Eastern Rare-Mileage Trip
"The Pacific Express"

Afternoon NEC rush hour at Hudson Tower
Aug. 4th

Photos by Dave Ingles

Our little 4-car special move (Mt. Vernon, Cimarron River, Swift Stream, and Caritas), conducted by Amtrak Sunnyside Yard job Y04 with AEM7 948, left Sunnyside's throat at 1219, paused in Penn Station at 1226 for 3 minutes, emerged into Jersey at 1233, passed Secaucus station at 1236, and Hudson Tower (pictured below) at 1243. We tied up in the little yard on the south side of the NEC at about 1:02 pm. Unfortunately a cut of flats loaded with new concrete ties inhibited good westbound action shots, but eastbound we had a clear view. PATH trackage westbound is north of the NEC, and eastbound was behind (south of) us. NJT used tracks on either side adjacent to us, now and then, as rush hour progressed. I photographed about 50 trains and skipped many, many more, in between our arrival and our departure for Hoboken at 6:48 p.m. No way could I try to identify trains as to numbers or destination, just direction and time. I am omitting most views that had focus problems unless the subject matter (example, an NJT F40PH) was unusual. It was an unusual parking spot and in this post-9/11 era, a rare opportunity to photo all the passing Northeast Corridor action, even if they "all look alike." It sure beats the CN and CP monotony here at home, if only for a few hours. Enjoy the parade.

4030 is one of 33 of NJT's PL42AC diesels, here pushing an eastbound on the track next to us to the north, shortly after our arrival.

4639, pushing west on NEC. The catenary visible beyond the NEC is the NJT's old Lackawanna electrification, linking Hoboken with the old DL&W station in Newark and points to the west. I didn't try to photograph much if any action on that line account the foliage in between it and the NEC.

These flats are what blocked our good westbound view while parked.

4622 pushing east at 116 pm.

4661 leading east at 119 pm as an Amtrak approaches in the distance. The shot of both closer is probably a slide. The skyline is downtown Newark, on the Broad St. (DL&W) side vs. Newark Penn Station, on the NEC and around a curve to the left and beyond Harrison station.

A rare combo of GP40PH-2B 4217 and F40 4907, which is not on my handy roster but must be a New York MTA F40PH rebuild, pushes east at 121 pm. NY MTA pools power with NJT on the former Erie (main line and Bergen County line) to Suffern and Port Jervis, NY, and the Pascack Valley line (former New Jersey & New York) line to Spring Valley, NY. The 4217 is one of 20 GP40PH-2B rebuilds by Conrail from GP40's.

NJT 4624 pushes west at 123 pm.

Our 948 takes advantage of a lull and heads home to Sunnyside at 128 pm. The focus problem comes from having to wipe the lens on the Power Shoot and readjust things between each shot, hard to do with speeds and frequency during this siege!

AEM7 942 leads east with a Regional at 135 pm.

Fore and aft on an eastbound NJT at 144, cab car 6019 leading and electric 4626 pushing.

The "PRR twins" arrive with their 3 cars from Philadelphia at 146 pm. They tacked the cars on behind Caritas, then later ran by and coupled to our west  end.

During a lull, we looked south at the PATH facility. That stands for Port Authority Trans-Hudson, aka "the tubes," and originally PRR's Hudson & Manhattan, in old Official Guides. It's rapid transit only, connecting Newark Penn Station and Hoboken Terminal with two lines under the Hudson into terminals in Manhattan, one near Penn Station and the other at the old World Trade Center site. The older cars had a "railfan window" up front, but all the new ones now in service, of course, have no such thing.

An eastbound bilevel train is pushed by the 4803, whose lines may look familar because they are -- it is one of 4 P40's (800 series) NJT purchased from Amtrak for ACES (Atlantic City Express) service. Those gamblers' trains, underwritten by casinos I believe, have recently resumed weekend service after a hiatus owing to the lousy economy.

A lousy shot but the only one I got of an NJT F40, of which they have 17, series 4113-4129, now classed F40PH-2CAT after rebuilding by Conrail from straight (EMD) F40PH-2's. They used to frequent Raritan Valley (old CNJ) service, which used to run only west from Newark Penn. I didn't check current NJT TT's for today's service particulars. Time here is 2:25 pm.

Rear end of a Newark-bound PATH about 2:50 pm.

Eastbound bilevel train pushed by 4019, one of the 33 PL42AC diesels, at 253 pm.

I never did get a good digital shot of an Acela, so live with this, at 3:30 p.m. eastbound. (Front end was a slide.) Those came by about 32 past the hour, but for the next 3 I seemed to be either occupied elsewhere on the cars or having a dark cloud overhead. They all look alike anyway :-)

4632 westbound at 3:35 p.m.

For something different, I tried a pan shot of a westbound NJT 10-car M.U. train at 3:48.

Here's his rear end. As you can see, the NEC still boasts many PRR-style position-light signals.

Amtrak westbound with 917 at 350 pm.

Another westbound PATH, 3:51.

On the track south of us, 4008 pushes a bilevel train east at 356. He stopped for a while, apparently part of the staging drill.

Another lousy shot, but it's 4218 pushing east at 358 pm; this series of 20 are classed GP40PH-2B, Conrail rebuilds from GP40's.

Here comes 4030 at  us at 406 pm. The ground crew -- about 7 or 8 men-- were NJT folks sent over to inspect our cars before movement to Hoboken.

To relieve the repetition, a comparison study.

Here is a distant "3-fer," a westbound bilevel and an eastbound M.U. train on the NEC, with an eastbound PATH on its track, about 550 pm.

Two going-away shots of the same bilevel train as above. As you can see, the sky has clouded over.

A going-away of a 7-car Regional, AEM7 926 in charge, at 555 pm.

Westbound NJT bilevels on both the outside track and on the NEC, Time is about 636 pm.

Bennett Levin, the man responsible for this undertaking, stopped by the Caritas for a while to chat and bring his route guide books. The yellow hats were a gift to each; they have a "PE" (Pacific Express") logo in Erie Railroad diamond and circle style.

All afternoon, these units sat parked to our south, east of our cars. The 4302 is listed as one of four "non-revenue" GP40-2's, i.e., for work train service and such, series 4300-4303. Behind it are NJT and Amtrak electrics.

Toward the end of our Hudson Tower stay, the "shot of the day," as both a PATH and an Amtrak regional, behind AEM7 929, approach at 640 pm as we are readying to head over to Hoboken.

One minute later, an eastbound Amtrak Regional flashes by behind AEM7 949.

Another minute passes before NJT 4655 goes by westbound at 642 pm.

Our 7-car special, behind NJT 4200, has passed Hudson Tower eastbound on the NEC mains as an eastbound NJT comes at us at 655 pm.

We are on the connection, passing over other tracks, as a train (far left) goes by on the old DL&W and a westbound bilevel behind 4633 at 655 pm. Our trek over to Hoboken Terminal, a 5-mile ride or so, took 22 minutes total.

Looking north from our special on the connection as an M.U. train passes behind electric 4643 at 6:57 p.m.

To the south, another electric passes.

We are looking back toward Newark on the connection, waiting at 6:58 for a 3-car eastbound M.U. train to pass.

A bit blurred, Amtrak train 92 (note the Viewliner sleeper) zips by toward New York City at 6:58.

Finally we're on the old Lackawanna, bound for Hoboken. Our engine, 4200, is the first of the 20 GP40PH-2B Conrail rebuilds from GP40's.

Entering Hoboken Terminal at 707 pm.

We tie up on a track in the middle of the terminal; this view looks "downriver," i.e., south. We're due out a bit before 7 a.m. to beat most of the rush hour out of the Terminal.

This page was designed and is maintained by Mike Condren. If you have materials
that you would like to contribute, contact me at mcondren@cbu.edu