Streetcars in Boston - 6-17-2015

Hi, Friend Dale Diacont and I had a very enjoyable day riding and photographing streetcars in Boston. We each bought a day pass and used the streetcars to go from photo location to photo location.

Our principal objective was the Mattapan High Speed line so we met at Mattapan station to begin our day.  Our interest was due to this being one of the few places where PCC cars are used daily in regular service.  All of the orange cars were photographed on the Mattapan High Speed line which runs to Ashmont with 6 intermediate stops.  A connection with the Red Line subway is made at Ashmont.

When we arrived at Ashmont we transferred to the Red Line which we took to Park Street where we got on the Green Line to Lechmere, the east end of the Green Line.

After lunch in Lechmere we took some photos at the station and

boarded a car for one stop to Science Park.

On leaving Science Park the Green Line dives underground through downtown Boston rising to the surface on the west side of town.  The photo above and all of those below were taken on the Green Line route to Boston College and all cars are headed west.

The station above is Boston University Central.

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning 6-7-2015, N&W J #611

Hi, Friend Rudy Volin and I decided to head out to photograph N&W 4-8-4 #611 on its second day of fan trips between Manassas and Front Royal, VA. yesterday.  We were able to catch the train 5 times on each of its two round trips.

We arrived at our first location, just south of The Plains on VA Route 245, at about 8:00 AM.  A few minutes later this eastbound manifest broke the early morning quiet.

About an hour later #611 went west.

We easily beat the train to Delaplane (above and below)

and Happy Creek, a couple of miles east of Front Royal.

We waited at Happy Creek for the train to be turned at Riverton Jcn. in Front Royal.  The photos (above and two below) are from the same spot with different focal lengths.

Our final eastbound shot of the morning was gotten at Marshall.

We went directly to Belvoir where we ate lunch and waited for the train.  It came west at about 2:40 PM (above and below).

We photographed again at Delaplane

and Happy Creek (above and below).

On its return to Manassas we were able to again photograph the train at Happy Creek

and Marshall.

It was a really good to see the J back in steam again.  Thanks for looking.

Railfanning - May 23, 2015

Hi, Saturday, May 25 was Day In North America for Railroads Illustrated Annual. I was joined by friends Jeremy and Jim Beck, and Rudy Volin for a trip to the former Pennsylvania Railroad Middle Division, now the NS Pittsburgh Line.

We arrived at CP Banks, the former site of Banks tower, just in time to catch #38J pass #16N.

Our second lucky catch was at Cove where the Savannah & Atlanta heritage unit lead #20W east.

After waiting awhile at Cove we moved further west to a location about a mile east of Newport, PA.  First up was this eastbound manifest.  What appears to be a Gazebo at the left is actually a shelter for a manually operated water pump.

We could hear a west bound approaching when suddenly it seemed like an eastbound also was getting close.  Before I could fully get into position the eastbound Pennsylvanian rounded the curve just to the west.

Almost immediately after the Pennsylvanian disappeared an intermodal came west

followed shortly by a second intermodal , #21J.

On the west side of Newport is CP Port where we caught #23Z.

Continuing west we stopped at Thompsontown where we shot another westbound intermodal,

eastbound coal train #400, and

#13G.

There is a nice open space at Mexico with New York Central style block signals.  Here we shot #11J and

# 56V splitting the signals.

Then Jeremy and I moved out from the track to shoot #17G,

the westbound Pennsylvanian, and

#21M in quick succession.

At Port Royal there were a number of eastbound trains for which the light was not really good.  Therefore, I tried for some new angles that would make the best use of the side light (above and two below).

Also, I took a couple of more conventional photographs of these two eastbound trains (above and two below).

Here a young railfan waves to the crew of an eastbound tank train.

Our final train at Port Royal was this westbound auto rack train.

We then drove directly to the west end of the Rockville Bridge in Marysville in hopes of getting a westbound in sweet light.  However, it was not to be.  This eastbound intermodal train crawled across the bridge.  While it was doing so the only westbound during the 40 minutes or so we were there passed behind it.

Thanks for looking.