Cab-Ride tapes

BOOM-BIDDA-ZOOM-BIDDA

The Keed in 1962.

STAND BACK!

The other day I realized my Northeast Corridor Cab-Ride tapes are over 22 years old.
Well, my tapes probably aren’t 22 years old, but the video was shot in February of 1985.
My Northeast Corridor Cab-Ride tapes are my favorite train-videos. A video-camera was set up in the cab of an Amtrak AEM7, and the entire run video-taped; Washington Union Station to Philly (a MetroLiner), and then Philly to New York City (the Broadway) — two tapes.
I’m attached to the Northeast Corridor, originally the electrified Pennsy line from Washington to New York.
That line traversed northern Delaware where I lived, so I got to see the fabulous Pennsy GG1s at speed.
Images of storming GG1s remain:
-1) hanging on for dear life at Claymont station as a G flew by at at least 90 mph about 10 feet away.
-2) Gs booming over the flyover over the Edgemoor Yard entrance.
-3) Storming up the grade past the Wilmington Shops onto the Chinese Wall.
One time a GG1 smacked a bulldozer on a flatbed at a grade-crossing in Newark, DE, and the bulldozer flew about 250 feet. The GG1 stayed on the track, and had only a small dent.

The Keed in 1962.

Over the Edgemoor Yard-entrance flyover. (Only Pennsy could afford this.)

It’s a fairly impressive railroad, although not a direct-shot like in Europe.
“New York Ave. (Washington Union Station) is the station-limits. Once we pass that underpass, we’re out on the main.”
“Put the hammer down,” I always say.
Suddenly the AEM7 is accelerating north.
Within minutes “Our speed is now 110 mph.”
A few minutes later “Our speed is now 120 mph.”
“30 seconds between mileposts,” the engineman says. “Check your stopwatch. 30 seconds is 120.”
The concrete ties are an onrushing blur. Cantenary poles flash by.
“This is a 90 mph curve,” the engineer says, as we slow a little.
Shortly after the horrible accident where Amtrak’s Colonial smacked a couple of Conrail U-Boats at GunPow Interlocking, I got out the tape to see where the accident happened. It was just short of the Gunpowder River — they were lucky they they didn’t end up in the drink. (The AEM7s [there were two] were utterly vaporized, and the engineman never found.)
“80 mph over the bridge,” the engineman says, as we cross the Susquehanna.
We pass the Northeast River as we hurtle north — I used to be able to hear Gs at Sandy Hill blowing for a grade-crossing along the Northeast River. — And Sandy Hill was on the other side of the peninsula. (No more grade-crossings at all on the Corridor.)
I call out old hangouts as the train passes Wilmington:
“That’s the Shops,” I say.
“Purina Chows!”
We parallel I-495 as we hammer north. (I-495 wasn’t there in 1961.)
It would take my brother’s rumpeta-rumpeta to keep up with it.

The Keed in 1961.

Southbound past the Wilmington Shops.

It’s an impressive railroad, but not as good as it should be.
Zoo Interlocking, a massive triangular interchange near the Philadelphia Zoo, is so contorted the trains are limited to 40 mph.
And the tunnels are ancient. Those under Baltimore are still the same size as originally dug; and the “tubes” under the Hudson River are too small to pass freight-cars.
Amtrak uses double-deck passenger-cars on many lines, but not the Corridor.
And in north Jersey the line is so congested trains often get stabbed.
“This train doesn’t get much respect any more (our train, Train 40, the Broadway Limited). Cross over anything in front of it, or hold it up in any way, and you were fired.”
No matter: “We are now rounding the famous Elizabeth Curve. Probably more trains have been photographed on this curve than anywhere else in the nation.”
We cross the massive drawbridge over the Passaic River in Newark, and thread the congested trackage toward the Tubes.
“Hudson tower,” the announcer says. At least three railroads went by Hudson, and the storage-yards of New Jersey Transit’s diesel-powered north Jersey railroad-lines are adjacent.
NJT also shares the trackage and Tubes into New York City. — We can only do about 50.
We round a curve and suddenly dive into the darkened Tubes under the Hudson.
Glowing incandescents march past — we’re only doing about 40.
Then we come into a deep sunlit cut awash with double-slip double-throw switches, and a mass of tangled cantenary-wire above. How anyone maintains this mess is a miracle.
“Welcome to New York City,” the engineman says. “We got a big trashcan right over there.”

“Pennsy” is the Pennsylvania Railroad, no longer in existence. It merged with New York Central Railroad in 1968 as Penn-Central, and that went bankrupt in about two years. “Pennsy” was once the largest railroad in the world.

The “Pennsy GG1” is the electric locomotive the Pennsy used for many years. It was extremely successful, with a styling rehab by Raymond Loewy; the greatest railroad locomotive of all time.

The “AEM7” is Amtrak’s electric locomotive — it has been in use for years essentially replacing the GG1.

“Edgemoor Yard” was the freight-yard for Wilmington, DE.

RE: “the Chinese Wall.....” Wilmington’s railroad station was about 15-25 feet above the street, so the railroad had to ramp up to it. The railroad-grade was high atop a vertical stone-masonry fill that separated the city like a “Chinese Wall.” Since it was long and continuous, it was like the Great Wall of China.

Many railroads no longer use wooden cross-ties. Ties made of prestressed concrete are often used in heavy-duty service; e.g. the Corridor.

The overhead wire (trolley-wire) to deliver the electricity to electric locomotives is called “cantenary.” It is hung from lineside poles, called “cantenary poles.” They are about 100 yards apart. The cantenary poles also have wire to deliver electricity from generating-stations to the “cantenary.”

“Conrail U-Boats” are freight-engines operated by Conrail. “U-boats” is the nickname for General Electric’s earliest diesel freight-engines (in the late ‘70s), which had the “U” designation; e.g. U25B, U30C, etc. Conrail was broken up recently, with most ex-New York Central lines going to CSX, and most ex-Pennsy lines going to Norfolk Southern. The Corridor is owned by Amtrak. (The Corridor was owned by Amtrak back then, and Conrail had trackage-rights — mostly to switch factory-sidings; although it could field freight-trains over it.)

RE: “GunPow Interlocking.......” An interlocking is where crossover switches, or switches, connect adjacent tracks. “Interlockings” are now called “Control-Points;” and used to be switched by lineside towers. They are now switched electronically from a central location (in this case, 30th St. Station in Philadelphia). But some towers remain, e.g. “Zoo” and “Hudson.” “GunPow interlocking” was where the railroad narrowed from three to two tracks to cross the wide Gunpowder River on a trestle. The U-boats switched off the third track into the way of the speeding Colonial. The location of the accident was Chase, MD.

“Sandy Hill” was the religious boys-camp in northeastern Maryland I worked three summers at 1959-1961.

RE: “Purina Chows!” Purina had a large grain-elevator (or facility) next to the railroad north of Wilmington. It was a tall lineside marker.

RE: “my brother’s rumpeta-rumpeta.......” My macho, blowhard brother-in-Boston has a classic 1971 SS 454 Chevelle. It goes “rumpeta-rumpeta.” It is probably capable of 150-60 mph, if you can stand driving excessive power in a blowsy old chassis. Such cars, called “muscle-cars,” were the dream of the ‘70s among drag-racing youth. — Nowhere near as sophisticated as current cars; a better choice would be a new Corvette: far more friendly.

“Stabbed” is when a train gets stopped so another train can pass. Train 40 was never stabbed, but got a number of “slow” signals.

The three railroads that passed Hudson Tower were the Pennsy, the Lackawanna, and the Hudson & Manhattan — now PATH.

“Double-slip double-throw switches” are essentially switches that can be negotiated any of four different ways — by setting the switch-points. E.g. -1) in-from-left — out-left; -2) in-from-right — out left; -3) in-from-left — out-right; -4) in-from-right — out-right.