Amtrak Rensselaer Shops

Having friends who have friends in high places is a nice thing. And when I got a call from good friend, and fellow rail photographer Bob LaMay, asking if I’d like to come with him up to the Amtrak Rensselaer Shops in Rensselaer, NY I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Well, I did hesitate a bit – had to check with the wife to make sure we weren’t doing anything on the family front. But with clearance from the manager of the family calendar, I joined Bob for a nice afternoon in and around the shops. There was some interesting stuff there too – not just the normal GE Genesis locomotives.

Thanks again to Bob for inviting me to tag along for the day, and thanks to the staff at the shops. It was a great day traipsing around the shop grounds, photographing just about everything in sight, even though it was downright humid – even moreso wearing a helmet the whole time. Of all the equipment on the grounds, the most notable was a non-powered control unit (NPCU or cabbage car) that was modified for use in an upcoming live TV broadcast (can’t get into too many more details right now – I’ll update once I can). Trust me, you’ll see the modification right off the bat, it’s not something that’s hidden. And the two domes are there to house the satellite antennae for the broadcast. But you’ll see another NPCU in primer ready for the paint shop, some Superliner equipment, including a full length dome car, some switchers, a GP38, a CT-DOT GP40 getting a prime mover swap, and the usual run of GE Gennies.  And of course, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyways – these photos were taken with permission.  The shops and surrounding yards are Amtrak property, and trespassing is forbidden, so please don’t venture in there. OK, enough of that, here’s the shots – I’ll be adding captions over the next few days.

Thanks for looking!
Tom