Eastern Railroad Discussion > A Detouring NS 21E Running On Amtrak

i was up early and the weather was 1/2 decent so i decided to trek across the river for the 40 minute drive out on Amtrak's west end on the their Harrisburg Line ... Amtrak's Harrisburg Line is very similar in RofW layout at Metro North's main line on the NEC ... the tracks are laid in a narrow RofW with sharp tight curves that require high superelevation so the passenger trains can keep the trains moving at passenger train speeds ... the fun part i found working on the west end was just that negotiating those tight curves at made high speeds ... the advent of welded rail made for even a smoother ride on the tight curves ... freight trains made this evident in dramatic fashion running at slower speeds altho a nice clip ... all those have gone now with Conrail having pulled all their thru freights off Amtrak and running on parallel routes ... but sometimes events occur where the freight railroads still utilized Amtrak as a means to move their trans due to circumstances preventing their trains from traveling on their regular routes ...

NS train 21E is just an example of such a move due to Septa working on a part of their railroad in Norristown,Pa that is the regular route for trains out of Morrisville ... NS train 21E is a perfect example of such a move where NS has chosen to run this hot intermodal out of their Morrisville intermodal terminal onto Amtrak's Harrisburg Line ... with 21E being the exception of detour routing with all the other trains using CSX's Trenton Line which required 2 reverse moves to get the trains from the NS Morrisville Line onto the CSX Trenton Line to Manville and onto the NS Lehigh Line main line ... why NS has chosen to run just this train on Amtrak to Harrisburg i do not know ... 21E is scheduled to leave Morrisville around 6am but they can't get onto Amtrak until after 9am having to wiat at Glen interlocking in Frazer,Pa to follow a westbound Keystone and a westbound Septa ... here's some action shots of 21E negotiating the the curves of Amtrak's Harrisburg Line in Donwingtown,Pa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/14 04:13 by Out_Of_Service.

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after train passed my location we moved up to the Thorndale station knowing that 21E had to stop at Thorndale tower to pickup an Amtrak pilot crew to take them to Royalton where 21E diverges onto NS rails into Harrisburg ... the first photo in this lot shows 21E stopped at Thorndale tower for the crew ... i messed up the image concentrating on the train and cutting off the signals on the signsl bridge ...

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these images show 21E passing the now abandoned Thorndale yard ... this yard was a setoff/pickup yard between train to/from Philly and to/from Trenton and points north ... the Trenton cutoff to Morrisville started here

that it for this series

here's photos of few passenger trains i captured while waiting for 21E

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3311187



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/14 04:26 by Out_Of_Service.

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Love those photos that show the super elevation! You don't see that on freight routes hardly anywhere in the country anymore. Very dramatic!

The other trains all normally have double stacks......which cannot run under the wires on this line. 21E often has stacks too.....and they have to purposely single stack these detour trains to make this move. But 21E has a hot block that makes a connection to another train at Rutherford. If they ran 21E on the Trenton Sub/Lehigh Line route, this block would miss its connection.

Jon

What I wouldn't give to go back 50 years to see GG1s and E44s on that line.

Great series. Pic 3 is a real winner!

Posted from iPhone

PittsburghMike Wrote:
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> Great series. Pic 3 is a real winner!

Agree, and I'd take No. 4 in a heartbeat, too.

Are the cat poles in that first sequence original PRR, with the wire for the fourth track having been hung from the very tips of the horizontal supports, or some sort of Amtrak/SEPTA-era retrofit?

Love pics 3 and 4 and well done!!

John Miller
Conestoga, PA

Those cat poles are the original PRR installation. The Reading RR's Chester Valley branch owned the real estate immediately north of the PRR and so they chose to hang everything from the south side of the right of way.

Brian

choodude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those cat poles are the original PRR installation.
> The Reading RR's Chester Valley branch owned the
> real estate immediately north of the PRR and so
> they chose to hang everything from the south side
> of the right of way.

Thanks for explaining that! It's so unusual, I figured there had to be a reason.

Forgive me for not knowing PRR track numbering in the area, but from looking at the first shots, it's pretty clear to me that at some point, there was a track realignment through those curves. The westbound main that 21E is using in the first four pictures is on the path of what historically would have been the second track from the north, whereas immediately to the west and elsewhere on that line, today's westbound main is on the path of the northernmost track from when this was a four-track main. Is the one-sided catenary-support installation the reason the track layout is different at this location?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/14 10:27 by toledopatch.

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> choodude Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Those cat poles are the original PRR
> installation.
> > The Reading RR's Chester Valley branch owned
> the
> > real estate immediately north of the PRR and so
> > they chose to hang everything from the south
> side
> > of the right of way.
>
> Thanks for explaining that! It's so unusual, I
> figured there had to be a reason.
>
> Forgive me for not knowing PRR track numbering in
> the area, but from looking at the first shots,
> it's pretty clear to me that at some point, there
> was a track realignment through those curves. The
> westbound main that 21E is using in the first four
> pictures is on the path of what historically would
> have been the second track from the north, whereas
> immediately to the west and elsewhere on that
> line, today's westbound main is on the path of the
> northernmost track from when this was a four-track
> main, as shown in the pictures I've attached below
> from both west (1) and east (2) of Downingtown. Is
> the one-sided catenary-support installation the
> reason the track layout is different at this
> location?


#4 track is the northern track

#1 track is the southern track

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> toledopatch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > choodude Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Those cat poles are the original PRR
> > installation.
> > > The Reading RR's Chester Valley branch owned
> > the
> > > real estate immediately north of the PRR and
> so
> > > they chose to hang everything from the south
> > side
> > > of the right of way.
> >
> > Thanks for explaining that! It's so unusual, I
> > figured there had to be a reason.
> >
> > Forgive me for not knowing PRR track numbering
> in
> > the area, but from looking at the first shots,
> > it's pretty clear to me that at some point,
> there
> > was a track realignment through those curves.
> The
> > westbound main that 21E is using in the first
> four
> > pictures is on the path of what historically
> would
> > have been the second track from the north,
> whereas
> > immediately to the west and elsewhere on that
> > line, today's westbound main is on the path of
> the
> > northernmost track from when this was a
> four-track
> > main, as shown in the pictures I've attached
> below
> > from both west (1) and east (2) of Downingtown.
> Is
> > the one-sided catenary-support installation the
> > reason the track layout is different at this
> > location?
>
>
> #4 track is the northern track
>
> #1 track is the southern track

Thanks. And so what I'm asking is, how and why did No. 4 track, as shown in Pictures 1 through 4, come to be on the alignment formerly occupied by No. 3 track? For that matter, what uses No. 2 (and surviving sections of No. 3) these days? Work trains?

Great catch!

NS should have sent a photo crew out to take promotional pictures, the superelevated curves give a clearer image of speed and power than any fancy processing or other tricks can.

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Out_Of_Service Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > toledopatch Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > choodude Wrote:
> > >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> >
> > > -----
> > > > Those cat poles are the original PRR
> > > installation.
> > > > The Reading RR's Chester Valley branch
> owned
> > > the
> > > > real estate immediately north of the PRR
> and
> > so
> > > > they chose to hang everything from the
> south
> > > side
> > > > of the right of way.
> > >
> > > Thanks for explaining that! It's so unusual,
> I
> > > figured there had to be a reason.
> > >
> > > Forgive me for not knowing PRR track
> numbering
> > in
> > > the area, but from looking at the first
> shots,
> > > it's pretty clear to me that at some point,
> > there
> > > was a track realignment through those curves.
> > The
> > > westbound main that 21E is using in the first
> > four
> > > pictures is on the path of what historically
> > would
> > > have been the second track from the north,
> > whereas
> > > immediately to the west and elsewhere on that
> > > line, today's westbound main is on the path
> of
> > the
> > > northernmost track from when this was a
> > four-track
> > > main, as shown in the pictures I've attached
> > below
> > > from both west (1) and east (2) of
> Downingtown.
> > Is
> > > the one-sided catenary-support installation
> the
> > > reason the track layout is different at this
> > > location?
> >
> >
> > #4 track is the northern track
> >
> > #1 track is the southern track
>
> Thanks. And so what I'm asking is, how and why did
> No. 4 track, as shown in Pictures 1 through 4,
> come to be on the alignment formerly occupied by
> No. 3 track? For that matter, what uses No. 2 (and
> surviving sections of No. 3) these days? Work
> trains?

by using the 3 track alignment it take pressure off the single pole arms by keeping the hangers closer to the pole ... you can see the track swings back to the 4 track alignment once the track is under the double cat poles

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> toledopatch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Out_Of_Service Wrote:
> > > #4 track is the northern track
> > >
> > > #1 track is the southern track
> >
> > Thanks. And so what I'm asking is, how and why
> did
> > No. 4 track, as shown in Pictures 1 through 4,
> > come to be on the alignment formerly occupied
> by
> > No. 3 track? For that matter, what uses No. 2
> (and
> > surviving sections of No. 3) these days? Work
> > trains?
>
> by using the 3 track alignment it take pressure
> off the single pole arms by keeping the hangers
> closer to the pole ... you can see the track
> swings back to the 4 track alignment once the
> track is under the double cat poles

Thanks for explaining. Seemed to be the most likely reason.

Let's see a brunswick green AEM-7 on this train! #3 shot is great.