I notice catenary towers when I take NJT Atlantic City Rail Line to Pennsauken Transit Center but then the towers stop. What is the story behind this? Did the PRR Electric euipment like the GG1s run up to this area and then stopped? If so why didn't get electrified all the way to AC?
PRR wires crossed Delair and continued to Pavonia Yard. Traffic to Atlantic City was seasonal and never warranted electrification.
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/553ed532e4b03d69e7bfbaa3/55510659e4b0812dedf21b71/5551066de4b0812dedf222d8/1431374001250/prr_electrified_territory.jpg
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
And remember the line was PRSL not PRR!
D.CarletonPRR wires crossed Delair and continued to Pavonia Yard. Traffic to Atlantic City was seasonal and never warranted electrification.
Not exactly correct. The Pennsy electrified one of its two Camden to Atlantic City routes. But it was done mostly with third rail and some overhead in certain towns. The electrification survived the PRSL merger and was greatly reduced in 1948 and completely removed in 1949 when the state of New Jersey demanded that the wood bodied cars be removed from service.
You can see photos of some of the MUs on the South Jersey Rails Website
http://www.sjrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pennsylvania-Reading_Seashore_Lines#MU_Cars
DS4-4-1000 D.Carleton PRR wires crossed Delair and continued to Pavonia Yard. Traffic to Atlantic City was seasonal and never warranted electrification. Not exactly correct. The Pennsy electrified one of its two Camden to Atlantic City routes. But it was done mostly with third rail and some overhead in certain towns. The electrification survived the PRSL merger and was greatly reduced in 1948 and completely removed in 1949 when the state of New Jersey demanded that the wood bodied cars be removed from service. You can see photos of some of the MUs on the South Jersey Rails Website http://www.sjrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pennsylvania-Reading_Seashore_Lines#MU_Cars
D.Carleton PRR wires crossed Delair and continued to Pavonia Yard. Traffic to Atlantic City was seasonal and never warranted electrification.
I'm not sure the electrified service to Atlantic City on the West Jersey and Seashore (a PRR subsidiary prior to PRSL being formed) was in place after the formation of the PRSL. The PRSL electrified service was Camden to Millville, later cut back to Glassboro. I think the Newfield - Mays Landing - AC sevice might have died prior to PRSL.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
DS4-4-1000 D.Carleton PRR wires crossed Delair and continued to Pavonia Yard. Traffic to Atlantic City was seasonal and never warranted electrification. You can see photos of some of the MUs on the South Jersey Rails Website http://www.sjrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pennsylvania-Reading_Seashore_Lines#MU_Cars
I see. If the line was not electrified with 11k catenary all the way to Atlantic City why did they even electrify it to Pavonia yard?
alloboard I see. If the line was not electrified with 11k catenary all the way to Atlantic City why did they even electrify it to Pavonia yard?
Oh, O.k the E44s. This is very similar to the electrification attemp of the Jersey Centrals Lehigh Valley RR from Newark to West Trenton via Raritain, which is now NJT's Raritan Valley Line. The line splits off the Northeast Corridor at Hunter interlock, south of Newark to the southwest on an incline curve where the catenary shortly stops a little bit further south.
alloboardThis is very similar to the electrification attempt of the Jersey Central's Lehigh Valley RR from Newark to West Trenton via Raritan, which is now NJT's Raritan Valley Line.
LV was only electrified far enough to handle the motors that took their passenger trains to NYC into Penn Station. (Apparently they counted the 13 miles or so along PRR/NYCR as "their" electrified trackage in some promotional material, but we know better...) If there were plans for further 11kV electrification west than what was needed to accommodate motors near Hunter, please advise as I don't remember anything about that. Sure, there was this, but I don't think that was ever more than pie-in-the-sky (and probably mostly for the mountains further west).
"West Trenton" is Reading (which of course had its own 11kV suburban electrification to Philadelphia) and this never involves LV (it's the CNJ/RDG/B&O Royal Blue Line New York extension that 'broke' B&O in the late 1890s). This was the line with the Crusader (obs on both ends for the 'right' take on quick turns!) and later the RDC trains between NYC and Philadelphia; neither the money nor the need for electrification on the NJ trackage, and why would the PRR with their significant controlling influence want to 'double their mumper' by expensively wiring a parallel route? I have seen comments about Reading (which did its own electrification 'in-house') extending electrification toward New York, but I don't think the money (let alone the need) was ever really "there" at the time (and the RDCs were probably seen as a far more cost-effective solution for the level of service needed by that time in the '50s).
It could certainly be argued that a Reading electrification to New York might have survived where the Conrail freight electrification did not; this might have been a particularly good application of the Conrail 'dual-mode-lite' approach. In particular there wouldn't have been the Amtrak presence either for traffic or 'access to electricity at inflated cost', and the level of traffic would certainly have benefited.
(Speaking of this: I believe you may be confusing "Lehigh Valley" with the current name of the partly ex-Reading connection that takes the freight formerly run over the PRR, "Lehigh line". These are NOT the same thing!)
D.CarletonHe was talking about overhead so I was sticking to the topic. If you want to talk primeval electification from the dark ages that's an iron horse of a different color.
When the trains are powered by electricity, whether single overhead wire, dual overhead wire, or third rail, i call that line electrified. To say that the Pennsy did not electrify to AC in incorrect. It was an early installation which proved that electrification could save money when the traffic was high enough. It also showed that for longer distances third rail was not the way to go. Yes it was primeval compared to the 11kV 15 Hz installation but the AC line was state of the art when installed.
https://archive.org/stream/pennsylvaniarail01penn#page/n7/mode/2up
THIE ELECTRIFICATION THAT WAS INHERITED BY PRSL WAS 600V, DC.
There are cat poles on the Bridge to Conrails Oak Island Yard which was a former Lehigh Valley line.
LV may have owned it, but PRR did have trackage rights, and their frieghts used it.
as a amtrak lineman and Power Director, i can tell you this. in the old LD office at 30th street was prints and diagrams showing catenary past pavonia yard. Richmond stepup station was built to allow room for 2 step-down transformers and 1 step-up transformer for this. that portion of the yard was marked as sub 31 Richmond. there would have been 2 breakers marked A1-A2 to match the feed from Sub 30 Frankford to Pavonia. For the mains east to the ocean, 2 12kv feeders/trolleys were marked as 3101 & 3102. the transmission lines would have been the 131-231 transmission. (like the lines that went from Lamokin step-up to the Westchester branch,102-202 that fed the 4 subs on that branch.) unfortunately some of the prints were missing and faded. I think they allowed for 2 or 3 substations. sadly most of that stuff was thrown in the trash when Amtrak ignored the historal aspects of the PD/LD & Penn tower offices and gutted them in the early 2000's for reg office space and a new LD office in the old PD office.
the old Philly PD model board which is supposed to be at the ALTOONA RR museum in a boxcar showed parts of this setup.
Mike Salvatore, 15 months left to get away from this ZOO !
I really appreciate this info thanks allot. As for Amtrak shame on them for neglegence of historical artifacts.
That reminds me of when the Buffallo Central Terminal restoration foundation had to clean out the files of the New York Central and some early Conrail files that were abandoned and dumped on the floor in the abandoned office tower.
Conrail had ordered that every record from the heritage roads was to be purged.
That is an obviously stupid move, but they did it, and here we are. There were tons of files dumped in the file room. The foundation earned some money selling some of it, but the historical record before Conrail doesn't exist anymore.
So sad. Especially when you need to rehabilitate an 80-year-old bridge.
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