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PHOTOS: Almost Done |
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Posted by kp5308 on Wed Apr 15 19:02:25 2015 We start out in Blandon PA at the Guilden Rd. crossing of the Norfolk Southern main from North Jersey to points west. Three freights passed but we will concentrate on the east & westbound double stacks lead by members of the SD60E rebuild program.In 2009 NS formulated a plan to rebuild the fleet of mid 80s era EMD SD60 locomotives it owned plus a few obtained on the used market. Below is a snip from the NS website on the program: Juniata shop employees rolled out the first SD60E in 2010 and expect to rebuild 240 of them by the time the program ends in 2019. By rebuilding instead of buying new, the company anticipates cost savings of around $240 million. By end of 2013, about 60 of the SD60Es were pulling trains across the network. Engine upgrades have improved fuel efficiency by about 7 percent compared with the original SD60 engines. That translates to annual diesel-fuel savings of 15,000 to 20,000 gallons and about 224 fewer tons of carbon dioxide emissions per locomotive. For 60 SD60Es, that amounts to annual savings of around 1.2 million gallons of diesel and 13,340 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The prototype #6900 heads west as the sun rises over New Jerusalem Hill:  Work done includes engine upgraded to 16-710G3B-IC w/ EFI and Tier 0+ emissions with split cooling (note: emissions sticker states tier 0+) - EM2000 microprocessor installed, including all new electrical cabinet - new wide cab installed with a/c, cab signals & LSL, original long hood retained - new crashworthy fuel tank installed where needed - changed from long hood forward to short hood forward where applicable - KNORR (CCB2) electronic air brake installed - "Layover equipment" and NS-designed (at Juniata) split cooling installed with added intercooler fan - 6921-6926 (later 6946-6951) plus 6934 and up equipped with EMDEC Electronic Control Unit (ECU) system, others equipped with Interstate. Initially the first few SD60Es were rated at 3800 hp, but they and the rest have been upped to 4000 hp. The 6939 leads an SD60M & GE west about a hour later:  I was told one of the three ex-Canadian National coaches purchased for the Colebrookdale Railroad was finished so I stopped by Boyertown for a look see. The cars were built in 1919 & judging by the first one completed Karen & I will hafta ride:   The 9 mile ride to Stowe PA & back is worth an open air car...& quite the car it is:  The ambitious schedule:  Crossing the Betsy Ross Bridge from PA to NJ the Delair bridge linking South Jersey to the rest of the railroad world is on the right. I saw oil cans on the bridge & hot footed it to Cove Rd. & HATCH interlocking at Pennsauken NJ just in time to catch the loaded oil train led by an SD70Ace:  Next is NJ Transit train #4673 leaving the Pennsauken Transit Center bound for Atlantic City. PL42AC #4011 is one of 33 PL42AC locomotives built for NJT between 2003 and 2006. The locomotives were completely designed in Valencia, Spain and then transported as kits to Hornell, New York for final assembly. An exception is the first two units which were assembled in Valencia. They all carry EMD serial numbers & were built on EMD order #20009435. Here are some of the details of the class: Prime mover - EMD 16-cylinder 710G3B…Main alternator - TA-17…Traction inverter – IGBT…Traction motors - frame-mounted AC…Trucks - bolsterless two-axle…Wheel size - 44 inches…Starting tractive effort - 69,975 pounds…Continuous tractive effort - 27,000 pounds…Horsepower - 4200hp…Traction power (at wheels) - 3620hp…Weight - 144 tons…Length - 69' 10"…Width - 10' 8"…Height - 15' 5"…Fuel capacity - 2250 gallons…HEP source - prime mover…HEP rating - 800kW…Brakes - combination disc/tread:  The Jackson Rd. overpass near Atco illustrates the tangent nature of the Atlantic City Line. Laid out by Richard Osborne in 1852 & opened 2 years later, the original route from Camden to AC was straight for 40 of the 57 miles, the longest portion being the 23 odd miles between Winslow Junction & Absecon. Second is the 8.5 miles from east of Atco to east of the present Lindenwold station. Train #4680 is on time, accelerating after stopping at the present day Atco station:   RiverLINE car #3512A leaves the Route 73 Park & Ride stop, headed for Camden. Bombardier runs the entire service under contract to NJT. This includes operations, vehicle maintenance, dispatching, as well as maintenance of track, structures, communications and signaling. Conrail Shared Assets provides freight service during late night hours when NJT does not operate passenger service. The siding protected by the derail leads to a warehouse that does not use the railroad:  I'll end this with a shot of 4 month old Amtrak Sprinter #630 leading a late Regional #87 past a slowing set of 180 month old SEPTA Silverliner IV MU cars on train #9724 at the Tacony stop:  The last of our stuff will be outta Jersey by the end of the month. Settlement is scheduled for April 30th. |
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