04-08-07 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Montpelier

While recently cataloguing my old photos in an attempt to locate some original resolution copies that had gone missing, stumbled upon a set of photos from 2004 I had completely forgotten about and had never posted online. The photos were taken on a summertime trip to the Barre Vermont area to attend a wedding. In addition to some Metro North and Amtrak pictures taken on the way up to Connecticut, I also took some around Montpelier, Barre and Springfield, MA. You can check out the whole set of classic photos for the first time right here (mirror).

For some strange reason my trip began at Stamford, CT where I was lucky enough to catch a Danbury or Waterbury branch trainset pull through on Track #2 with New York Central heritage painted FL9 #2012 in the lead. This trainset would go on to lay up east of the Stamford yard complex.

However I got to New Haven, I was on hand for the power change involving Amtrak's Vermonter. In 2004 the Vermonter was still using the NECR route via Palmer and Amherst requiring a control cab at each end. P42DC #103 was coupled to the rear of the trainset and a blue flag applied while mechanical workers when about connecting the HEP and MU jumper cables.

Seeing as how my girlfriend at the time insisted on driving up to the wedding, I got off the Vermonter at Meriden, CT with #103 pushing the train northward in a direction I would soon follow.

Green Mountain Railway GP9 #803 was parked in front of the downtown Barre station building, now serving as a bank. This unit would later be sold to the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway in New Jersey and renumbered to 1850, reflecting its original C&O designation. 

Barre and Chelsea #14 is a GE 70-ton switcher on static display behind the Vermont Granite Museum. The Barre and Chelsea was a local short line serving various quarries that went bust in the 1950's.

The Vermont statehouse seems out of place in the small mountain community that is the state capitol. Montpelier is the smallest state capitol in the United States with a full time population of only 8,000 residents.  

Most of the state offices are situated in well maintained Victorian houses. 

04-08-01 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Train 29 to Martinsburg

In the summer of 2004 I undertook a follow-up visit to a friend in Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley. I didn't have a car at the time so I arranged a pickup from the Martinsburg Amtrak Station after booking a ticket on Capitol Limited Train #30. I didn't take a lot of photos that day, but the ones I did are still interesting so here they are ( mirror ).

In 2004 MARC's AEM-7's were still in regular operation. I caught #4901 on the 'F' track at Baltimore Penn Station nost to tail with K-Kab Kar #7849. 

MARC's new HHP-8's were shouldering more of the peak period express trainset burden. I caught #4915 on track #5. The unit is still in service as of 2025.

The CSX Business Train was in Washington Union Station for some reason. Visible is former Atlantic Coast Line observation car "Florida" and a former Conrail (nee-New York Central) office car #994010 "John T. Collinson".

Pulling in we passed AEM-7 #953 and yard goats #562 (SW1001) and #541 (SW150).

At Brunswick, MD, some of the old MARC equipment was still in storage including RDC's and long distance passenger cars converted to commuter use. The ex-Metra Pullman gallery cars were actually still in service!

WB tower was also still in service. Today it had been preserved about 100 yards away. 

In Martinsburg, the former B&O shoppe complex and roundhouse was ramping up as a historic site, but the new station platform and overpass had yet to be built. Power for that day's Train #29 was P42DC's #85 and #70.

Like I said that's all I have from this trip. Make sure you check out my experience catching a train from Martinsburg to DC earlier in 2004.

04-06-12 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Seashore Trolley Museum

Often referred to as the gold standard in streetcar museums, the Seashore Trolley Museum is unfortunately a bit off my beaten path being both in Maine and also transit inaccessible. However back in July of 2004 I did make the journey with some friends which checked off the box in a similar fashion to my one and only trip to the Shoreline Trolley Museum in 2005. This set ( mirror ) also includes photos from my Amtrak trip to and from New Englande.

Arriving at Baltimore Penn Station I found GP40WH-2 #69 along with an elusive pair of AEM-7's with #4900 (nice) and AEM-7 replacement HHP-8 #4910. Despite both Amtrak's and SEPTA's AEM-7 fleets soldiering on for another decade, the MARC units generally vanished from public view before winding up at the Locust Point shoppes.

If I recall correctly my traveling companion joined me in New Haven to continue on to Boston via train. Once in Boston our local host treated us to a tour of the MBTA's Cabot Car Shoppes where the Red Line fleet is maintained. The 01500 and 01600 cars were already over 30 years old and have subsequently turned 50.

A new cam controller had just been delivered from the Everett shoppes for the purely DC-drive 01500/01600/01700 cars. Everett had been the Orange Line shoppes until the line was rerouted up to MBTA Reading Line to Oak Park, but still would perform component refurbishment.

The Seashore Trolley Museum can be considered the "Boston" streetcar museum in the same way that Shore Line is the "New York" museum. It also has quite a few bits of preserved infrastructure such as this copper clad Orange Line tower, a former New Haven RR dwarf semaphore signal and motor generator set for converting AC power to DC.

It also has an extensive collection of rapid transit vehicles from all over the country. Their literal party piece is a State of the Art Car, which can in fact be rented for parties.

In addition to vintage wayside automatic block signals, Seashore used this "token" system to implement traffic control. The system could support platoons of either 5 or 6 streetcars.

 

04-07-04 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Independance Day NEC

Back in 2004 the NEC was a lot more interesting than it has become so it wasn't hard to be able to fill a full set of photos with just what I was able to take on the Amtrak trip to/from my northeast destination. Having coach access to the rear facing window also helped a lot. This set of photos was taken over the July 4th holiday and includes a New Haven power change for what I assume is Amtrak's Train 56 Vermonter. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

Starting off in Baltimore, the MARC HHP-8's were still pretty new and, despite prevailing trends, examples like #4912 here would still be in service far after the Amtrak fleet was put in storage.

Bi-level Kab Kars like #7849 would also remain a MARC mainstay even after the delivery of newer Bombardier split-level stock.

Passing through Philadelphia, SHORE tower still looks to be in reasonably good condition with the wooden staircase still intact. SHORE would continued to see neglect and suffered a fire in 2021.

FAIR tower in Trenton had recently had a passenger friendly sign added to it.

For the NEC's last two active main line towers, UNION would close in 2009 followed by DOCK in 2017.

Speaking of DOCK, I also captured some of the interesting components that make electrification work across the drawspan of it's 3-track movable bridge.

At Manhattan Transfer we find the since sold-on NJT GP40FH-2 #4144 coupled to a Comarrow coach in the Hudson yard likely part of a Raritan Valley Line trainset.

04-06-24 Classic Photos: Camden Line WMATA Trip

Back in the spring of 2004 I was on break from school and figured I should use the opportunity to explore some of the DC Metrorail system with fellow enthusiast Oren "Mr. Metrorail" Hirsch. Not entirely sure what all we did that day since my camera wasn't great in the low light tunnels, however it seems I went out to Vienna-Fairfax, the Yellow Line terminal at Huntington and eventually, Greenbelt, MD. My return to Baltimore was via the MARC Camden Line, where I was able to get some photos of the B&O CPL signaling out the rear. You can find the full gallery of photos here ( mirror ).

I'll begin part way through the trip at the Huntington Yellow Line terminal with a recently rebuilt 2k series car, #2066, looking pretty snappy. It's easy to overlook the 70's charm of the classic WMATA cars. 

The unique design of the station is partly above ground similar to Ft Totten on the Green Line. Huntington is one of only two stations that are exclusive to the Yellow Line and although it seems that it was built with a southward extension in mind, there are currently no such plans. Huntington station also has Metrorail's only incline elevator, which we rode to get this photo looking down on the station.

2k car #2073 also at Huntington. The 2k cars had been recently renovated with the new look 90's interior.

The motivation for visiting Huntington was the installation of WMATA's first public self cleaning restroom by Exeloo. We stayed inside after use to witness the full cleaning cycle, although I unfortunately did not yet have a digital video capability. The Exeloo is still in place, although it has not functioned since 2017. Between 2003 and 2019 WMATA spent over $400,000 maintaining the system.

At DC Union Station we traveled up to the parking deck to look down on the station tracks and K TOWER. Over in the Amtrak NEC section we were able to identify AEM-7 #942, HHP-8 #652 and combination Phase IV heritage and 9/11 tribute AEM-7 #911.

On the MARC tracks were a pair of GP40WH-2s including #62.

It's impossible to understate just how much the area north of Union Station has changes. In 2003 the New York Ave station was still being built in pretty much a vacant area of the city. Today everything except the tracks themselves has been replaced by mid-rise office and residential development. Also visible in this photo is the low rise Greyhound terminal that was demolished around 2014.

Traveling to Greenbelt we find 3k car #3015 with an old school manual destination sign sitting next to 5k car #5113. The brown brake grime on the 3k cars contrasts with the shiny aluminum of the brand new 5k's. The grime is actually a function of the car cleaning process, not age.