21-03-26 PHOTOS: Hudson Line Cleanup

For many years I have been taking trips to the New York Capitol Region around Albany as I have good friends that either went to school there or have family there. Typically I would take Amtrak's Empire Service to and from as I would have access to a vehicle at the far end to carry out the various cultural and outdoor activities that we had planned. However in recent years this vehicle access went away and while a rental filled the gap in 2019 and 2020, the COVID pandemic in the spring of 2021 made rail travel somewhat less attractive and my friend and I decided to drive up instead. The silver lining was that I would be able to visit a couple of signal locations on Amtrak's Hudson Line that were in danger of replacement by the creeping re-signaling project, specifically ones I had missed on my two previous Hudson Line signal documentation trips based out of Westchester country. You can find the full set of these photos here ( mirror ).

As all of the signaling worth seeing is north of Poughkeepsie, I would take the Thurway to US 44 and cross the Hudson via the Mid-Hudson Bridge. Of course this would require a stop at the Walkway Over The Hudson and despite the rather meh weather, I managed to score a photo of an northbound train of autoracks on the former Conrail River Line hauled by a single CSX AC4400, #474.

The fact that a single unit can manage such a long train belies the relative low weight density of motor vehicles compared to other freight.

The Hudson Valley Rail Trail, running over the old Bridge Line to Maybrook Yard, has parked an ex-PRR N5 caboose at the west end of the Hudson Walkway, despite the fact that the line was a major New Haven route.

North of the Amtrak/Metro North division post at CP-75 in Poughkeepsie, traditional New Yok Central / Conrail signaling is still in service with many classic signal bridges over what used to be a 4-track right of way. The Milepost 83 automatic signal is co-located with the Conrail, Staatsburg, New York defect detector and a grade crossing. Linespeed here is 95mph, but in the pre-PTC days it was not uncommon for engineers to get a little bit more with the fastest speed I observed on the detector readout being 103mph.

I was on hand for the appearance of a northbound Empire Service train led by Amtrak P32AC-DM #706.

17-06-08 GUEST PHOTOS: Alaska - Part 2

 Here we go with Part 2 of guest photos covering a trip on the Alaska Railroad.  In case you pissed Part 1, you can find it here.  LTDR my friend got a special 30th Birthday gift that involved flying to Alaska, taking the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Denali National Park and then continuing his trip from Denali to Fairbanks.  Part 2 will cover the part from Denali National Park to Fairbanks. 

You can view a gallery with all the photos from both parts here.

We begin with the northbound Denali Star pulling into the Denali National Park station with SD70AC-H's #4319 and #4322, a consist of blue and yellow ARR passenger cars and two Wilderness Express passenger cars on the rear.

Again, two Wilderness Express private cars were on the rear.  This is a private car tour service that attaches to the rear of ARR trains. I'm sure there's some service differentiation, but I don't know what it is.

My fried had chosen a lesser tier of service for the remainder of his journey and so was relegated to single level dome car #521.

Heading north from Denali the train followed along the Nenana River.  Alaska State Route 3 also traveled in this "corridor" as evidenced by this truss bridge. 

Denali Star running through the Nenana River gourge. 

Because of the PTC mandate even the TWC/DTC territory is having to get outfitted with signaling infrastructure.  Your tax dollars at waste.

Near the town of Healey a coal powered power plant was served by the railroad, which had several on-line coal miles.

A small yard complex at Healey featured a layup track for the Princess Cruise tour cars.

One of those coal mines I was talking about was located 4 miles away in the town of Usibelli.

16-10-08 PHOTOS: Hudson Line Signals

This year for my Columbus Day road trip I stayed on the east side of the Hudson River, then went north a bit up the former New York Central main line until I had passed CP-75 and entered what is now Amtrak territory. Because of the change of ownership, it is likely only a matter of time before many of the classic NY Central signaling elements are replaced so I wanted to try and get my photos in before that happens. Thanks to Alex and Amanda for providing transportation on this road trip. Some of their photos and videos are included in this set. Speaking of which, you can find the full set of photos here

The Hyde Park station is located 79 miles from GCT and 361 miles from BCT. It basically served one family, the Roosevelts, who compound was just a little ways up the road. Today the station has been preserved as a rail history museum and stands just shy of the MP 79 signal bridge.

Two miles to the north, what Amtrak Empire Service Train #281 hauled by Amtrak P32AC-DM #703, the Northbound Adirondack, passes under the classic NY Central intermediate signal bridge at Milepost 81. Also, a quick note.

I've always wondered why the station at Rhinecliff, NY is so darn nice. It's not a large city and doesn't seem especially affluent. Was the Central just that wealthy to overbuild it's stations or did some railroad executive live nearby? Anyway, the station offered baggage services, has an ornate waiting room and has a concourse that once led to two island platforms (now one).

Someone might want to call Amtrak, because I think I found all their missing step stools. 

Here we catch eastbound Empire service train #238 hauled by P32AC-DM #700.

From the south passenger walkway here is #700 with Train 238, ready to depart Rhinecliff.

And off it goes, throwing off loads of deep throated audio in the process.



A few minutes later Amtrak P32AC-DM #708 passed through CP-89, just north Rhinecliff, the with westbound Empire train #233.

15-05-24 PHOTOS: Hudson River Walk

Ok, I know I am rather late to the party on this one, but I finally had a chance this past Memorial Day to head on up to Poughkeepsie and take a walk over the Mighty Hudson on the former New Haven Railroad Highlands Bridge. My trip also involved a ride on the Metro-North Hudson Line to Croton-Harmon as well as a return trip via Amtrak's Empire service to Poughkeepsie. I would also like to thank fellow Subchatters Alex and Amanda for hosting me on this adventure.

Photos of the trip can be seen here.

I kicked off my journey catching Regional Train 162 hauled behind ACS-86 #622.



Hudson Line express service on the weekend is the province of diesel hauled trains and mine was no exception. Here is Shoreliner IV cab car #6313 in the trailing position as the train departs for points north.

M7 MU's #4093 and #4229 hanging out with friends in the Croton yard. 

P32AC-DM #203 and #222 hanging out under the sanding tower at Croton.

Fromt of M7 #4209.

P32AC-DM #226 passing in front of HM tower.

CDoT owned Shoreliner I cab car #6223 in the trailing position as it heads into the ready service yard. Note the mis-matched lettering with one being in the new old Penn Central font. 

The Walkway over the Hudson added a few historical touches like this old searchlight signal.

The bridge provided an excellent view of the stored MNRR P32AC-DM trainsets. In residence that day were #'s 224, 205, 209, 216 and NH painted 229.

View of the Mid-Hudson bridge from the walkway.

It's pretty amazing how well the bridge has held up over the years despite all the deferred maintenance. God bless 19th century over engineering.