Teen Railfan Place | Fall/Winter 2010/11

My New Blog It's not actually a railfan blog, although with the rate I'm posting train photos I think I'll probably have to confess to all my non-railfan friends. Feel free to follow me! Once I actually have a good chunk of free time I'll have a photo report of the mockups of MBTA's new bi-level car from Rotem.

Very nice!
I saw the BTC/CTC-4D mockups on another site. From the photos I saw, they looked pretty good. They bear an exteme resemblance to SEPTA's Silverliner V's, hence the oversized subway look. Must be a Hyundai-Rotem thing...

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So, Murphy was NOT on my side today. My friend had something pop up so we couldn't hang out, and then on my way to Mount Arlington after school, we hit traffic on Route 80. Missed 877 pulling in by mere seconds (and it was even late...).

Yet another reason to become less dependent on the Interstate Highway System and ride more trains!

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Sadly, the retirement of the ALP-44s has arrived. 4400, 4401, 4411, 4413, and 4417-4419 (totaling seven units, four 44O's and three 44E's) have been retired.
4406 and 4424 are in storage as spare units (so they're operable, but currently not needed).
4414 and 4415 were in storage up until a few days ago. Unfortunately, this probably means that two shopped units were beyond repars and will be repaired for retirement.

Once the DP's arrive in bulk and go in service (beginning in roughly a year, assuming all goes smoothly), this will probably mean the end for the Geeps. This means a fleet of all PL42's, DP's, and 46's and 46A's. Transit is quickly losing its taste  and variety in equipment, especially once the ML II's arrive and the CIVs are retired, which also is not that far off.

Can you say RailPictures.net?

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=346153

I haven't been on here in forever, but last weekend the new signals at Naperville were finally cut over, one track per day from Friday until Sunday. Here are some photos from both days.

Friday:
Last train under the bridge before the removal begins. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5190485057/

Preparing to cut the wires, killing the power to the searchlights.http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5190547155/

The first signal comes down. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5190467865/

I got a picture of the second one coming down also, but it looks almost identical to the first.

The whole signal mast at East Naperville was taken down. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5191103712/

A BNSF passes East Naperville with main 3's searchlights gone.http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5193621077/

Amtrak passes under the remaining searchlights at West Naperville.http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5193700717/

I wasn't able to make it out there Saturday, but I went back Sunday to watch the final searchlights come down.

The station sign from the West Naperville bridge is removed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5196402914/

Metra departs passing under the last two searchlights at West Naperville.http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5199875302/

The first of the two searchlights remaining is removed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5195788893/

The last searchlight is removed, ending the many decades of service the WBCS West Naperville had as a intermediate, and then as a control point. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5195793515/ 

The station sign lives on, however, as it is placed onto the new signal bridge.http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5197301736/

The last mast is removed from the signal bridge at East Naperville, officially ending the era of searchlight signal operations at Naperville. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5195797667/

A BNSF train comes under the remains on the signal bridge at West Naperville.http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5197357810/

Metra passes under the new signals at East Naperville. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5199774695/

Last but not least, the truck carrying the searchlights had a mechanical failure.http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5199690022/

Good bye Naperville searchlights, you will be missed! http://www.flickr.com/photos/eje665/5196721663/

Well, I will no longer be on the Santa train this Saturday.

BUT, I will be helping out on the Toys For Tots train on the Morristown & Erie on Sunday. I was planning on going to donate and talk with a coordinator for a while to help me with a Theology paper.

Then, my dad said that he was talking with his friend, who is involved in many local TFT collections through the Military Transport Association, and he invited me to help out collecting toys on the train!

I'll be meeting the train somewhere about 8:30 (from where my dad said, it sounds like it'll be at Lake Junction. Then, we'll be deadheading all the way down the High Bridge Branch to the first pickup site at the Flanders Firehouse. After that, we'll be collecting at Sleepy's in Ledgewood and Morris Marine in Kenvil.

My dad said I would have to get off after that, but I'm trying to convince him to let me stay on till the last stop in Rockaway. At the same time, my parents will have to be in Denville for my brother's basketball game, and Denville is right next to Rockaway. So we'll have to see about the second part of the day.

The train will be NS 3010, ME 1775 (a camo painted boxcar used especially for this event), Ohio River, an ex-EL bay window caboose, and ME caboose 100. NYSW power will likely be added on for that part of the train on Saturday like it was last year. M&E power isn't used because its is needed for Whippany Railway Museum's Santa trains.

Unfortunately, the weather on Sunday isn't supposed to be too great...

Oh well, I'll be sure to come back with a full report and PLENTY of photos, despite the rain!

Youtube is being a massive PITA for me. I’ve tried uploading my videos from last Sunday about 30 times, with no luck. But I have some photos up, so I can at least give a trip report.

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Last Sunday, due to an incredible convenience, I was given the opportunity to ride aboard this year’s Toys For Tots train. The train was jointly sponsored by the Marines, the Military Transport Association, Morristown & Erie, New York Susquehanna & Western, Norfolk Southern, and New Jersey Transit. It operated on the NYS&W on Saturday and on the M&E on Sunday.

At 8:30 am, in the pouring rain, we arrived at the Berkshire Valley Road crossing on the M&E’s High Bridge Branch to be picked up by the train, which hadn’t arrived yet. When we pulled up, I saw the centerbeam that they delivered the week before sitting on the main, and immediately thought, “Uh, I wonder if they realize that they’ll have to move that out of the way…” Well, apparently they forgot until they arrived and saw it. The train arrived, led by NS 3010 long hood forward, followed by cabooses SOO 100 and EL C372, boxcar ME 1775, and observation car Ohio River. Here’s a shot of the train being flagged across the road as it arrives to get us:

After boarding, we shoved the centerbeam into the Kenvil Team Track before getting on our way. We sat in the cupola of SOO 100, which was right behind the 3010 for the trip to Flanders. Here’s the 3010 out the cupola window

After a rocking, swaying ride and stopping to flag almost every crossing, we finally crossed the bridge over Route 206 and arrived at the runaround in Flanders. The 3010 uncoupled from SOO 100 and ran around to the other end and coupled onto the Ohio River. After a brake test, we were on our way back east to the first collection site at Flanders Firehouse.

At the Firehouse, Washington Middle School alone brought 1,270 toys, completely filling two school buses! There were tons of other toys, so I’m estimating a total of about 2,000 at that stop alone. They counted as they loaded the toys, and they got backed up in the boxcar, so they started putting some in the C372, which got filled immediately.

Before we could get on our way, they had to close up the boxcar. They were having trouble with the door, and had to use a sledgehammer to close it!

With two blasts of 3010’s amazing RS3L, we were on our way to the next stop at Sleepy’s in Ledgewood. On the way, I interviewed the coordinator, John, for my project. He was absolutely thrilled with the outcome, despite the weather.

Soon, we reached Sleepy’s, where I had to get off, although the train continued to three more stops. It was a great experience, and I hope I get the chance to be on the train and help out again next year!

Enjoy! Hopefully the videos will be coming soon!

Nice trip report, Joe! Getting to ride in a caboose is cool - and something I can't say I've ever done.

I've been pretty non existent around here lately, thanks to high stress levels caused by that thing called college. But I haven't totally given up the railroad stuff. Now that I'm on Christmas Break for a month I'm hoping to get back to doing some railfanning and model railroading.

Noah

Howdy yall. I'm sure yall may or may not be pleased with my return, but I'm back. I'm in the Army now stationed in Italy as an MP, and the base is located conveniently close to an electrified double main that sees both freight and passenger service. So, once I get the car I bought over here up and runnin expect to see some images of Italian trains up on here.

I finally got Youtube to cooperate! The Toys For Tots video is about one eighth the original length, but I got it to work, so I'm happy.

Here, we see NS 3010 running around our train in Flanders. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8LBnYPUzBM

I will try to get the other parts of the ride up in shorter segments as well and just see how it goes. I'll let you guys know if and when I get more footage up.

I've been shooting in b&w a lot lately...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trainmanty/5374235976/

Snow and fog at Lincoln, Mass.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trainmanty/5393556480/

Motion blur at Park Street on the Red Line.

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Right now the my main train-related activity is my blog, I Ride the T. It's not really a railfan blog (although I post lots of photos) but more of a commentary from a commuter. Feel free to follow me.

http://iridethet.blogspot.com/

Nice shots! Black and white always looks neat, especially with snow on the ground!

I was in Baltimore last weekend for my cousin's wedding. From I-95 on the way in, I could see some NS and CSX stuff, along with MARC's maintenance facilities, but they would have been bad shots from inside the car.
Sunday, I went to DC for a college visit, and stopped at Union Station. Thanks to a video Tyler posted a few months back, I thought of going up to the parking deck for a bird's eye view of the station. Unfortunately, there was just about no action on a Sunday night (neither MARC nor VRE run on weekends), and it was cold so I couldn't stay, but there were sstill some Amtrak and MARC sets laying over in the station.
Monday afternoon, I went to MARC's Camden Station, only a few blocks from our hotel. Unfortunately, I again saw no trains (stupid peak hour only service!), but I saw a good number of MTA light rail trains in the half hour I was there, so I'll have photos of those up in the next few days.

Geez, it's slow...

Here's a shot from a week and a half ago.

That Monday, on the way home, there was a front loader and a Morristown & Erie pickup truck clearing some frozen-solid snow from the Morris Ave. crossing. I figured that it was for their usual Tuesday afternoon trip down the D&R. After reporting my finding on another forum, someone said that ME 18&19 were outlawed with a string of plastic pellet hoppers just North (RR East) of Morris Ave.
So Tuesday morning, I hoped that they would still be tied down there, and they were. The shot is pretty bad because I used my phone and I took it through the dirty busy window. However, it's special because it's the only time I've ever seen a train here, and could quite possibly be the last time (the branch is switched Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings while I'm in school, so I never see them, but I always hear them).

I think this thread might just be dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZwoAX1HjCo

Hey, I'm still alive, I've just been really busy ever since school started in August...

And I think we've all lost interest in this thread, and I know I've lost interest in this forum.

If we still want to share our work, we should maybe find another way/place to communicate with each other?