21-08-27 PHOTOS: DART South

In 2020 I had managed to get in my annual trip to Dallas just before COVID shut everything down. I figured that 2021 would be a wash, but as luck would have it I was able to reschedule for later in the year and despite the heat I was able to make quite a bit of the opportunity by exploring the southern part of the DART Red and Blue lines. These were the first two lines to be constructed and had a number of interesting elements that would be altered in the later Green and Orange line construction. The photo gallery for all of this along with a good bit of freight action in the Union Station area can be viewed here ( mirror ).

I begin my journey at the Inwood station on the Green/Orange line where one connects to Dallas Love Field via shuttle bus. Ironically I would be connecting to a DFW bound train as that airport is directly served by DART.

As I would be staying at the Hyatt Regency Dallas I transferred to TRE at the Victory station to avoid having to make a transfer at the less hospitable West End station. At Victory, named due to the proximity of the downtown Dallas sports arena, DART and TRE run side-by-side allowing for a convenient across the platform transfer.

My TRE train had Bomber cab car #1004 leading and F50PHI #570, seen at Union Station next to F59PH #122.

The next morning I passed by TRE F59PHI #569 to catch DART Westmoreland Bound LRV #153.

The Westmoreland Station was undergoing a bit of a rebuild so I was only able to get photos from the departure/arrival end. Here is DART LRV #110 at the opposite end of my train.

To transfer to the Blue Line I got off at 8th and Corinth, just south of the Trinity River. 

A northbound Blue Line train to Rowlett at 8th and Corinth.

The University of North Texas (UNT) station was part of a two stop extension past the original Blue Line terminus at Ledbetter. Opened in 2016, the extension used cab signals instead of a modified Line of Sight system used on the 1996 portion.

DART LRV #103 on a DFW Orange Line routing at West End.

Northbound Orange Line train at the Northwest Jct just south of the West End station. 

BNSF ES44C4 #8184 and ET44 #3961 waiting to enter the Up Dallas Sub at TRE Jct just west of Union Station.

DART LRV #182 on a Westmoreland routing sits next to TRE cab car #1008 at Union Station.

A little bit later a Union Pacific intermodal train appeared from the other direction with SD70ACe #8814 leading and AC4400 #6671 behind.

Ahead of the departure of eastbound Texas Eagle Train #22, I ventured out to REUNION interlocking where some UP MoW equipment was sitting.

DART LRV #128 passing the repurposed Dallas Union Station TOWER 107.

The train was being led by Amtrak P42DC #69. The Texas Eagle can get away with just a single diesel engine as its route is largely flat and the consist fairly short.

A day later I found UNT bound DART Blue Line passing through Northwest Jct just behind TOWER 106, the Texas Book Depository and the Honorable Richard J Dealey Plaza.

In the opposite direction I caught a UP manifest freight with AC4400 #6460 and ES44AC #5438 rounding the curve at JFK Jct with DART LRV #258 on a Red Line assignment making an appearance.

This time Train 22 was being led by Amtrak P42DC #63.

For some reason the westbound track #2 signal at DALLAS interlocking was displaying an Approach Restricting indication for a Diverging Clear signal at JFK JCT.

Walking over to JFK JCT I was in time to catch a westbound UP welded rail train pulled by ES44AC #8201 pass under the eastbound cantilever signal for DALLAS interlocking with an Advance Approach signal flashing eastbound on track #1. An old Hydra-Cushion box car was acting as a buffer/tool car on the rear end.

And just as we have reached the end of the rail train we have reached the end of my trip. Tune in next time as we had back to Philly for some urban exploration.

21-08-13 PHOTOS: Radnor 100

Not all my trips are epic cross country journeys. In August 2021 I needed to attend to come family business in South Jersey before meeting up with someone for an event in Valley Forge. The easiest pickup point was Radnor, just a mile or so from the Blue Route and so I booked a ticket on Amtrak up to Philly followed the next day by a PATCO / Market Frankford / Route 100 combination from Haddonfield to Radnor. The photos can all be found here ( mirror ).

Starting things off at BWI with Amtrak ACS-86 #638 leading a Regional.

Pulling into Philly and passing SEPTA Silverliner IV #179 at Arsenal.

Making a dash to make the SEPTA connection downtown on the upper level, I did stop briefly to take a photo of NJT Atlantic City Line Comet V cab car #6018 that was hanging out on the other side of the platform instead of the more usual Track 1/2.

Would you look at that, I caught the same inbound Maryland Division SEPTA train my Regional passed at ARSENAL.

Skipping ahead to the next day my trip to Radnor begins at the Haddonfield PATCO station where I was surprised by an extremely rare double trainset equipment move, likely for the following week's Atlantic City Air Show. The leading trainset had Comet V cab car #6051 and GP40PH-2B #4206 while the trailing trainset had Comet V cab car #6063 and GP40PH-2B #4202. This style of movement is used because of the lack of extra crews for the Atlantic City Line given its distance from the bulk of NJT operations in the north.



My train to Philly eventually showed up led by rebuild car #1093.

Once on the MFL I decided to take video from 11th Street all the way to the terminus at 69th St. A service disruption on the normal outbound 69th St platform required the signal to be canceled, time run and a new route aligned onto track 2 on the normally inbound island platform.



Despite shooting video I was able to use my phone to get some still pictures including M-4 cars #1186 and #1094.

21-07-31 PHOTOS: HARRIS Restored

For the past decade, HARRIS tower has been my first choice of rail related museums due to its unique content, close proximity and interactivity. However in recent years its available was first hampered by a general restoration of the Union Switch and Signal Model 14 interlocking machine and then the COVID 19 pandemic that made hanging out in close quarters with its largely senior citizen staff somewhat problematic. However come the summer of 2021 vaccines were available and the machine was back up and running so, not wanting to waste time, I booked an early trip up to Harrisburg in advance of my annual fall visit. You can check out all the typical Amtrak and Norfolk Southern photos here ( mirror ).

When I arrives an Amtrak Keystone trainset with ACS-86 #668 and Metroliner Cab Car #9643 was performing a relay move through Amtrak's HARRIS interlocking all while NS ET44AC #3626 was waiting on the Royalton Branch with a train of empty coal hoppers while higher priority intermodal traffic passed by.

The first of these was a westbound train of doublestacks with nearly brand new NS AC44C6M rebuild #4471 leading and C40-10W #7565 and older AC44C6M rebuild #4246 behind.

It wasn't long before eastbound Amtrak Pennsylvanian Train #42 arrived with P42DC #121 leading.

21-07-19 PHOTOS: Union Terminal

Here is the third post documenting my 20201 Amtrak Train 79/19/20 round trip to Gainesville, GA. In part one I covered the southbound trip on Train 79 and its associated limited time only reverse railfan view. This part includes the stuff I encountered in Georgia as well as beginning and end of the trip around Washington Union Station. Since I moved out of Baltimore City, I now have to catch Amtrak Southern Service trains in Washington they tend not to make make BWI stops. This time I used the layover period to get photos of the Washington Union Station terminal action from both the parking deck before my southbound trip and a lower level platform after my northbound trip. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

Waiting at BWI for my southbound MARC train to DC, I caught a northbound Regional with ACS-86 #655 and some water dumping from the Cafe car.

Getting off at Union Station I was treated to a little Mars Light action by MARC Kab Kar #7849.

 


From the parking deck one could see how much development was closing in on the Washington Terminal right of way. Compare with similar views from 2008 and 2014.

The MARC yard had a medley of equipment including MARC SC44 #86, MP36PH-3C #25 and Kawasaki Kab Kar #7850.

The parking deck provides a great view of the entire K TOWER area including Amtrak ACS-86 #664 and P42DC #15 participating in a power change operation, DC Streetcar #201B at its Union Station terminus and DC Metro 3k series car #3118 in an unpainted appearance scheme.

MARC GP39H-2 #74 trundled light from the H bridge into track 9.

My upcoming Train 79 trainset then appeared, hauled by ACS-86 #611.

This was followed by a whole raft of movements including a Regional set pushed by everyone's favorite critter SW1200 #796, A MARC trainset with MP36PH-3C #31 and an Acela Express trainset led by power car #2015.