Nostalgia & History > Turning the D&H PA units at Albany, NY

Can anyone help with this operational question or point me to a forum thread previously discussed.

When the D&H passenger trains arrived in Albany from the north and came up the grade to Albany Union Depot, how did they "spin" or turn the PA units for the northbound run? Did they go onto the NYC cab signaled main at all? Of course this only applies to be done when a single PA unit.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thomas G.

When they had single units, more than once I'd seen that they would wye them on the Rennselaer side via the Maiden Lane bridge, or just run them over the Maiden Lane bridge and back over the Livingston Ave. bridge which was basically running them over a reverse loop.

Bob

Thank you Bob. Great info.

Thomas G.

Keep in mind that this situation only existed for less than a year. The entire Albany operation moved across the river to Rensselaer in 1968.

Following the opening of the Albany-Rensselaer station, the PA and dome car would pull south from Colonie going to the north end of Kenwood Yard. From there they would make a reverse move on the connection to PC (later CR) and shove across the Livingston Ave. moveable bridge and into Albany-Rensselaer station. The dome and PA would then tie onto the inbound train after the PC (later Amtrak) unit had cut off.

Andy

Now fast forward to today. For the next two weeks VIA equipment will be used on the Adirondack between Montreal and Albany-Rensselaer.

There’s a “Park Car” Dome Observation on the end......is there a convenient location close to the Amtrak Station to turn the complete consists or would they just turn the Park Car?

There's a wye at the north end of Albany-Rensselaer station, at the east end of Livingston Avenue Bridge (LAB). I believe the north leg is the old branch up to Troy. Amtrak uses it every day for its Amfleet trains.

knotch8 Wrote:
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> There's a wye at the north end of
> Albany-Rensselaer station.....

Thanks, just looked at it on Google Maps.

And here's some switching of the Adirondack's PA & Dome back in 1974

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Great shots. Thanks for posting them.

From my recollections of this little station in Rensselaer, in the 2nd shot, that's looking south (railroad east back then) from Rensselaer station toward Hudson and New York. I believe that the switch to the left is the lead to the old Post Road Branch. It was out of service for a few years, and then Amtrak reinstated it at some point, so that the Boston section of the Lake Shore could make a direct move between Rensselaer station and the B&A. Before the Post Road was reinstated, the Boston section went south (east) to Hoffmans, then reversed for a few miles up the slope onto the Alfred Smith bridge, which is used by freights between Selkirk and Boston, and then proceeded east toward Pittsfield and Boston.

The 3rd picture is in the old Rensselaer station, at the south end looking north.

The Rensselaer station is now a very large building, the third one servicing this location since Penn Central moved across the river from Albany Union Station. The track layout is pretty much unchanged from what Penn Central installed back in the late 1960s or whenever the change was made, but there have been a few changes, mostly revolving around the "new" Turboliner maintenance facility which was built just north of the station. I'm sure there are folks on this site who are much more familiar with it than I am, and I hope they'll weigh in.

In reply to an earlier post, we should note that the wye formed by the junction with the Troy branch is now the routine method for turning engines (and entire consists) at Rensselaer. Several movements a day do this, including a backup move part way out onto the Livingston Avenue bridge.

I can see this from the window near my office, and I must say it's very distracting. :>))

Sometimes, the consists are brought all the way across the river to the first control point (143 is it?) at the base of West Albany Hill, before backing eastward across the river and into the shops area. This is not the norm, but it does happen pretty frequently--I've never figured out what determines when they do this.