This was sent to me earlier today. It is refreshing to see someone in authority at Amtrak who is not afraid to look "back" in order to look "forward". Mr. Ernst is to be commended not only for his sense of history and tradition but his ability and willingness to communicate it quite clearly to those in his charge.

If this a product of regime change at Amtrak it is welcome and Mr. Ernst has done a terrific job in instilling a sense of tradition and pride in an organiztion that badly needs it.

Thank you Sir!

"Walter R. Ernst, General Superintendent, New York Division, Amtrak has
issued the following statement to accompany the memo which follows. It is
in regards to the new interlocking east of Newark. It's nice to see the
Pennsy, and one of its most important figures, remembered in this way.

The statement:

To Amtrak Managers:

Questions have arisen as to why we named our newest interlocking east of Newark "Rea." At the same time, it seems appropriate to initiatiate a dialogue with employees on the need for greater precision in all facits of train operations in New York given the constantly rising number of trains handled and the impending opening of Secaucus Transfer.This two page memo is admittedly long, but it attempts to address the above. Please make copies available to all employees at Penn Station, PSCC, and in T & E service whose work in any way touches our train operations at New York - including those who work in here from other crew bases.

WRE

The Memo [attached]:

Whither "Rea?"

This past weekend Amtrak Engineering department forces cut "Rea"
interlocking into service just east of Newark, NJ. "Rea" was carved out of
what used to be "Hudson" interlocking which still remains but with smaller
territory.

Old "Hudson" was at roughly the location where Manhattan Transfer was
constructed and opened for service in 1910 as part of the Pennsylvania
Railroad's mammoth project of building its access into New York from New
Jersey. This project was undertaken in the first decade of the last century
and included the construction of the High Line across the Jersey Meadows,
the North River tunnels under Bergen Hill and the Hudson River, Penn Station
and its support facilities, the East River tunnels and Sunnyside Yard
together with the connections to LIRR in Queens.

Originally, trains operated in this territory using direct current electric
power with the supply coming from a 3rd rail. Electric operation extended
as far west as the Manhattan Transfer facility where the DC electric engines
were swapped for steam locomotives. There were a couple of high level
island platforms there in addition to the tracks. Passengers could change
trains. Some went to Jersey City via the original main line route that now
is owned by PATH. The others went to New York utilizing the new High Line
route that the NEC uses today.

The name "Rea" comes from Samuel Rea who was a vice president of the
Pennsylvania Railroad at the turn of the century and who was placed in
overall charge of the entire project of constructing the railroad's access
into and through New York. Mr. Rea was a native of Hollidaysburg,
Pennsylvania located south of Altoona, who became employed by the Pennsy in
the late 19th century. After supervising the New York improvement project,
he continued to work his way up the ladder and later become president of the
PRR. It was during his presidential administration that the 6 track
railroad we have today from Elizabeth to Rahway was built, among other
improvements.

It was to preserve the memory of his contribution to the infrastructure that
still serves us so well today that "Rea" was selected as the name for the
new interlocking. There is a statue of him on the 7th Avenue side of 2 Penn
Plaza in New York that used to be in Penn Station until it was torn down in
the 1960's.

"Rea" is a part of the capacity improvements that have been underway for the
last 10 years leading to greater capability for more trains to access Penn
Station from New Jersey. Most of these improvements have been paid for by
NJ Transit deriving funding from federal and New Jersey sources. These have
included the new frequency converter station at the east end of Sunnyside
yard, track improvements at Sunnyside, the new 7th Avenue concourse station
within Penn Station that opened last September, the High Density
Interlocking Signal system (HDIS) that will be fully in service at the end
of June between "Dock" and "A" tower, the Kearny Connection between the NEC
at "Swift" interlocking and NJT's Morristown Line, and the Secaucus Transfer
Station between "Portal" and "Allied" to be opened for weekend service in
September and weekday service in the Fall or early Winter of this year.
Combined with the jointly funded LIRR/Amtrak PSCC control center, these have
added up to major improvements in NY.

As a measure of what has been accomplished through these improvements, in
May, 1996, just before NJT's June opening of Midtown direct service using
the Kearny Connection at "Swift," 253 total trains per day, counting both
directions, operated between Penn Station and "Swift" through the North
River tunnels and over the High Line. As of the April timetable change just
implemented, that number has grown to 421 trains per day.

Making this extraordinarily high level of service work, even with these
modest improvements made to the infrastructure, won't happen consistently
without an extraordinary level of discipline in the way everyone works
together to manage our trains in New York every minute of every day. This
really does mean EVERYONE: the dispatchers who route the trains, station
personnel who work with customers and supervise their boarding, road crews
who need to get trains out on their scheduled time, yard crews who need to
get empty equipment trains out of the station to Sunnyside Yard quickly in
the morning to free up room for other inbound trains, mechanical forces who
must insure that everything works properly so that mechanical problems do
not delay train movements, engineering forces who must insure that signals,
ET, track, communications systems, and all other infrastructure work
flawlessly, and police personnel of both Amtrak and MTA who provide security
so that threats to the operation do not occur that could get in the way of
our ability to provide normal service.

Amtrak, NJT, and LIRR managers meet regularly to plan for the future and
integrate the operating schedules of the three railroads. Without the
cooperation that has existed between the railroads we could not have gotten
to today's high level of service which on weekdays for all three railroads
sees 988 trains per day operating into or out of Penn Station. The "JO"
interlocking clearance project is about wrapped up after extraordinary work
by engineering employees working with the transportation employees of the
three user railroads. The restrictions prohibiting parallel moves at "JO"
are expected to be removed in June which will improve the flows of trains
between the station and Lines 1 and 2 of the East River Tunnels - $20
million spent for improved capacity.

The planning and investing for the future that was such a hallmark of Sam
Rea and the Pennsylvania Railroad of a hundred years ago is still present at
Penn Station today albeit in a much changed institutional setting.

While we have reason to celebrate what we have accomplished, we need to be
mindful that the bar is set very high today and everyone must do their very
best to see that we execute with precision everyday because our customers
depend upon us to do so. Meeting our customer's needs and the growing
transportation requirements of today's congested world consistently and
safely is what we are about. Working together and recognizing the
challenges, we can do it.

Walter R. Ernst
General Superintendent
New York Division, Amtrak
May 20, 2003"


v-scarpitti@att.net

Very nice tribute, indeed!

Now, if only someone at Amtrak would instill the same sense of history, service and customs from the Pullman Company to the on-board personnel. Maybe then it would be possible to have a porter carry some baggage, clean a rest room, and smile once in a while. Maybe then you could get a second glass of iced tea at dinner, etc, etc, etc.

-Jim Herron

hrvideo@mindspring.com

> Very nice tribute, indeed!

> Now, if only someone at Amtrak would instill
> the same sense of history, service and
> customs from the Pullman Company to the
> on-board personnel. Maybe then it would be
> possible to have a porter carry some
> baggage, clean a rest room, and smile once
> in a while. Maybe then you could get a
> second glass of iced tea at dinner, etc,
> etc, etc.

> -Jim Herron

Sorry this is a little off topic, but Mr. Levin, was that you behing the controls of 5711 yesterday?


jtjjtb@aol.com

No, that was the younger Mr. Levin, my son Eric whose passion and energy really created the rebirth of the "twins", as well as all the other wonders from "Little Juniata".

Ah, only to be that age again!

v-scarpitti@att.net

That was a nice show on Tuesday. I can't wait to see the photos I got of the consist on the High Line.

> No, that was the younger Mr. Levin, my son
> Eric whose passion and energy really created
> the rebirth of the "twins", as
> well as all the other wonders from
> "Little Juniata".

> Ah, only to be that age again!


acp19809@yahoo.com

> The name "Rea" comes from Samuel
> Rea who was a vice president of the
> Pennsylvania Railroad at the turn of the
> century and who was placed in
> overall charge of the entire project of
> constructing the railroad's access
> into and through New York. Mr. Rea was a
> native of Hollidaysburg,
> Pennsylvania located south of Altoona, who
> became employed by the Pennsy in
> the late 19th century.

I assume then that this is the same guy the Sam Rea shops (Hollidaysburg Car Shop) were named after?

altoona_east@railfanusa.com

Bennett,

Thank you for passing this along. Way back in my maternal family tree, I have a branch over to Samuel Rae. I'd love to get a nice shot of the signs at the new interlocking.

I once took my little cousin out to the RRMofPA when he was 9 or 10. When he saw the official PRR portrait of Mr. Rae and I explained we were related to him, his eye got wide, wide , wide.

30 minutes later, I was scraping nickels together over at Strasburg for two cokes and burgers, so I guess that brought him back down to earth. ;-)

Rob

rdavis@rypn.org

I understand "Swift" is named for Tom Swift, he of the magic electric locomotive.

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

> Ah, only to be that age again!

Come on now, Bennett,

I once had the bad grace to ask my father what it was like to be old. (He was then roughly the age I am now.) His reponse was that age and experience beats youth and exuberance hands down.

Mike Allen



ptrmgtsvc@juno.com