04-Breaking COVID’s cabin fever North Jersey part 1
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Jack May |
Corrections made
Nice shots from Mr. May David, thanks for posting them!
By the way, I wouldn’t call those GP40’s with the old Jersey Transit “Disco Stripes” an endangered species, but it’s problematic as to just how long they’ll be around, or keep the old paint scheme. It’s remarkable they’ve lasted so long and a tribute to the NJT maintenance crews who’ve kept them alive.
The ex-Erie commuter lines have had their share of rare and magical power. In the days before I graduated from high school there was nearly as much variety as at Reading Terminal: RS units in various schemes, passenger Geeps, back-to-back E8s pulling unbroken sets of 1937 ATSF stainless equipment, and the joy that was the U34CH, engine running at a constant 725rpm with the most delightful soundtrack during acceleration. All the different flavors of EMD rebuild (including a couple of F units!) came a little later. The PL42ACs in particular are delightful to listen to even as I see they may be getting a bit smoky in old age.
Gee, what would we give for a chance, just one chance, to see Erie K1’s in action on those commuter lines? Or the Erie Berkshires on the Bergen County Line for that matter?
Speaking of Erie commuter lines, I’m sure you know this one:
A wonderful reminder. Thanks!
05-Breaking COVID’s cabin fever North Jersey part 2
Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, which is shared with New Jersey Transit, was also the focus of some of my excursions. I visited the platforms of the North Elizabeth station a number of times, because generally there is an unobstructed view of the four-track mainline.
One specific reason for going to the former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline on a particular date was that I received a tip about the operation of Amtrak’s new Acela 21 (called Avelia Liberty by carbuilder Alstom) on a test run. I drove down to Linden for a photo on this occasion; I had a similar experience in the fall of 2020 and then obtained a photo at North Elizabeth. A number of other railfans were present both times, of course.
Holy Cow! all this time spent near the PJ&B, all my interest in it, and only at this moment do I realize that the bridge over the ex-canal IS a swing bridge. Note the bearing at left.
The Avelias look better in these shots than they did in the publicity shots so far, some of which made the cabs look like Katy Perry having her mouth washed out with a bar of Fels Naptha. I had thought they were full 220mph capable, which was the point of Joe’s letter (and several subsequent discussions) about Amtrak purchasing trains of that speed capability without being able to utilize it for the prospective service life of the trainsets.
06-Breaking COVID’s cabin fever North Jersey part 3
This is the final segment devoted to my local photography and mainly covers excursions to get photos of the three locomotives that NJ Transit has painted in heritage liveries to honor predecessor railroads. They certainly made a venture to a nearby railroad station or crossing more interesting. And, as you will see, some of the locations were literally in walking distance from my abode.
Each of the three is a different model. First, Bombardier-built ALP-46 No. 4636, painted in an attractive Tuscan Red with gold stripes in honor of the “Standard Railroad of the World.” The electric unit, capable of running on any of NJ Transit’s catenary-equipped lines because it can handle both the ex-PRR 12,000-volt AC, 25-cycle used on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and a part of the North Jersey Coast line, and the NJT-installed 25,000-volt AC, 60-hertz commercial current mainly employed on the ex-Lackawanna Railroad Morris & Essex lines.
Overmod: The bridge on thr Princeton Jc. and Back was built as a swing bridge, but lost that ability some time ago. The catenary runs straight through, without a break.
There hasn’t been a break in that catenary since my father’s time there, when the line was double-tracked and used for fleets during football season (and to supply coal for the University’s power plant).
I well remember seeing the red MP54s waiting idle and being impressed at the position-light cab signals – probably in 1967. The student parking lots were as I recall later built on the site of the yards below Palmer Stadium, the tracks gone by the time I was old enough to know to look for them (although I think Karl Zimmermann, who was class of '65, remembered trains there).
The point was that I’d thought any movable bridge over the canal would have been removed completely long ago, maybe around the time Carnegie arranged for the lake rather than donating to the University (the joke being ‘we asked for bread and he gave us water’)
Or replaced when the bridge under Rt. 1 was redone. Or when the line was rebuilt extensively by NJT about… sheesh, it’s been decades now. There is now a grand complex at the town end, even further away from mile 0 in the shadow of Blair Arch, and the Junction end of the line… indeed the whole structure of Princeton Junction station in either direction… has been altered at great expense beyond recognition (with one extremely good consequence: the 85mph crossover in the middle of the station was removed and test speeds of over 170mph can be seen there now…)
But that swing bridge remains.