19-06-15 PHOTOS: PATCO Shoppe Tour

In June 2019 I finally got in on a PATCO shoppe tour.  Typically organized by my local West Jersey NRHS chapter, these tours have been happening with some degree of regularity for years, but despite having been a PATCO rider since age 3, I had never had an opportunity to get in on one until this point.  In fact, I had actually gotten in on a Baltimore transit shop tour before  managed to get in on a PATCO one.  You can find all of the PATCO Shoppe tour photos here (mirror) and I encourage you to look at them as I am only going to be posting a small sample here. 

The group met in the parking lot.  It was a pretty good turnout, which is not surprising given the type of event.

First stop on the tour was the axle press that separates or joins various axle components including wheels, bearings and gearboxes.

Next stop was the machine shoppe area with the typical slate of drill presses, lathes and band saws.

 PATCO's wheel truing machine is an older style that requires the trucks to removed and placed onto the machine with a crane.  Newer wheel machines can work on trucks that are still under the vehicle. The machine grinds down worn wheels to restore the profile and remove flat spots.

Speaking of trucks, PATCO is one of two remaining users of the Pioneer III truck, the other being Amtrak with the Amfleet series.  The P-III was designed by the Budd company as a lightweight  truck that would derail less on bad track.  It was available in both powered and unpowered variants and was previously installed on the SEPTA Silverliner II and MTA M1s.

The truck frames some in two halves and as you can see they are very simple affairs. 

 

 These gearboxes are connected to the truck and transmit power from the motors to the axles.

Here we see spare axle and gearbox assemblies ready to be connected to a truck.

PATCO uses GE 1255 A3 motors rated for 140 HP at 650/325 volts DC and 4600 RPM.

 Two motors are mounted on each truck for a total of 560hp/car.

Finally the truck is mated to the car via this bolster, which I think uses an air bag suspension system and creates the soft bouncy ride.

19-06-08 PHOTOS: Balt-Wash

A number of my larger photo sets have a few Baltimore/Washington area photos scattered in so I am going to just consolidate them into a single post here.  In June of 2019 I had a number of events take place around DC which resulted in MARC, Amtrak and DC Metro photos including an extended stint at the Metro's New York Ave station.  You can find most of the photos at the bottom of the PATCO Shoppe Tour photo set here.

First up is the Amtrak BWI Airport Rail Station seen here in the midst of a rebuilding effort that was replacing the brutalist concrete facade with hopefully non-flammable architectural panels.  Opening was still a number of weeks away, but even incomplete the improvement is marked.

My goal was to get to Washington, DC and my mode was a MARC train of Bombardier split levels with cab car #8046 in the lead.

 Transferring to the METRO at Union Station I grabbed a photo of an outboud train of 6k cars including #6087.

After a day of moving and shaking I was back on the Metro at Gallery place where it was mothing but 7k cars on the Red Line.

Traveling to New York Ave to kill time before my scheduled MARC train, I observed Amtrak ACS-86 #657 in MARC service pushing a trainset into Washington Union Station.

An outbound Metro 7k train  then showed up.

 Before I caught Amtrak ACS-86 #649 hanging out for a power change operation.

A few 6k cars were still roving around in the early evening. 

As I waited Brunswick Line MARC MP36PH-3C #16 and Bombardier cab car #8045 pass under K TOWER's J Bridge en-route to the CSX Metropolitan Sub.

19-05-24 PHOTOS: West Slope Pickup

Over the summer of 2019 the clock was ticking on classic signaling on the PRR Main Line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.  While I had made multiple trips to document the old stuff, there were still a few accessible locations that I had either bypassed, failed to notice or simply screwed up the first time around.  Three of these were located on the famous West Slope rail heritage corridor between Gallitzin and South Fork with the third on the track 3 Slow Road near New Florence and the Seward generating complex.  You can find the full set of photos here (mirror).

 First stop was the popular railfan hangout at Lilly, PA.  While I had first visited this location just 5 months before, the weather had been blah, I discovered that some of the photos were a bit soft and I had generally missed a lot of angles. It was time for a re-do and the May weather did not disappoint with the MP 354 signal bridge all lit up with a Clear indication on tracks 1 and 2.  In terms of the re-signaling project I was about to get these and following photos about a week or two before they were taken out of service.

The source of the approach lighting was a loaded eastbound coal train on track #1 with NS C44-9W's #9610 and #9773 in the lead.

 

The trains bulk was such that two SD40E (rebuilt SD50) helper packs were attached with NS #6303, #6306, #6309 and #6325.

All 6 units were making a lot of noise as they struggled to get the ~10,000 ton train up the stiff grade.





Next stop was the Milepost 256.5 westbound signal bridge located halfway between the Cassandra cut and the eastbound signals at Jamestown Rd  This is one of the oldest style of PRR signal bridges that likely date from before 1920 and were originally fitted with semaphores. 

In the few minutes since I had stopped at Lilly, traffic had been thrown on the bi-directional center track #2 so both westbound signals were displaying Clear.  This specific signal bridge was still in its original four track single direction Rule 251 configuration.

The next signal is located in the town of South Fork and is an uncommon PRR pedestal type automatic signal serving as a distant to CP-W for trains coming off the South Fork Secondary.  While not on a Main Line main track, it is nevertheless given a Main Line milepost number of 265.6. 

While I was there an eastbound oil train showed up with NS SD70ACU #7251 and ES44AC #8146 in the lead .

As the tail end helper pack rolled by with SD40E's #6310 and #6317, they passed the tail end of a westbound doublestack intermodal train on track #2.

#6310 and #6317 pushing hard through South Fork.

19-05-21 VIDEOS: Cal Cables

As an interactive living history museum, the San Francisco cable cab system is pretty conducive to shooting full line videos.  However the last time I had been inclined to shoot cable car line videos was before I had purchased my mountable GoPro and it getting a second set of videos, including a first set of the somewhat underwhelming California Line.  The weather wasn't entirely cooperative so the videos on the Bay-Taylor line had to be taken in a slight rain, but the Hyde-Beach line turned out much better. If you missed the static photography from this trip you can find that here.

We start with the MUNI California Line running from Market to Van Ness and back.  It actually took me two takes to get this due to an outbound camera malfunction and you can see the rather backlit first take returning from Van Ness, here.




Here we have the rainy morning trip on the Bay-Taylor (Mason) line from Market to the Bay St terminal near Fisherman's Wharf and back.




Finally, to complete the trifecta of MUNI Cable Car lines, here we have a round trip on the Hyde Line under markedly better early morning conditions. This route is the most popular with the tourists as it stops at the top of Lombard St.




Hope you enjoyed the ride.  Next time join my for an inside look at the disused PRR GWYNN tower.

19-05-20 PHOTOS: T Third Bis

Back in 2008 I rode the MUNI's new T-Third light rail line when it was new.  Fast forward 11 years and numerous San Francisco trips later I realized I did not really have a good photo survey of the T-Third line and made it my objective of my 2019 stay.  Of course when one is in San Francisco for a week there are many different transit oppurtunities to take advantage of and therefore this set will also include trips along all three cable car lines, the L Taraval to the Pacific ocean and walks along the E Embarcadero.

The full set of photos can be found here (mirror) and stay tuned for a second video post covering the Cable Car lines.

On the first day of my trip, traveling from San Jose Airport I got off Caltrain at Bayshore and transfered to the T Third at the Arleta station.  Breda LRV #1464 was on hand to take me downtown.

Passing Breda LRV #1529 at Armstrong Ave.

Passing by a New Flier XT40 Oakdale-Palou station.  All stops on the T-Third provide for level boarding.

There is a level crossing with the San Francisco Belt Railway immediately before the Islais Creek Brawbridge.

Breda LRV #1457 at the southern Metro East yard lead junction.

New crossovers and platforms were being constructed to support additional traffic to the equally new Chase Center area, future home of the Golden State Philadelphia Warriors.

Arriving at the Embarcadero terminal station I caught new Siemens LRV #2022 running behind my Breda LRV #1464.  These are scheduled to replace the Breda LRVs by 2027.

MUNI California Line Cable car #57 sitting at the Market Street terminal.

To collect my Three Day tourist pass of shame, I had to travel to the ticket kiosk at Powell.  Since my times MUNI ticket was still good, I caught the St. Louis heritage PCC #1050 running on the F market.   Note any PCCs with the "school bus" style drop windows are former SEPTA cars.

The operator of Breda LRV #1433 is getting a quick job briefing at the Embarcadaro terminal.

On Day 2 I set out to shoot video on both directions of the MUNI California Line.  The video mount was hands free so I was also able to get some stills like MUNI #58 sitting about a block east of the Anglican cathedral. 

MUNI California Line cable car #49 sitting at the Van Ness terminal.

19-05-19 PHOTOS: Caltran Caltrain VII

While I am a frequent visitor to the Bay Area, it had been some time since I was last able to conduct a full survey of the Caltrain line between San Francisco and San Jose.  In 2019 however I was forced into flying in and out of SJC airport for an event in San Francisco which would allow for multiple opportunities to see what was new on the old Peninsula commuter line. On the inbound leg of my trip I wound up getting a ride part way from family and the remainder of the trip was on Bombardier trainsets without a front view.  However the return leg allowed me an express run from San Francisco to San Jose with a short return hop back to Santa Clara where the airport bus connection is made.

You can find the full set of Caltrain photos here (mirror) and San Francisco transit photos will be covered in a separate post.

We begin at San Carlos where I was catching a northbound Sunday afternoon local to San Francisco just as a light drizzle was picking up.  Lead car of the Bomber trainset was car car #113.  Note the mix of LED and sealed beam headlights.

Instead of  riding all the way to the 4th and King Street terminal, I alighted at Bayshore to make a connection with the T-Third light rail line. Power was being provided by Caltrain MP36PH-3C #927 and the train departed under a Limited Clear signal indication at CP-TUNNEL.

Skipping ahead about 5 days, I again found myself on Caltrain catching "Baby Bullet" express train #330 south out of San Francisco's 4th and King street terminal on a Thursday Morning.  Often these late express runs will operate with a normal Gallery Car trainset as opposed to one of the Bombardier Baby bullet sets.  Departing 4th and King I captured MP36PH-3C #926 at the head of a Gallery Car trainset and #928 at the head of a Baby Bullet trainset on the lower tracks to the north. 

F40PH-2 #902 and MP30PH-3C #925 were hanging on tracks to the south.

South San Francisco is the Union Pacific staging area for all freight in San Francisco and a pair of UP GP40-2, including #1433, were on hand in the grey morning fog.  The signal bridge is a Southern Pacific original and construction is underway for the new electrification project which will place one of the substations just out of frame to the left. 

Caltrain has been slowly grade separating its line in busy downtown areas since 2004 and the most recent segment to be completed was in the town on San Bruno.  A new elevated station was constructed with closer proximity to BART, replacing the old station at the southern end of the viaduct.  Here we see Caltrain MP36PH-3C #923 with a northbound Baby Bullet trainset passing through San Bruno.  Note the newly installed overhead catenary supports.

Caltrain F40PH-2CAT #219 seen pushing northbound with a morning peak period train just south of the Millbrae station.

A new grade crossing project is underway through the town of Hillsdale with the viaduct going up adjacent to the current right of way.  This is somewhat reminiscent of the way the LIRR Babylon branch was reconstructed in the 1970s.  Here Caltrain F40PH-2CAT #901 is passing one of the new concrete overpasses.  It appears that the design involves both raising the tracks and lowering the road.