Attention Secaucus!

ALP-46 4654 at Secaucus High Level with an NJT service from New York.

GP40 4105 leads a service into Secaucus low level from
Hoboken terminal. These locomotives are among the
oldest of the New Jersey Transit fleet.

One of my 'railway friends' called me up earlier in the week asking where was best to see and ride trains on a visit to New York. My answer was very quick 'New Jersey Transit! and you want to go to Secaucus Junction.'
I can't pretend I am the most knowledgeable source on American railways, but for my short trip to NY in 2011 I had a few things which I really wanted to see, and Secaucus fitted the bill perfectly.


What is so good about Secaucus Junction?

A Bombadier double-deck cab car leads a Hoboken train
into Secaucus

As the name suggests- this station forms a junction (though there is no physical connection between the lines) of two railways which meet roughly at right angles, one passing over the other. On the lower level is New Jersey Transit's 'Main Line' and 'Bergan County Line' which both carry diesel hauled traffic on a number of New Jersey Transit routes from Hoboken Terminal (just across the Hudson from Manhattan, while on the high level is Amtrak's North East Corridor- the busiest passenger railway in the USA carrying regular Amtrak express trains between Boston and Washington as well as New Jersey Transit's (NJT) commuter services from New York Penn Station.

4119, an F40PH (my personal favorite North American class)
leads a train into Hoboken. NJT is one of a number of
commuter operations which use these locos which once
worked right across the USA for Amtrak.

Secaucus opened as recently as 2003 to act as a transfer point between the two NJT routes. The journey time from New York Penn is roughly 15 minutes with services up to every 10 minutes at busy times.


What can you expect to see?
On the lower level you can expect to see any trains from the NJT diesel fleet (as well Metro-North diesel services which are run under contract in New Jersey by NJT). These trains are typically made up of a diesel locomotive on the western end (leading out of Hoboken) with a series of single or double deck coaches and a cab car on the rear to enable push/pull operation.

P42LAC locomotives are the most common on diesel
services for NJT. 4018 approaches Secaucus.

The most common locomotives are the single cab Alsthom P42LAC's delivered between 2005 and 2006.
Older locomotives are also used with numerous varieties of GP40 locomotives (the earliest dating from 1965) and F40PH's working the routes from Hoboken for both NJT and Metro-North. Secaucus lower level is not electrified.

ALP46 4601, the second Traxx loco for the US, pushes
a train out towards Jersey from Secaucus. 

On the higher level is the electrified North East Corridor. Here you will see all of NJT's trains out of New York Penn Station. Sadly the older electric locomotives on this route have now retired and all hauled services are in the hands of Bombadier ALP46 locomotives (Traxx locos to anyone who knows Europe!). 
Other NJT services are worked by EMU's.

A set of 'Arrow III' EMU vehicles departs Secaucus heading
 into New Jersey. These cars dating from 1978 operate NJT's
non-loco hauled trains.

Amtrak's fastest and most prestigious trains- the Acela Express pass through Secaucus- these sets with a top speed of 150mph consist of a power car either end of trailers in a fixed formation. Other North East Regional services are loco hauled with either ageing Swedish built AEM 7 locomotives, or the far newer (but unreliable) HHP-8 locos (which look a little like a double ended Acela powercar). Both of the latter will be replaced starting from late 2013 with new Siemens 'Amtrak City Sprinter' (ACS-64) locomotives.
Most Amtrak trains are hauled with the classic Amfleet (or 'Amtube' referring to their shape) coaches, while a smaller number of trains work in push pull with Amfleet coaches and a former 'metroliner' cab car.

The HHP-8 locomotives have been troublesome for Amtrak
since their deliver and look set to have a somewhat short
career on the North East Corridor. 659 leads a train of
Amfleet coaches away from New York.

Other notes and points of interest:
All trains on the upper level are Electric as the lines go straight into Penn station which is barred to diesel locos. You will not even see Amtraks P42AC-DM locos (fitted with pick up shoes) at Secaucus- these work only on the 'Empire Corridor' out towards Albany- see my post here for details on these services.
Amtrak services do not stop at Secaucus.
When travelling do take note that at off-peak times coaches tend to get locked out of use... if you stand at the end of the platform when the train pulls in you may still have to run to the other end of the train!

In contrast the Swedish built AEM-7 locos have proved
reliable workhorses.  In the twilight of it's career 904 pushes
an Amtrak service towards New York Penn.

Photographically the location has reasonable views in most directions- the upper level platforms are largely covered, but you can shoot from each end in the open. Views from the lower level looking back towards Hoboken are particularly good- and the locos are on this end of the train.
There is sadly not anywhere where you can successfully view trains on both the upper and lower levels- one has to take your pick and just accept that you will miss some things! I would recommend spending some time on both parts of the station- but there is a barrier line between them!
I had no difficulty or trouble standing on the platforms and taking photographs and judging from the quantity on the internet 'railfanning' should not be a problem. However as ever do not stray from public areas of the station, act suspiciously and be courteous and cooperative to staff should they approach you.
On a final note- this report is based on my trip to Secaucus in 2011 and I can therefore not guarantee that it is still up to date. Since it was written NJT have introduced bi-modal ALP-45DP (a bi-modal diesel/electric Traxx variation)- it is not known what impact these have had on the older diesel classes though I do not believe their delivery was intended to replace them.

The cream of the Amtrak fleet is the Acela Express.
Powercar 2012 leads a train from Washington to Boston
non-stop through Secaucus high level.

Grid power on Crossrail Spoil

56312 is seen from the Mumford Lane road bridge as it approaches Gerrards
 Cross with the empty spoil wagons from Calvert on May 13th 2013. The
photographer is forced to shoot almost directly into the sun for this working!

There is a lot of work going on beneath the streets of London right now as the digging of tunnels for the Crossrail project is well underway. The operation has seen a large site developed at Northfleet which produces regular traffic hauled by GBRf both to and from the construction sites.
More recently a flow of spoil (material excavated from the tunnels) has started running to the landfill site at Calvert in Buckinghamshire. This train runs once daily from Willesden and takes the Chiltern main line to Princess Risborough before taking the branch to Aylesbury and continuing on to Calvert. Perhaps more interesting is the traction- Class 56's from the fleet of Devon and Cornwall Railways who are running the operation. Over two consecutive days both the loaded and empty flow were recorded on the outskirts of Gerrards Cross in the hands of Romanian built 56312 (formerly 56003).

The following morning 56312 is seen once again in the same location
 (though obviously looking in the opposite direction) with the loaded
Willesden-Calvert spoil run.

Comment: It looks good doesn't it?!?

As the saying goes; you should never judge a book by it's cover. While this may be true, presentation is very important. In the case of 37521 at the recent Swanage Diesel Gala it would certainly seem that the locomotive is in fine condition mechanically- its external condition however can be described, at best, as appalling. The locomotive, which has not worked for the better part of 10 years was most definitely a pull for the haulage enthusiasts but the image it presented at the railway was surely far from desirable.  Members of the general public certainly would not expect to see a locomotive working on a prestigious railway which has a paint job so faded that it barely exists and rust holes which you could almost put your hand through. For those expecting a beautifully turned out steam train it could even be enough to put them off travelling. The state of the 37 can hardly present a good image for its owners, HNRC either, who are trying to sell the locomotive on.
I am not for one minute advocating that all trains at preserved railways should be in pristine condition all the time, but surely there is a point at which a visiting locomotive starts to become an eye saw rather than a star?

These views are my own and are not intended to cause offence to any parties mentioned.

Trip Report- 5-6th May 2013 France (Paris and Picardie)

Sunday 5th May

A Eurostar speeds along the LGV towards Lille.

A reasonably early start in the car to make a morning shuttle over from Folkestone to Calais arriving shortly before lunchtime.
The first port of call in France was the LGV near to Calais Frethun to photograph a few Eurostars- this activity was somewhat called short owing to a slight mishap with my friends camera- but not before a couple of shots were bagged!
We then drove south to cover the 'busy' Sunday afternoon period on the Boulogne line photographing all of the hauled trains between 15:00 and about 20:00. During the week the line is covered by just two locomotive diagrams, with three on a Saturday and four on a Sunday!
The four locos listed by the departures viewed from Boulogne on 5th May were:
15:12- 67606 (Multiservice)
16:04- 67438 (Multiservice)
17:04- 67455 (En Voyage)
19:04- 67484 (Blue)

BB67606 in 'Multiservice' livery with matching Corail stock forms the 15:12 Boulogne-Paris.

Narrow gauge steam on the Somme Bay Railway.

A bit of a climb was needed for this one! BB67484 in the old
blue livery is seen heading the 17:04 Boulogne Paris.

There are plenty of pleasing locations between Rang du Fliers (where the the wires stop) and Amiens and with good weather and a nice selection of locos it made for a very pleasing afternoon. There is still very little evidence of any electrification work south of Rang du Fliers- though the telegraph poles immediately south of Rang du Fliers have disappeared since last year. Many locations can be walked from stations- though with so few trains it would involve a lot of waiting around- driving allows all of the trains to be photographed with some time to travel to a new spot between each one.
A call was also made at Noyelles for the two steam services on the Somme Bay Railway which meet the Paris train at 18:00.

Overnight accommodation was the Holiday Inn at Amiens. I have used this hotel before, it is highly recommended- right next to the station, good breakfast (included) and very reasonably priced as well.

Monday 6th May

Today the car was in Amiens as we took the train down to Paris for the day.
Before doing so I had a quick run down to Longueau to score a couple of locos.
22233 on 08:14 Amiens- Paris
67523 on 07:01 Creil- Amiens
It seems 67523 has decided to be my pet loco- which I have now seen or had on every trip I have made to this region! I wouldn't mind if somebody would clean the graffiti off of it!

We picked up the 08:50 for Paris (which arrived ex Boulogne with 67606). 22229 doing the honors on to Paris- there seem to be a lot of BB22000 'ghosts' around. What a pleasure again to be travelling in the beautifully smooth and comfortable Corail coaches of the SNCF.

BB7600 (refurbished BB7200 locos) now work on Transillien
 line N out of Paris Montparnasse. These have largely
replaced the aging Z5300 EMU's.

Once in Paris we purchased a 5-zone 'Mobilis' day ticket and headed to Montparnasse in the hope of seeing some Z5300 before they are all gone. Arrived at Montparnasse to find it was now raining (and yes- I know it was lovely back home!) and headed out to St Cyr where we did not see any Z5300- clearly it must be too late to see them outside of the peaks.
Plenty of the usual BB27300's were in action and also noted were 'new' (ex-freight BB7200)  BB7600's 05,07,12,13.
One freight was seen with a trio of 27000's as well as a pair of light engine BB26000 Sybic's and some form or test train with 66408 and 66401.
Finally before leaving 8598 was seen passing on what must have been the 12:09 Montparnasse- Chartres.

BB17011 on a service from Mantes-le-Jolie to Paris St Lazare.

I headed on towards Mantes-la-Jolie with 27315 (20 mins late), changing at Epone Mezieres to take 27365 back down towards Poissy in order to have a go at the shot at Villenes Sur Seine. Eventually after several hours I got what I wanted (minus the anticipated sunshine) with BB17011 producing on a train- it was the only one out on the circuit to Mantes la Jolie via Poissy.
A few 15000's and a Sybic on passenger also seen, though many of these intercities trains are now units.
Also saw a pair of silver light engine Sybics and a light BB60000 in Fret colours.
17036 and 17100 were seen on a very quick dash through St Lazare. Interestingly there seem to be a reasonable number of BB17000 on VB2N double deck on this visit- Previously I can only remember seing them powering RIO sets.

A pleasing and unplanned shot of BB15008 on  in 'Grand Confort' livery at Villenes Sur Seine.

Next it was over to Paris Est as the last two 'real' CC72000's which have not been re-engined (72049 and 72084- the latter in it's original blue livery) had been working trains on the line to Belfort- fingers crossed one would show up!
Photographed a few trains at Val de Fontaney (the sun having finally made an appearance) before heading back into Est.
I got a call from my friend to say that 72084 (the one we really wanted) had indeed arrived, but was to be dead in train on the 18:12 to Culmont Chalindrey- not ideal by any stretch of the imagination!!! Presumably the loco had failed (the windscreen wiper looked a little suspect) and was being dragged out back to depot for maintenance  We got an absolutely diabolical shot of the pair of locos at Pantin before heading back to Nord- the lack of a direct connection between Paris Est and RER line E is most unhelpful!
72084 had come tantalizingly close, but clearly it wasn't to be on this occasion- will I get another?

Better than not seeing it at all?? CC72084 will be dragged
dead in train on the 18:12 to Culmont Chalindry.

Paris Est Diesel departures:
16:42 Belfort            72157
17:05 Le Ferte Milon           unidentified BB67400
17:12 Troyes    72176
18:05 Le Ferte Milon           67406
18:12 Culmont Chanindry    72172 + 72084 (DIT)

15:50 Troyes- Paris Est was a pair of BiBi's (booked CC72100).


Finally it was back to Nord to pick up BB15009 on the 19:04 to Boulogne.
This gave way to 67455 at Amiens, as we left to rush back up the motorway to Calais!

Trip Report 7th- 13th April 2013 Switzerland, Germany and rail back to London

Sunday 7th April:

Flew London Heathrow to Zurich on 09:40 BA flight (which had been both cancelled and re-timed by BA since booking it!).
Waited at Zurich Flughaven for a loco hauled train into Zurich and then spent a good hour and a half photographing in pretty awful light at Zurich Hbf.
Nothing particularly unusual sighted, though an Re540 set did turn up, presumably ECS into the station. I was not expecting to see any of these out at the weekend.
Checked into overnight accommodation and headed down to the lake. Took a boat down to Thalwil and then headed over to the station. For somewhere I had literally turned up at thinking there would be more train on this side of the lake than the other Thalwil turned out to be very good! Plenty of trains both S-bahn and Intercity and some decent views. We even managed an Re4/4 hauled train back to the Hbf which was a bonus.
Another quick run to the airport to get a couple more locos in and then off for an unsuccessful search to find a meal which didn't cost the earth.
After dinner we took to the streets for a session of tram night photography- the vision of 3 lads set up with cameras and tripods in a Zurich street at around 11pm on a Sunday night seemed to confuse the locals adequately!

Loco haulage:
460 060 Zurich flughaven- Zurich Hbf
11140 Thalwil- Zurich Hbf
11201 Zurich Hbf- Flughaven
460035 Flughaven- Zurich Hbf

Monday 8th April:

Woke to another grey day and went for a quick look around the city following the least satisfying and most expensive McDonalds breakfast I ever taste.
Boarded the 09:16 EuroCity to Munich with Cargo 521 392 (I believe only the Cargo locos are passed into Austria and Germany?).
Scenery largely obscured by low cloud and mist.
At Lindau the SBB loco gives way to a pair of DB 218's which continue to Munich once the train has reversed.
The weather eventually improved on this leg of the journey with arrival in Munich being in sunshine. This was to be short lived as by the time we had checked into our accommodation and got a few sunny shots around the station the gloom returned.
Photographed 103245 on the 15:39 IC to Nuremberg as booked before heading over to Munich Heimeranplatz for some photos.

Freight was pretty dead for the first hour with a 115 being the only train of interest.
Once we decided to leave of course things picked up- the highlights being an empty stock move with 120113, 115198 and 113309 hauling a mix of stock and yellow Bahnbau Gruppe 218391 turning up with an infrastructure train.
After dinner a few night photos were taken back at the Hbf- the Hamburg sleeper producing 115278 on the trip from Munich Ost- I was expecting a 140 on this, but I wasn't disappointed either way.

Loco haulage:
421392 Zurich- Lindau
218418 + 218440 Lindau- Munich Hbf

Tuesday 9th April:

The day began with lovely blue skies so the decision was quickly taken to cover the Oberstdorf branch which I had researched extensively.
Took the 09:19 (quite an efficient train for Bayern ticket users) ALEX train to Lindau/Oberstorf with the aim of first covering Lindau and photographing a few of the Ulm 218's there. The plan for the day quickly started to fall apart. By Immenstadt where the train divides the sun was beginning to look far from secure, and then to my displeasure Dispolok ER20-007 was seen to be working the Oberstorf portions instead of the ex OBB class 2143 which I had been hoping for.
On arrival at Lindau the sun immediately disappeared- as did the first pair of 'Rabbits' on the 12:02 to Freidrichshafen Stadt which departed just as the ALEX arrived.
To make matters worse the 12:55 arrival produced a unit and the final arrival before we departed was late arriving so we missed that as well! Cheers Lindau!
The weather by this point was so bad that consideration was given to skipping the Oberstorf branch entirely and going back to Munich- in the end we didn't as the forecast for the rest of the week was no better!

To make matters worse the 12:55 arrival produced a unit and the final arrival before we departed was late arriving so we missed that as well! Cheers Lindau!
The weather by this point was so bad that consideration was given to skipping the Oberstorf branch entirely and going back to Munich- in the end we didn't as the forecast for the rest of the week was no better!
Had a run down to Oberstorf on the Dispolok and also used locations outside Oberstdorf and Altstadten to photograph both the ALEX and the two afternoon IC's down the branch.
This activity involved absolutely legging it along the path at Altstadten to make it onto the next train... by some superhuman feat this was achieved. Of course as soon as we finished our photography the clouds broke and the sun came through... Then we were passed by another pair of Rabbits on the 16:15 Ulm-Obestdorf which I had somehow not managed to notice on the diagrams. Would have been a nice picture had we still been in location!
Overall a good day despite the hiccups- the comfort of the ALEX service making up a great deal of it- these really are great trains to travel on- especially when you can have the front compartment with a large opening window to yourselves...

Loco haulage:
223 071 Munich- Lindau
223 071 Lindau- Immenstadt
ER20-007 Immenstadt- Oberstdorf
ER20-007 Fischen- Immenstadt
223 064 Immenstadg- Munich Hbf

Wednesday 10th April:

Up earlyish (weather grey again) to catch pre-booked ICE to Nuremberg and then on to the 'Rechts Pegnitz' line in the hope of seeing some Ludmillas.
Arrived at Hersbruck Ost just before 9 and in position on the bridge beyond the station (good 15-20 min walk) once we had found it a little before 9:30. The reward was a 233 east, followed by a 232, then 233 heading west- all in all 3 Ludmilla's in the space of 15 minutes! The first two were expected- the third was a lucky bonus.
We then moved up the line to Velden and only achieved getting wet. With no more freight by 1pm we gave up and headed back to Nuremberg.

After a quick play on the stations coin operated model railway we took a trip to Eibach
and back on the S2 to bag a couple of 143's.
Next it was onto a 111 hauled set for the trip down to Treuchtlingen. We had about an hour here to await the 103 back to Nuremburg with it's daily IC. Immediately things were looking good with a few freights through, and the light had improved significantly.
Then the real surprise came... without any warning 'Croc' 194178 appeared into view on a train of southbound tankers! I presume this is some sort of DB Museum loco? Either way it was an absolute turn out for the books!

103245 appeared a little while later on it's booked diagram and was taken back to Nuremberg for another 111 south on yet another route, this time to Regensburg.
Another hour pause here before taking an ALEX train back to Munich.
On arrival at Regensburg we were greeted by a pair of 151's on coal hoppers- the only time we would photograph these locos on the trip. Regensburg has one very long platform at the north end of the station which proved very useful over the next hour for photographing the freights which were literally streaming past one after the other- finally we had found the freight levels we were hoping for!

Loco haulage:
143 634 Nuremberg Hbf- Eibach
143 914 Eibach- Nuremberg Hbf
111 224 Nuremberg Hbf- Treuchtlingen
103 245 Treuchtlingen- Nuremberg Hbf
111 214 Nuremberg Hbf- Regensburg
183 001 Regensburg- Munich Hbf

Thursday 11th April:

Another grey start and feeling we had not really ridden behind any 218's yet (which was frankly why we were here) a plan was made to clock up a few miles behind the locos.
A quick hop to the Ostbahnhof using Muhldorf trains was made before the 9:52 to Fussen which is the first westbound 218 which can be ridden on the Bayern ticket. This was taken to Buchloe- a real hive of 218 activity- at least in the hour we were there! 6 or 7 locos being seen in the hour we were there- all in pouring rain sadly!
The 218 haulage then continued with a ride up to Augsberg- a location which I believed would have promise for both passenger and freight trains. While there were a number of trains and plenty of variety the station did not lend itself to photography. One useful sighting however was 2143 21 which was seen heading light towards the south- my brain put one and one together and concluded that it was likely Kempten bound in order to take up duties on the ALEX.
A couple more 218's took us back from Augsberg to Munich, on one we bumped into a fellow enthusiast and had a long chat about all things DB.

With the weather having turned a little brighter and buoyed with our previous days success we again went on the hunt for freight. First stop was Gronsdorf, which produced just a single OBB Taurus in an hour, and with the view slightly obscured by poles the decision was taken to head back to Heimernplatz in the hope that Monday had just been a bad day. It must have been as the freight was much busier with regular trains in both directions- one of the most interesting sightings was a pair of, presumably ex-works, Traxx locos in DB Intercity colours (red stripe on white), 146 554 and 146 551.
Whatever they were doing they were very shiny!
After another successful day's riding and photing we descended to the Brauhause and stayed some time...

Loco haulage:
218 466 Munich Hbf- Ostbahnhof
218 418 Ostbahnhof- Munich Hbf
218 469 Munich Hbf- Buchloe
218 454 Buchloe- Augsburg
218 492 Augsburg- Kaufbauren
218 488 Kaufbauren- Munich Passing
111 026 Munich Passing- Munich Hbf

Friday 12th April:

Took the 9:19 ALEX to head in the Oberstorf direction once again. It seemed a good idea as I had a hunch the 2143 would now produce (also we all had headaches from the night before so a 2 hour run in a cosy compartment to Immenstadt felt like a good idea!).
We nearly missed the train as the 20 mins allowed to get breakfast on the station and get on the train would have been fine... had a yellow 218 not been sitting in the station with a test train wanting to be photographed- all managed to make it aboard the ALEX... Just!

On arrival at Immenstadt was the anticipated reward- 2143 21 was working the portions!
Rode the train down to Obestdorf and then repeated the photos on the approach to Obberstdorf and at Altstadten which we had done earlier in the week. It had just about stopped raining for the second shot.
On the way back to Munich we spent an hour at Buchloe as the sun had come out, and our ALEX loco was already a 'dudd'. Got a few 218 shots and then picked up a train of Memmingen back into Munich Hbf. Here one of the party departed for his flight home, the remaining two of us taking a quick trip over to Ost to get in a final couple of rabbits.
Saw the Hamburg sleeper again a little later on- 115 114 doing the honors  Thanks to the driver for waiting until we had our shots to depart!

Loco haulage:
223 064 Munich Hbf- Immenstadg
2143 21 Immenstadg- Oberstdorf
2143 21 Fischen- Immenstadt
223 064 Immenstadt- Buchloe
218 475 Buchloe- Munich Hbf
218 405 Munich Hbf- Ostbahnhof
218 418 Ostbahnhof- Munich Hbf

Saturday 13th April:

The last day, and a day full of travelling... so of course the weather was dramatically improved!
We had managed to bag one of the bargain 'London Special' tickets which meant traveling on ICE Munich-Frankfurt-Brussels for the Eurostar back home.
Progress was a little slow on the first train, the reason turning out to be a failed ICE between Munich and Ingolostadt- the 218 rescue locos were seen heading down the line presumably to recover it.
Most of the time was made up by Frankfurt allowing a quick reccie of the station.
ICE number 2 had managed to clock up a 10 minute delay by Cologne, and on leaving it soon became clear that all was not well. An 'electrical fault' was to cap our speed at 160km/h giving a 30 min delay into Brussels- annoying but not the end of the world as we had a long 2:50 connection for the Eurostar- time to see some trains at Brussels in theory. 30 minutes later and the situation was descending into a farce with the train now announcing it would terminat at Aachen. Passengers advised to take the local train to Liege to continue their journey. This would not have been quite so bad had the Liege train not turned up a tatty 2 car unit... for a whole ICE with luggage to clamber on to! Not everybody got on, and it was not a comfortable journey. At Liege we connected on to a far more respectable SNCB IC with 1800 haulage to Brussels.
A quick pic of the train, a 'quick' burger (with awful chips) and just about enough time to check on to the 19:52 Eurostar for London.

Loco haulage:
1875 Liege Guillemins- Brussels Midi
373216 Brussels Midi- London