13-10-14 PHOTOS: Shoofly Two

The Port Road Shoo Flys were once considered the holy grail of railfan locations in the Eastern Pennsylvania area. These three structures were built by the pennsylvania Railroad as part of the 1915 Atglen and Susquehanna "Low Grade" project that bypassed heavy grades on the PRR Main Line between Parkesburg and Harrisburg by cutting across hill and dale to join the Columbia and Port Deposit alignment just south of Columbia, PA. When trying to fit in the A&S next to the C&PD between the cliffs and the river the PRR ran into some issues with three local streams that would risk washing out Port Road if they were left to drain under both rights of way. The solution was an innovative "Shoo Fly" structure (I know that the correct term is "flume", but I have seen these called shoo flys) that carried the streams over the Port Road after passing under the A&S. From north to south they were Mann's Run, Fisherman's Run and Fry's Run.

Now I said these were considered holy grails because even though the A&S was abandoned in the 1980's and only continued to serve as a 25Hz power RoW for Amtrak, the locations are completely inaccessible due to local topology. To visit all three of the Shoo Flies would require a 7 mile round trip hike from the Safe Harbor Dam to the south or a 9 mile hike in from Blue Rock from the north. In 2007 I used a rather daring shortcut across an active landfill to visit the Mann's Run Shoo Fly, but it was a rather high risk enterprise just to see a bit of historical engineering.

Well fast forward some years and it appears that the State of Pennsylvania has completely robbed the railfan community of one of its more cathartic experiences (as well as destroying a vital rail corridor) by turning the former A&S into the Enola Low Grade Trail. It now takes a sum total of 20 minutes to reach all three Shoo Flies via a bicycle on the immaculately manicured roadbed. Of course that was lost in the journey was partly made up by increased access to a large number of PRR era railroad appliances that were just left in place by Conrail when they ripped up the track.

In today's segment I will explore each of the Shoo Flies and then double back to show off some of the other historic elements featured along the trail. You can find the full set of photos here.

We begin with something completely different. Here is East Penn railway GP9 #1701 sitting near York, PA near US 30.

Heading to the rail trail parking lot we pass through Comulbia, PA with the 1930's vintage COLA tower, which still held the local relay interlocking logic until just a few years ago.

The whole area from Holtwood to Shocks was resignaled by NS to get rid of the Rule 251 operation and US&S 504 code line. Fortunately the catenary structure in this area ws saved from scrapping because it is still used to carry a 25Hz 138Kv power circuit from Safe Harbor to Royalton.

First up is the Mann's Run Shoo Fly. This is the largest of the three streams with a wide trough and high walls.

This one also has the best waterfall effect.



If photos aren't enough here is a video tour of the Mann's Run Shoo Fly.


Fisherman's Run is the smallest Shoo Fly with a very narrow trough. It is also having problems with exposed rebar.

 Here is the transition for Fisherman's Run from forest stream to railroad aqueduct.

13-10-05 PHOTOS: Going to Church Ave

Back in October I got word that the spendthrifts at the NYCTA were replacing more of their reliable 1930's technology with modern junk so I jumped on a train and headed up to the Windy Apple in order to take a few photos of the old US&S interlocking plant at Church Ave. Now normally there isn't much to see with NYCTA interlocking towers because the windows are either papered over or they are located in the bowels of the tunnels, however Church Ave was interesting because the 1933 vintage 28-lever Model 14 interlocking machine had a CCTV feed piped into the dispatchers office so save on having to install a mimic board. This was photographable and I desperately wanted both photos and video of this rather crazy anachronism.

You can find all the photos here.

The MTA aren't the only ones throwing out perfectly good signaling. On my way up I stopped by the Ankin siding on the CSX Philly Sub where I caught the eastbound B&O CPL signal displaying a Clear indication at the east end of the siding. This interlocking was previously re-done only about 12 years ago, but I guess railroad money grows on trees.

I then proceeded to the west end of the siding and while that signal was also displaying Clear there was still no sign of the train it was for.

Onto the New York. We begin with a walk around the Chambers Street Station while waiting for an R32. There always seems to be a train arriving or departing the downtown Chambers St complex. In this walk down the platform An R32 C Train and R46 A-Train both depart before the arrival of another R46 A-Train.


Changing trains at West 4th Street I got video of a southbound departing R32 C-Train with #3515 on the front.



Yup, more videos. This time of R46 #5714 departing Church Ave at the head of an F Train en route to Coney Island.



MoW and C&S crews were occupying the inbound local track and I caught this GRS Model 2 switch machine on a pallet waiting to be installed. This surprised me as I figured the NYCTA had become a US&S M3 house and also I didn't think this model of point machines were still made.

Powering the first set of work cars was diesel R47 #65.

Acting as a cab car on the second work train was former R33 rider car #RD420 where workers can relax ;-) after a long day on the job.

AAR coupling between RD420 and the ballast hopper car.

Powering the second train was another R47 #63.

Alright, here is what I came to see, the Model 14 CCTV feed in the dispatch office.

Samsung meet US&S. I find this whole setup to be wildly ironic given the amount of processing power being used to replicate the model board vs the amount of processing power in the 1933 vintage interlocking machine itself. 

13-10-02 PHOTOS: B&O Rush Hour

Folks wishing to travel between Baltimore and Washington, DC have the somewhat unique ability to choose from between two different commuter rail routes. They can take the Penn Line with is frequent high speed service on Amtrak's NEC or they can take the Camden Line from the former B&O terminal downtown. This service is significantly slower and much less frequent. Still, there is still what can be considered a rush hour and last October I ventured back to the Bailey's Wye area to get some pictures of what passes now for a B&O rush hour before CSX ripped down all the Color Position Light signals.

You can find all the photos right here.

We begin with the three track B&O signal bridge at the west end of BAILEY interlocking which will eventually be replaced over the President's Day weekend. The two tracks to the right are the main CSX tracks while the track to the left is only used by MARC trains going to the Camden Station.

My strategy worked and I managed to photograph a Medium Approach Slow indication on the MARC signal. Not only is the new signaling lamer, it is also less capable as future trains will only be able to get an Approach or Slow Approach at the same location.

Here we have a video of northbound MARC train #846 is just about to arrive at the Camden Station behind MP36PH-3C #25 as it passes under the 3-track B&O CPL signal bridge at BAILEY with single level cab car #7754.


This was followed shortly by an DC-bound MARC train lead by cab car #7758.

MARC MP39PH-3C #28 was providing power for the trip west.

The major MARC maintenance facility is located at the CSX Locust Point yard so after discharging at the small 3 track Camden Station they go back around the wye and out to Locust Point which we see MP39PH-3C #25 doing in this photo.

Waiting for all of this to pass was former B&O GP35 Road Slug #2366 and GP40-2 #6966.

Instead of venturing out onto the main line the two car freight train reversed through LEADENHALL ST interlocking towards the Locust Point yard.

The east side of BAILY interlocking was awaiting its brand new 4-track signal bridge which is somehow more cost effective than the collection of B&O CPL dwarves and masts that are currently there.

While hanging out there I caught northbound MARC train #848 behind MARC GP39-2H #74 as it passes through Bailey's Wye. Single level cab car #7746 is on the rear.

13-09-24 PHOTOS: Southern Return

Every time I go down to Georgia to visit my friend I always make a point of returning to the part of the country that isn't horribly bigoted and believes in science. These trips don't tend to result in as many nice photos as the outbound trips because unless the train is terribly late I only have a small window of daylight early in the morning between Charlottesville and Washington, DC to take pictures. This trip is no different and while the Southern Main Line photos are a little thin I did manage to get some excellent photos while the power change was taking place in Washington, DC.

You can find all of the pictures right here.

Today we kick things off with a video showing a CSX mixed freight on the Abbeville Sub passing MP 510 automatic displaying a Y/Y Advance Approach indication with a pair of AC4400 locomotives, #468 and #295, running elephant style.


Moving on to the Gainesville Amtrak station where my northbound Train 20 was running a bit late around 9:30 pm I had some time to take some photos of the local yard power stationed there. Here is NS SD40-2 #3355.

There was also some road power switching a long string of tank cars with C40-9W #9108 on the front and SD70M-2 #2775 and an SD40-2.

For a "small" station there was a good sized group of passenger waiting to board the northbound Crescent.

Amtrak Train 20 arrives at the Gainesville, GA station with P42DC's #191 and #121 providing the power.



NS SD70ACe #1055 in the number two position behind C44-9W #8953 with a mixed freight southbound at Culpepper, VA.

Southern railway cabin car on display at the Manannas Amtrak/VRE station.

Well I said I had some great Washington, DC photos so we begin with MARC MP36PH-3C #10 preparing to depart in front of #13 with a double headed Penn Line train.

Lead power for my train, P42DC #191.

Amtrak AEM-7 #941 hanging out reading to take charge of a train for the trip north to New York.

AEM-7 #926 departing northbound with a Virginia service Regional.

 Amtrak SW1000R #796 running past K Tower with an extra pilot running on the back porch and an MoW whistle man on the ground.

We'll finish things off with this video montage of all the cool power change and arrival/departure action from Washington Union Stations lower level. The video includes:

Amtrak AEM-7 #926 departing with a northbound Regional
Inbound MARC commuter train
P42DC's #191 and #121 pulling off T20 to the yard.
Outbound DC Metro Red Line train.
MARC MP36PH-3C engines #13 and #10 on providing power to the previously mentioned inbound train.
Amtrak AEM-7 #908 with southbound Train 79 running next to an Amtrak SW1500 switcher.
Amtrak SW1000R #796 pulling out past K Tower
AEM-7 #946 running lite from the lower storage tracks up through K interlocking before reversing onto the head of Train 20


Well that's it for this week. Tune in next time for some more MARC and CSX photos from downtown Baltimore.

13-09-19 PHOTOS: Darth A-Line

Twice a year I take a trip down to Georgia to visit a friend, but due to a variety of circumstances the spring '13 trip was canceled and so my trip in September of 2013 was my first time on the route in over a year. During this time CSX continued to carry out more of its re-signaling campaign on the A-Line removing more of the 1980's era ACL/SCL signaling.

Anyway you all know the drill. Train 79 from Baltimore to Greensboro, NC changing to Amtrak train 19 which would take me the rest of the way. All of the photos can be found here and check them out especially if you enjoy all the signaling stuff. I got pretty lucky being able to take one window rear facing photos instead of the usual two window dreck I have to deal with on Amfleets.

We begin at Amtrak Washington Union Station with a double headed Regional preparing to depart the lower level with AEM-7's #950 and #912 at the front.

Up on the upper level was Acela Express power car #2019 waiting for its next departure northbound.

The diesel power for my Train 79 was P42DC #43.

Amtrak heritage baggage car #1703 waiting for P42 #43.

Video of #43 running up through A Interlocking and then back onto the front of T79 coupling to baggage car #1703.



Lone railfan taking photos at the Fredericksburg Amtrak/VRE station.

CSX GP40-2 #6295 engaging in some flat switching at the Fredericksburg Yard.

Passing northbound Amtrak Train 94 near Massiponix just shy of XR interlocking where the VRE yard is located. 

Although modified some of the original RF&P signaling has been left in place :-)

Unfortunately the pneumatic switch machine equipped and RF&P signaled SOUTH MILLFORD interlocking has had the once over.

HN tower at the Doswell Diamonds.

Street running through Ashland, VA.



Train 79 and Train 92 side-by-side at Richmond Staples Mill Road station.

P42DC #43 at Staples Mill Road.

13-09-14 PHOTOS: End of the Wye

Bailey's Wye is the nexus of mainline railroading in Baltimore where the old Camden passenger terminal and Howard Street tunnel join the line to the yard and port facilities at Locust Point. I've been there many times before and posted several sets of photos from the area, but this time the trip was more out of necessity than pleasure as the all-consuming resignaling project that CSX has been undertaking in the Maryland area is finally ready to scrub the old B&O from Baltimore.

After declaring a railfan emergency I made a special trip down to the site in September to document whatever I had missed during a previous trip back in March. You can find all the new photos right here.

We begin at the Mt Royal Light Rail station with MTA-MD LRV #5043.

I was actually looking to take my first light rail trip to Cromwell since the line was double tracked years ago, and since my friend and I had first caught a BWI train we had to transfer at Hamburg St. While there I caught the southbound B&O CPL mast signal at HB TOWER displaying an uncommon Approach Slow indication.

MTA-MD LRV #5029 at the Cromwell Terminal.

CSX C40-8W #7346 and C40-10W #5290 wait for a proceed signal at Leadenhall St heading out of Locust Point yard for the main line westbound.

With a Slow Approach Slow indication up on the CPL dwarf the train then heads past the signals at LEADENHALL ST interlocking towards the main line connection at BAILEY. The new Darth Vader masts are already up.

Slow means slow as we see the same freight train crawling across the Leadenhall St crossing and knocking down the B&O CPL at BAILEY.


Footings are in place for a new 4-track signal bridge at BAILEY. All of this is a massive waste seeing that all of the signaling here was redone for the 1992 Camden Yards redevelopment project which opened the new MARC station and extended the Howard St tunnel.

CSX ES44AC-H #913 leads a New York City trash train southward under the 3-track Bailey B&O CPL signal bridge.

AC4400 #5 was in the second position.

After the westbound had passed the eastbound track 2 signal pulled up a Medium Clear for a train headed through the Howard St tunnel.

That train was a real catch with AC6000 #5001, the CSX Diversity engine and SD70MAC #4798 pulling the cars.


I'll leave you all with this photos of a southbound Amtrak Regional train on track #7 at Baltimore Penn Station with HHP-8 #651.

Anyway I hope you all have a happy holiday season and remember the 13th Mid-Winter trip is this upcoming Thursday 12/26.