Nonsensible Travels: August 2014 NYC Trip

Hello Everyone,

and welcome to my new blog! You may know me from my former blog on Wordpress, but after a huge screw-up, I decided to move stuff over to Blogger. As far as I know, I still have posts on my old blog, but I've decided to move here. Anyway, let's get this blog started!

First off, this is my former beta fish, Bubbles, named after the Nemo character. He was beta fish number three, and he lived for about one and a half years. He always listened to classical music and would dance around to it. I also had two fish in the past, Bluey and Crowney, a blue male fish, and a crowntail fish. This is Bubbles posing for a picture.

Well, Blogger screwed up too, so instead of starting in NYC, we start in Boston, with a red line "T" train at the station.

For some reason, this type of train always had its marker lights on even if it was going forward, which is strange but not unheard of.

This is our train that we took from South Station to our hotel. It was bound for Alewife.

This is a building that appears to be made out of glass on the port.

So, my family (mom, me, grandma) went to Boston, and we decided to do the touristy things. We went to that boat that was famous in the Revolution. This is a rat in the hold.

This is a rat on a barrel.

And this is the foc'sle where the crew slept. In fifth grade, I actually went on this trip called Ship Trip where our entire class had to sleep on the ship the Balclutha. Trust me, it was terrible. No sleep, crappy food, a first mate that was a bit of a jerk, and so on. However, I was in the Rigger crew where I got to string up my teacher on the Bosun's chair, which is a plank of wood with a rope attached. Our teacher broke too many rules and ticked off the captain. We got her to give us cool stuff, like a market day at the end of the year, extra recess, all that good stuff. Hey, it was a terrible trip, but for that it was halfway worth it.

This is the boat that played an important role in that little thing that we call the Boston Tea Party.

This is Siemens ACS-64 #603 at South Station. We would get number 603 on the way back to NYC, too.

This trip marked my first time seeing the MBTA, so here's the logo.

This is the vestibule area of a passenger car.

As these photos are going in reverse order, this is ACS-64 603 going around a curve near South

Station.

This is an EMD GP38H-3, used by Amtrak in work service. It was originally converted from Toronto commuter service classified as the GP40TC. (General Purpose 4000 Horsepower Toronto Commuter)

Amtrak eventually bought these GP40s with Head-end Power from GO Transit in the late -90's. They wound up being used all over the system, from Boston to Canada, from California to Denver, and just basically everywhere.

This is a church at New London station.

This is the New Haven Union Station signboard.

The New Haven-Springfield shuttle was sitting in the station with one or two Amfleet cars. This is locomotive #111 at NH Station.

This is the head of the said locomotive.

This is AEM-7 9?0 in the NH yards.

This is an Amtrak MP15DC in the shed. Caltrain has a couple of these, too, which I caught during summer 2015.

This is a Waterbury-bound shuttle somewhere, maybe Bridgeport.

This is the video of the train with Brookville BL20GH.

This is an Acela passing our Northeast Regional train at one of the stations. Stamford, maybe.

OK, here we are at the Penn Station waiting room in NYC. We had to share it with the pigeons.

This is an LIRR M3 service passing us bound for Penn Station.

This is a Northeast Regional service passing us on the flyover, with an ASEA AEM-7 en point, which are slowly being phased out.

Now we're at the New York MTA Transportation museum, which is a favorite of mine. The caption for this picture? Alas, never more.

This is a subway bound for 149th street.

This is the interior of the subway car.

The museum kept some modern stuff around, too, like this A train R44.

This is a battery-electric steeplecab locomotive at the end section of the museum.

This is a GE battery-electric encab switcher.

This is the interior of the R44, which really doesn't look much different than any other train car.

This is the logo, which isn't used anymore on MTA trains.

This is a train bound for 149th street, in the Bronx. Just kidding, it isn't moving anytime soon.

This is a former LIRR caboose #60.

This is a coach from the really old times that was placed on a flatbed.

This is the interior of an old subway car with the wicker chairs.

This is the station in which the place was located, the former Court Street station.

This the subway car that is painted in the flashy blue and orange paint scheme.

These are two very old train cars that were used in the steam days.

"Miss Smart, school-teacher explains, 'G-U-M spells gum, and Wrigley's spells satisfaction. 5 times one equals 5 perfect sticks to the package. And Spearmint always stands at the head of its class.'"

Wow, Wrigley's ads sure have changed.

This is a very old map, back in the day when there were still routes named "QB""SS""QJ" and the like.

This is the Train of Many Colors doing service on the 7 line, my favorite.

This is the interior of the Train of Many Colors.

Hmm...Mets-Willets Point used to have the suffix "Corona?" Learn something new every day!

This appears to be a gasoline inspection train on the "El" above the streets of NYC.

This is another part of the Train of Many Colors.

Back when smoking could be against the law...

The 7 line sure hasn't changed!

No AC? Just fans? Oh, the horror! The horror!

This is an example of what the old subways looked like when steam was still used to transport people to and from the city and all that.

This is the GG train with an R1 type subway car.

This is a line 5 local bound for Flatbush avenue.

This is a semaphore signal that was used back in the day.

This is a video of the newest 7 line carriage: the Kawasaki R188.

I think this might be a 5 line train, or just our 7 train leaving the station.

This is a 6 express with an "old" subway car, which I was pleased to see.

Now it's time to head on to the Danbury Railroad Museum in Danbury, CT. This is a MOW train that was sitting on a siding on the trip back to NYC.

These are some blue ballast cars that were sitting along our track.

This is our Kawasaki M8 arriving at South Norwalk station, bound for Grand Central station.

This is a New Haven bound M8.

This is the M8 arriving at the station.

And this is a Boston-bound Northeast Regional service passing by the station, where Amtrak trains don't stop.

So, as we are going in reverse chronological order,this is our cab car from Danbury with a disturbing amount of greenery next to the bumper block.

This is cab car 6107, which, coincidentally, was the same number that we had on the way to Danbury.

This is some of the scenery that was along the Danbury Branch.

This is the long-awaited arrival of our So. No. train, with the cab car 6107.

The layout of Danbury station had a side platform and an island platform, which means that the platform on the other side would technically be "Platform 1 1/2."

On this platform was a lot of MOW equipment, such as ballast regulator KBR 850.

This is the other side of the ballast regulator on the station.

This is the full view of KBR 850, with all the equipment folded up.

This is another piece of MOW equipment. Unidentifiable.

Judging by what this looks like a ballast tamper, which is an appliance that reaches down underneath the rails and jiggles the ballast around. I got to see one on the Caltrain mainline a while back, and a workmen told my dad and I about the MOW equipment.

This is a contact shoe used for third-rail operation into Grand Central. It came from a New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad EMD FL9, which were used as recently as 2009 on MTA.

This is a Solari board displaying the 5:04 PM Danbury branch service.

This is GE P32ac-dm that can operate on diesel and third-rail service.

This is Comet III cab car that was hanging around the loop track where the trainsets were stored when they were not being used.

This is Sperry Rail Service ~~USPS Truck~~ I mean, Union Pacific inspection truck.

This is the interior to one of the many cabeese that were stored at the museum. I think that this one belonged to Canadian National.

This is a former railroad crane with flatbed.

This is that caboose with the flatbed.

This is the crane that I was talking about.

STOP ON RED SIGNAL

You heard the sign, do it!

This is an old caboose that was undergoing restoration, which we got to see the inside of.

This is former New York Central #4096, an EMD E9-A that I got to see the inside of.

This is an old baggage car taken from the cab of E9-A.

This is a loose derail on the ballast. Derails are used to derail any freight cars that feel that they need to take a little run without a locomotive.

This is an RPO dog inside the post office car.

This is the full view of the RPO car.

This is a view of a yellow caboose coupled up to a boxcar.

This is the E9 and an ex-LIRR ALCO FA locomotive that was used on LIRR.

This is that caboose that I talked about.

Due to the strict Canadian laws on ditch lights, even this caboose was given ditch lights, which are those white lights on the lower part.

This is a small cab-less speeder, which was placed next to the other piece of MOW equipment, the Sperry Rail Service doodlebug.

Speaking of that train...

This is a pair of former Metro-North ACMUs.

This is the cab end of the ACMU.

Air Conditioned Multiple Unit.

This is Metro-North's New York Central painted FL9, #2013.

This is the museum's tourist train, which runs around the yard while being pulled by a GE 44-tonner locomotive.

This was taken outside of one of the cabeese that we could go into the cupola of. Is that a Budd RDC that I spot there?

This is what appears to be an old EMU train that could use a lot of front paint.

This is CDOT 605 ALCO RS-3m that happened to be eye candy around the yard.

This is another caboose.

This is the cab of the ACMUs.

This is the cab of Sperry 135 doodlebug.

This the rear view of FL9 2013 and the ACMUs.

Here are the controls of the doodlebug.

This is the cab of doodlebug 135.

This is a derelict RDC and a boxcar,with FL9 2006.

The FL9s had two wheels on the front of the train, and three on the back. Fairly rare for a train.

This is a wooden boxcar like the type that the Boxcar Children lived in.

This is a picture of a turquoise bogie, either off of a freight car or a passenger car.

The Danbury museum has a couple of steamers, one of which had the cab open. This is the boiler/firebox with the open door. This is where the fireman would be, shovelling coal.

This is the steamer that I was talking about, with some foreground clutter...yeah, those people were rude to me.

I have no idea what this is.

This is a turquoise caboose in the center track.

Aww...made out of former locomotive guts.

Did I mention that we had come during the railroad days? Well, we did. This is New Haven ALCO RS-1 pulling a load of tanker cars.

This is the locomotive.

This is Metro-North P32ac-dm on the siding track.

This is the E-9 4096, taken from the window of the little ride that we were on.

This is the side of the LIRR FA.

Notice the faded "M" markings.

And all that rusty paintwork.

These are the stripes of the CN MLW locomotive.

It is number 678.

This is decrepit ALCO RS-11 number 7682.

This was the star of the show: this little blue switcher.

This gutted centercab was out there on a track, too.

Unfortunately, the train "broke down" and we couldn't get a ride on the turntable. Anyway, this is the 20th Century Limited's private car, where the term "red carpet" originated.

This is the rear end of our train, and RDC. I might've ridden in it, I don't remember.

These look like ALCO locomotive bogies that were set out on display.

This is the RS-1.

Back to New York! Time for more rare and unusual stuff that I've never seen...

This is the geometry train inspecting the 7 line. I was overjoyed to see it.

Back to Boston. This is a ladybug on the wall of somewhere.

This is a dinosaur outside of the museum, which was having a dinosaur exhibit.

So you know how at the beginning I mentioned that we were doing all the touristy things? Well, we did the duck tour for the first time. Anyway, this is "Annie Aquarium" at the main terminus.

This is the "Copley Squire" at the station, too.

The duck tour took us into the water, and the road approaching the Charles River paralleled the MBTA line going into North Station. This is F40PH #?003 going onto the bridge.

This is a GP40 on the bridge.

This is a boat we passed while out on the River.

Here's another boat.

And some Canadian Geese enjoying the little Jacuzzi caused by the wake of the boat.

This is the Museum of Science, which had an awesome kinetic sculpture.

This is a patriotic boat along the river.

One of the treats of going on the duck tours is that for a little bit, you get to drive the duck. Anyway, I took up the offer, and this was taken from the cab of the boat.