Amtraking East in Search of a Reading T-1

The excursion train crosses the Reading’s concrete viaduct across the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, on May 21, 1988.

My spring vacation in 1988 began with a drive to Canton in the wee hours of the morning to catch Amtrak’s eastbound Broadway Limited to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

My sister and brother in law were living in Gettysburg and they picked me up in early afternoon.

My focus was an excursion trip sponsored by the Blue Mountain & Reading from Temple to Gettysburg with Reading 4-8-4 No. 2102 running all the way on ex-Reading rails, recreating one of the early 1960s Reading Rambles.

At Belt Line Junction, No. 2102 took the Conrail mainline to Harrisburg then to Mt Holly Springs, where it switched to the Gettysburg Railroad, which was the ex-Reading branch, the rest of the trip to Gettysburg.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

At Belt Line Junction in Reading.

A wider angle view of the Reading T-1 crossing the river in downtown Harrisburg.

Now on the Gettysburg Railroad at Hunters Run.

No. 2102 stalled shortly after I made this shot at Goodyear. Gettysburg motive power had to be brought down to assist the 2102 and train to Gettysburg.

Since I was on a “T-1 high ,” I drove to Baltimore the next day to the B&O Museum. Reading 2101 is shown as it appeared when it was the power in the East of the American Freedom Train.

Back in the Weeds

You can find some amazing things tucked away in railroad dead lines or seldom-used sidings.

That was where these GE 132-ton locomotives were found.

The units are Wellsville Addison & Galeton Nos. 1800 and 1500 and they are in the dead line in Galeton, Pennsylvania, on July 26, 1973.

Both units were once owned by the Ford Motor Company.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

2 Things No Longer Used by CSX

There are two things in this image that are no longer in use by CSX but let’s not get ahead of the story just yet.

This image of a container train eastbound in Warwick was made on Oct. 13, 1996.

Lead unit CSXT No. 5891 is a GE B36-7 that was built in July 1985 for Seaboard System.

It has since been retired from the CSX roster although locomotive leasing firm NRE has it available. Just check out their website.

As for the other item no longer used by CSX, that would be the color position light signal.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Nickel Plate Express to Resume Operations

An Indiana tourist railroad plans to return to operations on July 4 and 5 with a series of excursions out of Noblesville, Indiana.

The Nickel Plate Express will operate six trips lasting for 30 minutes within Noblesville on July 4.

Tickets are $10 per passenger and trips will depart from Bolden’s cleaners near the town square at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

On July 6 two trains dubbed the Independence Express will depart from Forest Park in Noblesville for a ride of one hour, 15 minutes.

Trains depart at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for children and $22 for adults.

Passengers will receive a glass of lemonade and slice of apple pie. All trains are limited to 50 percent capacity to enable social distancing.

Train equipment will be cleaned between trips and passengers are encouraged to wear masks.

The Nickel Plate Heritage Railroad uses a 1956 F9 diesel locomotive originally built for the Erie Mining Company.

Passengers ride in former Santa Fe Hi-Level cars build by the Budd Company. All seating in these cars is on the upper level.

Nickel Plate Express operates on 12 miles of a former Nickel Plate Road branch line between Atlanta and Noblesville.

Metso Building Unloading System for CSX

Metso Corporation said this week it is building a new rotary dump system for CSX that will be used to unload coat at the railroad’s Curtis Bay Export Terminal in Baltimore.

The system, which is expected to begin operations in October 2021, will use two dumping assemblies, a hopper system, and car-spotting equipment.

It will be capable of accommodating rotary-dump and bottom-dumping cars.

In a news release, Metso described itself as supplier of dumper technology and has delivered more than 400 dumper systems worldwide. It is based in Helsinki, Finland.

Pan Am Railways is for Sale

The nation’s largest regional railroad is for sale.

The privately-owned Pan Am Railways is expected to attract widespread interest from would-be buyers.

Owned by 78-year Tim Mellon and other investors, Pan Am evolved from the former Guilford Transportation Industries, which was founded in 1981.

Pan Am has 1,700 route miles in the Northeast in a system that stretches from Albany, New York, to Maine and covers trackage of the former Main Central, Boston & Maine, and two terminal railroads.

It has haulage agreements with the Eastern Maine Railway, Northern Maine Railway, and New Brunswick Southern,

It is unclear if the buyer would also receive Pan Am’s share of a joint venture with Norfolk Southern known as Pan Am Southern that operates 437 miles between Mechanicville, New York, and Ayer, Massachusetts.

En EL Alco Monday Kind of Day

An Erie Lackawanna train is returning to its home rails in Marion after having interchanged cars with the Norfolk & Western. Leading the train is Alco RS3 No. 1008. Note that immediately behind it is an EL boxcar.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Senators Pushing Back on Amtrak Service Cuts

Some members of the Senate have told Amtrak that they will not support its request for additional money in fiscal year 2021 without receiving more information about how costs and revenues will be affected by the carrier’s plans to pare service of its long-distance trains and reduce its workforce by 20 percent.

In three separate letters to Amtrak President William Flynn, 16 senators expressed concerns with Amtrak’s plans to reduce the frequency of service on nearly all long-distance trains to less than daily starting Oct. 1.

Amtrak plans in early July to reduce the frequency of operation of the Silver Star and Silver Meteor in the New York-Miami corridor to less than daily operation.

The letters were written by nine Republican and seven Democratic senators from Montana, North Dakota, West Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, Wisconsin, Mississippi and Indiana.

One of the letters, written by Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) seeks the data Amtrak is using to justify reducing most long-distance trains to tri-weekly operation as well as the benchmarks that will trigger a specific plan for reinstating daily trains.

“We would like to ensure that reductions in frequencies for long-distance routes do not unnecessarily extend beyond the COVID-19 crisis,” the letter said.

Steve Daines (R-Montana) and other senators said Amtrak’s proposal “raises serious doubts about whether a realistic plan exists for fully restoring service in a timely fashion.”

The letters have been critical of less than daily service, saying it will hurt hundreds of communities that rely on Amtrak.

Another letter asked what the passenger carrier would consider to be “adequate funding” needed to to restore frequencies.

Flynn has said little in public about the proposed service cuts, which became known when a memorandum written by Amtrak Vice President Roger Harris to Amtrak employees was leaked.

During an interview Monday morning that was livestreamed by on YouTube by The Washington Post, Flynn said little about the planned cuts.

He said Oct. 1 date was chosen because Amtrak experiences its lowest ridership during the winter in the long distance network.

Without being specific, Flynn said Amtrak will evaluate the long-distance trains, including unidentified indicators.

Flynn said this review would look at restoration on a service-by-service plan ahead. He noted that summer is when the long-distance trains enjoy their highest levels of ridership.

“We’re looking at bookings and level of ridership; we’ll just have to look at where we are in terms of COVID-19 and the pandemic — God forbid there is a second wave,” he said.

Although he didn’t provide any details, Flynn said Amtrak would be communicating to Congress its criteria and plans for restoring long-distance service.

WMSR Moves Out of Cumberland Depot

The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad has closed its offices in the Cumberland, Maryland, railroad station.

In a cost cutting move, WMSR has moved its offices to its shop complex in Ridgeley, West Virginia.

The tourist railroad expects to lose $650,000 this year and moving its offices will enable it to save money by avoiding rent and a per-passenger use fee collected by the State of Maryland.

The state owns the depot in Cumberland. WMSR excursion trains will continue to stop at the station.

Currently, trains are not operating due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Service is projected to resume on Oct. 1 with fall foliage trips.

Buffalo Resume Fare Collection on Rail, Buses

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority resumed on Monday (June 29) collecting fares for Buffalo Metro Bus and Rail lines.

Collection of the $2 fare had been suspended on March 27 at the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Passengers were also instructed to enter buses and transit cars through rear doors in order to enforce social distancing measures and avoid contact with operators.

With the resumption of fare collecting, passengers will now be able to enter through the front doors.

“We are responding to many business reopening,” said NFTA spokeswoman Helen Tederous.

Agency officials said they believe that COVID-19 cases have dropped to safer levels.

Passengers will continue to be required to wear face masks and to practice social distancing aboard vehicles.

Riders also are being encouraged to use the Token Transit contactless mobile ticketing app on their smart phones.