North Platte or Bust: Part 1; Getting There

This is the first installment of several for an HAPT road trip adventure lasting a couple of weeks.  As the title implies, North Platte, NE was the endpoint, but it wasn't a beeline trip.  A zig-zag pattern of short trips to the next "railfan hot spot" really formed up around the need for Charles "The Fiddler" Kadyk to be at a family wedding in Kansas City on August 11.  Many adventures, in the truest sense of the word, ensued.  Two of us, armed with, cameras, radios, GPS, maps, literature, and some prior research, set out on Sunday August 5 from Mohnton, PA and returned on the 17th.  I also had some lesser adventures before and after that "in transit" to and from Maine.  The tales will follow in installments. 

It's a rare thing when you are not retired and can still spend this much time on just chasing down trains.  Charles and I are lucky that teachers have the luxury of time during the summer.  Charles is also lucky to have a wife who puts up with it.   Here's some of the fun you could have - when you can get away with it.


August 2-3, 2012:

Former NH main to Poughkeepsie Bridge

On the way to PA I made a stop in Highland, NY.  This allowed me to visit the famous New Haven RR Poughkeepsie Bridge, now "Walkway Over The Hudson".  After years of sitting dormant after the fire of suspicious origin in the days of the Penn Central, the state of New York got its act together and acquired the bridge for the walkway.  I've always found the history of the bridge to be pretty fascinating.  It was an important link to New England in its day.

West Shore Line

Walkway Over the Hudson

Walkway Over the Hudson

The morning dawned with an annoying mist that screwed up photography of the bridge structure, so I saved that part for another trip.  I still had time to walk out a ways and get a feel for the place.  It was very busy with walkers, joggers and bikers.  Pretty cool.  I did manage to get some shots of the CSX West Shore Line / River Line.  Naturally activity on the line picked up after I was far enough away to miss it.  The Amtrak line and Metro North depot in Poughkeepsie was busy though.  A shame it was so strongly backlit and misty.  Next trip.

West Shore Line - south

I did enjoy the bridge but I couldn't linger forever.  I wanted to photograph the bridge from the "Mid-Hudson"bridge.  There's a park at the Highland end that ties the two bridges together as a trail system and it seemed like a good place for photos.  Maybe if I wasn't headed elsewhere...


Once I arrived in Mohnton we pretty much headed out to lunch at a local diner and then over to a gig in Burlington, NJ at Doc's Irish Pub.  Charles plays the fiddle for Belfast Connection.  Thankfully, Diane was along so I didn't have to figure everything out on my own.  It was a fun evening.  The reason I even mention it is that the NJ Transit's River LINE ran past the window.  Naturally, when the gig ended and we waited for something to pass, all was dead.

August  4:

On Saturday Charles gave me some serious training time on serious model railroad operations.  But, this was after we grabbed coffee and donuts at the Dosie Dough Bakery in Wyomissing (Reading).  We missed two trains in pursuit of donuts.

We started with Jeff Warner's electronic wonderland modelling the old Pennsy, Reading and Western Maryland.  I enjoyed handling a wireless throttle and following track signals with the guidance of one of the veterans.

Safe Harbor, PA

Safe Harbor, PA

We left suddenly in a thunder storm that caused Jeff to shut down a bit early.  Between layouts, and after a group lunch at a local diner, Charles and I set out for Safe Harbor to get a daylight view of the bridges.  Here I also tried to work in some of the leftover rails from the construction of the power plant.  The top track is long gone but the lower track is now the NS line that goes to Wilmington on the NEC via a wye in Perryville, MD.

The rest of the day and evening were spent at Ken McCorry's fantastic re-creation of the the Pennsy Buffalo Line.  Charles and I handled trains BF-14/15 which run the full length from Harrisburg and Buffalo and return.  Charles ran the northbound, where I followed along to learn the ropes and then I took the southbound.  Nothing like working with helper units on Keating Summit to give the task some seriousness.  Anyway, even with little work en-route, it took us over an hour and a half to make the run - one way!  That's a huge layout.  The photos don't do it justice.


August 4:

We once again visited the Dosie Dough Bakery before heading out.  Diane went along in another car this time to say goodbye.  We got underway around 9:30 or so.

Fireless steamer, Dennison Depot, Ohio.

Dennison Depot, Ohio.

Dennison Depot, Ohio.

Dennison Depot, Ohio.

We expected a pretty straight forward trip.  However PennDOT had other ideas.  We managed to choose a route that needed tunnel work around Pittsburgh.  This took us on a detour through the rather large Frick Park and environs.  Not bad.  The detour itself was almost to the minute what was advertised on the blinking signs.  However, we did not get to Dennison, OH in time for the museum to be open or to catch the Ohio Central train that had apparently just headed west.  We took some photos of the area.  Dennison Depot memorializes a troop canteen that formed at the depot where citizens came out to feed passing troops.  It's a neat story.  Too bad we missed the museum.

From the museum we drove around the area on our way west and located a coal train parked on what is now an R.J. Corman line running north.  It looked more like newish aluminum hoppers but maybe they were leased in an off season deal.  They seemed to be a Wisconsin Electric reporting mark but I didn't record it.

Big Four depot, Galion, OH

Big Four depot, Galion, OH

Somewhat further on we passed through the town of Galion, OH.  I had been there before and wanted to see the depot again.  I'd forgotten how fancy it was.  It's a former "Big Four" or CCC&StL /NYC station now being restored.

CSX double stack backing into Marion Intermodal Terminal.

We began to hear some chatter on the scanner that sounded close as we approached Marion.  Some intermodal was talking about 7000ft length for some reason.  Before we could figure it out, we began to pass a large industrial park which featured warehouses and a large container yard.  This yard had a switcher and depot with signs calling it the Marion Intermodal Facility.   The next thing we saw was our path blocked by a double stack being backed into the yard.  What made it special was the KCS unit on the point.  Charles grabbed his camera and set out.  I'd catch up later.

We'd most definitely reached Marion.  We checked in at the motel, grabbed some KFC next door and headed to Marion Union Station to watch the action.  It was too dark for my camera by the time we got there but there was a small group of local fans from the Model Railroad Club in the building who tolerated us and had some stories to tell.  Meanwhile we watched a few trains pass over the many diamonds.  Each wheel on the endless trains smacked those crossings loudly.  We had to cover our ears.  We'd get some ear plugs in the morning for that.

Marion Union Station

A local who stayed around late told us a bit more about how the CSX trains get signals north out of Columbus well in advance.  That told us something about the old Hocking Valley Line (C&O) and when to expect trains.  Southbound we could see the headlight miles away.   The NS former N&W nee PRR line was more mysterious.  A northbound was waiting when we arrived so naturally we assumed something was crossing on the east-west former Big Four/EL line.  This turned out to be true.  A westbound passed.  The logic was sound enough.  Soon the northbound NS leave and soon the anticipated northbound CSX approached.  We saw around 7-8 trains on the three lines before we left for the night.  Southbounds on the Hocking Valley line were the count leader at 3, all hoppers trains of ore or stone.  Apparently they were regular sights.

Anyway, our trip was officially under way...

BC

Billy's Adventures 2012 Part1

The complete content, including Bill's reports, follows and will no doubt be revised.  This includes a few select photos of mine from Monday to Wednesday.  This trip is now an annual ritual for Billy and the HAPT.  There are postings going back to the beginnings of this blog, but he's been doing this far longer. 

MONDAY JULY 9TH, 2012

After receiving a call from Billy saying that he'd arrived, I set out for Danville Jct. to meet him and Carl.  This was near 3pm.  On the way I ran into this interesting combination of power in Mechanic Falls.  Apparently the SLR South Paris local had some work on the siding and was waiting to proceed.  I could see it cross the road in my mirrors after I left.  The two switchers are Quebec and Gatineau Ry.  and have been on the local lately.  We'd return to this train later.


I arrived in Danville in the middle of the passing of the Rumford jobs.  RUPO was supposed to pick up a couple of crippled loco's but something just didn't work out and they left without them.  A maintainer truck pulled up and the mechanic got to work soon thereafter.




Seeing that there wasn't going to be much more happening for a long time we decided to go after those switchers I spotted earlier.  We left vehicles at Billy's favorite "Sleepy Time Motel" and headed over to Lewiston Jct. to begin the trip along the SLR towards South Paris.  We took a little time to look at the variety of power sitting around the engine house.  Then we were off toward Mechanic Falls and Oxford just to make sure the train hadn't returned yet.

In Oxford, we were traveling down Rt. 26 when the crossing lights lit up near the MP 46 detector.  We turned around quickly and set off for a place to catch it.  Luckily, traffic was light and we were able to catch it near "Lashins Auto Salvage" near Oxford.  This is along routes 11 and 121 between Mechanic Falls and Oxford.   The sun favored us a bit too there.  We were able to see the train spread out across the line along the road.  The weeds were a bit annoying but tolerable at this point and there was a wide spot to safely pull off the road in front of the salvage yard.  The train was moving at a pretty good pace so we had to move right along.  It got to Mechanic Falls almost the same time we did but it didn't have to slow down like we did. 

Our only option was to catch it beyond the town near the New England Public Warehouse siding east of town.  This was enough to give us a chance to line up some kind of shots in the growing shadows of the evening.  Thank heavens for digital cameras.  This would have been a challenging spot with the old Kodachrome.  We were off again once the train passed and we could sneak in one more shot in Poland where the alcohol cars are set out.  This time the shadows were too much for my camera but we were well ahead of the train and easily beat it to the crossing.   From here it was just a matter of catching at Lewiston Jct.  This was easy.  The set the cars off deep into the yard and then the units came down toward the engine house.

This turned out to be enough.  We headed over to Mario's for supper and called it a day.

TUESDAY:  OFF TO WATERVILLE...

I'll start off by using Billy's posting from the listserv's (with his permission). 

"We Left Danville Junction after a coffee stop at Dunkin Doughnuts we headed up to Waterville Yard. As we arrived in Waterville we saw 52(Maine Central Paint) - 71 - 310 - 374.  We then heard a track forman asking for a Form-D to a "DERAILMENT" on the "East Augusta Running Track" (LOW ROAD). Brad and I found the site in Vasselboro at Station Hill Road where I'm told the passenger station was located. We saw 1 covered hopper off the rail leaning to the right. But the crew was there working hard to rerail it. (Here is the link to Billy's post about the derailment at Vassalboro.)
We then returned to Waterville Yard and found  POWA Arriving at 12:30 pm with 616(E) - 618(W) - 314(W) - 380(W) - 503(E)
with a decent size train.We then chased MD-1 (Madison Branch Local) to Oakland, A M.O.W. Crew was working the area MD-1 arrived at 13:15 with 374*W) - 310(W) 17 cars. ran around train and went up the Madison Branch Long Hood Forward, as both engines were facing west. Then Lunch at The Govenors in Waterville. Both Brad and I had the "Mount Kahtadin Meatloaf Mountain" with Unsweetened Iced Tea. What a meal ! WOW ! We then were stuffed and headed back to Danville Junction via Leeds Junction,The Fair Grounds, Strawberry Ave, to Danville Junction as the scanner came to life. We found RUPO, with 345(W) - 511 - 512 with 70 cars at 16:35, DJ-1 was 312(W). We couldn't see the power so we headed to Danville West.We then chased him to New Gloucester Siding where he passed up westbound at 17:15. PORU then came out of the siding with "FOREIGN POWER" in the 2nd slot. power was 376(E) - 3001(GMTX)(E) - 371(W) at 17:20. PORU passed "Black Cat Road" At 18:00. Tomorrow Brad and I will head south to the Portland area. So we will be in the area, maybe to Saco Amtrak Station.

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The Next Adventure Begins Tomorrow.Thanks To Gary "THE BOSS" Young for posting reports.

Till Next Time Railfans.

Billy Leazer W.F.P.T. / H.A.P.T.
Brad Conant H.A.P.T.

Paul "BEEF CAKE" Apollo H.A.P.T. / W.F.P.T. (By Cell)"

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The passing of the Rumford jobs at New Gloucester was way more interesting than usual, probably because Billy was around.  Each train had one unusual locomotive.

The meet itself was interesting because the PORU was out of sight and did not pull down toward the crossing until RUPO got closer.  Somewhere in the process we noticed that the road stripes were painted since the last train passed so the rails had new paint on them.  The crossing was also malfunctioning a bit so the PORU crew flagged their way over the crossing.  The paint probably had nothing to do with it and it was gone from the railhead after the first few RUPO cars anyway.


After the PORU crew got onto the main and flagged the crossing they were off to Danville Jct.  We had no trouble getting ahead.  For such a short distance, the trains never beat us, unless they are OCS's.  

At Danville Jct. we took a few minutes to get shots of the former SLR "Yellowjacket" passing over the former SLR diamond area.  The shot of it coming into the east end is shot from the former SLR alignment that went over the diamond into the yard.  The realigned SLR joins in a switch to my left nowadays.  The PAR main now takes the far yard track as seen in the photo. 
We couldn't just stop there with so much daylight left.  We headed into town to get the train passing over the Androscoggin River.  We parked at the Veterans Memorial Park on the Lewiston side of the Longley Memorial Bridge.  Billy shot from the park while I stood on the road bridge. 

WEDNESDAY JULY 11, 2012;  DISTRICT 2

Once again we'll start with Billy's listerv posting...

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"We drove down to Saco to start via Rigby Yard in South Portland, Which was dead. In Saco at the Amtrak Station we caught Amtrak "DownEaster" Trains as follows.

Amtk 683 @ 13:05 199 - 4 cars 90220(Cabbage Car) (Portland,ME).

Amtk 684 @ 13:15 Cabbage Car 90213 - 5 cars 21 pushing (Boston/ North Station).

Brad and I then wandered down to Dover,N.H. and caught as follows.

Amtk 686 @ 15:30 Cabbage Car 90220 - 4 cars 199 Pushing (Boston / North Station).

DO-1 @ 16:10 514(MEC) - 9 cars. To Dover Yard.

We then headed back North to Rigby Yard and saw a couple locals switching along with engines parked

515 - 315 - 345 - 511 - 512. Also work going on at CPF-185 (Royal Junction) signal work.

Lots of miles today but not many trains. 

But a FREE SLURPEE Today, Between 11 and 7 a free

11.7 oz Slurpee, At Seven-11.  FREE, my favorite word !

Till Next Time Railfans"

Billy Leazer W.F.P.T. / H.A.P.T.
Brad Conant H.A.P.T.

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We did all this driving in the hopes of catching SEPO with CSX power, or at least catching something trying to sneak through between the Downeasters.  Rigby looked kind of empty with only one set of power so we figured something might sneak through.  At least we caught DO-1 in Dover.  I'd never done that before.

As it turns out, the power seen here would be important to the next few days, especially the early PAR paint schemed 511.  We'd already seen it on RUPO on Tuesday.  We'll see it Friday.



Here is a link to Part 2 on this same site.

BC

North Country Recon

A beautiful spring day and a train show for the restoration of the Bartlett, NH roundhouse got the DT&I Fan and I out for a drive through the mountains.  It was a great day for a drive, even if we only shot photos of captive rail relics.

We worked our way toward Bartlett by stopping in Conway to see the MEC Mountain Division bridge over the Saco River.  The old road from Fryeburg leads to a boat launch and trail system which provides easy access for this photo. Apparently there is some rumor that either this bridge had been removed or needs substantial repairs.  I guess you can see that it isn't missing.  This has some bearing on whether the line is restored one day for trains out of Portland.

Former MEC roundhouse Bartlett, NH

From here we followed the new by-pass through North Conway which also follows the line.  This dumped us by the depot but we went straight to Bartlett to see the train show.  The show was small but we just wanted to give our money at the door anyway.  After our visit we wandered over the the roundhouse.  At the moment the building belongs to the NHDOT.  However, the building is in need of repairs.  I think the DOT wants to turn the building over to a historical society which will fix up the building and work with the Conway Scenic Ry.

MEC boxcar on the Conway Scenic.

Wooden snow plow.

 Also found at the site is this old MEC wooden boxcar, similar to ones on my layout.  There is also a wooded plow to be seen.  Both look like they need some restoration too.  But they seem to have good frames holding them up. 

Once we had seen all there is to see in Bartlett we head back to North Conway for a closer look at the Conway Scenic Ry. Along the way we see evidence of ballasting and track work going on up to the Notch.  We would see more of this later in the day.   We arrive at the depot as a Bartlett train is leaving with the 573 in the lead.  This worked out well as it cleared the tracks to view the equipment scattered around.  Here we see the former MEC GP38 traded from Pan Am and restored by the Waterville shop.  Those people know how to paint a locomotive when they are allowed to.  This guy is sharp in every exterior detail.  The MEC style paint job is fantastic.  No where do you see shoddy paint work sprayed over rough surfaces, rust or excess layers of old paint.  Hopefully the interior is decent too.  This and a high hood GP35 were traded to Pan Am for two former Canadian FP-9's.  The other unit is also in MEC paint and seen in the yard.




Farther down the track by the roundhouse I had to grab this marginal shot of the restored former B&M F unit at the turntable.  This is a recent restoration from what I understand.  A sister unit is getting some cosmetic attention and may join up as some form of "dummy" unit.   A bit farther back was this wooden flanger car.  A car just like this one was parked at South Paris, ME on the Grand Trunk for years.  It was the same color and lettered for Central Vermont.  If I recall correctly, I saw both cars at the same time in the 1970's, so they are identical but not the very same.

Without much additional walking we came across this neat pair of BAR cars that I've recently acquired for my N scale empire.  I was now familiar enough with the details to appreciate the features of these unusual cars. The tri-color Magor cars were unusual for their charcoal heaters and special vents.  I had to photograph those details.  The heater detail is here.  I felt compelled to include the plate above the heater that denotes ownership.  I took several other photos of the details but this really isn't the place for those things.  They'll probably end up in another post where I compare them to my N scale replicas.

Though the orange reefer isn't that unique, the detail for the fan battery, drain spout and paint job are included here.

 I don't know why but I never noticed the swiveling downspouts that drained the melting ice inside the reefer.  This was probably a common sight before mechanical reefers took over.  The accessories for the electric fans inside the car were something I hadn't noticed before either.

 From Conway we headed over the Kancamagus Highway to Lincoln to visit the Hobo RR.  I knew they worked on and stored unusual railroad items we might see from their parking area.  We were not disappointed.  I had hoped we'd see the New Haven's Roger Williams train set.  The two ends and one middle car were present as you can see here.  The trailing parts were visible but not easy to photograph.  I also took the opportunity to photograph the odds and ends in the area.

These two cabeese are quite obviously of Boston and Maine origin.  The blue one is obvious but the other wild one from the MBTA is probably less obvious.




Former MEC and PT Alco's were prominent.  Looking toward the shop we see a McGuiness painted RDC and the other end of the Roger Williams.   Behind the cabooses we see a former Santa Fe car from the El Capitain.   

Here are the two Alco switchers.  958 was a former Maine Central switcher I've actually seen in operation in Auburn back in the 1970's.  It went to the Maine Coast where a group of us actually witnessed it leave Brunswick for this destination.  The other unit is a former Portland Terminal unit.  I don't know if I'd seen it before or not.  Alco's are just cool regardless.

I'm not entirely sure that this is a former New Haven RDC because of the Reading RR style drip edge under the headlight, but anything with the McGuiness NH logo gets my attention.   I took the opportunity to photograph the depot too.






On the way out of the parking lot you pass through a mini-golf course that a wye cuts through.  A former MBTA Geep was parked there.  As it turns out it started life on the Northern Pacific and was picked up from the Burlington Northern.  The MBTA gave it this B&M heritage paint job and added the Minute Man logos.  They also dedicated the unit to a retiring engineer who operated it.  Luckily it was picked up by the Hobo when it was retired.  Only the railroad names have changed since then.

St. Johnsbury was now close enough that we could take a detour.  Who knows if we might encounter the Washington County RR but we could scout the Passumpsic Ry anyway.  We headed to Barnett first.  This little line is a curiosity.  There is almost no signage, no obvious parking area or even a good place to pull off the road.  There's just a collection of railroad stuff next to Rt. 5.

The collection does include two former Aroostook Valley RR 44 tonners and a former MEC 44 tonner.  There's a relic of a Climax and scattered steam era cars.  The prototype for the Quincy station model appears to be the ticket office for the operation.  Apparently the line is open from time to time but we were checking this place out on the fly so we did some "drive by shooting".

A string of cars through St. J and little other activity wasn't very welcoming.  We drove around to see what the WACR was up to and found little.  I took a couple of shots of the remnants of the Mountain Division.  This one useable shot is on the edge of town behind the maple syrup plant.  As you can see the state of Vermont doesn't do much about trees on the right of way.








 Over Rt. 2 to Lancaster and over to Whitefield to see what's left of the famous ball signal.  Now that the Berlin line is pulled up and the old Mountain Division is idle, not much happens here anymore.  I think it is still in place because of its potential.  It does connect to the other junctions that in turn connect the all but idle NHVT to the SLR at Groveton.  This means the Conway Scenic has an outlet to the rest of the world.  It also means restoration of the Mountain Division is still possible. 

We returned home before the sun went down.  This is a rare thing for most of our adventures.  I'll leave the rest of the Whitefield photos scattered by Blogger below.

BC