated these days? Climate controlled shed at a major railroad museum? Complete interior and exterior restoration with a goal of returning her to running condition? No, one of the most historic locomotives in the world is being left to sit out in the elements on an isolated spur track located within the Hudson River floodplain.

So whats going on here? As far as I have been able to determine the Mohawk Chapter NRHS simply became defunct with their historic collection left to fend for itself. Fortunately their collection is not located where some landlord would care to threaten it with scrapping, but the condition of all these locomotives is hardly ideal.

There are some on again off again efforts to get people out there to at least stabilize the units and I have been told that they have been purchased by a heritage line in Massachusetts, but whomever the owner is getting these locomotives out of their current location is going to take some doing because even if the rail link to the former Conrail Albany secondary is intact it is not passable without a good deal of rehab. Whatever the state of the preservation efforts I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to tell the story behind these amazing relics from the past.

The most apparent feature of the S-Motors are their short length, however these units were not designed for switching, but for hauling main line long distance passenger trains. The short length 39 feet was seen as an advantage as it was half the length of a locomotive and tender and trains could be doubleheaded without significant loss of platform space. However they entered service a number of tracking problems were identified and after 6 short years the units found themselves relegated to secondary duties as the new T-Motors replacement them.

The S-Motors were built with the 1-D-1 wheel configuration, which was soon upgraded to 2-D-2 after the 1907 derailment. The driving wheels were mounted on a rigid 4 axle frame with a suspension that was primitive to say the least. Another problem with these early electrics was that they made use of "bi-polar" electric motors. No this does not mean that the motors would be full of energy one day and sluggish the next, but that the DC motor armature is mounted directly to the axle with two static electro-magnet "poles" mounted to either side. This allowed the axle/armature combination to move in the vertical plain as the wheel moved over bumps in the track. unfortunately this axle/armature combination added to the units Unpsring mass that of course affected track handling and ride quality. As soon as improved technology allowed the motors to be reduced in size, electric locomotives switched to using geared motors and ultimately nose suspended motors. Also in this photo note the third rail pickup shoe fuse box rated at 700 amps.

Squeezed in front of the 4 driving axles on each end of the unit are two, twin axle pony trucks. These were originally a single axle truck, but after the 1906 derailment it was determined that the 1-D-1 design was not sufficiently stable at high speed. The single S-1 and her 34 S-2 sisters were modified to fit the new 2 axle design. The later 12 units of the S-3 class built in 1909 were lengthened by 4 feet to better fit it. Unfortunately, in solving the stability problem the extra pony axles took even more weight off the drivers and resulted in poor starting characteristics, especially with long trains. 

Another neat 1904 feature on the S-motors are the use of friction bearings on the main driving axles. Virtually unheard of today on modern railroads, friction, aka plain, bearings make use of a consumable oil supply to lubricate the action of a round steel axle rotating in a plain soft metal semi-circle. The oil would create a hydrodynamic boundary layer between the axle and the Babbitt metal of the bearing that would prevent the two parts from physically touching. The oil was applied to the rotating axle via a pad at the bottom of the journal box, which had a reservoir of oil it that was wicked up through the pad.

Well that's enough for the exterior of #100, let's head inside and see what we can find. The unique design of the S-Motor is sort of a rich man's Steeplecab, clearly inspired by the latter, but with a bit more fit and finish for its main line assignments. Compared to s Staplecab design, the cab space of an S-Motor was a lot more spacious to fit both a larger air compressor and a train heating boiler required for passenger service. Here we stand inside the cab area looking toward the #2 end. The S-Motor was designed for both a engineer and fireman with each position being on the accustomed side.

The control stand of an S-Motor should be familiar to anyone who has visited a trolley museum as the technology behind it is basically the same, only a little bit more fancy. Acceleration of the S-Motor is completely manual in that the engineer does not select an acceleration rate (as one does on more modern electrics), but instead has direct control over the amount of voltage going to the motors. In a DC motor control system rotational speed of the motor is dependent upon the voltage supplied. As the controller is advanced resistance is cut out of the circuit applying more voltage to the motor. The large number of notches on the controlled is to allow the engineer to make small adjustments to the voltage in order to create a smooth acceleration profile, avoid wheel slip and to avoid stalling the wheels and burning out the windings. Today such tasks are automated by camshaft controllers in DC propulsion systems or software in AC systems.

This control system would also make use of series and parallel wiring to increase efficiency by negating the need to dump power into heat through the resistance elements. With motors connected in series seeing the total voltage drop split between them so at 660 volts DC from the third rail, 4 motors connected in series would each see a voltage of 165 volts, two motors in series 330 and all 4 motors in parallel the full 660 volts. I am not sure how those modes are engaged, either automatically as one notches up the controller or via a separate mechanism, but such a system has been part of DC systems since Thomas Edison.

Also seen here at the engineer's station is the instrument cluster including gauges for air pressure and DC amps running through the motor. The S-Motors were fitted with 4 GE model 84 electric motors rated for 550hp maximum output giving the S's a total of 2200hp starting power, which put them towards the upper end of contemporary steam passenger trains in terms of power. The continuous rating was 1700hp.

The fireman's side is a bit more spartan featuring only an emergency brake valve. Note the New York Central green interior which later went on to become Penn Central Green.

If there was one thing that was not in short supply in these electrics it was heaters. The cab was full of resistance heaters which I guess implied that New York City still used to see "winters" back a century ago.

Heavy load auxiliary items like the air compressor and cab heaters were controlled from these breaker-switches.