12-08-31 PHOTOS: New Hampshire Funspot

Over Labour Day I took my annual trip up to New Hampshire to visit a friend in Portsmouth and this year we decided to head up to the Funspot Family Fun Center and American Classic Arcade Museum, which thanks to attrition is now the largest video arcade in the world. In order to get up to New Hampshire I of course had to take an Amtrak Regional train up through New York and then transfer to a Downeaster train in Boston so most of today's photos are going to cover what I saw making the self transfer between Boston South Station and Boston North Station.

You can find the full set of photos here.

We begin at Penn Station and although I know there are some rather large gaps in the LIRR section it is really necessary to festoon every door with four warning stickers?

Here we see some M2's in the motor storage yard in New Haven. Across the way Amtrak has taken to keeping an MP15DC switcher over in their engine terminal.

At BOS I found Amtrak AEM-7 #918 ready to lead a Regional southbound sitting next to an Acela Express trainset.

At the other end of the platform AX #2029 was playing the role of rear power car.

Messerschmidt cab car #1502 head of a split level K-car. All they need now is something from Fiat or Breda and the MTBA can start running "axis specials".

Standing in for the allies was Hawker Orange Line car #1210 at the Sullivan Sq. From all the corrosion it seems that Hawker would have been better served had they stuck with fabric construction instead of Aluminum.

I had a bit of extra time in the connection so I took a bit of a joy ride on the Orange Line. Here my train back to North Station arrives headed by car #1228.

MTBA GP40MC #1130 sitting on track 10 at North Station. 

Amtrak P42DC #122 on the 5:30pm Downeaster departure sitting next to MTBA F40PH #1008.

12-08-04 PHOTOS: SONOTOMO

I really wish I had something Christmas-y to post, but even though I have chopped my processing backlog down to 2 months from 11, that's not close enough to get in my photos from the Baltimore Streetcar Museum Santa Special or anything with the Nostalgia train which I didn't bother to ride this year. So everyone is going to have to sit back and yawn as I dig up some photos from August when myself and an all-star cast of Subhcatters including Chuchubob, Fred G and Alex converged on South Norwalk, CT for a visit to the preserved New Haven Railroad interlocking tower there.

Now this is not my first trip to the museum, but with the M-2's due for retirement I needed to get out on the New Haven Line anyway and this was probably the best destination available. For those of you looking for an in depth description of how turn of the century electro-mechanical interlocking machines functioned I am going to save that for another essay in the future, but there are plenty of non-signaling related visual treats available.

We start off with a string of classic M-2 railcars departing Stamford inbound towards New York City. I took Amtrak to Stamford and then got a ride from Alex there instead of trying to make the 1 minute transfer to Metro-North.

Enter the bag guy, track left as an outbound train of M-8's pulls in.

Inbound Stamford local train with M-2 #8832 in the lead.

Roof shot of M-2 #8832.

Video of 8832 and friends departing Stamford from above.



MNRR BL20-GH #115 pushing at the rear of an outbound Danbury shuttle train. The Beeps have been suffering from some overheating problems which is why one of the side doors is open.

Amtrak Acela Express #2039 in the push position as it heads through the Norwalk truss bridge.

Brand new Metro North catenary structure bolted to the original 1918 New Haven gantries is at least a nice consolation prize after the original catenary was removed.

The original New Haven electrified wire warning sign needs to be updated as voltage was raised to 12,000. At least its better than the "High Voltage SEPTA" signs.

12-07-06 VIDEOS: An R32 Day on the A

Due to still photography not working very well in a vehicle moving through darkly lit tunnels I once again turned to video recording to get more than a joy ride out of my Summer R32 trip to NYC. Even better I was now equipped with a 720p HD video capable camera so I would now have the joy of re-shooting all of standard def video I took previously. However because my camera is also fitted with a pair of 16GB SD cards I didn't have to worry so much about being stingy with what I shot...or at least that is what I assumed.

My trip comprised a complete round trip on the A between 207th St and Mott Ave in the Rockaways, although not in that order as I had a midday break in midtown for lunch, and I shot video along the majority of the route in both directions. In chronological order I went from Penn Station to 207th St, then down to Canal, then back up to Times Square in the morning and then in the afternoon I went from Hoyt to Nostrand, waited several headways for a clean railfan window, then continued on to Mott Ave, then back all the way to Penn Station again.

As a lesson to all of you who might assume there is no need to film or video something just 4 months after I took this journey, the entire line out to the Rockaways was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and my HD videos posted to YouTube will be one of the few historical records of the line as it used to be. After the storm I saw a huge spike in traffic to that video as various people were nostalgic about another vanished transportation link.

Anyway, for the purposes of simplicity I am going to present my videos in the form of a round trip starting outbound at Nostrand Ave, heading out and back to the Rockaways, then north to 207th St before returning south to end at Canal St. Remember these videos are available in HD so please check that option for the best viewing experience.

Here begin at the Nostrand Ave Station, named indirectly for the famous Dr Van Nostrand at the Hoffermyer Clinic in Belgium and continue east along the Fulton Line all the way to the 80th St station on the Liberty Ave El.


In our second video we will run all the way from Liberty Junction at Rockaway Boulevard to Beach 67th St on the Rockaways. The segment between Horward Beach and Hammels Wye, along with much of the Rockaways themselves, were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.


Here we are headed back in the other direction from Beach 67th to Broad Channel.


Same line, Howard Beach to Rockaway Boulevard.


Back underground with the westbound Fulton Line starting at Grant Ave and proceeding all the way to Fulton Ave.


Here we switch over to the 8th Ave Line and run it all the way from Fulton Ave to 207th St.


We finish up with a southbound dash on the A from 207th St all the way to Canal. The reason I left in the gap between Canal and Nostrand Ave in this direction was due to some time and logistical concerns combined with the fact I can video that segment any time I went when the R32's are on the C.


Anyway, hope you enjoy the movies and I'm a bit surprised that railfans who actually live in NYC haven't really bothered to take advantage of the dwindling RFW opportunities for video purposes themselves.

12-07-06 PHOTOS: An R32 Day on the A

One of the many highlights of Summer, right up there with baseball and trips to the shore is the now annual appearance of R32's on the A. No longer confined to dismal local runs under the ground, the A assignment allows the venerable Budd cars to stretch their legs on long express runs and even see the light of day as they emerge from the tunnel and head out to points in Queens and the Rockaways.

Over the July 4th Holiday period I headed up to New York City to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity and shoot some HD video from the large and surprisingly clean railfan windows. Most of the video segments will be put into a follow up post, but here is a compilation of still photographs I took during the outing, the complete set of which can be found here.

We begin in Trenton where Amtrak train #79 or 89 has arrived with an extra heritage baggage car on the head end. The pair includes #1708 in a Phase IV scheme and 1763 in the current scheme,

Here we see R32 #3442 on the rear of a southbound train at Penn Station with an R160 E train passing by on the local track.

Cab of R32 #3427 at 207th St.

R32's #3607 and #3841 laying over at 207th St.

An R32 at Canal street facing a Clear signal after having waited for the E-Train connection across the platform.

12-06-29 VIDEOS: Farewell II the Silverliner II III

As you just saw in the proceeding post I attended the last two round trips of the coupled Silverliner II and III cars running on the Cynwyd Branch. Due to the fantrip-like nature of these ostensibly "revenue" runs and the very accommodating crew I was able to fully document the operation of both Silverliner II #9010 and Silverliner III #235 on the penultimate as well as obtaining rear vestibule and side window videos on the final run itself.

In addition to capturing High Definition video of the operation of these historic cars, you can also see the PRR cab signaling system in action as we run between BROAD and VALLEY interlockings on the historic PRR Main Line.

We begin on Train 1087 departing Suburban Station and running all the way to Cynwyd. This video shows the train climbing up and along the Chinese Wall to 30th St station, then out along the Main Line to the new K Interlocking before crossing into Amtrak territory at ZOO before heading up and over the valley Flyover to the SEPTA Cynwyd Line.

The soon to be retired Valley Flyover was used by Main Line PRR trains and Schuylkill Branch trains alike. Main Line track #4 was relocated off the flyover in 1994 and now slapped with a 5mph speed restriction the bridge will soon be replaced by a direct connection to the Main Line at PAXON.

Note the cab signal dropping as the train passes the signal on the far end of the flyover bridge. This is non-cab signaled territory and the conductor must use his key in the cutout box on the other side of the cab.



Next up we have the same sort of video only this time documenting SEPTA Silverliner III #235 on the head of Train #1088 as it returns to Center City from Cynwyd.

Included in this video is a detailed demonstration of the Pennsylvania Railroad Cab Signaling system. Watch as the train passes CP-JEFF and the cabs are automatically cut in and then go through a test sequence. Also watch as the SEPTA dispatcher pulls down our signal at the new K interlocking due to a heat kink and then when attempting to cross the train over, enters the wrong route requiring her to pull down the signal again and run time.



Next we have the Railfan Special express run from Cynwyd straight through to Market East. This would normally be a deadhead into the far end of Powlerton Yard, but special accommodation was made for the large number of people who turned out for this special event. Also in evidence are the large number of non-riding railfans camped out trackside for their final run photos.

The railfan special has to wait a bit at 30th St for some traffic to clear before heading through the Center City tunnel to Market East where I make sure to say farewell to both cars.



The fun didn't end there as we were treated to one more ride back to 30th St Station where I opted to fight the crowds at the front of the train for a head end video of this event.



The final moments of the Old Car era at SEPTA as #9010 and #235 discharge all their riders and pull into Powlerton Yard for the last time. Not as good a video as the May fantrip pulling out of Market East, but I guess everyone else could have the better shots back in the middle of the platform.



Well that's it for the Silverliner II's, but next week tune in for yet more Budd action as I go spend a day with some R32's on the A!

12-06-29 PHOTOS: Farewell II the Silverliner II III

Well we return to our regular programming with the final Farewell II the Silverliner II fantrip and I say Fantrip because that is effectively what it was despite taking place on a mostly revenue train. On June 29th the one remaining Silverliner II, Reading car 9010 and one remaining Silverliner III, Airport car #235, were to make their final runs on the Cynwyd Branch before leaving service due to an expiring ADA waiver concerning their lack of PA systems. While I had originally not intended to come up for the final ride, the day before it dawned on me that I was literally never going to get another chance to ride these cars (although that wasn't quite true) and there was no reason not to go. My decision to attend was influenced by the announcement that instead of stranding any "last riders" at Cynwyd, we would be allowed to return to Center City on what would normally be a deadhead move directly into Powlerton Yard. So I paid $150 for next day Amtrak tickets (two to three times the standard cost of an "official" charter trip I might add) and arrived in time to take two final day round trips on the old cars, the penultimate and ultimate.

You can see all the photos from this trip here and also stay tuned for a special video post to follow behind this one.

I arrived at Suburban Station in time for the third to last round trip, Train 1084, to arrive on track #5 at Suburban Station.


The Reading car #9010, sill sporting its original class designation on the door, was located on the west end of the train.

PC car #235 was on the east end.

235's lefthand cab.

9010's standard cab.

9010 was in a good mood as always.

Chuchubob and friends on board early, beating the rush.

Non-riding Railfans greet the penultimate train at Bala.

Penultimate outbound trip discharges at Cynwyd. 

Due to platform work at Cynwyd the train crew was prevented by a barricade from going to the end of the wire (or Ivy Ridge) for a additional photo stops.

Silverliner III #235 from behind.

12-06-17 PHOTOS: Capitol Bummer

Well after a bit of a delay it is time to showcase the final installment of my 012 Cross Country trip via the California Zephyr. Of course I got off the Zephyr and in Chicago and after a day of railfanning in the Windy Apple it was time to finish the trip up via Amtrak's Capitol Limited. To explain the title of this photo, set compared to a year previous this trip was a lot less uplifting due to a variety of signaling and infrastructure changes that considerably degraded the value of the much more mundane dash across the eastern half of the country. I guess one silver lining is that I no longer have to get up early to take pictures of endangered CPLs or the remarkable engineering of the Magnolia Cutoff, but of course if there isn't anything to see from the train it might be better to just take Southwest the rest of the way.

so what specifically was to greet me on this trip? Well we started with an hour delay out of Chicago due to a power failure at the 21St drawbridge. Then of course CP-513 is poised to lose its position light signals just like CP-509 already has. HICK tower is now closed so another victory for video games over real railroading. All but one of the small target Michigan Central style semaphores between MP 495 and CP-487 were changed to large target semaphores. CSX of course removed the position light signals and pole line between ORLEANS ROAD and HANCOCK on its main line in West Virgina and of course the are busy blasting out the Magnolia Cuttoff tunnels in a vain attempt to compete with the new Panama Canal route which will destroy their slowest in North America intermodal service. WB tower in West Brunswick was closed and the almost brand new CPLs on the Metropolitan Sub were all removed due to a rush of stimulus dollars that ensures that MARC trains operating their peak direction weekday service have the ability to cross over every 2 miles.

You can see all the photos of the above bad news here.

Like I said we began in Chicago where it was time to hurry up and wait for the stuck drawbridge. While creeping on signals we were passed by an inbound Aurora Line train with METRA F40PH #141 pushing on the rear.

We were soon joined by the outbound Texas Eagle lead by P42 #179 and now second in line to cross the bridge.

Another pair of Amtrak P42, #182 and #52, sitting on the Lumber St wye track getting ready to turn a train.

Heading past the site of the old 21st St tower we were joined in our passage over the now functional drawbridge by a BNSF coal train.

Lead by BNSF ES44AC #5940 and SD70MAC #9952

Here is the trip across the 21st St bridge in video form.



The new MP 519 automatic signals break the single block between CP-519 and Amtrak's 21St St interlocking into two.

NS C40-10W #7606 handles a double stack intermodal train alone on approach to CP-ENGLEWOOD.

The position lights at CP-513.

The quad draws at CP-509.