วีดีโอ

thanks. tell the crews to grant me more permission....

great way of putting it. there's a good amount of history there & it's generally a quiet peaceful area. there's not a TON of train traffic there, but the sights and approaches are nice if you're attentive.

@@NortheastTrainMan I'm currently living in Lancaster, and my gym that I go to is on the other side of the Keystone Corridor. I've been able to pretty reliably see a train every time I walk underneath it. It's a cool location. Lancaster is just a small city in PA and it has some of the best train service in the country it's wild.

The duck-under is coming together nicely, it'll be interesting to see from a drone what the deck formwork state is there.

@@rwdavidoff I'll make sure I post it after I edit it. I still don't really understand that "duck-under" structure.

@@TheRailwayDrone The way I understand it, it's like a tunnel under the deck of the bridge, but above ground level?

@@rwdavidoff I see, but what is the tunnel for, and from where I'm looking, it seems to go right into Rt 7(?).

@@TheRailwayDrone Long term, the alignment here needs four tracks, not two. So the plan is to tear down the existing bridge, and build another two-track bridge on the existing bridge's alignment later, for use by local NJTransit trains, deconflicting them from Northeast Regionals and Acela and other faster non-stops. This would make the junction to the southwest of the bridge, Swift, even more of a mess unless there's a track where local trains can cross the express tracks at a different grade to get to the tracks running northwest. The duck-under creates a spot where this future track can "duck-under" the fast tracks to the north side of the alignment to make tracks at Swift easier to manage without at-grade conflicts. Basically, if you imagine this video running in reverse as a local running on the replacement bridge, then you can imaging taking a track through that tunnel, under the level of the tracks to the Portal North Bridge Acela and the Northeast Regional and everything are using, ending up north of the fast tracks, and then in position to peal off northwest towards Newark Broad Street Station.

Yes. Yes it is.

That’s correct & I’m aware. Glad I caught the Silver Star before Amtrak discontinued it.

I don't have any Amtrak Advance Approach PCL Signals on video, but I have seen a few from time to time. They seem to be at signals that I can't see from station platforms though.

I got Mr Jersey Mike himself checking out one of my signal videos, thanks man. To answer your question, no. I don't venture to the extreme edges of the platform(s), and I generally don't spend much time there. I get a few waves and friendly conversations at most.

@@NortheastTrainMan I remembered to check the mentions tab, which is a thing now.

if I'm not mistaken, Dovetail Games (the makers of Train Sim World 4) are based in Europe. I did find it a bit interesting how the signal dropped to restricting as the train passed it, rather than Stop, or Stop & Proceed. Would it be because this signal might not be capable of displaying a Stop & Proceed aspect? I'm not sure, I'm merely speculating.

I occasionally run into railfans when I'm out & about, but I'm not social about it or do meet ups. Some railfans I meet are cool, the majority are weirdos. Moreover, I'm an adult, and a lot of railfans on TH-cam are kids. Another reason why I don't want to meet people through here.

To some it's a spooky superstitious train. To me, it's just another train.

If I’m not mistaken, the signals in this video are the distant signals to COUNTY Interlocking.

thanks for the support

I’d estimate the engineer proceeded at medium speed, so 30 MPH. Not fast in my opinion. It’s just the train is huge & it was continuous movement at a decent speed.

I don’t have access to tangible data to verify it. However, empirically I have seen some say they wouldn’t ride this train. To that point, Amtrak doesn’t make a big deal out of it. It’s just a regular shmegular Keystone. If it hurt their bottom line, I imagine they would’ve changed the train number by now.

@NortheastTrainMan one of Amtrak's long ago Atlantic City Express trains had its number changed from 666 to 668 per request of superstitious casino patrons.

@@centredoorplugsthornton4112 Yep. I remember Amtrak's Atlantic City Line trains were in the 600 series. That whole operation was objectively a mess.

@@NortheastTrainMan "whole operation was a mess." They tried.

@@centredoorplugsthornton4112 Evidently they did, I'm not discrediting the effort. I know they (Amtrak) were up against a lot (NIMBYs, Politics, Conrail, etc). I won't put everything in one comment. But I know it was tough to get off the ground. That said, objectively, those same issues hampered the operation. On time performance, especially in the beginning was terrible. Two things can be true at once.

purchasing P32AC-DMs? in 2024? GE Genesis P32AC-DMs in 2024?

With all due respect, please at the very least, use spell check when you write comments. Now, if I understand your question, you're asking why the skins look / appear how they do? Beats me, I didn't make the game or the skins. You'd have to take that up with Dovetail Games. Lastly, and again, for the love of everyone, please learn how to spell, proofread, and use spellcheck. I mean that sincerely & respectfully.

No. These signals are primarily used on the New York - Washington section of the Northeast Corridor. They're based on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Position Light Signals, which were in place prior to Amtrak coming into play.

@ what about freight railroads in the northeast what do they use

@@Fernando-j9o NORAC Signal Rules. You can find more info on Google.

No part of the catenary has been added yet, only the masts to hold it. There shouldn’t be anything preventing constant tension equipment installed

you can see weights hanging from the poles from NJ 7

@@thomasputich1806what timestamp?

I believe it's future-proofing for Portal South, not for use with the current portal bridge?

I'm not sure if demolition of the existing bridge is part of this project, or part of a subsequent project--if it's part of this, then there's no value to hooking track from the current bridge to the duck-under. If it's going to stand longer than there might be, as it would allow two-bridge four-track operations until Portal South is funded, but the second bridge would still be the old and worn out existing bridge, so I don't know if they plan to do that.

@ with the new administration coming in, I’d be surprised if Portal south gets built by the time the new Hudson tubes are complete.

The duck-under is future provision only. Once Portal North is in service they will demolish the old bridge as part of the project, with completion of that estimated in 2028

We gotta keep blinking. I heard it speeds up the process.

I could be wrong, but this article on NJ Transit's website said they approved the funding, which could imply they're paying for it (along with the state & gov't of course): www.njtransit.com/press-releases/nj-transit-approves-financing-agreement-new-portal-bridge

But yes, it's on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and it's essentially their trackage.

As far as I can tell the line is owned by Amtrak but the Gateway Program is largely being managed by NJT

The more that is done, the learning curve allows more to be done. So more railway projects are needed to keep a critical mass of expertise continuously.

@@interstellarphredexactly and some of the same contractors like HNTB, WSP should be tapped for other projects too to keep the ball rollong

They are funding it. That’s the difference

You can fully fund a project and still blow out the budget, far easier than sticking to it in fact

All the above + maintenance.

Perhaps not, in the same sense that Tobey Maguire isn't actually Spiderman in real life. I just like to make my videos fun & engaging, without being too far left of center. Never hurts to balance realism with levity.

Moreover, I would find it hard to imagine that dispatch would organize literal races between revenue trains for their and/or a railfan's enjoyment. Of course it's controlled. Is it a "race" in the literal sense, no. It hardly ever is, as you know. I'm just toying with the concept.

This was actually a qualifying move for NJT Atlantic City Line crews. For when they have to move equipment from the AC Line to the MMC & Vice versa. I don’t think Amtrak has used a NJT set for thanksgiving in at least 5 years.

Thanks. It was a pleasant surprise.

Yep, I mentioned it in the description. Getting railfan window footage of a SEPTA train arriving on Track 1 at Trenton would be tough, as you know. It likely would only be at rush hour, and we don't have control over the equipment.

No. I either wasn’t close enough, or it wasn’t loud enough.

Thanks. The Keystone was heading to NYC & the Regional was heading to DC.

Just for freight

Yep, what NYG2012 said. Many many years ago The Pennsylvania Railroad had a yard in Camden and some track in Pennsauken that was electrified. The decline in business is what led to it being removed & the lack of business today is why it hasn’t been reinstalled. I doubt the revenue from the freight today would justify reinstalling the catenary.

Hmm. I never thought of that. It makes sense, I’m just surprised they used an electric set for that. But I guess depending on how often AC Line sets get sent to the MMC, this may have been a more viable alternative at the time. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I’d love to catch another one of these, but I doubt I’d get any advance notice.

Recently? I saw a few videos on TH-cam (vids themselves from the 80s & 90s) of SEPTA trains in Newark. Times were definitely different back then.