Railroaders' Nostalgia > My Dumb Luck: the AFT years 32

32     New York City  July 27- Aug. 1

The NYC visit was a longer one – the better part of a week.
The run from Morristown was short, but proved quite eventful. We would enter Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor for the first time and what's more, we would need to pass right through Manhattan's Penn Station to get out to the display site on Long Island. Conrail actually offered to take the T-1 through Penn (it has the same clearance profile as a GG-1), and this probably would been a historic event of some sort – has a steam locomotive ever passed under NYC before? But unless the main rods were removed first, the cylinders might be damaged from lack of lubrication. It probably wasn't worth the trouble or the risk, so it didn't happen.

We waited near Newark for a lull in the flow of Corridor traffic. Trains roaring by at 125 mph were loud and frighting! The AFT was officially limited to 45 mph (cheated on slightly, but not by too much) so rubbing shoulders with nearly three-times that got your attention- whoa!

Photo 1. Amtrak's GG-1 paint scheme. Damn.
Photo 2. Metroliner
Photo 3. Another Conrail Bicentennial Scheme – this one part of the ex-Erie Lackawanna commute fleet.
Photo 4. The short-lived (in passenger service) E-60 with a steam heat car, so maybe it has a Florida train in tow?

Finally, we were allowed in and moved into position so that the T-1 could be replaced by a pair of waiting GG-1s. The change was made quickly and we were off for NYC.

Photo 5. Our GG-1s 4883 & 4879. (4879 still survives in NJ)
Photo 6. Heading for NYC.

I was riding in the 111 Car (Exit/Generators) with Larry (Security). We had the doors on either side all the way open- this was going to be great! It wasn't long at all and we were dropping down and into the tunnels under the Hudson River. Suddenly there was a tremendous ear ringing chest thumping explosion! What The Hell Was THAT!? The train seemed to shutter, stall, and then regain its momentum. (The GG-1s had shorted and shut down – we were rolling!) Larry's radio came alive with confusion as everyone traded info trying to figure out what had happened. We rolled into Penn Station itself, with platforms full of commuters staring at us in bewilderment – we were defiantly NOT the 10:18 to New Haven! Then came a second explosion! This time a shower of sparks rained down from above where we were riding. The commuters set about screaming and running for the exits, Godzilla vs. Tokyo style. Meanwhile Larry and I debated the wisdom of staying aboard the 111 Car- and the stability of the several hundred gallons of diesel fuel in tanks under our feet.
“Oh, I think it's OK Larry … tell you what – wait here and I'll go ask.”

But we surfaced seemingly OK. Breakers reset, the Gs pulled us up to where they could be traded for a pair of Long Island diesels, and we continued on to the display site at Belmont Park.
Once spotted, a few of us scrambled up onto the roof to see if we could figure out the explosions. It didn't take long. We found a small, still smoking, hole where an antenna had been! In the 14 months since the AFT had hit the road, the Bunk Car had sprouted a few antenna – I know Dale had a scanner in his bunk and someone else had a TV.
No one had ever considered the consequence of 11,000-volt catenary.

Photo 7. On Long Island
Photo 8. Our LIRR power (GP 38-2 & C-420) spotting the train at Belmont Park.
Photo 9. The 11,000-volt blast zone.
Photo 10. Exhibit “A.” I took this back in Kansas – but you can see the wire going up from one of the bunk windows (Dale's, I think).

It had been decided the train was beginning to look a bit shabby and could use a repainting. The goal was to have the whole job2 completed before we reached Washington, D.C., about seven weeks away. Painting began in NYC and the first car painted was the 33. This was the ex-Southern baggage car used for storage by the concessions people. Mistakes were made. See photo.

Photo 11. Tony. Great with the spray gun, not so good with masking tape. And it's the wrong blue! Although the stars were fixed, the 33 car carried this darker blue (T-1 blue?) on this one side all the way to the end in Miami.
Photo 12. While on Long Island I got a shot of one of the FA's LIRR was using as Cab/HEP cars on trains that when out beyond 3rd rail. These came second hand off all sorts of railroads. The 617 that I caught was ex-PC 1333, and before that, NH 0428.

OK, the photo count for this one is really high, so I'm breaking it up to cut down on the scrolling a bit …  to be continued.

SR Bush
Dutch Flat
 

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Great story about the antennas meeting catenary!!

MEKoch Wrote:
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> Great story about the antennas meeting catenary!!

the catenary power is set to auto reset the first 2 times it shorts ... if a third incident of contact with the wire occurred the train would've been shut down and would've needed to be inspected before it moved forward before the power was reset by the power director

Over a beer, or three, we've always debated exactly how many explosions there were- I guess you've settled it!
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
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>> Photo 11. Tony. Great with the spray gun, not so
> good with masking tape. And it's the wrong blue!



Any idea what ever happened to Tony in the decades since this photo was taken?

No, after the tour ended in Miami I never saw him again. He was from San Jose, and would be in his late 50's now- he was maybe the youngest guy on the crew if I remember it right. He was a fun guy to work with, always up for whatever came our way!
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> No, after the tour ended in Miami I never saw him
> again. He was from San Jose, and would be in his
> late 50's now- he was maybe the youngest guy on
> the crew if I remember it right. He was a fun guy
> to work with, always up for whatever came our
> way!
> SR


Lol! I doubt you'd even recognize him today. Probably still the same happy go lucky guy as he appears in the photo, just 30+ years older. MAN! I sure wish I had been 10 or 15 years older at that time, I would've had a blast being on tour with the AFT! And for the record, how did people get selected to be a part of that tour?

Dumb luck.
Really.
If you work back to the beginning of my series I explain how I got hired. My story is typical in that it was so improbable.
We all had stories like that.
SR