Tag Archives: #E60

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972—Why Rye?

In the 1970s and early 1980s, my brother and I would routinely travel on Amtrak from Springfield or Hartford (with a change at New Haven ) to Rye, New York.

Why Rye?

To the average passenger, Rye was a fairly ordinary suburban station on the former New Haven Railroad electrified mainline. For my brother and I, it was the designated station for my grandparents to collect us for the short drive to their Co-op City apartment in The Bronx.

I didn’t know it at the time, but Rye was also a residence of Roger Lewis, Amtrak’s first president.

Upon alighting from an Amfleet coach on the westbound platform, we met my grandfather who was waiting for us. He understood my desire to rush up to the head-end to make a photo of the train before we headed away.

I made this view of our engineer at the throttle of E60 972 as he was looking back waiting for the signal from the conductor to depart Rye for New York’s Pennsylvania Station.

Exposed on Kodak 5063 (Tri-X) film using a 1930s-vintage Leica 3A rangefinder. Processed in Kodak Microdol-X in my mother’s sink.

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Amtrak E60 603—Then and Now.

I am in the process of preparing a book about Amtrak’s rolling stock.

Over the last few weeks I’ve poured over hundreds of color slides exposed from the 1970s until the mid 2010s.

Among them was this view of Amtrak GE-built E60 number 603 leading a New York City bound long distance train on the North East Corridor at Linden, New Jersey on August 1, 1986. I exposed this on Kodachrome using a Leica 3A attached to a Visoflex with Leitz 200mm Telyt telephoto lens.

This locomotive is significant because it was preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, just a few miles from where Kris and I live. We drive by it all the time.

The other evening we paused outside the museum, and I exposed a few digital photos of the old electric using my Nikon Z6.

Amtrak E60 number 603 at Linden, New Jersey on August 1, 1986.
Amtrak 603 catches the evening light at Strasburg, Pa.

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