Full Size Dioramas

United Railroad Historical Society; Boonton, N.J., September 21, 2014

The diorama is something often produced by modelers -- a small scene showing what was or what might have been. But dioramas can often be produced in full size, as well. Such was the case at the  open house held by the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey at its restoration shop in Boonton.

The URHS was established in the late 1980s to assist in the establishment of a state-funded railroad museum; three decades later, the state has yet to act on funding such a project. But back in the beginning, New Jersey Transit was on the brink of a complete modernization of most of its commuter lines in the northern part of the state. The agency asked the URHS which pieces of equipment were worthy of saving. The URHS identified some 60 pieces of equipment and sent the list to NJT. The transit agency gulped -- but to the amazement of everyone, donated nearly all the items on the list.

United Railroad Historical Society; Boonton, N.J., September 21, 2014

The URHS found itself in possession of a ton of equipment including three GG1 electric locomotives, several E8 passenger diesels, a fleet of passenger cars and some former multiple-unit electric cars that worked for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western; there was a host of other equipment as well. The collection was put into temporary storage at a variety of locations around the state awaiting the funding for the state museum. A restoration yard of sorts was established at one of the sites in Lebanon, N.J. As the years dragged on, though, and no museum was forthcoming, one by one the owners of the "temporary" storage locations asked URHS to move its equipment. A permanent site needed to be found.

One thing URHS was able to accomplish was getting some of the equipment restored. Various short lines and tourist railroads leased URHS equipment for favorable rates with the understanding they would restore the units. Even Metro North, the New York commuter operator, leased a pair of ex-Chicago & North Western F7s under the condition that they come back to URHS in running condition -- and painted for the Lehigh Valley! The generous rules around various federal transportation funding bills allowed more equipment to be restored.

United Railroad Historical Society; Boonton, N.J.; September 21, 2014

 Finally, a permanent home was found for the collection when NJ Transit donated its unused rail yard in Boonton. The equipment that hadn't been leased out was gathered and moved to the new site. A restoration shop, cleverly built out of storage containers, was constructed. Money from donations and grants was still coming in, and equipment began to enter the shop and come out at least cosmetically restored. A few luxury passenger cars had been put back into service, fully certified to run on Amtrak, to generate additional revenue. The crown jewel of the fleet is the Hickory Creek, an observation car that ran on the New York Central's 20th Century Limited.

All this brings us back to dioramas. The facility at Boonton is a restoration yard, not a museum site. Nonetheless, each year the URHS holds an open house at the facility. The space is limited, but for photographers there are a couple of "dioramas" set up. The effect is especially effective after dark when night photography comes into play.

United Railroad Historical Society; Boonton, N.J.; September 27, 2014

For the open house, one end of the shop complex held a New York Central scene. The Hickory Creek was posed next to E8 passenger diesel No. 4083. No. 4083 wears a love-it-or-hate-it experimental scheme of jade green the NYC tested in the 1960s -- No. 4083 was one of six units to receive the scheme, and is the only survivor. Perhaps this scene could represent the eastbound and westbound 20th Century Limiteds meeting somewhere in the dark, or perhaps the engine change at the Harmon Shops in Croton, N.Y., where electric locomotives that led the train out of Grand Central Terminal were swapped for diesels for the rest of the run to Chicago.

United Railroad Historical Society; Boonton, N.J.; September 27, 2014

The other end of the shop featured units that operated for New Jersey Transit on its New York & Long Branch service from Hoboken and New York City to Bay Head, serving the northern towns of the Jersey shore. In the early 1980s NJT trains left Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan behind GG1 electric locomotives that had served the Pennsylvania Railroad since the 1930s and 1940s. At South Amboy the massive motors were swapped out for E8 passenger diesels, classics in their own right, to continue on to Bay Head.

United Railroad Historical Society; Boonton, N.J.; September 27, 2014

 This scene was a slight mismatch of eras, however. By the time NJT got ahold of GG1s for service, they had lost their attractive Brunswick green paint and gold striping, replaced by solid black from when they worked for Penn Central. Thus, in real life the good-looking blue and silver NJT diesels would not have ever appeared with Pennsy-painted GG1s. Nonetheless, the locomotives did work together at South Amboy at one time.

United Railroad Historical Society; Boonton, N.J.; September 27, 2014

The URHS has done a remarkable job in the cosmetic restoration of these two GG1s. No. 4877 has received the five-stripe whiskers scheme, while No. 4879 has the single large stripe with a larger Pennsy keystone on the side. Both look really good.

United Railroad Historical Society; Boonton, N.J.; September 27, 2014

So there you have some full-size modeling. Perhaps someday the state will finally establish the transportation museum and the equipment will be more readily available to the public. In the meantime, watch for the URHS open house each September. For more information check out the URHS website.  For more daytime photos of the equipment at Boonton you can click here. For more night photos from Boonton you can click here and scroll to the second page.

The Last Lackawanna Ferry

Binghamton; Edgewater, N.J.; September 27, 2014

A significant piece of railroad history sits partially submerged in the Hudson River in Edgewater, N.J. The ferry boat Binghamton once served the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, taking passengers from the Lackawanna's trains across the Hudson between Hoboken and Manhattan.

Binghamton; Edgewater, N.J.; September 27, 2014

The Binghamton was built in 1904-'05 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry-dock Company, was launched on February 20, 1905, and entered service on April 3, 1905, for the Lackawanna's Hoboken Ferry Company. It was one of six identical ferry boats operated by the Lackawanna.

Binghamton; Edgewater, N.J.; September 27, 2014

Almost immediately the need for ferry service began to decline. The Pennsylvania Railroad and the Hudson & Manhattan (now PATH) both tunneled under the Hudson in 1907. The Holland Tunnel opened in 1927, with the Lincoln Tunnel following a decade later. The last ferry crossing by the Lackawanna was made on November 22, 1967; by then the Lackawanna had merged with the Erie Railroad to form the Erie-Lackawanna.

Binghamton; Edgewater, N.J.; September 27, 2014

In 1969 the Binghamton was purchased by a contractor with the dream of converting it into a restaurant. In 1971 it was moved to Edgewater. The initial plans never materialized, but a new owner came on the scene in 1974 and the Binghamton was moved about a half mile to its current location in 1975. Later that year the restaurant finally opened. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Binghamton; Edgewater, N.J.; September 27, 2014

The restaurant was shuttered in 2007 and the intervening years have not been kind to the Binghamton. Its owner applied for a demolition permit in 2011, but before any work could be done the boat took on water and became partially submerged it in 2012. Hurricane Sandy did major damage later in 2012 (the river side of the boat looks much worse than the land side seen in these photos) and a suspicious fire did further damage in May 2013.

Binghamton; Edgewater, N.J.; September 27, 2014

For now the Binghamton holds the distinction of being the last double-ended steam-powered ferry left on the Hudson, but that won't last much longer. The current owner is in the process of paying fines he owes to Edgewater for various code violations and will hire a contractor to demolish the boat. A barge restaurant will ultimately occupy the Binghamton's berth. For now, though, the Binghamton remains in sad condition, it's wheelhouse sign that once proudly proclaimed its name resting on the ferry's roof. The boat was on borrowed time when these photos were taken on September 27, 2014. It's unclear just how much longer the Binghamton has left, but time is not on its side. More photos can be found here.

Binghamton; Edgewater, N.J.; September 27, 2014

Not Knowing When To Quit

Hilton & Albany; Albany, Ga.; December 12, 2014

Sometimes not knowing when to give up is a good thing. My brother Bruce and I headed into Albany, Ga., on December 11, 2014, as part of a recent trip from New Jersey to Florida. Our goal was to get a night shot of a train on the street running in town. I had seen photos of Norfolk Southern freight trains heading down Roosevelt Street and thought it would make a nice night shot.

Trying to find information on when the trains ran proved problematic. We checked at the NS yard office in town, but no one was around. Suddenly a train pulled out of the yard and headed towards Roosevelt Street. We quickly got ahead of it and set up our strobes in record time -- only to have the train retreat back into the yard, never to be seen again.

Still without good intelligence on when trains ran, I set out on foot looking for a local. My search was quickly rewarded when I found one of Albany's finest in his cruiser about a block away. Certainly the police would know if trains ever used the street running at night. My inquiry (strange as it was) was met with a rather certain reply -- "There is a westbound train every night at about 11:30." Since it was only 8:30, we settled in for a long wait.

Now for a little background. The previous night we had also been set up on street running, this time up in Augusta, Ga., where we had a real nice shot of the history museum at the north end of 6th Street all set up. The local people told us trains went down the street "all the time." Alas, from the time we set up at 7:30 until we called it quits at 1:45 a.m., we didn't see a train. Waiting on street running in the dark was becoming a recurring theme on this trip.

Well, 11:30 came and went with no train in sight. The clock ticked over to the early morning of December 12, and we waited. Then, just after 1:00 a.m., we heard horns in the wrong direction. An eastbound was coming! We quickly swung the strobes around to light up the eastbound train. It approached, we fired the strobes and checked the shot (above). Huh? This wasn't a Norfolk Southern train -- it had locomotives wearing the paint scheme of shortline conglomerate Genesee & Wyoming. Quickly hitting the internet on my phone, I discovered NS had leased the line to G&W subsidiary Hilton & Albany. Hmmmm.....

Now, since this was a shortline running to an interchange, there was a good chance it would turn back once it completed its work in town. Bruce drove to the yard a couple of times while I stayed behind to watch the photo gear to make sure the H&A crew didn't go home. The locomotives had left their train and coupled onto another string of cars. A little past 3:00 a.m. the train headed back west again and we got our second shot.

Hilton & Albany; Albany, Ga.; December 12, 2014

Now it was 3:15 a.m. We tore down our strobes, packed the car and stumbled into a motel a bit before 4:00. We were tired, but we got two night shots for our efforts. And it was of a railroad neither of us knew existed before it showed up in our cameras. There's a fine line between persistence and not knowing when to quit -- and sometimes not knowing when to quit pays off!