Philly Railfan Pictures of the Week

Click HERE to return to RPOTW home page

Railfan Pictures of the Week - 06/24/2018

Amtrak Northeast Corridor North Philadelphia Station Philadelphia PA June 17 2018

The TLM has reached Milepost 85 North Philadelphia which means Track 3 is out of service between Shore and Lehigh.

Of course that does not bother NS 39G because they separated the freight line (Track 0, called the "Oh Track" or the Shore Running Track) from the NEC years ago. There used to be eight tracks through the stations under PRR and PC, but Amtrak has reduced that to four.

For Amtrak CETC-6 dispatcher, that means a little juggling, like running the Acela Express on the local track, Track 1, and running westbound Train 195 on the track the express usually runs on, Track 2, while the Silver Star creeps up on Track 4.

Train 91 The Silver Star crawls past the TLM. In fact, every train all but stopped at the station, harkening back to the good old days when they did.

Add SEPTA Trenton Line trains and NJT Atlantic City trains to the mix and you have a busy railroad.

Oh, almost forgot SEPTA's Chestnut Hill West trains, whose outbounds cross over the entire NEC at Lehigh. Two of those missing tracks (Westward station track and Track 5) used to run in the grassy foreground and while the ties and rails are long gone, the wires are still up.

To end this photo essay, I would like to kindly present cab car AMTK 9634 on the devil's train, Keystone 666.

Direct website questions or comments to webmaster

Website created January 1, 2017