Monday Afternoon – New Hope & Ivyland, CSX and SEPTA

This week, I’m once again down in the Garden State for work.  Tuesday, however, I had a conference I needed to attend down in our Collegeville, PA office, so I drove down from Peapack Monday afternoon.  The route I picked just happened to take me past a few railroads – gee, I wonder how that happened?

The route I mapped out before leaving brought me past three railroads of interest in Pennsylvania – New Hope & Ivyland, SEPTA and CSX.  With the way the timing worked out, I figured I could catch the last New Hope & Ivland run of the day (slated to leave New Hope at 4pm), chase them west, and then when they got to the end of the run, I’d continue west, as the train returned east.  After that, I’d stop by Lansdale, PA where a couple CSX local jobs are based near the SEPTA station.  Seemed like a good plan when I left.

Well, as with all things railroad – plans change.  Mine was no different on Monday.  I got down to New Hope just as the 3pm run was returning to the station.  So I scouted west, and found a spot where I could get a pretty nice shot, where I set up shop and waited.  And waited.  Well, an hour passed by, and there was still no sign of a train – maybe they canceled the 4pm run?  Well, I got one shot while I was waiting.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:113678]

Once 5pm came around, I decided to pack it in, and head out.  With only one shot in the camera, I figured I’d swing by the station to see what was up.  When I got there, the power – NHIR’s GP30 – was still on the other side of the coaches, and it looked like the station was closed up.  I guess they did cancel the 4pm run.  So I made my way back towards the engine house to see what was going on – it looked like they were having some issues with the brakes (at least that’s what it looked like they were checking out).  So I got a few shots as they were kicking around the yard.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:113677] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113676] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113675]

At least I got something at New Hope.  With all hopes of an afternoon run thrown out the window, I got back in the car and continued towards Collegeville.

Then it was time for stop #2 – the SEPTA station at Lansdale.  As I was sitting in traffic about a half mile from the station, I saw a SEPTA train set head out of the station southbound.  OK, I guess I wasn’t going to catch a train there – maybe the CSX local was there.  Otherwise, I’d only have the station to shoot – not a complete loss, but not ideal either.

But a minute or so later, still stuck at the same red light, another trainset came through – this time going north.  OK, things are looking better – at least something should be at the station.  Well, that is if I ever got out of the traffic tie-up.

After a few minutes, I was finally making my way towards the station, and as I crossed the tracks, I was greeted by two nice sights – the SEPTA train set was sitting right at the station, as well as a pair of CSX geeps just to the north!

But while shooting, I got another nice surprise – a second set of CSX geeps came into view and tied up next to the others!  Plus, as another little bonus, the two north facing units were sporting consecutive numbers!  Also worked in the Reading stone work on the station in a couple shots of the SEPTA train set.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:113674] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113673] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113672] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113671] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113670] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113669] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113668] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113667] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113666] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113665] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113664] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113663] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113662] [cpg_imagefixthumb:113661]

With that in the bag, I packed up the gear, and continued south to my hotel in Collegeville as the sun continued to set.

Thanks for looking!
Tom