Along the Lehigh Line

Norfolk Southern; Pattenburg Tunnel, Pattenburg, N.J.; October 23, 2014

Over the course of this past autumn I got to explore the most local busy railroad to my home, Norfolk Southern's route across New Jersey on the former Lehigh Valley Railroad. With gas prices falling, local day trips became a bit more economical, so I made the one-hour drive down to NS's Lehigh Line a few times as the leaves turned. We'll take a geographic look at the line, starting just across the Delaware River in Easton, Penn., where we see a westbound train on the former Lehigh Valley passing under an abandoned bridge that once carried the Central Railroad of New Jersey across the Lehigh River.

Norfolk Southern; Easton, Penn.; September 28, 2014

Now we'll get into New Jersey. Coming up from the Delaware River, trains are digging into the grade up to the summit at Pattenburg Tunnel (top photo in this blog) as they pass through Bloomsbury. Two nice overhead bridges provide good views in both directions here.

Norfolk Southern; Bloomsbury, N.J.; September 28, 2014

On a rainy day in October we look the other direction at Bloomsbury as the local train from Allentown, Penn., heads back west.

Norfolk Southern; Bloomsbury, N.J.; October 23, 2014

At Jutland there is a nice overhead bridge, where we see an oil train passing underneath. Oil trains have really added a lot of traffic to the Lehigh Line.

Norfolk Southern; Jutland, N.J.; September 28, 2014

An overlooked location is Hamden, located in the woods west of New Jersey Route 31. The Lehigh Line passes through back-to-back truss bridges here, crossing the Raritan River (westernmost bridge) and Cramer's Creek (near bridge in the photo below). Another oil train heads east through the two bridges.

Norfolk Southern; Hamden, N.J.; October 9, 2014

Downtown Stanton Station (which consists of a general store and not much else) is a good place to photograph eastbound trains in the afternoon, as the tracks curve southward here to provide good lighting. A stack train snakes through the S-curve just north (railroad west) of the town.

Norfolk Southern; Stanton Station, N.J.; October 9, 2014

Just south of the grade crossing in town, we find a stand of late autumn color hanging in there. A stack train rolls through on it way east. Just ahead is a passing siding where meets often take place, so there can be a lot of action in a short time at Stanton Station.

Norfolk Southern; Stanton Station, N.J.; November 6, 2014

We'll head just a few more miles east for our last shot. Here we find an eastbound train crossing the Raritan River at Neshanic Station. The train has some more rural running to do before it starts entering suburbia on its way to the yards and refineries near New York City.

Norfolk Southern; Neshanic Station, N.J.; November 15, 2014

And we'll conclude with a story about the top photo in this blog. On a rainy day word got out that two of Norfolk Southern's heritage units (a total of 20 units painted for the predecessor roads that make up Norfolk Southern) were coming east. One of the two heading this way was painted for the Virginian Railroad, the other for the New York Central. The Virginian was a rugged mountain line and I thought a shot of the Virginian unit coming out of Pattenburg Tunnel would be appropriate. I had a friend who was monitoring the progress of the Virginian unit through the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania and I knew the New York Central unit was on a train about two hours behind. I timed it out carefully and walked in to the shot at Pattenburg Tunnel about ten minutes before the train was due. I waited for the train... And waited... And waited... After about an hour my friend called to say the train (which was carrying oil) went into a siding near Bethlehem, Penn., and would be sitting there indefinitely because the refinery (across New Jersey) already had a train unloading there and there was no room for another train. By this time I was pretty sure the New York Central-led train was only about 30 minutes away, so I waited in the rain for it. Sure enough, it did show up right about when I guessed it would, so the top photo of this post is really just a consolation prize photo.

Reading Heritage in Pennsylvania

Norfolk Southern; Hershey, Pa.; February 22, 2014

Saturday, February 22, had a forecast of bright and sunny, and with a handful of Norfolk Southern's heritage units roaming eastern Pennsylvania, I headed into the Keystone State in search of some colorful diesels. The website for monitoring these locomotives, heritage units.com, showed nothing specific happening, but the odds were good that something would break loose at some point. I was driving for a rendezvous with my brother Bruce and Mike Burkhart in Harrisburg when Mike called. The Reading heritage unit had made an unexpected appearance on a westbound freight (after conflicting reports on its location the previous day). With this info, the three of us converged on Hershey, Pa., where the tracks head southward, allowing good light on a westbound train in the morning. As an added bonus, we'd be shooting the Reading unit on former Reading Company trackage.

I got to Hershey first and found the Norfolk Southern local switching the yard that serves the famous chocolate plant (at least what's left of it -- many of the Hershey factory buildings have been recently demolished). NS GP38-2 No. 5659 was doing the work in the yard.

Norfolk Southern; Hershey, Pa.; February 22, 2014

A number of freight passed through Hershey before the arrival of train 19G with the Reading unit. While the light favored westbounds, eastbound trains also looked good passing through the wreckage of some of the Hershey plant. As the morning wore on, the crowd in Hershey kept growing and growing as train time for 19G neared.

Norfolk Southern; Hershey, Pa.; February 22, 2014

Finally 19G showed up with SD70ACe No. 1067 in Reading colors on the point. The train had to make a setoff in the Hershey yard.

Norfolk Southern; Hershey, Pa.; February 22, 2014

As the train was being put back together to go west, we relocated to a former Reading station on the west side of Hershey. We might as well get some of the old Reading with the new Reading!

Norfolk Southern; Hershey, Pa.; February 22, 2014

As the train approached Rutherford yard it hit some traffic that delayed it. We knew it would have to stop on the fuel pad in Harrisburg for a crew change and fuel, so we set up in Harrisburg just east of the fuel pad. Our train was badly delayed, but we did get an intermodal train heading west out of Rutherford.

Norfolk Southern; Harrisburg, Pa.; February 22, 2014

Meanwhile, just to our right in the above shot, an oil train started heading west with the NS Central of Georgia heritage unit as the second locomotive. And just to our backs from the same bridge, Amtrak's eastbound Pennsylvanian was stopping in the Harrisburg station.

Amtrak; Harrisburg, Pa.; February 22, 2014

With our Reading unit still stuck in traffic, we relocated onto Amtrak's Harrisburg-Philadelphia line and got the eastbound Pennsylvanian again. Both of the Pennsylvanians this day would have somewhat rare B32-8 locomotives leading, with eastbound No. 513 sporting the attractive Northeast Direct paint scheme.

Amtrak; Harrisburg, Pa.; February 22, 2014

Our train still hadn't made it to the fuel pad, so we worked our way west now following the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line knowing the westbound Pennsylvanian would soon be in the picture. As we headed west on Route 15, we caught up to the rear of the oil train with the Central of Georgia unit. We thought we would overtake it, but it accelerated and left us behind poking along in traffic. This meant it was time for lunch and to regroup so we grabbed some subs at the Sheetz in Cove, then headed west to Newport to enjoy our lunch trackside. At Duncannon we passed the oil train stopped, and noticed a lot of other stopped trains. System-wide, Norfolk Southern's dispatching center had shut down and just about every NS train in the country was at a standstill. The outage lasted about 90 minutes, and when trains started rolling again, the first one we saw at Newport was the westbound Pennsylvanian.

Amtrak; Newport, Pa.; February 22, 2014

Our train still hadn't made the fuel pad in Harrisburg, so we busied ourselves shooting trains with old Pennsylvania Railroad signals (which are being replaced) around Newport. Our westbound Pennsylvanian shot featured the train splitting a pair of signals (above) on the east side of Newport, and it was shortly followed by the delayed oil train with the Central of Georgia heritage unit.

Norfolk Southern; Newport, Pa.; February 22, 2014

We then relocated to the west side of Newport where we got an eastbound train under the ex-Pennsy signal bridge.

Norfolk Southern; Newport, Pa.; February 22, 2014

Finally the train with the Reading unit made the fuel pad, had gassed up and was heading west. The timing was actually pretty good, as it would allow for a night photo passing the Pennsy signals at Port Royal. We headed there and set up our strobes, and it wasn't long before the train went by.

Norfolk Southern; Port Royal, Pa.; February 22, 2014

Norfolk Southern; Port Royal, Pa.

We ended our chase here. In all, we had followed the Reading unit for about 55 miles from Hershey to Port Royal, and it took the train eight hours to cover that distance (and 40 of those 55 miles were done in the last hour, between leaving the fuel pad and getting to Port Royal). It wasn't exactly a high speed chase.

The night was still somewhat young, so we decided to try for an eastbound train at Port Royal passing the Pennsy signals. We relocated to the overpass and were rewarded with several trains. It was a busy evening on the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line and a great way to end a great day.

You can find more photos from the day here.

Three Jersey Nights

Norfolk Southern; Phillipsburg, N.J.; September 7, 2012

Part of my photographic arsenal includes four Alien Bees, studio strobes that can synchronize with my camera for night shots of moving trains. During the summer months they often don't get much use (mostly because it doesn't get dark until after 9:00, making for a long night), but as the autumn comes in and darkness comes earlier, they provide a nice way to make up for the shorter shooting time during daylight. Let's take a look at three recent shots.

First up we head along Norfolk Southern's ex-Lehigh Valley main line in Phillipsburg, N.J., on September 7. Fellow photographer Tom Nanos was visiting from Connecticut, as since he is also armed with strobes we decided to head out for some shooting. The shot we had envisioned was from the Main Street bridge looking west, with the former Central Railroad of New Jersey passenger station in the shot. The first train to show up, however, was a westbound train, which made us head to the other side of the bridge for a tighter shot passing restored PU tower (above). While I have four strobes, this was done with only two -- one with a telephoto reflector aimed down at the train, and one with a wider-angle reflector aimed at the tower. The flash power on the tower was cut back to about half to avoid over-exposing the tower.

CSX Transportation; Belle Mead, N.J.; October 7, 2012

About a month later Tom was back in New Jersey again and we went over to the former Reading Company passenger station and freight house at Belle Mead on October 7. A relocation project for U.S. Route 206 resulted in the bridge over the railroad being moved back a couple hundred feet and during construction the town took the time to begin making the area a historic district. Trees were removed from the south end of the passenger station and the grass gets mowed every now and then, but otherwise no funds have been allocated to further improve the property. We were looking for a westbound (geographically southbound) train here, and this time we were rewarded with one train in the proper direction. For this shot I used three strobes. Two were across the track from where I was standing, one pointed at the passenger station and another at the nose of the train. The third was just off to my right, throwing light on the end of the freight house and on this side of the locomotive.

A few days later a coal train came into southern New Jersey to serve the power plant in Deepwater. One of Norfolk Southern's "heritage units" (locomotives painted in the livery of a now-extinct railroad that makes up the modern NS system) was the trailing locomotive on the southbound trip, but since the locomotives are run around the train for the return trip, the heritage unit -- painted for the Reading Company -- would lead north. We knew the crew was called out of Abrams Yard near Norristown, Penn., in the early evening and taken by van to Deepwater. We (my brother Bruce and friend Mike Burkhart) watched as the crew arrived at around 10:00 p.m. and began putting the train together at around 11:00. Once it looked like the train was almost ready to head north, we went to downtown Penns Grove to set up. Bruce had shot a heritage unit here before, and the train showed up then at about 1:00 a.m. But this time 1:00 came and went with no sign of the train. Finally, we heard the dispatcher call the train on our railroad radio asking if they were ready to leave -- this was around 2:00 a.m. The crew responded in the affirmative, and about 20 minutes later they passed through downtown.

Norfolk Southern; Penns Grove, N.J.; October 14, 2012

This is a fairly small scene that required only two strobes. I had a wide-angle strobe set up on the right side of the street pointing at the Colonial Hotel, and a second strobe with a telephoto reflector set up on the left side of the street pointing at the train. 

Now that winter is approaching and darkness will be coming before 5:00, I'm looking forward to getting out more with the strobes.

Lost And Found

Cincinnati Union Terminal

Moving along with our continuing travelogues, we'll jump to August (see, we're catching up!) and a trip to Summerail at CUT. Summerail is the big multi-media railroad photography exposition held inside Cincinnati Union Terminal (a place that used to see hundreds of trains a day but is now reduced to only seeing Amtrak run one train each way three times a week). Organized by David Oroszi of Dayton, Ohio, Summerail brings together some of the finest photographers from the heartland and across the country.

Cincinnati Union Terminal, built in 1933, is an art deco masterpiece, and the last of the great stations built in the U.S. before the decline of passenger trains as America's premier transportation mode. Other than a brief sure in traffic during World War II, the number of trains calling at the terminal was in decline almost as soon as the station opened. By 1971 Amtrak was down to two trains a day stopping at CUT, and Amtrak pulled out altogether in 1972. The building sat empty until 1980 when a shopping mall was opened inside it. By 1982 the building was empty again, then in 1990 it opened as its current incarnation as the Cincinnati Museum Center. Amtrak returned to the terminal in 1991. Summerail is held in the Museum Center's theatre, just off the grand half-dome rotunda.

The view from CUT Tower A

I headed west with Railfan & Railroad associate editor Otto Vondrak on August 9, driving straight through from New Jersey to Cincinnati. On August 10 we did some railfanning with local guide Willie Davis before heading to the traditional Friday evening meal at Camp Washington Chili, followed by an evening of slides in the CUT theatre.

Saturday, August 11, was the big day for Summerail. I spent the morning in Tower A located in the upper reaches of CUT. At one time Tower A controlled all the movements into and out of CUT; today it is operated as a museum by the Cincinnati Railroad Club. The tower provides a panoramic view of CSX's Queensgate Yard and Norfolk Southern's Gest Street Yard. To the south, the NS's ex-Southern Railway bridge into Kentucky is visible in the distance. A handful of trains from both CSX and NS came into the yard during my two hours there.

The multi-media shows were all tremendous -- one of the best line-ups of shows I have ever seen at Summerail (and I've been there every year since 1999). Dinner was the traditional Skyline Chili meal across the Ohio River in Covington, Ky., then more shows took us late into the evening.

The next morning Otto and I loaded up on supplies (cans of Skyline Chili, bottles of Ale-8-One, and more) then headed into Kentucky to shoot the Short Line of the former Louisville & Nashville (now CSX). In LaGrange CSX trains share the main street with auto traffic (the street running has become the town's biggest tourist draw) and we got one train each direction there. There was quite an assembled throng of photographers in town, and while most shot an eastbound train from the sunny side at the east end of the street running, I opted for a more unconventional angle passing the town clock.

CSX Transportation; LaGrange, Ky.; August 12, 2012

We needed to head further west for a night photo session in southwest Indiana, and the intel was that a Norfolk Southern heritage unit (No. 1066, painted for the New York Central) was working in helper service out of New Albany, Ind. Even though the heritage unit would be facing into the train while pushing, we decided to check things out and headed to New Albany. Much to our surprise, a young railfan there informed us that the next westbound train had locomotive trouble, and the two engine helper set (the heritage unit and one other engine) was going to be split up, with the NYC engine assigned to the point! We couldn't believe our luck! However, I am not going to show you any shots of that chase for reasons that will soon become clear.

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After a spectacular chase across Indiana, Otto (who is not into night photography like I am) opted to stay at the motel while I headed out to Boone, Ind., and the Squaw Creek Southern for a night photo session organized by Mark Mautner. I hadn't downloaded any of my photos so far on this trip to my computer and my digital cards were filling up fast. I had to pause twice during the night photo session to change cards, and during the first of those changes I took out the card containing the NYC heritage chase and unknowingly dropped it (I would not discover this until I was back home in New Jersey and found a gap in my photos). 

The Squaw Creek Southern is operated by Respondek Rail, and company president Terry Respondek posed for one of the scenes giving a thumbs-up to his locomotives.

Squaw Creek Southern; Boone, Ind.; August 12, 2012

Most of the night photo session was done with plenty of flash, but during one of the equipment moves I took advantage of the existing light at the shop and captured SD9 No. 204 poking out the back silhouetted by the shop lights.

Squaw Creek Southern; Boone, Ind.; August 12, 2012

The next day, August 13, we rocketed back home to New Jersey. Once there, I downloaded all my photos and noticed everything from the NYC chase was missing. I immediately knew where I had dropped the card -- in the Squaw Creek Southern yard -- and I pretty much knew where I was standing when I likely dropped it. However, my card was now 800 miles away. What to do?

After some thought, I remembered that Carstens Publications had an employee living in central Illinois about 200 miles from Boonville. In my capacity as editor of Railfan & Railroad, I "assigned" him a day of work to go down to Boonville and track down my card. After about a week of it lying on the ground, Jim Wiggin was able to find the card, right where I dropped it. He mailed it back to New Jersey, I loaded it into the computer, and -- voila -- I had my NYC shots back. So let's review the chase -- it started with a scene at the levee at New Albany, Ind., as more and more railfans gathered as the afternoon progressed.

Norfolk Southern; New Albany, Ind.; August 12, 2012

While most of the photographers followed the train for some extra shots, Otto and I decided to head directly to the tunnel at Maplewood, Ind. Good thing we did -- there was room for about five photographers comfortably. As the train popped out of the tunnel, the rest of the motorcading photographers jockeyed for position as 20 people tried to fit into the space that would accommodate about three.

Norfolk Southern; Maplewood, Ind.; August 12, 2012

We would continue along this ex-Southern Railway mainline on the way to Huntingburg, getting several fine photos along the way. About the time we were ready to break off the chase, I noticed we were only a few miles from Eckman. I had chased a freight through Eckman back in 2010 and knew it was a good shot, so we made our last stand there.

Norfolk Southern; Eckman, Ind.; August 12, 2012

From here it was the night photo session and back to New Jersey. What was an adventurous trip turned out to be a little too adventurous for my tastes, but thanks to Jim Wiggin it had a happy ending.