16-03-25 PHOTOS: PERRY

Perryville, MD is a fairly popular railfanning location on the east bank of the Susquehanna River. It is the northern terminus of MARC's Penn Line service which provides a platform that offers views of Amtrak trains crossing the Susquehanna River bridge. It is also the junction between the formerly electrified Port Road Branch that continues to provide freight access to the Southern NEC markets of Baltimore and Wilmington. Finally it is a key node on Amtrak's 25hz traction power distribution system where 4 138kv circuits from the Safe Harbor running on a private right of way tie into the lines serving the NEC.

Since I am often driving up and down the I-95 corridor I decided one afternoon in March to take a couple of hours and see what might show up. You can see the full set of photos here.

One never has to wait for PERRY tower to show up because it's always there. The brick structure was constructed as part of the PRR's wartime improvements along the NEC. A US&S all electric interlocking machine controlled the local plant while a CTC console controlled switches at GRACE and OAK interlockings on the far side of the river and QUARRY and MINICK interlockings on the Port Road Branch.

A northbound Acela Express trainset was first to arrive bracketed by power cars #2017 and #2036.

Due to the lighting I opted for video with some of the trains. Here a pair of Amtrak Regional trains hauled by ACS-86 locomotives #622 and #640 cross the Susquehanna River bridge. Speed across the bridge is 90mph.



Another northbound Regional with ACS-86 #645 passing PERRY tower.

Class leader ACS-86 #600 runs past with a southbound Regional train.

MARC Perryville station platform with the old PW&B station building.

Video of Northbound Amtrak Acela Express train crosses the Susquehanna River at Perryville with power cars #2029 and #2026.



Southbound AX with power cars #2021 and #2024.

The Perryville substation is one of the largest (by area) on the former PRR system and can switch current between 4 circuits 138kv west to Safe Harbor, 2 138kv circuits north to Philadelphia and 2 138kv circuits south to Washington. You can see a diagram from the old Philadelphia power dispatch office here with an explanation of the symbols here. 

Here you can see the 4 Safe Harbor circuits terminating on the upper beam while the lower beam serves the 12kv bus on the other side of the 1SL transformer. Amtrak replaced almost all of its legacy transformers in the 2005 time frame.

Two sets of extra switches allows for additional power routing options. Usually at least one switch will remain open to avoid tying every line to every other line. These switches are not circuit breakers and cannot be opened under load.

Some of the insulators are original to the 1930's, while a few have been replaced over the years with modern equivalents. The switchgear was remotely operated from the beginning and with some exceptions the local towers controlled the section breakers while the power dispatcher could manipulate the HT network.

To save on costs, the PRR only installed circuit breakers on the 12kv side of its power network. The three exceptions were at Thorndale, ZOO and here at Perryville where dead tank 138kv oil filled transformers allowed parts of the 138kv network to be isolated under load. Each of these parts were anchored by a major power supply point (Port Richmoond, Lamokin and Safe Harbor). Because the hydro turbines at Safe Harbor could become out of phase with the rest of the PJM grid, phase break signals were installed at Perryville and Thorndale and are still used on occasion.

While having only three sets of 138kv breakers did save on capitol costs, it did leave the HT network exposed to outages and is why wide scale power disruptions occur with some regularity on Amtrak. When one of the HT sections goes down, everything connected to it must be completely unloaded in order to then operate the switches and isolate the fault. 

16-02-19 PHOTOS: PORT

Normally when friends want me to go on road trips with them I add railfan stops as a requirement for my participation. So when my friend asked if I would accompany him to the Harrisburg Horse Expo I figured it would be a good opportunity to snag some PRR Middle Division action at the town of Newport, PA about 10 miles up the Juniata River from the confluence with the Susquehanna at Duncannon. This was followed up with a short visit to the Harrisburg fast fuel pad which sits adjacent to the Harrisburg intermodal yard about 2 miles east of the Rockville Bridge. You can view the full set of photos here.

We kick off with a bit of an aside. In Mach, 2016, CSX replaced a landmark 1885 Whipple through truss bridge that spanned the NEC just south of Bayview yard carrying the CSX track to the Port of Baltimore coal export terminal. Aware of this I made sure to get a photo of the bridge from the back of an Amtrak Regional train before the replacement. Fortunately a similar truss bridge still stands about a mile or so further down on the same line.

That Regional trip was also my first opportunity to be hauled by Veterans ACS-86 #642.

Moving on to the non-electrified portion of the PRR, Newport, PA is home to PORT interlocking which consists of a complete two track crossover and a single switch to an industrial track. A classic PRR signal bridge still stands for westbound movements.

Here we see NS C40-9Ws #9714 and #8939 hauling a cut of gondolas down the easy grade towards Harrisburg.

This was soon followed by a westbound manifest train led by SD70M-2 #2683 and standard cab C40-9 #8767.

Included in the consist was Reading and Northern coal hopper #7948.

A short while later aging NS C40-8W #8369 was single haulin' a train of autoracks westbound towards Altoona. 

At the Harrisburg Fuel pad a westbound train had just cleared the MP 107 intermediate signals, not bothering to stop for fuel.

An eastbound loaded coal train with NS C40-9W #9375 and friends had decided to stop and top off while sister C40-9W #9083 looked on from the yard.

So called "Fast" fuel pads located on main line tracks in terminal areas were a feature of the North American Class 1 railroad efficiency revolution allowing road power to be run from origin to destination without needing to be swapped out for servicing en route.

That's all for today. Next week we visit Amtrak at Perryville, MD.

16-02-06 PHOTOS: Empire State of Mind

The month of February has been an opportunity to travel to the NY Capitol Region for an extended weekend of skiing, college hockey and railfan activities. This year, due to atypically low snow levels in the Adirondacks, I was only able to peruse two of those three, but I didn't mind since that meant more time to railfan ;-)

Most of the pics involve Amtrak's Hudson Line used by the Empire Service trains. There is a general reconstruction project taking place at the Albany-Renssalaer terminal complex to increase both speeds and the number of tracks. I also captured some of the work on the double track project between Albany and CP-169 west of Schenectady. You can view the full set here.

We begin with my last ride behind an AEM-7 in Amtrak service as #915 shows up with my early morning Regional train in Baltimore.



My Empire train suffered an initial terminal delay of about 20 minutes because of work at the INWOOD movable bridge that rendered the switch there non-functional and the Empire Line effectivly a single track railroad.

At Poughkeepie I caught heritage painted P32AC-DM #704 hauling Empire train #242.

Classic New York Central signal bridge at MP 79.

CP-114 at Hudson, NY with a CSX geep in the yard.

Attention Amtrak, I found where all your missing platform stools had wound up.

The Alfred H. Newman Smith Bridge spanning the high speed section of Amtrak's Hudson Line. North of CP-125, where CSX freight traffic departs via the Schodak Branch, speeds increase to 110mph from 95. Prior to Amtrak's lease of the entire Hudson Line from CSX, this section had also been maintained by Amtrak. 

The rebuilt CP-142 at Albany-Rensselaer. LED searchlights have replaced the GRS SA electro-mechanical models. 

Amtrak P32AC-DM #706 headed into the yard at Albany-Rensselaer. Note the new platform extension work as well as the rebuilding of CP-143.

16-02-04 VIDEOS: Amtrak Hudson Line

Some perks of Amtrak Business Class on Empire Service trains include plush 2+1 seating in former first class cars, adjacency to the Cafe where one can enjoy complimentary beverages and a rear facing railfan window. Moreover, because BC passangers are assumed to have money and clout, the crews are often more accommodating when it comes to taking pictures out of the rear vestibule ;-)

Now last year I had made a similar attempt to video this route, but snow on the track resulted in a completely obstructed view and I had to abort the mission. This year was the exact opposite with so little snow upstate I actually had to cancel a planned ski trip. As I had previously taken video from the front of Metro North express trains I saw little use in re-shooting that part of the Hudson Line. Instead of captured the Empire Line from Penn Station to DV and then the entirety of Amtrak's Hudson line from CP-75 through CP-142.

Here we see the empire Service Train #235 departing Penn Station about 20 minutes late due to a single track condition on the Empire Line due to work in the area of INWOOD interlocking. Thanks to rising property values, most of the RoW in the Midtown area has now been overbuilt for new residential towers.



Jumping ahead to the end of Metro-North territory at Poughkeepsie we look at the back as the train runs from there to the town of Rhinecliff at speeds up to 95mph. Note the former NY Central signal bridges.



From Rhinecliff we pass through CP-90 and then on towards the town of Hudson. We pass the southbound Train 48 Lake Shore Limited about 6 minutes in.



Here the train runs from Hudson to the Albany-Rensselaer metroplex. Max speed on this portion of the line is 95mph below CP-125 and 110mph from CP-125 to CP-142. This was due to CSX, who owned and maintained the line between CP-75 and CP-125, not wanting to keep the tracks at the 110mph standard in the face of daily freight train service.

CSX freights exit the Hudson line via the Schodak Branch which diverges at CP-125, crosses over the Hudson Line and then reaches the Boston Line/Selkirk Branch at the Alfred E Smith Bridge that passes above the Hudson Line at a high level.

Also note the new CP-138, CP-141 and CP-142 that are part of the Albany Terminal reconstruction effort that will add a 4th station track and new engine change tracks. The signals at CP-138 are approach lit and flash on once Train 235 has occupied the block.



Well that's it. Next week tune in as I once again toodle about the Capitol Region.

16-01-25 PHOTOS: NE See Snow

In January 2016, the Northeast was hit by a massive snow storm dumping some 20-30 inches of snow in some places. As luck would have it I had previously scheduled a trip to Boston that allowed me to avoid the worst of the storm (one of the few times traveling to Boston actually decreased the chance of snow). While returning back down south I was able to capture some of the still ongoing efforts to dig out of the storm from the side of my AX train.

You can view the entire set of photos here.

A few days before the storm there is no sign of trouble in Boston as Amtrak ACS-86 #615 delivers me to South Station.

MTBA Green Line Type 8 #3884 and Type 7 #3617 seen here at the Boston University station on the 'B' Line.

The Boston University Bridge was assembled from steel components provided by the Phoenix Bridge Company of Phoenixville, PA in 1927.

This bridge actually spans both the Charles River and the Grand Junction Railroad bridge. The Grand Junction Railway is the only link connecting the "North" (Boston and Maine) and "South" (B&A/New Haven) rail networks. Today it is mostly used by the MTBA and Amtrak to shift trainsets.

The north end of the bridge was home to a very vocal flock of geese (and a homeless encampment).

Additional geese and ducks lived in the nearby Charles River.

The Saturday-Sunday storm dropped about 7 inches in Boston, but the larger totals south of the city snarled Amtrak traffic and the system was only just starting to reboot by Monday morning. This is in contrast to the Winter of 2014/15 where Boston was pretty much alone in suffering from repeated snowfall. Here a Type 7 departs Boston University Station with its platforms shoveled and salted.

Evidence of the big drop started appearing in Penn Station as seen with NJT Comet V cab car #6044.

16-01-01 PHOTOS: Elkton

In the no-mans-land between SEPTA and MARC territory sits a little forlorn station called Elkton. The last train service to Elkton, Amtrak's Chesapeake commuter service ended in 1983 and since then a lot of talk about bridging the gap between SEPTA and MARC has generally been for naught. However, the little station and its platforms still await the return to service.

You can see the set of Elkton photos along with some others covering the NJT ACL and PATCO right here.

Built in 1934 the Elkton Station shares make architectural features with other PRR builtings of the era, notably interlocking towers at WINSLOW, YORK, JERSRY, BROWN OVERBROOK and a number of other locations. These include the brickwork, slate roof, copper flashing and eves.

A light was on inside and it appeared that the building was used as a base for Amtrak MoW and CnS crews. 

The station was equipped with track tunnel for passengers to reach the southbound platform. However knowing the wasteful nature of today's public works projects I am sure that any new station would probably have to involve an elevator based ADA bridge. You know, because ramps are too reliable.

Vintage light fixtures were still in place under the platform shelter. Alert Kevin Walsh!

The southbound platform shelter complete with sealed tunnel access and bench.

449 intermediate signals just south of Elkton.

Amtrak ACS-86 #651 passing through Elkton with a southbound Regional.