Johann Marsbar Posted January 22, 2022 Author Share Posted January 22, 2022 Somewhere I've got a photo of me posing with EB on the train whilst we were en-route to Sault St Marie which was taken by one of the other participants on the tour. He certainly came across as a "Real Gent" as MW has said. One of the Travel Bureau trips that I went on (in 2000) had a visit to Fond du Lac as part of the itinerary, and we certainly were given a good tour of the place at the time. By that stage, the "Agawa" Business Car from the Algoma Central was resident there and painted in full WC colours.... For some reason, I never went on any of the SPV organised trips, though, as one of their customers for Videos (and Maps...) I remember seeing them mentioned in the mailshots. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 When we arrived at Sault St Marie, the lighting conditions were somewhat better than they were at Hearst that morning, so I was able to get some well-lit photos of the 2 WC locos that had been hauling our train. Both #3026 and #3027 were ex-Milwaukee Road/Algoma Central locomotives and were GP40u's. One carried a livery commemorating 150 years of Wisconsin being admitted to the Union (1848) ...whilst the other displayed flags from all of the States/Provinces that WC operated in at the time.... We stayed overnight in SSM again and the following morning I wandered down to the station to see what was operating the morning departures, although the light wasn't particularly good. The Agawa Canyon Tour Train was the first service away, being headed by no less than 5 of the Algoma Central ex-CN/VIA FP9A's that they had aquired in 1995.... ....whilst the regular run north to Hearst had a single WC GP40 handling the service. A wander around town produced this GM "Fishbowl" bus used by SSM Transit...... ...whilst another rather lost Thames Valley Bristol was in the yard of a local tour operator, along with a few other former UK vehicles, including one from Rhymney Valley..... Unlike the 1995 visit, some other rail operations were in evidence this time such as this CP RS-18u...... ...and a freshly outshopped SW1200RS.... A loco from the recently established (at that time) G&W operation of Huron Central was also present in the form of this ex-B&O GP9 #201... From there it was back to the Hotel and then on to the Airport for another ATR-42 flight to Toronto, Pearson - This time in C-GHCP "Spirit of Sudbury" - before connecting into a 737 operated flight westwards to Winnipeg. 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted January 24, 2022 Author Share Posted January 24, 2022 Hopefully the website will function long enough to finish this post....... After getting off our flight from Toronto we were transferred to Winnipeg station by coach ready for our northbound departure on VIA Rail that evening. The rail museum located in a couple of disused platforms at the station was open, so a few photos were attempted, but not very succesfully as the place is/was like the Black Hole of Calcutta. It's recently been announced that it is closing in the near future, with the stock having to find new homes. This inspection saloon car and a former GWWD Railbus was the only photo that came out anything like decent.... We duly departed on our service to Churchill later that evening and there wasn't a lot to see until we reached The Pas the following morning, which was a booked refuelling stop for the locos.... At least we had interesting traction in the form of FP9Au's #6311 and #6308 on the front, whilst this rather elderly clerestory Combine coach, dating from 1919, was tagged on the rear of our all Budd stock consist.... That coach was used on the "Mixed" Wabowden to Churchill service at that time and had obviusly been to Winnipeg for an inspection or other work to be carried out, hitching a ride back on the regular passenger service. About two months prior to our trip, the line north from The Pas to Churchill had been taken over by the Hudson Bay Railway (or Hull & Barnsley, as it seemed to be called on our trip...), and a train appeared from the north whilst we were at The Pas...... Rather strangely, I cannot find any mention or photos of GP35 #2503 online anywhere - It's not in the usually reliable fleetlists such as "The diesel shop" so it must have had a fairly short service life with them, whilst #2511 was a GP10 As we journeyed north it became rather obvious that our unseasonably warm weather had well and truly departed, which caused a potential problem, as when we got to Churchill, we found the Airport was closed due to strong winds which threatened our departure by air two days later. The icing on the front of the train at Churchill shows how the temperatures had dropped as well.... The lanscape in the Churchill area is best described as windswept and barren at the best of times - basically Arctic Tundra - as can be seen in this photo.... .....with Tourism - Polar Bear spotting - being the principal employment in the place. To get to the bears, you head out on one of these rather interesting vehicles...... .....and with any luck (which we certainly had), you will find some Polar Bears...... Including one doing a good impersonation of Tommy Cooper... 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted January 24, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2022 According to Old time trains it started life as SP 7703 then came onwards via somewhere else to the HBR. It is apparently now in Colorado as OLMX 3600 and may have been renumbered to 3600 by HBR. Jamiw 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 After our full day of Polar Bear spotting the weather had improved sufficient for flights from the local airport to resume - otherwise there was a good chance that we would have been stuck there until the weather improved! The following morning dawned bright, though it soon clouded over again, and I managed a shot of this HBR GP30 in the sun, parked with a CN GP38-2..... ...though the sun had gone by the time I photographed this HBR SW9 near the dock grain silos..... Our flight from Churchill to Winnipeg was operated by this HS 748 of Calm Air, the only time I've ever flown on one of those.... ....and after arriving at Winnipeg and being transferred (by stretched Limo -another first!) to our Downtown Hotel, I headed back out to the airport on the local buses to visit the Western Canada Aviation Museum where this former CAF CF-101 Voodoo is seen, along with a Bristol Freighter in the right background of the shot. One interesting aircraft on display was this Junkers Ju52/1m reconstruction (original built 1931), as operated by Canadian Airways Ltd in the 1930's. It was a single engined version (powered by an Armstong Siddeley Leopard) and was converted from a Spanish built Casa 352 trimotor by the museum. We had a late afternoon flight the following day back to Toronto, so I set out early that morning looking for a particular item of rolling stock owned by the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway, the terminus of that line being in an industrial area to the east of the City Centre/VIA Rail station. In addition to the railcar I was looking for, GWWD #201, an MLW S-13, was also present... ...as were a couple of former CP RS-23's which had been obtained for spare parts..... The object of my quest was found to be parked outside their station/offices, and even the sun obliged by appearing when I took the photo! From a look at Google Earth yesterday, that seems to be its usual place to be parked and it appears to be still in use. It's actually a Brill product dating from 1921 ! Some time was also spent later in the day on an overbridge and roads alongside the CP Winnipeg yard, where this GP9u was seen.... ...as were this GP7u/GP9u combination.... From there it was out to the Airport, where this Winnipeg Transit Flyer dating from 1986 was photographed, before we flew to Toronto with an overnight stay and then back to LHR to conclude the holiday.... That was it for 1997 (and Canada for a few years) as 1998 saw a return to the USA - on three seperate trips. 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted January 27, 2022 Author Share Posted January 27, 2022 Well, lets see if it will let me post this now, as after completing it about 2 hours ago it completely disappeared.......... Thankfully it seems to have saved it without posting it though! One of the benefits of going on the Aviation tour to the USA in April 1997 was that I picked up a copy of the Motel 6 chain location guide whist on one of our overnight stays, so that enabled me to discover somewhat cheaper accomodation than most Travel Agents seemed to deal with here in the UK. That book came in handy for a few years until online bookings became the norm once I had actually purchased a computer! I fancied a return trip to the Boston area for a lot longer than I had been there for back in 1987, so booked a flight via my usual Travel Agent and then phoned up the Motel 6 at Braintree, to the south of Boston, and reserved a 9 night stay there. The Braintree location was subsequently used for all but one of my stays so far in the Boston area as it is adjacent to the Red Line Subway terminus, so about a 5 min walk from the motel room and MBTA Commuter Rail services also stop there as well. At that stage, from memory, there wasn't a normal weekly ticket available on the MBTA bus/tram/subway services, so I ended up using two 3 day "Tourist" tickets (which did cover those modes) to get around, a ticket that seemed to be sold at outlets other than MBTA ticket offices! After a fairly memorable flight on a BA Boeing 777 from Heathrow - where we were struck by lightning whilst landing at Logan Airport in Boston - I made my way out to Braintree ready to start my travels the following morning. Red Line subway train at Charles/MGH station, just after crossing the Charles River bridge.... Green Line Boeing LRV at Reservoir Car House.... Whilst South Station was entirely an F40 zone as far as Amtrak was concerned in those days, being prior to electrification of the line south to New Haven.... New on the MBTA commuter lines since my 1987 visit were these GP40LH-2's, one of which is seen at Braintree one morning, working a route that didn't exist in 1987 either, with the train heading to either Plymouth or Middleborough, the lines in question reopening for passenger services during 1997 Another visit to Ipswich was made, where the former Mack built Engine #1 in their Fire Department had been replaced by this rather imposing vehicle.... ...and the rail station had been moved north from its original position as part of the rebuilding works underway to extend passenger service north of Ipswich to Newburyport after an absence of about 25 years.... New locos aquired by the MBTA since 1987 had spelt the end for the various cab units previously used and this lineup of units was dumped close to the Ipswich/Gloucester line as we approached Boston.... Another day trip was made north of Boston to visit Lowell, formerly an important Mill town located on the Merrimack River. One of the spinning mills has been retained as a working historic site operated by the National Park Service and is well worth a visit. This former B&M 0-6-0 switcher is preserved adjacent to the National Parks Visitor Centre....... To provide transportation between the various historic sites, a tram route was introduced which uses former goods lines in the mill areas and which is operated by some replica cars (both open and enclosed versions) that were built by Gomaco.... Seashore Trolley Museum have since set up an outstation museum there as well, though so far they have only moved one or two cars there from their normal site at Kennebunkport in Maine 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted January 27, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 27, 2022 10 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said: Well, lets see if it will let me post this now, as after completing it about 2 hours ago it completely disappeared.......... Thankfully it seems to have saved it without posting it though! One of the benefits of going on the Aviation tour to the USA in April 1997 was that I picked up a copy of the Motel 6 chain location guide whist on one of our overnight stays, so that enabled me to discover somewhat cheaper accomodation than most Travel Agents seemed to deal with here in the UK. That book came in handy for a few years until online bookings became the norm once I had actually purchased a computer! I fancied a return trip to the Boston area for a lot longer than I had been there for back in 1987, so booked a flight via my usual Travel Agent and then phoned up the Motel 6 at Braintree, to the south of Boston, and reserved a 9 night stay there. The Braintree location was subsequently used for all but one of my stays so far in the Boston area as it is adjacent to the Red Line Subway terminus, so about a 5 min walk from the motel room and MBTA Commuter Rail services also stop there as well. At that stage, from memory, there wasn't a normal weekly ticket available on the MBTA bus/tram/subway services, so I ended up using two 3 day "Tourist" tickets (which did cover those modes) to get around, a ticket that seemed to be sold at outlets other than MBTA ticket offices! After a fairly memorable flight on a BA Boeing 777 from Heathrow - where we were struck by lightning whilst landing at Logan Airport in Boston - I made my way out to Braintree ready to start my travels the following morning. Red Line subway train at Charles/MGH station, just after crossing the Charles River bridge.... Green Line Boeing LRV at Reservoir Car House.... Whilst South Station was entirely an F40 zone as far as Amtrak was concerned in those days, being prior to electrification of the line south to New Haven.... New on the MBTA commuter lines since my 1987 visit were these GP40LH-2's, one of which is seen at Braintree one morning, working a route that didn't exist in 1987 either, with the train heading to either Plymouth or Middleborough, the lines in question reopening for passenger services during 1997 Another visit to Ipswich was made, where the former Mack built Engine #1 in their Fire Department had been replaced by this rather imposing vehicle.... ...and the rail station had been moved north from its original position as part of the rebuilding works underway to extend passenger service north of Ipswich to Newburyport after an absence of about 25 years.... New locos aquired by the MBTA since 1987 had spelt the end for the various cab units previously used and this lineup of units was dumped close to the Ipswich/Gloucester line as we approached Boston.... Another day trip was made north of Boston to visit Lowell, formerly an important Mill town located on the Merrimack River. One of the spinning mills has been retained as a working historic site operated by the National Park Service and is well worth a visit. This former B&M 0-6-0 switcher is preserved adjacent to the National Parks Visitor Centre....... To provide transportation between the various historic sites, a tram route was introduced which uses former goods lines in the mill areas and which is operated by some replica cars (both open and enclosed versions) that were built by Gomaco.... Seashore Trolley Museum have since set up an outstation museum there as well, though so far they have only moved one or two cars there from their normal site at Kennebunkport in Maine When I was at Seashore meaduring tram bits I got to know a good few people there and there was obviously a very good relationship between Seashore and MBTA with several former and current employees working as volunteers at Seashore. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted January 27, 2022 Share Posted January 27, 2022 On 24/01/2022 at 04:09, jamie92208 said: According to Old time trains it started life as SP 7703 then came onwards via somewhere else to the HBR. It is apparently now in Colorado as OLMX 3600 and may have been renumbered to 3600 by HBR. Jamiw It appears to have moved on. It now belongs to the Oregon Eastern Railroad and has been rebuilt as a GP39-3: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5581223 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 After leaving Lowell on the train for Boston, I managed this photo of a Springfield Terminal ex Norfolk & Western GP35 through the carriage window.... Back on the MBTA tram routes in Boston, they had started to introduce this revised livery on some of the cars - not a particularly inspiring one in my opinion..... ....whilst the PCC's on the Mattapan line were soldiering on, though a refurbishment was being talked about by that stage... On another visit to South Station later in the holiday, there had at least been some changes to the Amtrak power present, as this MP15 switcher had appeared on station pilot duties, rather than the F40 they were using previously.... ...and a rather new (about a year old) pair of P42's were also present awaiting departure on a mainline service A pair of MBTA F40PHM-2C's were also present on local services.... The Sunday during my trip saw an open day at the Braintree Fire Department, so a visit was paid there during the morning..... ......before I headed off to have a very comprehensive tour (think it was about 3.5 hours worth..) around the USS Salem, which is preserved at Quincy, MA. It may look familar as it was used as a stand in for the Graf Spee in the film "Battle of the River Plate". To finish off the selection of photos from the Boston trip, here are a couple of shots taken on the MBTA trolleybus services in the Cambridge area - commencing from Harvard Square subway station. At this time the routes were being operated by Flyer built vehicles, though thoughts were being given to obtaining new buses for the services....... Replacement vehicles finally arrived in 2003 (which will be depicted later on in this thread) and they have operated ever since, though it is expected that they will be withdrawn at the beginning of March this year with battery electric buses supposedly going to replace them at some point in the future. 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 In September 1998, Todays Railways magazine ran a trip in conjunction with Travel Bureau Railtours to parts of the eastern USA. Given that TR magazine had a focus on European railways (as well as the UK at that time as the split into 2 seperate titles of TR and TR Europe was still a while off) it seemed a strange trip to offer their readers, but, nonetheless, a decent sized tour group ended up booking on it, including me and a couple of others who I knew from going on ADL trips into Europe. Someone had obviously been shopping around for the cheapest airline to get us there as we flew LHR to JFK with Kuwait Airways on an Airbus A340, the only time I've flown with them, and certainly the only airline I've been on so far where a prayer (in Arabic) was offered prior to takeoff, with various Islamic imagery shown on the entertainment screens!! They did at least get us to New York, though it wasn't the best flight I've had, and we then boarded a coach which took us to a motel in the Princeton, NJ, area for the overnight stop. The following morning, some time was spent "trainwatching" at Princeton Junction station on the North-East Corridor - the former PRR New York to Washington electrified main line. They were down using 3 out of the 4 tracks due to engineering works, but there were plenty of trains about during our stay. A rake of NJT Jersey Arrow MU cars at the southbound platform... Amtrak AEM7's on NEC services..... ...whilst the opportunity was also taken to ride the "Princeton Scoot" single car service between the Junction and the branch terminus... The station shown in this photo is no longer used as such as they have shortened the line by a few hundred yards to a new platform. The whole future of the branch is constantly being discussed, with debates as to whether to convert it to light rail, a busway or just do away with it altogether. From Princeton, we headed inland for a visit to the New Hope and Ivyland tourist operation, where this PECO (not the model firm..) 50T Whitcomb switcher is seen.... ....along with their Baldwin built 2-8-0 #40..... After the chance of a ride over part of the NH&I line behind #40, the coach continued to the HQ of the Black River and Western at Ringoes, NJ, for a look at the various items of equipment scattered around the site. This PRR "Doodlebug", #4666, has since moved on to the Allentown and Auburn line in Pennsylvania for restoration and use on their services... #752 is a 1956 built GP9 which was originally new to Northern Pacific High in the diminutive switchers stakes is this Mack built 12T example which dates from 1931. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 49 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said: The station shown in this photo is no longer used as such as they have shortened the line by a few hundred yards to a new platform. The whole future of the branch is constantly being discussed, with debates as to whether to convert it to light rail, a busway or just do away with it altogether Sounds just like the Stourbridge Town branch here in the West Mids!! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 30, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 30, 2022 4 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said: along with their Baldwin built 2-8-0 #40..... That’s rather nice. Anymore photos? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 59 minutes ago, Regularity said: That’s rather nice. Anymore photos? Fill yer boots! https://www.google.ca/search?q=new+hope+and+ivyland+40&client=safari&hl=en-ca&prmd=mivxn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN24mXptr1AhXRHTQIHXi5CNcQ_AUoAnoECAIQAg&biw=414&bih=715&dpr=2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 1 hour ago, Regularity said: That’s rather nice. Anymore photos? Only other one I took of the steam loco was one which features the station at New Hope more than the loco! Rather more images in the link in the post above this one...... Only other time I've been to the NH&I was in 2014 and none of their steam locos were visible at that time as it was after the last train of the day had run. Did get some diesel photos, but it'll be a while until they feature on here! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 30, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 30, 2022 2 hours ago, pH said: Fill yer boots! https://www.google.ca/search?q=new+hope+and+ivyland+40&client=safari&hl=en-ca&prmd=mivxn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN24mXptr1AhXRHTQIHXi5CNcQ_AUoAnoECAIQAg&biw=414&bih=715&dpr=2 Yes. I had already done that: I wondered if the OP had any more. Just the one, it seems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike_Walker Posted January 31, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 31, 2022 17 hours ago, F-UnitMad said: Sounds just like the Stourbridge Town branch here in the West Mids!! It is but a little longer ride! The last true branch line passenger service in North America. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 The next day of the trip consisted of a run down to Baltimore to visit the B&O Museum before continuing on for a few hours during the afternoon in Washington DC. The visit to the B&O Museum was prior to the rather catastrophic roof collapse on the roundhouse that damaged several exhibits which occured a few years later. Quite an impressive collection of exhibits, though in more recent years there has been a lot of deterioration to the stock displayed outside, together with an equal deterioration of the neighbourhood in which the Museum is located ! I walked there from the Inner Harbour area on a subsequent visit in 2009 and it seemed OK, but am advised you wouldn't want to attempt that nowadays....... Back to 1998 and inside the roundhouse a Shay and a CNJ "Camelback" 4-4-2 were on adjacent roads around the turntable... Outside in the yard was a former B&O GP40... ....along with this C&O 2-6-6-2 which has now been restored to operational condition and is based on the Western Maryland preserved line out of Cumberland, MD.... On to Washington DC, a look round Union Station - in the days when it was generally open to allow non-travellers to do such things - this MARC AEM 7 was on a train in the platforms.... I believe that their locos of this type are still "on the books" but have been stored for several years now. Last time I was hauled by one was back in 2014, which was their last year in normal service from what I can gather. This Amtrak SW 1000 was switching some cars around as well.... From Union Station, we headed over to near where the L'Enfant VRE station is located which is where the CSX freight avoiding lines rejoin the passenger route to cross the Potomac River bridge. This northbound freight appeared on an overbridge headed by a GP40-2..... ...whilst a move to a road overbridge a bit further south of there enabled a shot of this southbound Amtrak service behind a P42B.... and a northbound CSX freight with B30-7's as the trailing units. Cant quite make out what the lead loco is though..... From Washington we headed back north into New Jersey again for another overnight stay. There was an option to travel back by rail from DC, but I didn't bother, remaining on the coach which was actually an interesting trip, particularly when passing the Philadelphia Navy Yard on the Interstate, as there were some stored aircraft carriers there, amongst other things. 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted February 1, 2022 Author Share Posted February 1, 2022 The next day of the tour saw us leave our New Jersey base and head into Pennsylvania with most of the day being spent at Strasburg for visits to the Strasburg RR and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, which, rather conveniently, is located the other side of the road to the preserved line! The MCI coach that we had for transport on this trip was this 1989 built example..... The operating loco at the Strasburg RR that day was #90 a former Great Western Railway (Colorado) 2-10-0, built by Baldwin in 1924..... Although I've called in at the Strasburg several times since, this 1998 visit was the only time I've actually ridden on the line! Other motive power present was this Mack Railbus which, I believe, has snce been given to the RRMoPA....... ....and this former PRR GE 44T switcher..... The Museum across the street is well worth a visit and has a very interesting selection of rolling stock on display, the "choice" examples being located inside the main display building which is a decent size. This PRR DD1 electric loco of 1911 was on display inside at this stage but, unfortunately, on subsequent visits it has been displayed outside and has deteriorated considerably as a result.... Another inside exhibit is this PRR 4-4-0, built by the Railroad in 1905... This PRR E44B electric of 1963 was on display outside at the time, though that was now under cover inside the building at the time of my last visit.... Whilst another outside resident was the original GG1 of 1934 which has a riveted carbody rather than the welded bodywork on subsequent locomotives..... From Strasburg it was on to an overnight stay at Breezewood in a hotel at a place that was basically an oversized service area for the Pennsylvania Turnpike! 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted February 2, 2022 Author Share Posted February 2, 2022 The reason for the stay at the metropolis of Breezewood was to put us in a fairly convenient location for the following days visits - The 3 foot gauge East Broad Top RR and some linesiding along the former PRR main line to the west in the Gallitzin area. We started the day at the EBT at Orbisonia and as well as allowing time for a round trip on that line to Colgate Grove, it also enabled a visit (for some of the participants anyway) to the adjacent Rockhill Trolley Museum - an attraction that, I recall, wasn't even mentioned in the Todays Railways tour itinerary! Having arrived well before the EBT departure, the Rockhill operation was visited first, the two cars in use on their line being former Porto car #249, a Brill product of 1904.......... ....and York Railways (PA) #163, another Brill product, but dating from 1924.... The snowbroom on the left is originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, whilst Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Interurban car #315 was built by Kuhlman in 1909. We also managed to get a tour of the storage barn whilst we were there, somewhere that wasn't normally open at that time. Over at the EBT...... ...we boarded our train to Colgate Grove and as it was a rather nice day, we took the opportunity to get covered in smuts and dirt by travelling in one of the open cars behind the loco! Our loco for the trip was Baldwin 2-8-2 #14, which is seen here at the Colgate Grove picnic area. The EBT has had a fairly troubled recent past, the line being closed between 2012 and 2020 whilst a purchaser was sought for the operation. Thankfully a high-powered consortium took it over during 2020 and a lot of work has been done over the past two years to get things running again. A major expansion of the operation is planned, with a significant extension southwards from Orbisonia over tracks that have been disused for over 60 years! After leaving Orbisonia we headed west, observing this stabled Everett Railroad GP8 just west of Hollidaysburg...... ...and eventually arrived at Gallitzin for a couple of hours by the (then) Conrail main line at the western end of Gallitzin Tunnels. The was quite a bit of traffic about, but a selection is as follows...... A westbound Intermodal, led by SD60M #5546........ A westbound Autorack train headed by SD50 #6781.... ...and a westbound Manifest, headed by SD40-2 #6366.... ...which had a pair of SD40-2 helpers on the rear to assist it up the grade from Altoona. Note the C&NW hopper in good condition on the rear of the train, in the days when such "fallen flag" rolling stock wasn't plastered with graffiti like nearly all the stock is nowadays..... 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted February 2, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 2, 2022 Good pictures those. I haven't seen any Pennsy electrics though I do ha e an O1a on my layout. We stopped at one of those big service areas on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, probably Breezewood, on my 2012 trip. Sadly no time for trainspotting but I did get a GG1 fridge magnet at a service station. It's quite impressive at about 6" long. Jamie 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted February 2, 2022 Author Share Posted February 2, 2022 15 minutes ago, jamie92208 said: Good pictures those. I haven't seen any Pennsy electrics though I do ha e an O1a on my layout. We stopped at one of those big service areas on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, probably Breezewood, on my 2012 trip. Sadly no time for trainspotting but I did get a GG1 fridge magnet at a service station. It's quite impressive at about 6" long. Jamie I think I'm up to five GG1's on my N layout now (1 Arnold and 4 Kato), plus an HO one in a display cabinet and a few Pete Lerro prints of his paintings of them on the walls of my house, so you can guess what my favourite PRR electric class is....... Don't appear to have a fridge magnet of one, but I've got a couple of belt buckles that feature them as well ! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted February 2, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 2, 2022 12 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said: I think I'm up to five GG1's on my N layout now (1 Arnold and 4 Kato), plus an HO one in a display cabinet and a few Pete Lerro prints of his paintings of them on the walls of my house, so you can guess what my favourite PRR electric class is....... Don't appear to have a fridge magnet of one, but I've got a couple of belt buckles that feature them as well ! I do like the G motors. I've always liked Electric trains thus my model is Lancaster Green Ayre with 1907 EMU's on it. I've got a couple of books, Karl Zimmerman's one about the G's and another about Pennsy Electrics, p.us a few about the Milwaukee electrics. I got my O1a from Sunset models in California. I called at their HQ to puck them up. They had some 0 gauge G's on the shelf but they were out of my price range sadly. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted February 2, 2022 Author Share Posted February 2, 2022 9 minutes ago, jamie92208 said: I do like the G motors. I've always liked Electric trains thus my model is Lancaster Green Ayre with 1907 EMU's on it. I've got a couple of books, Karl Zimmerman's one about the G's and another about Pennsy Electrics, p.us a few about the Milwaukee electrics. I got my O1a from Sunset models in California. I called at their HQ to puck them up. They had some 0 gauge G's on the shelf but they were out of my price range sadly. Jamie Rather out of sequence in this series, but I had to make sure I attended the URHS of NJ open day at their Boonton premises in September 2014 for the official launch of their repainted pair of GG1's..... 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted February 3, 2022 Author Share Posted February 3, 2022 I think we must have stayed at Breezewood again overnight (without trying to find the tour programme to confirm that) and the next day we headed east to Scranton to visit the Steamtown museum, which by then had become part of the US National Parks Service. It always strikes me as a museum that initially promised a lot but has really fallen foul of Politics and the internal workings of the NPS. They did at least have two functioning steam locos at the time of the 1998 visit, but have had periods with none available, or, as at present, one working which may or may not be out of service with faults, depending on your reference source! The only thing that has developed considerably since 1998 is the Electric City Trolley Museum which didn't even exist in 1998, and which is nothing to do with the NPS, and will feature later in this thread. An awful lot of the equipment is stored outside, so locos like this CN MLW 4-6-4T dating from 1914 have deteriorated considerably over the past 24 years..... By comparison, this was the same loco in 2011, the last time I was there...... Illinois Central Alco 2-8-0 #790 is actually the oldest loco they have there and dates from 1903...... Their currently operable (possibly...) loco is this Baldwin 0-6-0 from 1929 which was demonstrating steam switching during our 1998 visit.... The steam excursions from Scranton were being worked by this CP MLW 4-6-2 #2317 of 1923 and we intercepted one of the runs using the tour coach near Moscow, PA.... From there we headed to Newburgh, NY, where we stayed for the last 2 nights of the trip. The next day was spent linesiding the Hudson Valley in the area on both sides of the river, with this Metro-North F10A leading a former New Haven FL9 being seen at Peekskill station.... At Beacon, I climbed up on top of one of the tunnels where I took this photo of Amtrak P32ACDM #706. There was plenty of evidence visible of the former 4 track layout of the line along the Hudson from this viewpoint. It was only after getting home and reading an article about the line, it warned you of the extreme danger from Copperhead snakes in the area where I had stood to take that photo! The last day consisted of free time in New York prior to our homeward flight that evening, the trip from Peekskill to Grand Central being undertaken by train. I was one of a few who headed off to Newark to see the NJT (ex Twin Cities Rapid Transit) PCC cars that were still in use on the City Subway route there...... ...and then spent some time photographing passing trains from the platforms of the PATH station at Harrison. This was long before PATH introduced a photography ban on their system, though I'm not too sure how rigourously it is enforced in practice. I've certainly taken some on more recent visits, though how far you would get playing the "dumb tourist" if challenged is another matter! It's annoying as Harrison is an excellent location to get both Amtrak and NJT photos. NJT GP40PH-2B #4206 passes on a southbound service... My one and only photo of an Amtrak E60CP electric in regular service....... ...and an AEM7 painted in the then current livery..... After a wander around the south end of Manhattan, it was back to JFK for our Kuwait Airways flight back to LHR. It would only be a short time back at work though, as I would be back in the USA some three weeks later.... 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chris116 Posted February 3, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 3, 2022 What reason do PATH give for not allowing photography? On my second visit to Chicago around 2004/5 I spent a day doing as much of the 'L' as I could. All the staff were friendly and helpful with drivers inviting me into the cab while they changed ends so I could get some better pictures. That was until I got to the Yellow line (Skokie Swift) when I took a photo of the empty cab of the train we had just arrived on I got screamed at by the driver and conductor that taking photos was an act of terrorism! I put my camera away but when I got off to change trains I mentioned to a staff member what had happened and that it had surprised me as everywhere else the staff had encouraged me with my photos. The member of staff asked me if I wanted a photo of the Skokie train and when I said yes he took my camera and walked over to the Skokie train and took a couple of photos. He gave me my camera and as we got on the Red line service told me that what had happened was totally wrong. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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