Vacation, 2012, Day Two, Part Two, Tuesday, Still AM

After my visit to Harrison Station, I took PATH to Exchange Place. First research found this a good place to fview the Hudson Bergen Light Rail. Further reasarch found this a tourist visit in itselp, with a good view of the skyline of NYC.

First the Light Rail:

Next some pictures, taken in the area, beginning with the public space. Note that public space is not always private in ownership but public in use:

Those who have followed this, know that I love skylines. NYC is the model. When I use to think of the term skyline I would think NYC. As time has set it, there are many, in almost every developing city. Here is the NYC skyline. The tall building is 1 World Trade Center, the new jewel of the skyline. I remember the twin towers, this has a bit more style. There is one showing the iconic Empire State Building.

Vacation, 2012, Day Two, Part 1, Tuesday AM

First full day of vacation and railfanning around Manhattan. First real day was spent in travel via Amtrak 92. First stop, scheduled to begin at Harrison PATH station. PATH announces that there will be no photography on PATH property. I looked for better location and chose The parking deck next to the PATH Station at Harrison. I found this a while back, by looking at Google street view. These videos taken from the third floor.

I am not so much interested in subways. They are a state of if there, take, Don't seek them out. That is the way with PATH trains. I combine several trains into this video:

My main interest in this visit was the New Jersey Commuter Rail. Later I will see the two area Light Rails. These link the video of this viewing session.

NJT 3828, Eastbound,4634 pushing,Harrison PATH Station, July 10,2012
NJT 3928, Silverliner,Harrison PATH Station, July 10,2010
NJT 2306 Westbound, Acella 2151, Southbound, Harrison PATH Station, July 10, 2020

NJT 3506 Eastbound, 4213 Pushing,Harrison PATH Station, July 10, 2012
NJT 2308 Eastbound, 4643 Leading,Harrison PATH Station, July 10, 2012
NJT 3227 Westbound, 4611 Leading,Harrison PATH Station, July 10, 2012
NJT 3915 Westbound, 4001 Leading,Harrison PATH Station, July 10, 2012
NJT 3830 Eastbound, Silverliner,Harrison PATH Station, July 10, 2012
Accela 2151, southbound, 2036 leading, PATH Station, July 10, 2012
NJT 3917 Westbound, 4601 Leading,Harrison PATH Station, July 10, 2012

There is a lot of action at this site. For watching and filming, My location was good for eastbound but not so much of westbound. My watching was limited to 30 to 40 minutes. Still very worth the stop. A lot more for this day, but I will let it come, another day.

(to be continued)

Closer

Planning a watching trip will vary a little. Local trips or around home, I will play it by ear. In Hamlet, I normally take one to two hours of watching. However, if I run into another fan, It might run into more. As I look at this out of town trip, the time at each location depends on traffic. Take my stop at Harrison PATH station. I have allowed one hour. 20 PATH will be in the offering and 15 NJT commuter trains. In addition, there are a couple of Amtraks. One hour sounds good. However, I might get tired after 20 minutes of watching or get so involved that I might take longer.

It Appoaches

My last trip, to Boston, was relative simple for both planning and execution. No hotels were involved as my travel was overnight. Locating a hotel withing walking distance or on transit lines, can make such trip hard and expensive. My trip to Newark, NJ and than to watch is a matter of where to spend the night. The only hotels near train stations are expensive. When you get to the less expensive hotels they are either on the highway far from transportation or they are the no tell motel variety. They can be in dangerous neighborhoods or not very good accommodations. So, choosing a hotel that is reasonable but convenient to trains, becomes difficult. That is if you are arriving by train or plane.

Thank goodness for the internet. We have reviews of hotel and other things online. They have to taken with a grain of salt, however. The review may come from a year or two ago and does not reflect a remodel, a change in staff, or change in community. Than there is personal bias. I might not like that northern BBQ being raised on eastern NC BBQ. I won't even go near western NC BBQ, for instance. Than there is one bad experience among all the very good ones. If something is bad, I complain, right. If it is satisfactory or better, I generally will not mention it. True for most people but I generally will compliment (I also tease and joke a lot, but that another story).

I keep revising the itinerary. These changes are to make things more compact or more interesting or more reasonable. My current plan is to see New Jersey commuter rail, three light rail lines, Long Island and Staten Island railroads, and two air trains. This will be done in two days, separated by a visit to my sister's. Both to plan and to have notes to follow, I have laid out the trip in detail. I will take full schedules for watching, because this is only a guide.

For instance, I set aside an hour watching at Harrison PATH station in Newark,NJ. In that hour there would be 20 PATH trains, 14 New Jersey Transit commuter trains, 2 Amtrak Acellas, and 1 Northeast Regional. However, I might get tired or frustrated of so many trains that I might reduce that stay to 30 or 40 minutes. Having the full schedule of that and future watching, will make it easier to adjust. Than, again, I might be running late or want more time watching a particular service.

A Daytrip

I was reading the internet and found that Southern 630 (a steam locomotive) was running out of Spenser, NC. I couldn't go when it was running but did a day early in hope the engine would be in the Museum, and guess what? There it was.

While there, I toured the museum again and took a ride on their excursion train lead by Southern 6133.

More Train Chase

The Great American Train Chase began as a desire to take as many Amtrak trains as possible in a two week period. This "game" was first developed in 1979. If public, it would highlight the coverage of Amtrak at that early part of Amtrak's history.

This segment started rail fanning the Northeast Corridor. I tried to get as much Amtrak, commuter rail, light rail, and trolley as possible in as short time as possible. I than broke this down into a series of out and back trips. I started with the closer trip to Washington, DC. When I got the Boston trip planned, I realized that Washington would be done, during this trip.

I decided to do this trip, first. I am familiar with Boston and DC. My parents live for a number of years in Arlington and Alexandria. My sister lived in Falls Church. Besides I did sales trips to Northern Virginia. I live a year in Boston and went to visit two years ago. This was an ideal first trip, in this series.

My next trip will not be a out and back. I want to  visit with my sister in MN. I want to see the Sky Trains in Newark, NJ and at JFK. It would be nice to take the train to Newark, NJ. I worked out the trip a number of ways. One day would focus on the three light rails in New Jersey and the New Jersey Transit. Bonus would be PATH.

I worked it out to see the NJ side of Manhattan. Than I would fly out to MN the next day. I would, than, fly back and do a final day of watching. This would include JFK and Newark Airport Sky Train as well as Long Island RR and Staten Island Railroad.

The Great American Train Chase, Part Ten

My thoughts of the nature of permissions for taking pictures, come from a few articale and videos. Most recently is:  http://youtu.be/yE5RQRLX6RM. Awhile ago there is the video of a man detained in Maryland for photography of light rail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iMr76atjUA. The Maryland transit has on their website, the statement concerning photography. The police did overstep, in this case.

My experience makes me sorry for the police and railroad employees who have confronted me. I talked about being Washington and interviewed by police. I got the opinion that they were more bothered by having to confront me, due to procedure. Three times they apologized, saying that it what they had to due. They did not even ask me to stop, provided the camera was hand held.

The sensitive railroad employee and the normal police have multiple motivations for confronting railfans. If they are not railfans, it is a curiosity, why would anyone have fun watching and taking picture of trains? Many are interested in maintaining safety. I have seen and heard of railfans getting hurt or killed by stupid stunts, while railfanning. On a steam train ride, I observed a chaser, chasing the train at 45 miles per hour, in reverse. I have a friend who has video of a driver crawling out on his window to take a picture across the top of the car. He was how he was steering is still a mystery.

They need to maintain security of the property, as well. Since 9/11, we have new issues. As a railfan, we need to be sensitive, ourselves. Stay, where possible, on public property. Ask permission, when able, and be polite. Remember, unless it is a special run or unusual paint, it really isn't worth the hassle. Besides, most employees of the railroad are sensitive to our hobby. They may not understand. What is work to them is something interesting to us.

I have heard chatter on the radio, about me and other fans. They joke about us. And some give a show.