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The Philadelphia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society Established in 1936
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Railfan Pictures of the Day - 12/12/2003
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Wanderings on a day off - December 12 2003
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Only a true railfan can turn a trip to the bakery into an odyssey. Having to go from Lansdale to Conshohocken to pick up some bread (well, a lot of bread), I made my way past my usual stops on this journey, and was not disappointed. First to Lansdale Yard, but B738 had already gone north. Swinging by the Stony Creek Branch grade crossing at Hancock Street in Lansdale, I found a CSX high rail truck just getting on the railroad. He backed up to the signal at Dale and then came down the branch. He stopped to ask for a card so I could send him a picture, as his kids always wanted to see what daddy does. |
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| Next stop Abrams Yard across the river from Norristown. Heard a train at CP Norris talking to the dispatcher about doing a shift out of Seaboard Yard before going over to SEPTAland, and they mentioned that the cars they had were flats with military equipment. Knowing that would take a little while, made my way to Conshohocken for my bakery stop. Back out on the road, decided to stay on the east side of the river and made a stop at Lukens Steel on Conshohocken Road. The PB&NE pup and slug just happened to be picking up some cars. | ||||||||||
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| A little farther down the road, saw a strange sight indeed on the connecting track just west of CP King. Coal hoppers, a whole train of coal hoppers. I cannot remember the last time I saw a coal train on the Morrisville Line. Went to CP Ford to set up, figuring they would send the coal train west before bringing the military train east. Wrong! Instead they ran the military train across the river and up the SEPTA Norristown line toward the Stony Creek Branch and them brought them back to the Norristown Transportation Center in order to wye the whole train. Got a couple shots of them sitting east of the station before this one as they shoved back over to Abrams, passing under SEPTA's Route 100 Norristown High Speed Line and its N5 cars. | ||||||||||
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| Then back down to CP Ford to wait for NS 505, the coal train. First SEPTA had to do a little business. Both this train and the preceding southbound were interesting as all units were single units. Usually at least one married pair (one with pantograph, one without) shows up in a Silverliner IV consist. | ||||||||||
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| Finally NS 505 rolls by with a former Conrail C40-8W running long hood forward as sole power pulling its load of NS and Conrail hoppers west. According to the dispatcher, they were going to yard the train at Abrams. | ||||||||||
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| All pictures December 12 2003 c. 2003 John P Almeida | ||||||||||
| Click here for previous Railfan Pictures Of The Week |
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Website created June 12, 2002
Last Updated December 12, 2003
