While riding my trusty #7 NYC subway train to a client this morning, I encountered a very unusual consist on the NEC. Just prior to the #7 Hunterspoint stop, the subway parallels the NEC briefly as it enters the East River tunnels.
Sitting on one of the two yard exit tracks, waiting for the highball into the Line #2 tunnel, was an NJT ALP-46. That alone I wouldn’t have considered odd at all, since many NJT trains run through the Sunnyside yard. This engine however was pulling just one car and it wasn’t even an NJT car. Instead it was an Amtrak car and a Viewliner sleeper at that.
Even though it would be strange to enlist a NJT motor to move a single Amtrak car, my first thought was maybe a sleeper had been bad ordered on the Silver Star, since it was about 10:45 when I saw this strange consist. However, I quickly dismissed that thought as I had just seen the Silver Star consist still sitting in the main Sunnyside yard on track #5 only 2 minutes prior when my subway had passed over the yard. So there would be no need to send a replacement Viewliner into Penn for a train that was still in the yard.
I also don’t believe that this was a simple switching maneuver, as this train was well past the yard limits and sitting at a signal that is controlled by PSCC and not Sunnyside’s Q tower.
So I don’t know what this oddball move was all about, but it was interesting seeing a Viewliner sleeper coupled to an ALP-46.
Sitting on one of the two yard exit tracks, waiting for the highball into the Line #2 tunnel, was an NJT ALP-46. That alone I wouldn’t have considered odd at all, since many NJT trains run through the Sunnyside yard. This engine however was pulling just one car and it wasn’t even an NJT car. Instead it was an Amtrak car and a Viewliner sleeper at that.
Even though it would be strange to enlist a NJT motor to move a single Amtrak car, my first thought was maybe a sleeper had been bad ordered on the Silver Star, since it was about 10:45 when I saw this strange consist. However, I quickly dismissed that thought as I had just seen the Silver Star consist still sitting in the main Sunnyside yard on track #5 only 2 minutes prior when my subway had passed over the yard. So there would be no need to send a replacement Viewliner into Penn for a train that was still in the yard.
I also don’t believe that this was a simple switching maneuver, as this train was well past the yard limits and sitting at a signal that is controlled by PSCC and not Sunnyside’s Q tower.
So I don’t know what this oddball move was all about, but it was interesting seeing a Viewliner sleeper coupled to an ALP-46.
(I don't like the ALP-46's for the record, they're a tad bit on the ugly side to me.)
