Rear view RFW on Pennsylvanian train #43. Philadelphia to Harrisburg. 6/5/24
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- This is the first time I have ever done a video like this on an Amtrak train. It was quite exciting and most enjoyable even though the ventilation in that compartment wasn’t very good on this warm and humid day and I had to revive myself at station stops with the air conditioning in the passenger area. You will get a good glimpse of the scenic route through the Pennsylvania Dutch Country as well as the track work being done between Lancaster and Harrisburg. All stations, passing trains, and interlockings are identified. Narration as well as infographics assist in what is happening. It was also quite a thrill to see a number of ex LIRR GP38-2’s handling Amtrak work trains.
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PRR survey, route selection and engineering was unbelievable
Gotta love the 1938 PRR Cat Poles still standing and supplying the "Juice" to the once Busy PRR Mainline. Hard to believe 60 years ago the amount of freight traffic that ran the Main and A&S Branch to and from Harrisburg/Philly. Great video Horn Guy! Brings back memories seeing the GG1's, E44's, E33's, MP54's and Silverliners back in the 70's on Penn Central then Conrail.
@@NS9213 Amtrak replaced the 1938 catenary poles with utility-style transmission monopoles that are higher than the treeline (plus allowing greater distances than the catenary poles). Amtrak still maintains the catenary poles on the Dale Secondary (and the abandoned Schuylkill Line), however their ultimate goal is to replace the 1915 44 kV/25 Hz AC (power source deactivated in the 1960s) catenary infrastructure on the Keystone Corridor between Paoli and Zoo Substations and replace it with the 1928/1938 PRR architecture, allowing Amtrak to discontinue maintaining the transmission lines on the Dale Secondary and abandoned Schuylkill Line. However, Amtrak is facing very stiff opposition from hoity-toity tree-hugging Main Line NIMBYers, fearing that such will reduce their property values (even though a PECO 110 kV AC transmission line runs along SEPTA's Norristown High-Speed Line; a portion of the transmission line between Havertown and Bryn Mawr going past the Merion Country Club uses the PRR-style architecture); yet Amtrak and SEPTA both say that (and I can attest, as I ride SEPTA every Sunday to my congregation in Paoli, where I am associate pastor) that "voltage sag" exists between Villanova and Berwyn caused by the lack of a proper 25 Hz AC Substation (or even an autotransformer like that found on the ex-Reading side of SEPTA's Regional Rail system), an issue going all the way back to the 1915 44 kV electrification which was fixed by the PRR by the addition of a pair of synchronous condensers near the Radnor station (where the PRR kept water pans for the long-distance NYC-Chicago steam locomotives to take water "on the fly" without stopping to take on water at a traditional water tank).
Dang! You really called that meet at Irishtown road!
It's interesting that you mentioned Tropical Storm Agnes. In 1972, we lived in Camp Hill, just across the Susquehanna River. I remember the flooding on our street. My dad took us to Negley Park and we saw the flooding in downtown Harrisburg, and the fire. Thanks for mentioning it.
I have so many happy memories taking this train. Business car rocks, the views are excellent. I only wish the Broadway Limited would be restored or there was atleast a second train from NY to Pittsburgh on a daily basis
I was on the train yesterday but finally got a chance to watch this this morning. was looking at some of my previous RFW videos to compare the right-of-ways. seems like concrete ties between Cork and Rheems were installed some time around fall 2023 and the ties between Roy and State were being installed as I was doing my full eastbound RFW in october 2023. track 2 was all wooden ties then. the ties at cork and rheems had been concrete since at least december 2022 when I did my first RFW between harrisburg and lancaster with all other ties being wooden. between 12/2022 and 3/2023 the track speed between Landisville and Rheems was increased from 90 to 110. looks like they're in the process of installing ties between Rheems and Roy now starting with track 2 which would hopefully add more 110 mph trackage.
This is a great way to take a train ride. I remember as a kid riding the Reading Railroad to Newtown, PA looking back from the last coach.back in 1963.
It was a truly beautiful ride.
Thanks for posting all of these videos.
Love these train videos alot and how about putting together an amtrak train video from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia or Philadelphia to Pittsburgh just a suggestion that's all
Very nice! I'm very familiar with the route, since my best friend lives in Lancaster, but I've never seen it out the back window! Two years ago, I took that train from Pittsburgh to Lancaster, and my iPhone indicated that we spent a fair amount of time at around 106-108 MPH.
That NS line that came in at "Roy" interlocking north of TMI did function as Harrisburg's link to DC back in the PRR/PC and early Amtrak days. Amtrak, of course, did away with that run (track reduced to mostly single track and catenary removed by Conrail) so most of that NS line, like the Dale Secondary (former Trenton Cutoff) between Frazer and Plymouth Meeting, now acts a utility-style RoW for the transmission lines between Safe Harbor Dam (south of Lancaster) and the "Roy" interlocking (the former Atglen & Susquehanna Line doing the same for the Keystone Corridor between Parkesburg and Frazer). Unlike the NEC, all of the transmission lines that supply the Keystone Corridor are sourced from the Safe Harbor Dam south of Lancaster and York.
Interesting info
@@3985uprr I love riding on the Amtrak Pennsylvanian, and you actually just missed me by a mere day or two. yeah dude, I took the 43-Pennsylvanian back out to Johnstown on May 31st, and got back to Philly around June 4th. Absolutely love this particular route, i'd say it's equally as good as the Northeast Corridor
Was an undergrad at the University Park campus of Penn State ‘64-‘67. Would bus from the Corner Room in State College to Lewistown (not be confused with Lewisburg!) and catch a train to Newark or Penn Station at the end fall and spring quarters, and return after the break. After the trip down the Mainline, we would take a bypass you have mentioned in other videos that bypassed downtown for a stop in Northeast Philadelphia. Returned to grad school at State after a tour in the USAF, and my mom would take the same trip, but now I would pick her up in Lewistown. Thank you for the memories!
I’m also an Air Force vet
Hi there Tim it's me Robert I loved the train video you recently posted on CZcams for the Philadelphia to Harrisburg pa trip on rfw (rear front window) you might've been sweating while posting this video on a coach car god bless you and keep on filming videos of course god bless you from Robert Roman your subscribers on CZcams
Cool, thanks!
Anytime Tim for the memories you bringing to CZcams for the train railfanners and interesting people who love trains.
Excellent video. Love watching RFW videos of this line, I am constantly reminded of the sheer scale of infrastructure the PRR had at one point...an incredible buildup and rationalization going way back to the canal days and the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad starting in 1834 and peaking with wartime traffic in 1944...unfortunately now just a shell of what it once was. Still though- glad it still exists in some form or another! Thanks for taking us along for the ride!
Yeh, just something about seeing those 1938 Cat Poles which just takes me back to the PRR/PC era when freight traffic soared on the Main and A&S. Truly just a shell of what it once was.
They are also upgrading the rails, the old rail is 120ish the new will be 140 or heavier from what I heard. All to save ten minutes between Harrisburg and Lancaster many places the speeds will now be in the 100s compared to 80 to 90
Man, this technical description of the route is amazing! Interestingly, a line can have four tracks. In Poland, for example, this is impossible. Even if a line appears to be four-track, it is always TWO lines (which run parallel) with TWO different numbers.
The keystone corridor is getting a lot of upgrades rn to get septa service extended to coatesville and a second daily Pennsylvanian train from New York to Pittsburgh!!!
@@nolantherailfan5048 I wouldn't be too surprised if Amtrak (and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) upgrades the Keystone Corridor to mimick NEC operations between Claymont Transit Center and Newark, Delaware with a "Holly"-type interlocking at "Paoli-East" (Tracks 1 & 4 merging into Tracks 2 & 3) with a dedicated new Track 4 from "Paoli-West" being used only by SEPTA akin to NEC Track 1 between dedicated for SEPTA between Wilmington and Newark. Key also for expanded Amtrak and SEPTA service is Amtrak (and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) getting past those hoity-toity tree-hugging NIMBYers along the Main Line (the community) and allowing Amtrak to replace the old 1915 44 kV AC architecture with the 1928/1938 138 kV AC architecture (and substation infrastructure at Bryn Mawr) so that Amtrak and SEPTA can run all-electric trains between Harrisburg and 30th Street (with "Pennsylvanian" trains, especially when Amtrak takes delivery of the SC-42DP locomotives and Airo trainsets, switching from electric to diesel at Harrisburg like PRR trains did when the 1938 electrification came online and either the steam locomotive or ALCO was switched out for the GG1).
They’re building a new high platform station in Coatesville east of the original one for Amtrak and septa that will open late 2025. I think that new third track is for freight traffic bypass. I live in the Caln area and the tracks are behind my backyard.
Ahhhhh. I didn’t think they ran much freight on it
I see Norfolk Southern go by often. I think they sometimes go into the steel mill in Coatesville.
@@THF409 any freight traffic using the Keystone Corridor would be for the steel mill; NS trains going to the mill in Coatesville will come out of the Conshohocken mill onto the former Trenton Cutoff (NS Dale Secondary - a "dark territory" line whose RoW is mainly retained for the PRR/PC/Amtrak 25 Hz AC power transmission lines) to Frazer (near Immaculata University and the infamous Duffy's Cut mass grave), in which the Dale Secondary becomes Keystone Corridor Track 2 at GLEN interlocking.
Yes, I watched them added a third bypass track a year ago for the construction of the new Coatesville train station.
Many memories for me here. I attended Franklin and Marshall College in the sixties and the local temporary help agency would bus us down to shovel snow off the Lancaster station platforms. I also befriended the lady operator who worked at Cork tower 3-11. I spent more time in that tower than I did at the college. I can still hear in my mind the bell dinging when the Broadway was “by Park” and a few minutes later see the GG1 come thundering through the station.
I really enjoy these rear end videos and your knowledgeable narrative.
Thank you much. A great memory
When we lived in Smithtown from 1974 to 1981 I probably saw some of those GP38s go by on the Port Jefferson branch. Nice to know that they're still in use.
this is very cool, but the secrtion between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh is also quite amazing
1. I once ate delicious bowl of ravioli at a restaurant in the town of Paoli.
2. I ordered a package that contained a gold canister shipped all the way from the town of Lancaster.
3. I drove all the way down with kids to a circus and meet clowns at the town of Elizabethtown.
4. It had a smooth trip from the Pittsburgh all the way to Harrisburg.
If they ever bring the train down from Reading to Philly, I heard they might connect from the Cynwyd line at Paxon Interlocking. Maybe that's why all those crews were working over there?? Just wishful thinking, I guess!
glad I could help make this happen!
Yes, indeed. You were an inspiration. What other trains could I do this in coach without being stymied by the double ended syndrome?
@@3985uprr 290 between Albany and New York, 69, 68, 29, and 30 as far as the east coast. when I tried to do 290 they ended up wying the train upon arrival into Albany so business was at the back and I could not do the ride. if there are 2 P32s north of Albany, you should be fine but if 290 has a P32 and a P42, they wye the train at Albany so that the P32 is facing NY. you can not do 291 without booking business class. I have not done 69 or 68 though but assuming they don't block off any of the coaches, it should be okay. obviously 43 and 42 as well between Philly and Pittsburgh.
@@3985uprrdon’t quote me on this but the maple leaf might have a coach on the rear
@@3985uprrboth Adirondacks from NY to Montreal (I might do as far as Albany at some point) as well as 290 from Albany to NY after they detach the rear P32. If they run a P32 and P42 north of Albany, they wye 290 at Albany so the P32 is facing NY which happened to me and I wasn’t able to film a rear view on 290.
Beautiful ride. Love your videos. Maybe some day you can do the full ride to Pittsburg when they get the second daily train running.
Tim I always enjoy these nice long and formative trips on the high speed corridor. I always wondered what that road was. US 30 I think I remember you mentioning that road that time you made the trip on NJT from Atlantic City I guess it runs all the way over there. I saw a post from Nathan tonight Guess he rode the silver meteor down to Florida and is here right now
Especially considering the age. Oaili was my home station for two years - and is older than SEPTA.
You’re very determined to make a RFW video, even if it’s from the rear. I wish the engineer let you into the locomotive so you could do a front RFW video.
That is a very unrealistic expectation 😁
In the last few years even with the cab cars leading on the keystones they close the door between the cab and passengers. They don't want anyone out of the normal sitting area
Retired Railfan is a railfanning celebrity in the NYC and Philadelphia metropolitan area. I’m surprised that they didn’t allow him to make a video.
@@Leonard_WilsonI am not God!!!!! 🤨🤨😁😁
@Leonard_Wilson they won't Amtrak has really cut down on our views for video. They expect you to be just another passenger.
went right past my house in Parkesburg!
For a first back ride video, it's very nice. Very informative commentary as usual.
Prnnsulvania is such a nice, Lush green place, where it is really worth it to teavel.
On q more railroady thing, the Keystone corridor is quite Nice and Amtrak is pampareing it. Even with sone tough geometry spots it's a place to move fast. I got surprised with the P42 acceleration. Not bad for a Diesel (especially a GE). West of Lancaater the engineer seemed to be milking everything out of the locomotive. A good il' tie scorching of 100 Mph running.
Another interesting thing to see was rhe track upgrade work, with all the specialized equipment on the job. Judjing by what is being done, maybe the idea is to upgrade at least the Lancaster to Harrisburg segment to Class 7 (125 Mph running). It mostrly has the geometry for that.
Ah, and while passing thru Harrisburg Airport you got lucky to see an MD 11, a somehow rare bird these days.
Great video
38:59 Passing this signal I can see it’s reflector removed- similar to one of those at Dock Interlocking in Newark, NJ.
I’m still surprised Paoli isn’t a station with 4 platforms..
Consider the Twentieth Century Limited - it stopped at Paoli.
Don't know what they call it now but it was a very short piece of main track the 36th street connection
Keeping busy I see. 👍
I’m not entirely a couch potato
@@3985uprrFar from it.
Nice video
Seems like there is alot of wasted and empty track space that could have potential for extending lines that closed or not in operation. ☹️
Also. When is all of that old wooden track going to be replaced?
BTW - Nice video 👍
West of Lancaster they’re doing a lot of work to replace the wooden ties with concrete ties
This train is being more like a NASCAR style.
Nice video. I'm surprised they'd run a P42 under wires all the way to Harrisburg, I would've expected an ACS given it's electrified the whole way.
The train goes to Pittsburgh. They don’t do engine changes at Harrisburg anymore.
The train also has to change directions at 30th Street. It’s a more logical place for an engine change as well.
@@3985uprr you'd be surprised. when I took the train to Pittsburgh and did the westbound RFW as far as Harrisburg, the P42 broke down so I got to witness a P42 to P42 engine change (they connected an ACS-64 at Harrisburg to provide power for the 4 hours we were stuck there). it's not a regular occurrence but it can still happen!
@@3985uprr there is another reason why Amtrak changes engines at 30th Street and not at Harrisburg; the fueling pad at Harrisburg is owned by NS (and located at the Enola Yard) and not Amtrak (whereas the fueling pad at 30th Street is on Amtrak property). It would be interesting on how operations will differ when Amtrak phases out both the P42 and ACS-64 locomotives for the SC-42DP locomotives and Airo trainsets.
nice
In the book The Wreck of the Penn Central is an account of a Main Line commuter station Stuart Saunders razed the day after a passenger complained about the service. Anyone know what station that was?
Didn't Conrail have a Yard in Thorndale?
Yes they did. Flat switching yard.
Will you be catching the cannonball?
Sorry. I have studied Maintenance of way technology. Why are they doing on 90 MPH?
What's the new track for @41:50?
I’m not sure, might be a bypass track for the new Coatesville station for Septa
NS doesn’t want to run freight trains to Coatesville past the high level platforms at the station.
what's the blue light mean?
Train is being worked on. it must not be moved until blue light is removed.
7:56 yo Tim. Why are they adding a third track?
probably as an overtake when SEPTA is extended
@@nathanjiang100Don't they plans to demolish the 52nd street viaduct?
@@nathanjiang100don't they also have plans to demolish the 52nd street viaduct?
@@nathanjiang100Don't they also have plans to demolish the 52nd street viaduct and the bridge that passed over it on the cynwyd branch?
A P42?
Yes the P42 or Genesis engine is Amtrak's diesel locomotive but the ALC-42 is in testing to replace these engines. They use the P42 on trains 42 and 43 because west of Harrisburg is not electrified so diesels are required. Conrail did a study years ago about putting wires up in the 60s and 70s but never happened
@@RyanHatterer-Ryanns999 Thanks, I know what the P42/Gennies are as well as the ALC 42….I had forgotten about west of H’burg not being under the wires. Thanks!!!
@@tokugawa12able No problems, I didn't know if you knew because of how you put "A P42"