Railfan for Life
Enjoy a rich journey across the American railroading landscape through the lens of our founder Hal Carstens!
T
wo of the best train watching spots on New Jersey Transit are along the Northeast Corridor
.
The parking deck in Elizabeth (above) gives a bird’s eye view of the action at the perfect height —above the trains and below the wires. Secaucus Junction has the Corridor on its upper level and NJT’s diesel powered ex-Erie lines on the lower (below).
sey, further away from the action. Trips to North Jersey could only happen on weekends when a lot of passenger activity was quiet. Still, I got to see GG1s roll their last
miles, watched the Lackawanna m.u.’s give way to Jersey Arrows practically overnight (the m.u.’s stopped running, and two weeks later the lines reopened with Arrows) and saw some of the last engine changes at South Amboy (although the E8s and GG1s had given way to newer diesels and second-hand E60s). And all this occurred within five years of graduation. I just made it for the final act. As for The Block Line, that magazine that opened the world for me — it was edited by Tom Nemeth, who would later take his skills to the Jersey Central Chapter and produce Jersey Central Lines. This would morph into the Railpace Newsmagazine that we know today, with Tom still at the helm.
Railfanning New Jersey Transit The passenger railroad scene in New Jersey remains dynamic, and it’s always fun to watch the evening rush hour unfold. For the most variety and most trains, nothing beats the parking deck adjacent to the Elizabeth
station. From the top floor you are at the perfect height — above the trains but below the catenary wires. Go down a level and use a long telephoto and you can get images that look like they were taken from the cab of a train, thanks to a curve at the west (south) end of the station. There is seldom a moment without a train on weekday evenings (the sun angles are best in the afternoon) as elec- tric trains destined for the Northeast Corri- dor and the north end of the New York & Long Branch parade by. Toss in a few diesel trains heading to the south end of the NY&LB, plus everything Amtrak runs, and you have quite a mix. If NJT’s mixed bag of diesels intrigue you, then the best place for the evening rush is at Secaucus Junction. This new station rose out of the swampland at a point where Am- trak’s Northeast Corridor and the former Erie crossed. The upper level is the Corridor, and here you can see everything you can see at Elizabeth, except for the NY&LB trains. (Note that the upper level is a fare-con- trolled area; it’ll cost you $4.00 to get in). The lower level features all the diesel trains coming out of Hoboken Terminal and head-
In this new book from Carstens, you’ll enjoy more than 100 pages of color photos selected by our editors spanning Hal’s trackside adventures from the last sixty years. From coast to coast, from steam to diesel (and trolleys, too),
from main lines to short lines and everything in between!
You won’t want to miss this special collection, order your copy today!
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