Well I finally after spending all day editing my paper for the State of the Rockies project got the motivation to make a small Website Update from the large unreleased archive, It’s two more Amtrak Stations that I visited from last summer, one brand new, one in the extreme shadows of more I hope you weren’t expecting more:

	Pittsburgh, PA(14 photos)
	Portland, ME(20 photos)

Here the rest of my train photos from the State of the Rockies Field Trip.
Harlowton, Montana (One of Milwaukee Road’s E57B electric locomotives is on display):

Coal Trains Enter and Leave after getting their fix of coal at the Black Thunder Coal Mine:

Some Coal Train Action in Western Nebraska, also went through Alliance and saw a huge Yard, couldn’t get any decent photos out the van window:

Well, as I’ve alluded too in previous posts, I’m currently in Colorado Springs writing a section on Infrastructure for the next State of the Rockies Report Card. As part of the research we went on a Nine-day Road Trip to do various interviews on people in the Region. On the trip we put over 2,400 miles on a CC-van. A full itinerary is here (written by a colleague, not me)

One major highlight of the trip was a tour of the Jackson Hole Airport, on this tour I saw their brand new baggage screening area, that felt as big as the small terminal itself, this is where after you drop of your back it is sent by conveyer belts through the explosive screeners (directly interlined into the system), they automatically alert the TSA workers if something strange is spotted and then send to one of a couple (for this airport, I’m sure for other airports there many more), carousels that look basically the same as the ones you retrieve your baggage on where the bags are put into the carts to be driven out to the aircraft. Another funny cite that I found were four standard household looking refrigerators that were labeled Airline Catering Only, and had the various airlines names on them. Guess so they can re-stock the soft drinks. We also got to ride around the tarmac in an airport fire truck:

Monday June 14, 2010:
Well after having a nice 48 hours at Mohunk, it was time to take my trip home, back to Colorado Springs. I first had a nice final morning and Lunch at Mohunk, and immediately after left for the hour drive (42 mile) south down the Thruway to Harriman where I had discovered a Metro-North Railroad operated by New Jersey Transit (sounds as bad as the airlines express subsidiaries) train who’s timing was perfect for my flight. I got dropped off that the stations large parking lot and platform that’s only accessible by car at 2:00 and took far too many pictures doing a photo essay, and got lucky with a northbound trip to photograph just before my train came in. I bought my ticket and a price of only $12.75 (the website says it’s $18.50) I was told to pay, I figured that the $5.50 AirTrain fee wasn’t included. On Time at 2:32 my train came in led by a Metro-North Owed Comet V (even though it’s operated by NJ Transit and the digital sings inside the train cars say NJ Transit). The train made the remaining stops on the Port Jervis Line at Tuxedo, Sloatsburg, and Suffern, before picking up quite a bit of speed and running express, stopping at Ramsey-Route 17 and Ridgewood only before running non-stop through the Bergen County Line and arriving at Secaucus where I got off to transfer. I photographed my train leaving:

And then walked upstairs and onto the large mezzanine level where I went down to the NEC platforms to get my train to Newark, there was a train on one of the platforms that I thought might be the 3:32 Long Branch Train, but the signs weren’t communicating with me and the window’s destination sign said ‘New York’, guess it was never switched, luckily there was another train at 3:40 on the NEC line that stopped at the airport so I took that train of Arrow-III cars instead. As I was waiting I got this photo of an Acela rushing by a locomotive of a New York-bound train:

Then I was off to Newark Airport, standing for the short, two-stop ride arriving at the airport at 4:01, from here I descretely did a bit of a photo essay, There none of the concourse its self, there were two Port Authority Police Officers doing random bag checks, I luckily wasn’t checked. My ticket that the vending machine I thought undercharged me on was accepted by the fare gates (it retained it too) and I got my boarding pass for my 5:25 flight at a Continental Kiosk right in the Train Station, and decided to go for a little joyride on the far too slow airtrain monorail system, taking it out to P3 Station, before heading back to the stop to my terminal C, arriving at 4:35, feeling like I was being too overly cautious, thinking security wouldn’t take half-an-hour as soon as I went down the stairs from the Airtrain Station into the Terminal I realized I was wrong, and could barely leave the station because the security line stretched out of the line’s corrals. Then I started getting nervous and walked to a different line thinking that it might be better, it wasn’t so I got in line, asking a guard if the lines at Newark were always this bad (Flying out of LaGuardia even is never that long) and was told yes. The line went slowly and at 4:55 I got through (just 15 minutes before they could have given my seat a way), as I was picking up my bag from the X-ray scanner a TSA employee started asking me where I was going, I did tell him Denver, but was on the verge of saying I’m scared I’m going to miss my flight and don’t have time to chat, as I walked away I realized he was probably one of there behavior detection personal and I was quite happy I wasn’t rude to him. I rushed off to the gate as I heard the beginning boarding annoucements, quickly stopped at the bathroom and was than on my plane.
Some Take-off Photos:

Inflight I read for most of the flight and was quite happy to receive my only free for the next couple moths meal:

It was actually quite delicious, a Chicken Enchilada that actually had some taste and was even better once I added some of the hot sauce it came with. I was also given Fritos, Carrots, and a fun size Hershey’s Bar. I spent the meal thinking that the enchilada would be something I would actually pay for. We finally landed in DIA and got to the gate early and at 7:50 I was off the plane, I than realized I might have a shot to make the 8:00 shuttle to Colorado Springs (instead of plan B-the 11:40pm Greyhound bus that would have gotten me to COS at 1:20am), I called the company was told they would wait until 8:10, rushed from Continentals annoyingly placed gates at the extreme end of the B Concourse almost got into a fight with someone who was blocking the entire escalator down to the required ’subway’ ride, and got landside and to the shuttle stop at 8:06, yes DIA is just that big! I paid the driver the overpriced $50 shuttle fee and got home at the reasonable hour of 9:30pm, having a very strange trip of connections, with me taking two commuter rail lines, an airport monorail, plane, and peoplemover-subway and never waiting more than 10 minutes in one spot (for any vehicle) except at the beginning of my trip in Harriman. Wow!
Total Trip time 10 and a half hours from Mohunk, 9 from Harriman.
Costs:
NJ Transit from Harriman to EWR – $12.75 to go about 50 miles, so only 25¢ per mile
The Flight – Continental Airlines Flight 229, 1605 miles for $150, so 9¢ per mile
The Colorado Springs Shuttle cost $55 (with tip) to go 83 miles, so 60¢ per mile (beets the Olympia Trailways bus and New Jersey Transit In from Newark, nice to put it in perspective)

Well what do these three stations have in common, not much, I just visited all of them on my weekend trip east to Mohonk, each of them is very different, ones a simple single platform with a large parking lot, one still has it’s historic New York Central Building, and the third is only a transfer station (No access to the street) access is only via train or the Airtrain Monorail
Here are the three stations:

	Poughkeeps (10 photos)
	Harriman (32 photos)
	Newark International Airport (12 photos)

Actual photos of the AirTrain Newark Monorail, (and the second half of my trip-the trip back home to Colorado), should be coming next!

The rediculous title of this post is of the rediculous number of modes of transit I took during this weekend trip, the only modes ridden twice and backtracking was the round-trip flights on Continental Airlines and the Denver Airport Subway. Well as soon as I had settled into Colorado I had to fly back east again to attend a family reunion at the Mohunk Mountain House.

June 11-12, 2010 Another Red Eye East & A Sleepy Hudson Line Ride Up to Poughkeepsie: I began leaving Friday after work (I’m doing research on infrastructure in the Rocky Mountain West for the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project) and walked downtown to Colorado & Cascade for the last FREX departure at 5:15, it arrived just a tiny bit late, and yet again wasn’t empty but not crowded enough to require a seat mate. The ride up to Denver in drizzle was uneventful except for the fact I noticed the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Baily Curcus Train parked on the siding in Colorado Springs right next to campus, I later found out it had been parked there all week, but I had some how not noticed enough to photograph it. It had been drizzeling all day but I had no worries about my flight being canceled. I got to Denver around 7 and decided to get off at the Civic Center just to be different, I debated wondering around the Denver Art Museum for an hour (its open until 10pm on Fridays but decided it wasn’t worth the $8 price of admission), unfortunately it was pouring, so I took the 16 Street Mallride into downtown and had dinner at a Japanese noodle shop, and decided there was so reason to be stuck in downtown Denver in the rain and got back on the free Mallride to Market Street Station for the SkyRide out to DIA. I check-in and unfortunately Continental has wised up and now charges non-elites for exit rows so I couldn’t do my usual maneuver with them. I then went through the one open security checkpoint at the southern end of the Jeppeson Terminal, along with lots of janitors that were on their way to work cleaning the concourses of DIA. None of them took there shoes off, I almost decided not too but that would be pressing my luck. I noticed lots of flights were late on the monitors because of the weather and had to first go to concourse A to photograph a Lufthansa A340 waiting to depart, now 4 and a half hours late:

Also Found This United B777, parked on the A concourse, it’s there because it’s an international arrival, and all international passengers must be handled through the A Gates:
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There lots of delays here’s the line for Frontier’s Customer Service:

I then went over to the B-concourse Contental now uses, they used to be much more conveniently located in A, but with there marrying up with United there now on a far away, extreme end of Concourse B. My flights the only one except for the other few red-eyes to the east on-time:

I went for a long walk an explored every nook and cranny of the large concourse, which was crowded with all the delay flights, not my usual feel of my late night departures from DIA. Unfortunately my arriving B737 was late too and finally arrived from Houston at 11:30pm, we were supposed to depart at 11:59pm, but at that point they had just begun boarding we finally departed at about 12:40am and I didn’t sleep all that well because of a crying baby behind me. It was a retrofitted Continental plane with 75 channels of Direct TV, that they wanted $6 for, I didn’t buy, but did thumb around enough to notice that it’s all the New York Local Channels for the networks (just like JetBlue and Frontier-although Denver would be more appropriate).
We finally arrived at our gate at Newark at 6:10, and I ran out to the front of Terminal C to see the 6:25 Olympia Trails bus pull-up, I got on and bought my ticket, we arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 6:55, I ran inside hoping I might have a shot at the 7:00am Adirondack Trailways Bus to New Pultz but had no chance because of the combined fact that I didn’t have a ticket and have only cached a bus in the Port Authority Bus Terminal once before and don’t know how to navigate it quickly. The line at the ticket window was long too, had I had a ticket I would probably have made it. With this missed connection it was time for plan B, the 7:47 Hudson Line train to Poughkeepsie. I had a nice walk through deserted time square across to Grand Central and got on my train nice and early settling into Shorliner #6152 aptly named Poughkeepsie.
Here was the track information board:

The ride was quite uneventful on this express, we made no stops after 125 Street until Croton-Harmon and than ALL stops to Poughkeepsie, including the hikers stops at Breakneck Ridge and Manitou. These stops require passengers to disembark at their low-level platforms from the rear cap car via the last door of the train. The train was in pull mode by our Genesis P32AC-DM (that I never witnessed). I spent most of the ride going between dozing and doing what else but staring out at the Hudson, that looked a lot wider now than ever since there no rivers as wide as it in Colorado. We arrived into Poughkeepsie about 4 minutes early at 9:32
My family picked me up and I was off to spend three days and two nights at the luxery resort of Mohunk.
Now the Cost Per Mile of Travel Breakdown:
FREX: 72 Miles at 15¢ per mile for $11
Mallride: 1 mile for Free
SkyRide Route AF: 26 miles for $9 (I bought a round-trip for $18, regular fare is $10), 35¢ per mile
DIA Subway: 1/3 of a mile for Free
Continental Airlines Flight 229, 1605 miles for $150, so 9¢ per mile
Olympia Trails Bus: 16 miles for $15, so 93¢ per mile
Metro-North: 74 miles for 14.50 so 19¢ per mile

Well the Flight won again this time, but FREX and Metro-North weren’t far behind,
I’ll type up the second half of this trip hopefully soon!

Well I got back to Colorado on Tuesday June 1 and realized I hadn’t written an update recapping my time visiting in New York and thought I should. Also wrote this awhile ago and realized I forgot to hit publish, hence the reason it’s a month late!

Tuesday, May 25: I decided it was high time I do a photo essay of 34 Street-Herald Square and see if I could figure that complex Station out (which happened), I took the A down, transferred to a B train at 34 Street and spent about an hour exploring within and outside of fare control the extremely complex station complex, after that I did a photo essay of 34 Street-Penn Station and 7 Avenue. On my way home I forgot to get off the 3 train and transfer to the 1 at 96 Street (If I remember correctly I was engrossed in an Amtrak timetable or maybe dozing, that’s an embarrassment) so I took the 3 train up to 148 Street-Lenox Terminal dashed up 145 Street and took that A home.
That evening I was off to a Mets game with my brother, before that we had dinner in Flushing at a nice noddle shop, and took the 7 train one long station back to Citi Field (wrote Shea Stadium without thinking about it) where I got a nice picture of the Willets Point-Mets Stop from the Harrods Club
Total Number of Swipes: 7

Wednesday, May 26: I started off doing a photo essay of 34 Street-8 Avenue, before walking through Penn Station, and getting a few more of 34 Street-7 Avenue, hopped on the uptown train up to Times Square transferred to the W train to finally finish up the Astoria Line. First a quick photo essay of 39 Av-Beebe Avenue, than went up to Broadway and did the walk beneath the elevated up to 30 Avenue, got back on an uptown train up to Astoria Blvd, hopped on an always crowded M60 bus across the TriBorough Bridge and hopped on the A train at 125 Street to get home.
Total Swipes (I don’t include the bus): 5

Thursday, May 27: I thought I was going to have some time going railfanning during the course of my day but I had managed to leave my battery plugged into my charger in the wall so nothing. Did swipe in 3 times as I was out and about

Friday, May 28: My last day of railfanning, a day with way too much to try and accomplish, I started off at the dentist and got on the 1 train at 168 Street, I took it to the IRT Chambers Street where I did a photo essay, before through the IND Chambers Street-Park Place Station (swiping in but not riding anywhere) to finish that photo essay, and than walked across to the the South Street seaport to buy theater tickets for me and my grandmother for that evening, when I got there I couldn’t believe how long the line was so I decided I would try the Brooklyn venue, walking up to Wall Street (2,3) and taking the train to Hoyt Street (now with one additional photo), and bought two tickets to West Side Story. Then it was time to really railfan, I took an F train to 4 Avenue, switched to an R train to 36 Street, to an N train to New Utrect Avenue-62 Street, did a full photo essay of that station (Finally!) before taking an N train running on the West End Line all the way through Manhattan to Queensboro Plaza to finally spend some quality time on the 7 train where I did a comprehensive station to station of almost every stop on that line beyond Queensboro Plaza (expect for 82 Street-Jackson Heights and 74 Street-Broadway).
After that it was time to meet my grandmother took the 7 back into Times Square, hopped on a 2/3 train to 96 Street did a quick photo essay of the new headhouse, met up with her, had dinner, hopped on the 1 train at 86 Street back down to 50 Street, througholy enjoyed West Side Story, took the 1 back up to 86 Street, walked her back to my aunts house, dashed across 88 Street, to hop on the A train there (it was late enough to be running local) at 86 Street (there’s an unstaffed entrance at 88 Street, that I always use on my way home from my aunts that’s right at the front, where I want to be for 181 Street) and went home
Total Number of Swipes: 17! – A great last real day for my Unlimited

Saturday, May 29 I didn’t use the subway but loaned by MetroCard to my mother who used it three times

Sunday & Monday, May 30 & 31: I never used the subway, what a waste

Tuesday, June 1st: My last day in New York. 1 transit ride. Getting to LaGuardia for my 8:30am Frontier Airlines Flight back to Denver: It started on the first trip of the M98, We (This trip to Colorado was with my mother) got on at the 187 Street Stop, took it for a quick express run down the FDR Drive before getting off at 125 Street and transferring to the M60 out to LaGuarda, Arriving around 7:30am, Checking my two free (well I spent the extra $25 dollars and bought a Classic Fare when I bought the ticket that includes bags, well worth it to me on this trip) bags was quite quick, now that Frontier and Midwest are sharing there ticket counter so there a few more agent positions (interestingly enough no Automated Kiosks for either airline, guess with so little service not worth the investment). There ticket counters were next to each other long before the merger. Security was relatively quick, and inside concourse B I realized that Frontier’s single (& shared I believe) gate has moved across the area, still right near security, now with Midwest Airlines branding, not just at the gate but along the walls of the fairly cramped seating area. I took a little walk and realized that this concourse (security is separate for each of them) is home to all the LCC carriers that serve LGA (with non in any other concourses). I took a walk and bought a muffin.

Onboard the flight we had a bit of a line for takeoff (typical of LGA) and I read and slept, and had a fun moment watching Chicago go by window, this time in Daylight (I noticed it in darkness on my JetBlue flight home), When the beverage service came (They did about three, although there is no longer any free food on Frontier, let’s hope at least the afternoon flights will eventually serve us the quintessential Midwest Airlines Cookies, that have been promised), we arrived in Denver around 11am, had a nice walk across the airport’s bridge (a first for me, every other time I’ve arrived at a different concourse, and every time I’ve departed its security area is closed), before finding the Payless Shuttle bus, so me and mom could rent a car for the drive down to Colorado Springs so she could help me move into my new house for the school year.

And now the price I paid per ride on my Fortnightly Unlimited Ride MetroCard that costs $51.50, well I swiped in 62 two times, meaning I paid only 83¢ per subway ride!, pretty good if you asked me, if only I had actually used the subway on the weekends than it would have been even better!

Well, as I’ve been off railfanning trying to complete this website, I have had a chance to upload two of my recently photographed station essays in Manhattan, both on Wall Street:

	Broad Street (page rebuilt with 30 additional photos)
	Wall Street (& William Street/IRT West Side) (39 photos of the station & 2 of the artwork)

Also finally added a photo essay of 135 Street & Lenox Avenue with 10 additional photos

Well, I realize I haven’t updated this blog or the website in awhile, but I’ve spent most of my time at home in New York City gathering more photo essays so when I return to Colorado in a week I can begin in earnest on finally finishing the photo essays of this website in the NYC Subway Section (now that would be a huge accomplishment!, one seven years in the making). Anyway, I thought I would recap on my adventures (and how well I’ve used my Fortnight Unlimited Ride MetroCard)
Thursday: I swiped in 7 times total as I did photo essays of 47-50 Street/Rockefeller Center, 57 Street & 6 Avenue, 5 Avenue-53 Street and the 51 Street/Lexington Avenue Superstation.
Friday: This day I swiped in 6 times doing the usual, more photo essays: some at 59 Street-Columbus Circle (the stations still in such an under construction disarray that I’ll save a true photo essay and summery for when its actually complete), the entire 59 Street & Lexington Avenue Super Complex, which is relatively simple once you fully investigate it, 57 Street-7 Avenue, and 49 Street-7 Avenue. I also took a couple of new photos of 157 Street/Broadway as I was there during my travels.
Over the weekend I was extremely busy doing activities unrelated to the website, I ended up riding the subway only twice on Saturday, and never on Sunday
Monday: 11 swipes, as I got on the subway for the first time at 163 Street-Amsterdam Avenue, and did a photo essay of 14 Street/8 Avenue, Spring Street/6 Avenue (C,E), Canal Street (C,E), and West 4th Street. After that I took the F train to Roosevelt Island, did a photo essay there, would have taken the Roosevelt Island Tram back, but its closed for repairs, so I took the Q102 bus across the Roosevelt Island Bridge and walked over to 36 Avenue on the N Astoria Line. Did a photo essay there before my camera decided to die, so I took the train up to Astoria Blvd, and the M60 over the Triborough (whoops RFK) Bridge and to 125 St & Lenox, where I sat in Starbucks and read for awhile letting my camera charge before finally doing a proper photo essay of 135 Street & Lenox, and then running some errands which contributed to even more swipes on my Unlimited Ride Card.

One of my relatively lofty goals for the two weeks that I’m here in New York is to fully photograph and finish photo essays of all the stations I haven’t photographed. So today I began, finishing off all the stations in Lower Manhattan and discovered a feature of the subway I never noticed today as I was doing my photo essays. There lots of unmarked completely open to the public subway entrances that require you to go through the lobby of an office building, or down an unmarked staircase into a building, this will probably become a special feature of the website at some point. One Chase Manhattan Plaza for example has two entrances within that lead to three different subway stations even, both Wall Streets (2/3, and 4/5) and the Broad Street Station (J/Z). Unadvertised subway fact, Wall Street (4/5) and Broad Street (J/Z) are connected (during daylight hours on weekdays) by two quite long and narrow passageways, via the Equitable Building’s unmarked (but open to the public) entrance. There a branch of these passageways that lead to the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building. Unfortunately photographing the revolving doors that lead into these entrances is a bit hard because building guards will generally not one the general public to take photographs while passing through their lobbies. I got yelled at by a guard in the Equitable Building, who said once you pass through those revolving doors onto the subway, photography’s fine. He didn’t make me delete the single terrible picture I had taken though. This will definitely be a website feature at some point. A final memorable entrance is also at Wall Street, a staircase down to a small underground shopping arcade that leads to the subway, that has no MTA Subway sign, but one for a Subway restaurant, located in the tiny shopping arcade. Most of these passageways are only open on weekdays so I’m sticking to taking my photo essays then.

Anyway today in summery, Completed photo essays of: Both Rector Streets (1 and R/W), Both Wall Streets (2/3 and 4/5), Broad Street (J/M/Z), the new South Ferry (1) Station (I did the Whitehall Street Station previously), the open Uptown platform at Cortlandt Street (N/R), since the downtown one and the IRT station are both closed because of the World Trade Center Reconstruction, and the entire Park Place-Chambers Street Complex, as I spent about four hours wondering around lower Manhattan riding few subway trains but swiping in and out a lot.

I also met a buddy for lunch in Brooklyn and took a trip down the Brighton Line to look at and photograph the construction going on there. Also stopped at Atlantic Avenue to photograph the new LIRR waiting area (that will go in the LIRR section when I get around to updating it).

Total Number of Swipes on my the 14-day Unlimited ($51.50) I purchased this morning to last my entire visit: 12

Here the updated Brooklyn (already completed stations):

	Atlantic Avenue (3 photos added)
	Avenue J (18 photos added)
	Avenue U (5 photos added)
	Lawrence Street (5 photos added)

Also added: 2 photos to DeKalb Avenue