For Monochrome Monday here's another view of these New York Central time machines.

I rarely go out with the specific goal of shooting the hind end of a train. While locomotives have always been the primary focus of railroad photographers since the earliest days of the genre at least a couple generations ago the rear ends were nearly as interesting. Until the mid 1980s every freight train was punctuated by a caboose each dressed in the unique colors and style of the owning road, of which there were far more in the pre mega-merger era. Go back a generation or two further than that to the pre Amtrak era and the rear end of passenger trains were just as interesting often brought up by observation cars of varied styles and colors and frequently adorned with neon logos or stylish nameplates befitting the status of the train.

Alas those days have been relegated to the history books and if you want to photograph a caboose rolling you have to visit a heritage railroad or participate in a photo freight reenactment. Similarly you won't find an observation car on any modern Amtrak trains so unless you want to travel north to see VIA's classic Canadian, you have to visit a museum or be lucky enough to catch a private car or executive train out on the line.

However in recent years the New Jersey based United Railroad Historical Society has begun running regular excursions along the Hudson River (and even a few as far as Chicago!) with their trio of original New York Central Railroad cars that they add to regularly scheduled Amtrak trains.

Bringing up the rear of Amtrak train 233 (Empire Service from New York Penn Station to Albany-Rensselaer) are NYC tavern-lounge number 43 (Budd built 1947), Pullman bedroom lounge 'Swift Stream' (Budd 1949), and observation lounge car 'Hickory Creek' built by Pullman-Standard for the 1948 refit of the flagship 20th Century Limited.

All three cars would have regularly traveled these rails on their original trains, though originating at Penn Station instead of Grand Central would seem blasphemous to those old Central men! The Hickory Creek resplendent in her Henry Dreyfuss designed two toned grey livery splits the Central era small target GRS type SA signals as she sails north up Main1 at MP 99 on modern day Amtrak's Hudson Line which opened between New York and Albany in 1851 as the Hudson River Railroad.

In 1864 the road was purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt along with the New York and Harlem. Meanwhile in 1853 Erastus Corning had assembled a plethora of small local lines as the New York Central Railroad running from Albany to Buffalo and in 1867 Vanderbilt merged it with his road to create the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad and the rest as they say is history. The line passed from the NYC, to Penn Central, Conrail, and ultimately CSXT until December 2012 when Amtrak took over control and dispatching of the line from Poughkeepsie to Hoffmans (where it joins the busy Mohawk Subdivision) under a long term lease agreement with CSXT.

As for these trips check out this website to learn more about what the URHS offers:

www.hudsonriverrail.com/experiences

And for an in depth history of each of these three cars check out these links:

www.urhs.org/hickorycreek
www.urhs.org/swiftstream
www.urhs.org/rolling-stock#/nyc43

Tivoli, New York
Saturday October 26, 2024

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Nostalgic Return

Like many people of a certain age who grew up in Eastern Massachusetts or Rhode Island a visit to this place was a right of passage, particularly during the holiday season. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of cold nights, warm wooden coaches, and twinkling lights beneath stars, and along the bogs of cranberry country. Edaville Railroad was a special place for generations, and it had been more than 35 years since I last visited. Named for its founder, Ellis D. Atwood, who did so much to save the unique two foot gauge equipment, Edaville was later purchased by Nelson Blount of Steamtown fame after Mr. Atwood's tragic death. When Blount also died young in an accident their spirit and dream lived up through successive owners until finally foundering in the early 1990s. Despite most of the classic two foot gauge equipment being repatriated to Maine and the original five and a half mile long loop around Atwood Reservoir being cut back to only two miles Edaville has survived.

For the first time in 35 or more years I returned thanks to the suggestion of a friend for a fun little photo charter featuring two steam locomotives, sponsored by the railroad and coordinated by Bill Willis of Precious Escapes Photography (make sure to give him a like or follow if you don't already). The star of the show was Edaville #3, an 0-4-4T Forney type locomotive built by Vulcan Locomotive works in 1913 for Maine's Monson Railroad. It ran on the six mile long pike from Monson Junction to its namesake town until the railroad's demise in 1943, the last common carrier 2 ft gauge railroad in operation in the US. Following the road's abandonment, #3 operated at the original Edaville Railroad for nearly 50 years, and was part of the original collection of equipment that migrated to the then new Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum in Portland following Edaville Railroad's closure. #3 has been a frequent visitor to other 2 ft gauge recreational railroads in New England when not in Portland and returned to the reestablished Edaville Railroad a few years ago where it continues to operate.

To learn more check out these links:

edaville.com/about-us/

mainenarrowgauge.org/collection-roster/

Here she is leading a four car freight consisting of three flat cars and a hopper. The cars (three of them at least) recently arrived from South Africa where they once operated on the now closed Avontuur Railway, which at 177 miles was the longest two foot gauge railway ever built. If anyone has more history of these specific cars I'd love to learn more.

Carver, Massachusetts
Sunday December 2, 2024

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For Station Saturday here is a portrait of the gorgeous Chatham Union Station built in 1887 by the firm Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge (successors to H.H. Richardson).

Chatham was once a major junction with the Rutland coming down from the north and New York Central's Harlem Line coming up from points south to meet the Boston and Albany. The last passenger train called in March 1972 and two years later the depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and it survives today as a bank. Rising in the background across Hudson Ave. can be seen the landmark 1872 clock tower that has framed up countless photos of trains over the past century and a half.

To learn more about this picturesque Columbia County town and then check out these links:
visitchathamny.com/walking-tour/

www.trainweb.org/rshs/GRS - Chatham, NY.htm

www.mcwb-arch.com/chatham-union-station

Chatham, New York
Sunday November 10, 2024

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For F Unit Friday here's another from my fall trip out to Jim Thorpe and the third an final spot on a mini chase of Reading and Northern train JTOS (Jim Thorpe to Reading Outer Station) with 10 cars trailing three diesels all dressed in the Fast Freight scheme. Leading the way are RBMN 270 (rebuilt F9A ex NS 4270, originally blt. Jan. 1952 as an F7A for the Baltimore and Ohio as BO 937) and 275 (a rebuilt F7B ex NS 4275 originally blt. Oct. 1950 for the Chicago Great Western as CGW 113D). Both were rebuilt to GP38-2 standards by Norfolk Southern in 2006 and along with another A and B unit the four unit ABBA set spent a dozen years leading NS executive trains system wide until November 2019 when Norfolk Southern divested their executive office car power and the RBMN won these two at auction. Trailing the pair of streamlines is RBMN 5019, a rebuilt SD50-2 acquired from CSXT that was originally blt. Mar. 1984 as Seaboard System 8550.

They are rounding the curve thru the corn fields approaching the Church Road crossing at about MP 106.2 on the modern day Reading and Northern Railroad's Reading Division mainline, near the west end of the former Central Railroad of New Jersey Railroad branch built from Mauch Chunk in 1870 as Nesquehoning Valley Railroad Company.

Rush Township, Pennsylvania
Saturday September 5, 2024

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For Freight Car Friday here's a look at the double stacks floating over the rooftops as CSXT train I003 (South Kearny, NJ to Bedford Park, IL hotshot intermodal) rumbles northbound over the massive 1222 ft long trestle crossing high above Catskill Creek in this view from Summit Ave. Located at about MP 110.3 on modern day CSXT's busy River Sub mainline, the once double tracked trestle was built by the West Shore Railroad (a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York Central System) in 1902. Spanning US Route 9W, the creek and Main Street, it replaced an iron structure dating from around 1883 when the route was opened by predecessor New York, West Shore and Buffalo.

Catskill, New York
Friday December 6, 2024

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