Changing Power at Poughkeepsie
While headed to NYC on the Lake Shore Limited, the train stopped at Poughkeepsie, New York, to change power; the rail line here was formerly the New York Central. Unfortunately, I don’t know what was on point of the train from Rochester (where I got on) to this spot, but from here on in to Grand Central Terminal, it would be an EMD FL9.
This locomotive, truly a unique model, was designed for use on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, specifically with GCT in mind. The locomotive could run as a normal diesel-electric does, but also use the electricity of a third-rail (either over or under the shoe) so as to not spew exhaust in the tunnels under Park Avenue as well as in the station itself. There were sixty of these produced; they remarkable for their B-A1A wheel configuration. After the New Haven was folded into the Penn Central, the use of this engine type expanded to the Hudson Valley line, as we see here.
Besides what was happening with my train, there is a Rail Diesel Car in the station; RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia between 1949 and 1962. I believe these interesting self-propelled units were used for local service on the various Conrail commuter lines north of NYC; Metro North would take over these lines in 1983.
Three images by Richard Koenig; taken in May of 1981.
