Bus Photo of the Month: July 2016

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Neoplan AN460 3112

Neoplan AN460 3112

Location: Fifth Avenue at University Place, Pittsburgh, PA
Operator of Vehicle: Port Authority of Allegheny County
Date of Photo: November 27, 2015

Over the years, Pittsburgh’s buses have had varied liveries.  For example, in the current fleet, you can find buses painted green, red, dark blue, light blue, silver, and gold.  However, the Neoplan AN460s in the Port Authority of Allegheny County fleet have an added touch to them, featuring Burma Shave style poetry.  For example, this bus says “This big shiny bus / Is really no riddle / But it sure is odd / How it bends in the middle.”  If you are used to a standard livery being used across an entire fleet, it is quite fascinating to stand on a Pittsburgh street corner and see what color the next bus to come along is.  The poetry wraps on the buses that have it is certainly an added bonus!

For more photos of PAT buses, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: July 2016

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CLRV 4016

TTC CLRV 4016

Location: Spadina Avenue at King Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Operator of Vehicle: Toronto Transit Commission
Date of Photo: March 11, 2007

Seeing as today is Canada Day, it seemed appropriate to select a Canadian photo to be the rail photo of the month for July.  The Toronto streetcar network is the largest streetcar network in North and South America in terms of track miles, fleet size, and ridership.  Like in many European cities, the streetcars are the primary surface transit in the city center.  However, unlike many other North American cities, proposals to eliminate the streetcar network in the 1960s did not gain traction.  A few lines were abandoned, but beginning in 1989, the TTC began to introduce new routes once again.  The Toronto streetcar’s 21st century revival is the renewal of rolling stock, as the aging CLRV and ALRV are being replaced by modern Bombardier Flexity Outlook trams, similar to those in many European cities.

For more photos of Toronto’s streetcars, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: June 2016

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Thalys PBKA Trainset 4301

Thalys PBKA Trainset 4301

Location: Gare du Nord, Paris, France
Operator of Vehicle: THI Factory
Date of Photo: June 12, 2008

Happy 20th birthday to Thalys!  Thalys was initially established as a joint venture between SNCF, NMBS/SNCB, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and Deutsche Bahn.  Service began on June 2, 1996, the inaugural train operated from Paris to Amsterdam via Belgium.  Today, Thalys is one of several international rail services provided through a joint venture of several different national railroads that help to make the European high speed train network as far reaching and comprehensive as it is today.  Here’s to the next 20 years!

For more photos of Thalys, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: June 2016

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MAN 12.240 531

MAN 12.240 531

Location: Cabo de Roca, Portugal
Operator of Vehicle: Scotturb
Date of Photo: November 18, 2013

When most transit enthusiasts think of Portugal, the first thing that comes to mind is likely the famous “Remodelado” trams in Lisbon.  However, transit fans who enjoy traveling to “extremes” should consider heading out to Sintra.  Not only is Sintra a popular destination for a day trip from Lisbon easily accessible by the Lisbon’s commuter rail system, you can take Scotturb route 403 out to Cabo de Roca, which is continental Europe’s westernmost point.  Many come out to this vista to watch the sun set in to the Atlantic Ocean, an unusual sight for people who live in North or South America.  Seeing as Cabo de Roca is the westernmost point in continental Europe, the 403 stop at Cabo de Roca, less than 1000 feet from the ocean itself, is Europe’s westernmost bus stop.  If neither the thought of seeing the sun set in to the Atlantic nor using the westernmost bus stop in all of Europe interests you as things to do if you ever find yourself in Portugal, you’re missing out.

For more photos of Scotturb buses, please click here.

Oren’s Reading List: When Building a Subway in Rome…

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CAF MA100 Stock RA-357.0 at Manzoni, May 2, 2008

When the first two lines of the Rome Metro were constructed in the 1950s and 1980s, there were many delays in finishing the project.  As Rome is one of the oldest cities in the world, each time an archeological discovery was made during construction, experts were called in to evaluate whether the uncovered items needed to be preserved before construction could proceed.  The Rome Metro isn’t by any means the only transit system that has faced this sort of issue.  The Jerusalem Light Rail construction was delayed several times by archeological finds.  And construction of Mexico City’s subway has turned up many archeological findings from the Aztec empire.

When Rome began planning construction on its third Metro line, it was announced that the line would be constructed deep enough to avoid possible archeological findings, and only that at stations might where connections would need to be made between the station platforms and street level might there be issues.  Well lo and behold, in constructing the Amba Aradam station, crews came across barracks dating to the second century.  The barracks cover an area of 9600 square feet and include 39 rooms, complete with mosaics and frescoes on the walls and floors.  How long do you think it will be before they unearth something else?

Rome Metro Line C is scheduled to open in 2020.  You can see photos of the barracks and other findings at the Amba Aradam station site by clicking here.

Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.

Amtrak to Operate AEM-7 Farewell Excursion

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AEM-7 952 enters the New Carrollton, MD station on July 6, 2007

After 37 years of service, Amtrak is retiring its AEM-7 electric locomotives.  Since 2014, the railroad has been accepting delivery of its new ACS-64 “Cities Sprinter” locomotives, which are being built by Siemens.  As the ACS-64s have come on line, Amtrak has been removing the HHP-8 and AEM-7 locomotives from service.  On June 18, Amtrak will send off these workhouses of the Northeast Corridor with a special excursion trip.  The fantrip will leave from Washington’s Union Station at 9:10 AM and operate to Philadelphia and back.  A planned run-by photo opportunity and tour of the Wilmington shops are included, as is lunch.  The train returns to Washington at 5:40 PM.

If you wish to participate in this special excursion, you can purchase tickets directly from Amtrak.  If you wish to see my collection of AEM-7 photographs, you may click here.

Happy (belated) birthday to Amtrak!

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Acela Express Power Car 2027 at New Haven-Union Station, March 31, 2013. The Acela Express is Amtrak’s premium service in the Northeast Corridor (Washington-New York-Boston) and is North America’s fastest passenger train, operating at speeds of up to 150 MPH.

Amtrak celebrated its 45th birthday yesterday, having been established on May 1, 1971 when it took over the passenger train operations of privately owned railroads that were still offering passenger service at the time.  Amtrak was not expected to last more than a few years at its creation, as intercity passenger train service was increasingly seen as not being viable in the years leading up to Amtrak’s creation.  However, despite all the difficulties that have been overcome and those that still exist (including the fact that Amtrak does not own most of the track on which its trains operate), Amtrak is still chugging along.  It operates North America’s fastest passenger train in the Northeast Corridor, other heavily used corridor services in Chicago, California, and the Pacific Northwest, and cross country services that provide a truly unique travel experience.

Writing about some of my long distance Amtrak trips is very much on my “Travelogue To Do List” and there are lots of reasons to consider traveling by train whether you’re just going from Washington to Philadelphia or if you’re going from California to New York.  I’ve enjoyed my Amtrak experiences to date, and look forward to what the future will bring.  All aboard for Amtrak’s 46th year!

To see all the Amtrak related photos on this website, click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: May 2016

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Nippon Sharyo P2020 156

Nippon Sharyo P2020 156

Location: Expo/Western Station, Los Angeles, CA
Operator of Vehicle: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA)
Date of Photo: July 14, 2014

Despite having a reputation for having a less than stellar public transit system, the Los Angeles Metro has been expanding quite a bit recently.  In March, the Gold Line was extended from Pasadena to Azsua, and later this month, on May 20th, the Expo Line will be extended from Culver City to Santa Monica, terminating just short of the famed Santa Monica Pier.  There are aspirations to extend the Gold Line even further to Montclair in San Bernardino County in the future.  In the nearer term, projects such as the Regional Connector will allow through routing of Blue, Expo, and Gold Line trains, which is not possible at this time.  Once that project is complete, an Expo Line train like the one featured here, could operate from Azusa and Pasadena across downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica, currently a three seat ride.

For more photos of the Expo, Blue, and Gold lines in Los Angeles, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: May 2016

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Orion V 5622

Orion V 5622

Location: Little Falls Parkway and Dorset Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Ride On (Montgomery County Transit)
Date of Photo: June 11, 2014

Ride On is the county owned and operated bus system in Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC.  It’s hard to believe, but about 15 years ago, the fleet only had a handful of 40 foot buses.  Nowadays, 40 footers dominate.  While the first order of 30 foot buses in a number of years was made in 2014, no new 35 foot buses have been ordered in about 10 years.  As a result, as the 2016 Gillig Phantoms arrive on the property, the Orion Vs, like the one pictured here, will be retired, leaving no diesel 35 footers in the Ride On fleet and even fewer buses remaining in the “traditional” blue and white scheme.  In addition, the arrival of the new Gilligs will mark the retirement of Ride On’s last high floor buses, as Ride On’s fleet will be entirely low floor.

Photos of the new Gilligs, which also feature a new unit numbering scheme, will be plentiful in the months and years to come, so enjoy this oldie but goodie while you can!

For more photos of the Ride On 35 foot Orion Vs, please click here.

Oren’s Reading List: NYC Subway Math

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Ever wonder what the optimal strategy for waiting for a subway train in New York is? Using real time data made available to the public through the MTA’s Google Transit Feed, Erik Bernhardsson attempted to answer that question.  If you’re interested in math, statistics, or just managing to arrive at the subway station as your train does, this is worth a read.  At this time, the MTA only collects this data on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, L, Grand Central-Times Square Shuttle, and the Staten Island Railway, but I’d imagine the results for the other lines would be similar once that data is available.  Are you surprised by any of the the graphs and data results?

Update:  This accidentally got posted without the link to the article, you can find the article here.

Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.