Third Time's A Charm

NJ Transit; Port Jervis, N.Y.; October 21, 2015

When I visited Port Jervis, New York, a year ago, the old signals from the days of the Erie Railroad still protected the siding leading into town, but replacement signals were standing. A year later, and somehow the Erie signals were still surviving. I made it my mission to capture a photo I didn't get around to doing a year ago.

First some background. The line to Port Jervis is the old Erie Railroad mainline between New York and Chicago. In the merger with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western in the early 1960s the Erie was somewhat chopped up as the new Erie Lackawanna shed redundant trackage. The line took a severe downturn in 1981 when the EL was merged into Conrail. Today the eastern end of the Erie between Hoboken, N.J., and Binghamton, N.Y., sees commuter trains from Hoboken to Port Jervis. Freight service through Port Jervis is down to one trackage rights train from the New York, Susquehanna & Western, which traverses the line westbound on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, and eastbound on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights (although the westbounds usually get to Port Jervis after midnight). The shot I wanted was a Susquehanna train passing the Erie signals.

My first attempt was on October 21, trying to take advantage of the fall foliage. The commuter trains are a joint operation between New Jersey Transit and Metro North Railroad, since the first half the of the journey is primarily in New Jersey (from Hoboken to  Suffern, N.Y.) while the second half is entirely in New York to Port Jervis. Because of the joint nature of the operation, motive power from both railroads can be seen. I shot the 9:27 train that departs east on this evening (above) with the trees showing just a brief bit of color, even this late in the season. The train was pushed by NJT ALP45-DP No. 4527, a dual mode locomotive that can operate as a diesel, but can also operate as an electric from overhead wires where they are present. Alas, for some reason my camera lost its focus, so when Susquehanna showed up at 12:03 a.m., the shot was fuzzy and useless.

The second attempt came on November 4. I got to Port Jervis early to shoot the semi-frequent commuter trains that come in. Expecting Susquehanna after 10:00 sometime, I had some time to try different angles with the commuter trains before moving to the Erie signals. ALP45-DP No. 4524 led a train past the old Erie depot in town (the commuter trains stop at a plexi-glass shelter just west of the old station).

N.J. Transit; Port Jervis, N.Y.; November 4, 2015

The next arriving train had one of Metro North's spiffy F40 locomotives leading.

Metro North; Port Jervis, N.Y.; November 4, 2015

With the station shot in the bag, I moved on to what appeared to be some trees with color still in them just east of the station. Sadly, it looked better in the dark than it did illuminated by flash. Metro North GP40FH-2 No. 4904 led a train into town.

Metro North; Port Jervis, N.Y.; November 4, 2015

Moving up to the signals, the trees were nice and colorful. My test subject before Susquehanna arrived was a train led by Metro North GP40FH-2 No. 4900. I was ready.

Metro North; Port Jervis, N.Y.; November 4, 2015

Somehow once again, though, my camera's focus went astray before Susquehanna rolled through at 12:06 a.m. The resulting shot was once again fuzzy....

Determined to make this work, I went back again five days later, on November 9. I knew Susquehanna was running earlier, and this time I was determined to get it. I set my camera up on a tripod, adjusted the focus and waited. A parade of commuter trains went past my lens, led by NJ Transit GP40PH-2B No. 4206.

NJ Transit; Port Jervis, N.Y.; November 9, 2015

Most of the colorful leaves were gone, but one almost-dead tree was hanging in right near where the locomotives would be for the shot. It was better than nothing... Next up was a westbound behind Metro North F40 No. 4910.

Metro North; Port Jervis, N.Y.; November 9, 2015

The commuter trains run every 30 minutes or so until about 9:00, so I figured Susquehanna would probably not show up until after then. The next commuter train drifted into town just a bit before 9:00 with NJ Transit PL42AC No. 4008 leading.

NJ Transit; Port Jervis, N.Y.; November 9, 2015

Normally after the 9:00 train the eastbound signal would flip to green in anticipation of the departure of the 9:27 train. The signal stayed red, however... Was there something behind the 4008? Susquehanna, maybe? At 9:20 a headlight appeared from around the curve. Show time.... Camera on, wait for it... And fire!

New York, Susquehanna & Western; Port Jervis, N.Y.; November 9, 2015

Got it. Finally. The train headed through town with SD60 No. 3800 leading a matched consist of four Susquehanna locomotives. It was time to pack up the camera and head back home. Mission accomplished!

Photos in this post can be purchased here.

Cool Chromes -- Traction Action

Cool Chromes is a recurring feature of slides that have passed through the scanner recently.

Newark City Subway; Newark, N.J.; April 21, 1985

In this edition of Cool Chromes we're going to look at some traction -- electric-powered streetcars and subways. Our first shot above takes us back to April 21, 1985. The Newark City Subway (operated by New Jersey Transit) was having an anniversary of some sort (I can't remember exactly what!) and brought out one of its work cars for display at the Franklin Loop at the north end of the line. Today the PCC streetcar, the work car and even the loop are all gone.

MBTA; Riverside Carhouse, Newton, Mass.; July 1986

Next we have a line-up of Boeing-built Light Rail Vehicles (LRV) for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) at the company's Riverside carhouse in Newton (I think; I wasn't the greatest at taking notes). This view was made possible thanks to a tour operated for the joint convention of the National Railway Historical Society and National Model Railroad Association in July 1986. Once again, all these Boeing-built cars are gone to retirement.

SEPTA; Hunting Park, Penn.; January 28, 1995

Here's a Peter Witt streetcar operating in charter service for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The Philadelphia transit agency used to maintain a small fleet of historic cars, but has since dispersed its collection. The Peter Witt now resides at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton. This shot was taken on January 28, 1995, during a Super Saturday Streetcar Special operated by the Wilmington Chapter NRHS.

PATH; Kearny, N.J.

We finish this edition of Cool Chromes with a shot of the Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) system. A work train is out on the line at Kearny, N.J., using retired cars and a flat car. One of the curses of slides is the processor didn't always stamp the processing date on the mount (especially after Kodak gave up doing its own processing) so this slide is, for the moment, undated (I may have mentioned I was bad at taking notes). However, I would guess it was taken during a boat trip on the Hackensack River either during or right around the time of the 1988 NRHS Convention in New Jersey in July 1988.