EDIT: Wednesday-before Thanksgiving 2015 @ Princeton Junction: • Amtrak & NJT HD 60fps ...
Welcome to the main event of my Thanksgiving Day 2014 railfan trip: 8 friggin' hours at Metropark (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) on the Northeast Corridor, which I argue is one of the best stations on the NEC to railfan at if you want a balance of speed (90 mph on the express tracks) and stopping services (basically because you're almost NEVER hassled by anyone there for photographing or recording). I mean, I was there for an entire work day and was not bothered once. The surrounding geography also makes for great horn action and doppler effect.
My main focus on that day while I was there was to capture all of Amtrak's stopping services (which I did) and at least most of its passing services (of which I only missed 2; an Acela, which I was in the mezzanine for, and a westbound Keystone being powered by ACS-64 602, which my iPhone 6 glitched for and refused to initiate a recording. I was pissed about that one.) There are several clips of NJT trains, but they are not my main focus. All clips were shot with my new Apple iPhone 6. More information in the table of contents. Enjoy =)
Table of Contents (with timestamps):
1. NJT train 7825 (which brought me to Metro) departs with 4636 shoving while train 7818 stops at the other platform with a set of Arrow IIIs.
2. ACS-64 605 comes through with 162 (8 cars) - 2:23
3. Acela Express 2240 - 4:55
4. Acela Express 2205 w/ good horn action - 6:26
5. AEM-7AC 924 powers 155 (8 cars) - 8:56
6. Keystone train 663 crawls through between NJT trains and on the tail of 155. Power is AEM-7AC 948 - 11:16
7. ACS-64 618 pulls in with train 1139 (9 cars). I can't get a good clip of the train leaving since NJT cock blocks me with a NYP bound train - 14:04
8. ALP-46A 4664 pulls in with a Trenton bound local (10 multilevels) - 17:05
9. ACS-64 613 arrives with Vermonteer train 54 - 18:48
10. Acela Express 2242 and Northeast Regional train 1143 vie for attention. AEM-7AC 939 powers 1143 (10 cars) - 19:44
11. Keystone 660 shoves through behind 2242 just as 1143 departs. Power is AEM-7AC 905 - 22:44
12. Acela Express 2241 - 23:45
13. Train 152 pulls in on track 1 (hot on the heals of a departing NJT train) with AEM-7DCs 931 & 915 leading (9 cars) - 25:50
14. Acela Express 2250 arrives with trailing power car 2019's door wide open lol - 28:05
15. ACS-64 620 flies by with the westbound Pennsylvanian (7 cars) and a very friendly engineer. Lots of horn - 29:18
16. Keystone 662 rides up the ass of 2250 as she departs. Shoving is ACS-64 602 - 29:44
17. AEM-7AC 941 flies through with train 91 (11 cars) as an NJT local approaches - 30:52
18. AEM-7AC 919 arrives with 195 (9 cars) - 33:21
19. Acela Express 2243 - 36:02
20. AEM-7ACs 918 & 928 lead train 164 (9 cars) - 38:16
21. Acela Express 2208 - 41:01
22. Keystone 664 rolls on through behind 2208. Cab car 9640 seems to be experiencing a truck anomaly. Power is AEM-7AC 904 - 43:12
23. Acela Express 2251 - 44:20
24. NJT Arrow III deadhead rolls through - 46:38
25. Train 1171 pulls in with AEM-7AC 936 and 9 cars - 47:22
26. ACS-64 617 arrives with train 82 (9 cars) as an Arrow III set pulls in to block the shot - 49:18
27. An NJT local arrives with ALP-46 4606 on point - 51:10
28. ACS-64 621 arrives towing 11 cars (including an extra business class car on the rear) on train 99 with an NJT local following directly behind - 53:01
29. AEM-7AC 916 leads train 88 with 8 cars - 56:50
30. NJT local with Arrow III set - 59:30
31. Acela Express 2212 - 1:01:05
32. Keystone 666 eats the approach medium signal that 2212 leaves in its wake. Power is AEM-7AC 921 - 1:03:58
33. ACS-64 609 leads 151 with 9 cars - 1:05:20
34. ACS-64 611 crawls through with train 19 (9 cars) due to a slow order between Metropark and Metuchen stemming from a non-RR related incident - 1:06:14
35. ACS-64 hauls 1140 through with 9 cars - 1:07:38
36. AEM-7DC 909 comes through with train 71 (8 cars) - 1:10:48
37. The engineer of Keystone 667 gives me a shave (but no haircut) from Metroliner Cab Car 9640, which no longer appears to be experiencing truck problems. Power is, once again, 904 - 1:13:26
38. ACS-64 607 arrives with 194 (9 cars) as an unknown AEM-7AC flies past with train 97 - 1:14:58
39. ACS-64 620 returns north with the eastbound Pennsylvanian (7 cars) - 1:19:44
40. ACS-64 614 arrives with train 163 (10 cars). 614 appears to be suffering from a blended brake cutout, as the disk brakes on the locomotive are emitting more noise than they would during a usual stop - 1:20:18
41. To end the day at Metropark, AEM-7AC 927 leads 156 into the station (9 cars; 1:24:06). This is the train that will take me into NYP. To watch that video, go here: • Amtrak HD: Riding Nort...