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The Philadelphia Chapter of the

National Railway Historical Society

Established in 1936

 

Railfan Pictures of the Day - 03/24/2006


NS Morrisville Line Fort Washington PA March 20 2006
 
Monday March 20 2006 was cut-over day for a major project on the Morrisville Line. As part of the Route 309 rebuilding project, the railroad bridge over the highway will be replaced. In order to maintain service on the line, a temporary bridge was constructed just north of the current alignment. The last train over the old bridge, NS 20E (the former Conrail Mail-8M) passed around dawn, and shortly afterward MOW crews started the process by cutting the old rail on both ends and moving it over to the new track. Here a boom truck sits on the old track while workers connect the new rail. The existing track was pushed over by a front-end loader
A pair of front-end loaders were used to dump enough ballast on the new track to allow ballast train 99W to use it to dump more ballast.
Waiting less than a mile away was NS 99W powered by C44-9W 9235. Behind it were four pieces of track equipment including a couple of ballast regulators and a Mark IV tamper.
As 99W approaches, a little bit of last minute adjustment to the new track.
Finally 99W is the first train to use the new track, dropping ballast along the way. Until Conrail removed the second track, the former PRR Trenton Cut-Off was double tracked all the way from Morrisville to Thorndale, but now only the controlled sidings at CP Plymouth and CP Lang remain on what became the Morrisville Line. This spot is also where the long abandoned PRR Fort Washington Branch, an electrified line that ran north from Allen Lane on the Chestnut Hill Branch, joined the Trenton Cut-Off. Ties from that branch can still be seen nearby.

 

All pictures March 20 2006 Copyright © 2006 John P. Almeida

Photographs for personal use only. All rights reserved by original owner of image. Reproduction or redistribution in any form without express written permission is prohibited.

 
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Website created June 12, 2002

Last Updated March 24, 2006