Elkhart and NYC Museum trip 9-16-2021
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 9:47 pm
It's been several years since I've been to Elkhart. Like, the tracks by the depot were still on the old alignment number of years. I had family in the area during the Conrail and early NS years and got there frequently, but my last visit had been 2016. Last Thursday, I packed up the cameras and headed south to check out the new track plan and visit the National NYC RR Museum, where I once worked as an intern.
I was alerted that Amtrak P42 #100, the Midnight Blue 50th Anniversary Unit, would be leading train 49, the westbound Lake Shore Ltd. I also came to find out, after arriving, that the train was significantly delayed by engine problems near Harmon NY and a broken down CSX freight sitting on Vickers Diamond at Toledo, so there was no huge rush. This gave me some time to check out the depot waiting room and new platform. The new platform is a good, impressive facility for passengers, well lid by LED lights. But I'm not super impressed by how they blazed a trail of new concrete sidewalks across the original brick platform, which is as old as the 1900-built station. Even less impressive is the weed-filled zone between the old and new platforms, which apparently local politics is keeping looking like a memorable first impression for several wrong reasons. Regardless, it's a decent place to wait for a train. And, you can still get a great photo of the depot, looking as if the 20th Century Limited might pull up at any second. Of course, with the tracks on the new alignment, you're much closer to the NYC RR Museum equipment right across the tracks. Here's a shot of the 3001 and Conrail caboose from the angle Virtual Railfan folks will recognize. Amtrak was late, but NS local B23 was right on time with their shove move down to Goshen. Led by graffiti-clad caboose 555616, today's eastbound run was a lite caboose move to pickup cars from the Marion Secondary and loaded MofW gondolas in Dunlap. They sneaked up on me but I chased them south to Goshen, snagging some photos of them at the Hively 4-quadrant gates and again at CP-412.
Something I had been wanting to figure out was how close the end of the new chain link fence is to the end of the platform and the rail at the west end, and also how close the new CP-421 relay box and other equipment is to the tracks. There is a gap between the fence and the tracks, but it's not very big. It's better to fit your lens through a link in the fence, as the box, generator and other stuff is actually further back than I thought. After an eastbound container train and a slow westbound manifest headed into the yard, Grand Elk got their signal to enter the Water Level Route with 20 cars.
I was alerted that Amtrak P42 #100, the Midnight Blue 50th Anniversary Unit, would be leading train 49, the westbound Lake Shore Ltd. I also came to find out, after arriving, that the train was significantly delayed by engine problems near Harmon NY and a broken down CSX freight sitting on Vickers Diamond at Toledo, so there was no huge rush. This gave me some time to check out the depot waiting room and new platform. The new platform is a good, impressive facility for passengers, well lid by LED lights. But I'm not super impressed by how they blazed a trail of new concrete sidewalks across the original brick platform, which is as old as the 1900-built station. Even less impressive is the weed-filled zone between the old and new platforms, which apparently local politics is keeping looking like a memorable first impression for several wrong reasons. Regardless, it's a decent place to wait for a train. And, you can still get a great photo of the depot, looking as if the 20th Century Limited might pull up at any second. Of course, with the tracks on the new alignment, you're much closer to the NYC RR Museum equipment right across the tracks. Here's a shot of the 3001 and Conrail caboose from the angle Virtual Railfan folks will recognize. Amtrak was late, but NS local B23 was right on time with their shove move down to Goshen. Led by graffiti-clad caboose 555616, today's eastbound run was a lite caboose move to pickup cars from the Marion Secondary and loaded MofW gondolas in Dunlap. They sneaked up on me but I chased them south to Goshen, snagging some photos of them at the Hively 4-quadrant gates and again at CP-412.
Something I had been wanting to figure out was how close the end of the new chain link fence is to the end of the platform and the rail at the west end, and also how close the new CP-421 relay box and other equipment is to the tracks. There is a gap between the fence and the tracks, but it's not very big. It's better to fit your lens through a link in the fence, as the box, generator and other stuff is actually further back than I thought. After an eastbound container train and a slow westbound manifest headed into the yard, Grand Elk got their signal to enter the Water Level Route with 20 cars.