I received messages from a number of correspondents that Amtrak’s newest electric locomotive, No. 600, built by Siemens for use on the Northeast Corridor, would go into revenue service on Friday, February 7. It would pull Northeast Regional train 171, which runs from New York’s Pennsylvania Station to Lynchburg, Virginia, as far as Washington, D. C. It was a beautiful day for photos, and so I decided to try catching up with the train at Newark Airport station (EWR), where it was scheduled to stop at 12:57.
No. 600 is the first of 70 ACS-64 units which will replace Amtrak’s entire fleet of electric locomotives in the next few years, so I decided to try to photograph a number of other Amtrak trains at that location, hoping to catch some HHP-8s as well as the ubiquitous Swedish-built AEM-7s. It was a cold but sunny day, with snow glistening on the ground in areas where it did not interfere with motor traffic and pedestrian movement. Other than the cold and some wind, it was a perfect day for fresh air and slide taking.
Having visited Newark Airport station by rail on previous occasions for similar reasons, I would follow the same route as in the past, driving to the Grove Street terminal of Newark’s light rail line (still known to many as the Newark City Subway), where I would leave my car in the parking lot, ride an LRV to Newark Penn Station, and then take a New Jersey Transit local train to the airport station.
Looking at various timetables, I decided I’d like to get there before the Silver Star passed through at about 11:28. If possible I could also photograph the Pennsylvanian&