While reviewing potential railfan activities to do before my 2023 trip to Dallas, I noticed something something that appeared to be Amtrak equipment in a random neighborhood near the Texas State Fairgrounds. Situated within walking distance of the DART Green Line to Buckner, I immediately planned an in-person investigation as it would also check off one of the last parts of the DART system that I had yet to ride. This set of photos will cover both the eastern Green Line and the little known Dallas Terminal Railroad. An additional set of photos covering the McKinney Ave trolley will be forthcoming. You can see the full set of photos here ( mirror ).
Starting out at Dallas Union Station with TRE F59PH #122 and F59PHI #569.
Arriving in Dallas I noticed that the replacement of the DART LRV rollsigns with LED signs was accelerating, like with #191 and #133 seen at Pearl St. However #213 was still fitted with the analogue signs that do much better in photographs.
Here a northbound DART Blue Line train with LRV's #192 and #185 take the flashing arrow Approach Diverging indication on the 4N signal at the north end of the Pearl Arts District platform.
DART LRV #213 actually turned out to be my ride to Buckner station at the "timetable" southern end of the line. The station is named for disgraced Red Socks first baseman Bill Buckner who was forced to flee to Texas and found his own town after blowing the 1986 World Series. Seen here the operator has already rolled the signs to the new destination of North Carrollton.
Similarly roll signed LRV #208 would be leading the return trip northward.
Passing LRV #247 on the main line. DART can reach speeds as high as 65mph.
Managed to catch some Union Pacific intermodal action on the Mineola Sub with ES44AC #2522 and AC4400 #7247.
The Dallas Terminal Railroad yard was located between MLK and Fair Park, so I bid fairwell to #213 at the former to walk to the latter.
Also located between MLK and Fair Park was the Green Line's access to DART's south side yard and maintenance facility. The yard was originally built in the 90's to serve the original Blue and Red lines, but was strategically located to also serve the planned Green Line that would be completed in the 2010's. Both lines connect to the yard via long segments of non-revenue track.
When built, the non-rev Green Line track cut through the Dallas Terminal Railroad, necessitating the installation of a 2 by 2 diamond crossing at grade, complete with power operated derails on the DALT.
In 1986 SEPTA temporarily suspended service on its R3 West Chester service beyond the Elwyn Station where the line became largely single track. The suspension was ostensibly to fix track issues that had slowed service on the branch, however it soon became clear that SEPTA was looking to truncate service to Elwyn/Media and instead reached a deal with Chester County to expand parking and service to the Exton station on the much faster R5 Paoli. The line was officially taken out of service in 1991 and besides stock traffic to a quarry and the use of a testing and training facility in Leni the line became a zombie, officially still "temporarily" suspended, but with service restoration increasingly unlikely.
In 2005 plans were made to restore service to a new Wawa station and park and ride off busy US Route 1 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. Originally intended to cost $50 million and be completed in 2010, circumstances resulted in near endless delays with the project ultimately being completed, much to the surprise of many, in 2022 for a cost of $100 million. As this was the first expansion of the SEPTA Regional Rail system in over 20 years I naturally had to be there for the inaugural departure and arrival on August 21st 2022. You can see the full set of photos, which include an additional visit to the East Penn Railroad, here ( mirror ). If you are interested in some 2015 coverage of the West Chester Branch before this partial restoration and rebuild, you can read a separate article here.
Although the new Wawa Station was located at the location of the old Wawa station, SEPTA wasn't about to miss an opportunity to shake down the local Philadelphia Area convenience store chain of the same name. After threats to use alternative names like Middletown Township or Sheetz, Wawa eventually coughed up $5 million for the "naming rights", however it did result in some snazzy branding.
The inaugural departure was set to leave the new Wawa station before dawn on Sunday, August 21st requiring those who wished to ride to get up early and, most likely, drive to the new R3 terminus. Intended to be a new transportation hub, the station has a building, vehicle loop and cavernous parking facility. unfortunately the Wawa station building does not (yet) contain a Wawa retail location, although there are two within walking distance for all of one's delicious coffee needs.
On the well lit, high level island platform, Wawa wrapped SEPTA Silverliner V #853 was awaiting its scheduled departure.
As SEPTA has slowly expanded its selection of accessible platforms it has generally avoided the use of costly elevators, instead making do with ramps.
Because of the Silverliner V's railfan windows, I was able to capture the entirety of the outbound trip between Wawa and Elwyn on video. The run took a few minutes longer than scheduled in part due to a report of deer on the tracks and some signal anomalies at Elwyn.
My plan was to be on board both the first departure and arrival from the new station and I pretty much had my choice of R3 station to accomplish this. I selected Clifton-Alden for its proximity to the Route 102 suburban trolley. Silverliner V #830 was on the rear of the first inbound run.
The first outbound (to Wawa) train was led by SEPTA Silverliner V #816.
Once again I was able to grab some video from the head end of the first ever R3 Wawa as it traveled between Media and Wawa.
The station's single island platform serves one through track and one stub terminal track, although there is space to extend the stub track through if West Chester service is ever restored. The West Chester Railroad briefly ran through excursions from their base in West Chester in the 2000's until SEPTA allowed its portion of the line to deteriorate sufficiently to stop the practice. It is unclear if SEPTA will remedy the situation any time soon.
At the city end of the platform the line immediately enters a series of interlockings built to serve a new storage yard on the site of the old Leni training facility. Note the stub switch to serve the old PRR Octoraro Branch which used to branch off here en-route to a connection with the Port Road.
After the departure of the second inbound trip I headed down to the station building that comes equipped with bathrooms and a bunch of local historical information on the walls.
For all of its car culture and highway building sprees, the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has some pretty comprehensive rail transit. Not only does Dallas have the fairly expansive DART light rail system and a pair of streetcar routes, but there is also a traditional commuter line to Fort Worth and two DMU based rail lines that connect Denton to Dallas and Fort Worth to Grapevine/DFW Airport. The latter, known as TexRail, opened in 2019 and in the spring of 2022 I was given an opportunity to ride it. Other topics covered in this photo set ( mirror ) include some general DART and Dallas Union Station stuff as well as TRE and the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center.
Arriving in from Love Field via a DART Orange Line train on LRV #163 seen here at the St. Paul St station. The city was much emptier than pre-COVID and like many other cities transit ridership had collapsed.
The next morning I headed to Union Station to catch the TRE commuter line to Fort Worth. F59PH #121 was hanging out with a typically short TRE consist.
I went to go get some breakfast a diner across the street and when I returned #121 had been replaced by #124 and an eastbound Union Pacific freight was passing through through with ES44AC #5515 leading and AC4400 #6457 behind.
Even in the spring of 2022, in Texas, COVID safety theatre was still a thing with a chain keeping people away from the cab car cab and thus preventing any photos being taken out the front or back.
Although the terminal for TRE and TexRail is at the more downtown Texas and Pacitic Station, I got off at the newer intermodal transportation center as there was simply more there to see and do. TexRail makes use of eight Stadler DMU trainsets with 4 coach sections and one central power unit. Although FRA "complaint", and thus able to run on the same tracks as TRE, TexRail trainsets make use of semi-high platforms and require a separate berthing area as can be seen with #108 here.
The holiday season is often the time I find the opportunity to head up into North Jersey and that has become increasingly relevant as alternative opportunities for interesting signaling have largely disappeared elsewhere. One major focus of the North Jersey rail scene is the Pattenburg Tunnel, a mile long bore where the former Lehigh Valley railroad crosses the drainage divide between the Delaware and Raritan rivers. I had previously visited the tunnel back in 2003 at a time when I was more frequently traveling the NJ Route 31 / US 206 corridor to reach outdoor activities in the Delaware Water Gap region. The trip would also provide me with the chance to connect with family in Hopewell and check out the Black River and Western tourist railroad in Ringoes. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).
Hopewell was located on the former Reading RR New York Branch that ran between Jenkintown and Port Reading Junction near Bound Brook and competed with the dominant Pennsylvania Railroad in the New York to Washington market with the alliance with the Baltimore and Ohio was factored in. Communities past the end of electric territory in West Trenton such as Hopewell could take diesel hauled or RDC trains to either Philly or Newark as a legacy of the old Reading Crusaader until the service was terminated in 1981. Since then Reading era stations like Hopewell's have stood idle, being converted into private houses, offices or community event space.
Despite the pandemic the Black River and Western was operating its holiday trains from it base at Ringoes, although not on December 26th as the need for Santa engagement drops precipitously after Christmas.
Operating on the former PRR Flemmington Branch, the BR&W owns others tourist properties in the region such as the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway in Phillipsburg. Power on hand in the Ringoes Yard was PRR SW1 #9206 and Reading painted SW9 #438.
The Pattenburg Tunnel was constructed in 1927 by the Lehigh Valley
Railroad to replace an earlier bore a few hundred feet to the north.
Since the LVRR was late to the New York market, extending its line from
Easton in the 1870's, the CNJ had locked down the pass through the
Musconetcong Mountain at High Bridge forcing the LVRR was forced to
tunnel through. In one of the final projects of the Conrail era, the
4800 foot bore was single tracked in the late 1990's to support double
stack intermodal trains and the entire tunnel was contained within the
limits of a new interlocking, CP-64.
The original 1875 tunnel, long with the right of way leading to it, is
still intact and is used by ATV enthusiasts as the flooded conditions
make the old tunnel less suited to foot traffic.
Part 2 of my 2020 trip to Dallas will stay in the Union Station area where DART, Amtrak, Union Pacific, BNSF and DGNO train all converge. If you missed Part 1 you can find it here. Unlike many other cities, trackside access to this downtown corridor is particularly good with the only real limitation being the angle of the sun. Over my time in the city I generally moved from Tower 106 in the west to Tower 107 in the east. As before the entire set of photos can be found here (mirror).
We begin in the parking lot out before TOWER 106 adjacent to the DART Wye that funnels the lines to the south and west through the downtown corridor. Here we see inbound and outbound Blue Line trains with LRV's #242 and 192 respectively.
I was lucky enough to just happen upon the westbound departure of
Amtrak Train 21, the Texas Eagle. Today the power was provided by P42DC
#132. The Eagle had finally been shifted to the TRE route between
Dallas and Ft Worth, saving both travel time as well as the delays from
UP freight trains such as the eastbound movement moving through JFK
Junction at the end of the video with AC4460CW #7021 and newly rebuilt
C44ACM #6154. It was not uncommon for Trains 20 and 21 to loose up to an
hour between Dallas and Fort Worth due to Dallas Sub congestion.
TOWER 106 is located behind the Texas School Book Depository building and in 1963 the operator was involved in the investigation into the presence of a second gunman on the grassy knoll.
DART LRV #206 crossing the Commerce St bridge on an inbound Red Line routing.
A scheduled TRE commuter train departed Union Station en route to Fort Worth led by F59 #122 and trailed by Bomber cab car #1003.
The Federal Courthouse disrupts the trackside walkway. While I was bypassing the property a UP freight train passed by with ES44AC #7951.
Back to Union Station here is an DART LRV #214 on an indeterminate routing.
A TRE trainset laying over at Union Station with cab car #1008.
The Denver Garland and Northern short line train I had previously spotted working the TRE line west of downtown, now showed up making its move through the Union Station complex to reach home tracks east of the old Reunion Center complex. Power consisted of SD40-2 #3418 on point and SD40M-2, a rebuilt SD45, #3418 behind.
