Skirting the banks of the Schuylkill River, Amtrak # 616 is seconds away from arriving into Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. Despite the heavy August sky, the weather is an enjoyable 25 degrees - perfect weather for a morning trackside, or a jog as some opted for. In my opinion, Philadelphia offers some of the most underrated railfanning locations in the Northeast. One such location is Schuylkill River Park near Locust Point. This location offers a peaceful park setting and a central view of 3 busy lines: CSX's Philadelphia and Harrisburg Subdivisions (the High Line) as well as Amtrak's North East Corridor. This photograph was essentially taken from one of the park benches, which made for some very relaxed photography.
Ps: There seemed to be an endless stream of attractive young women out jogging. For a young man such as myself, it made this location that much more enjoyable ;-)
Tags: Amtrak Philadelphia Photography Railroad Railfan Railway Railroading Passenger Train River Schuylkill River America Sunny Summer Northeast Corridor
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Accumulating just over a 1000 miles on the odometer over the course of two days, we had criss-crossed Pennsylvania in search of trains, but there was one in particular that we wanted more than any other - the Bessemer and Lake Erie. Early Saturday morning we crossed paths with a northbound ore train at Conneaut, but alas the train was led by a Canadian National locomotive. After waiting around the docks for the train to do it's work, we decided to continue onto Greenville, in hopes of shooting some classic BLE power. Unfortunately this endeavour provided no luck. Slightly upset by this turn of events we decided to head to Pittsburgh, where we were guaranteed more action. Shooting trains in Pittsburgh was an incredible experience, the heavy duty industries, infrastructure and scenery made for an enjoyable couple of days but as we started the lengthy drive back home to Canada, we felt a sense of incompleteness. It wasn't until around Grove City that received a timely text from Brian Plant, advising us of a BLE train in Conneaut. This news was welcome, and we made our way down I-79 to Albion with a new sense of excitement. All the way from Pittsburgh to Grove City, we were confronted by torrential downpours, that at times caused us to seek refuge at a rest stop. Remarkably, when we got to Albion, the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. With a tip to go to the RX signals, we set up our shots and waited. With the sun declining, the shadows continued to grow and were becoming a bit concerned - where was the train? Nonetheless we continued to wait, and the shadows continued to grow. The radio crackled to life, evidently the train was crawling over a weight scale just down the line at all of 3.2 miles per hour. Minutes later, the train popped into view but then came to a stop. It was almost agonizing, the train was so close but we couldn't get photos. About five minutes later, the four EMD's powering the train, throttled up, and the heavy ore train lugged forward. As the train finally popped into frame, my friend and I were absolutely euphoric, cheering and high-fiving. The locomotive engineer shared some of our success, smiling, waving and shouting out for us to run and get some more photos. The feeling that catching this train provided us was nothing shy of magical. Upon watching this, we had realized that our efforts were not lost, and we have finally caught the train that we came for.
Tags: Bessemer & Lake Erie Albion Pennsylvania Reflection Evening Summer Train Trains Transportation Railroad Railfan Railway Railroading Ore Train EMD Locomotive Codeline Forest Track Photography America Freight Foam Mainline Beautiful Vibrant Canon 7D Canadian National USA Travel Heavy Equipment Bessemer BLE LRF96
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The AVR Extra Job is finally on the move again after interchanging traffic with Norfolk Southern at Island Avenue. Today's consist is made up of a handsome pair of maroon SD40-2R's. Miraculously (and surprisingly) the sun came out for our photos, after a morning of torrential downpours. I am sure Ian will remember this day well, for better or worse - but in my opinion shooting this train made the day much better!
Tags: Train Railroad Railfan Railway Railroading Trench Pittsburgh AVR Allegheny Valley Railroad Summer Sunny EMD SD40-2R
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An oil train rolls through the 'trench' surrounded by a lush park-like setting just outside of downtown Pittsburgh, after a torrential downpour came through town.
Tags: Pittsburgh Trench Norfolk Southern NS Train Trains Railroad Railfan Railway Railroading USA Cloudy Summer
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A pair of SD70ACe's charge an oil train through the trench on a gloomy Pittsburgh morning.
Tags: Pittsburgh Trench Norfolk Southern NS EMD SD70ACe Train Trains Railroad Railfan Railway Railroading Mainline Pennsylvania USA America Cloudy Foam
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