John's Railfan Guide to Fairmount Park

The South End: CP Belmont and Columbia Bridge

At CP Belmont Conrail's Harrisburg line and Trenton lines come together. The Trenton Line crosses the Schuylkill River on the Columbia Bridge into CP Belmont. The Harrisburg Line enters from the former Reading Company Belmont Branch. Between CP Belmont and CP River the Harrisburg and Trenton Lines run side by side 4 tracks wide.

Getting There:

Access to CP Belmont is from the west-bound on ramp of I-76 at the Montgomery Drive Exit. Right at the corner of the westbound on ramp and Montgomery Drive, a small paved driveway goes down to the tracks. When exiting this driveway, the only direction you can go is west on I-76, don't even think about doing anything else.

Alternately, you can access CP Belmont from the parking lot of the Fairmount Park Commission Maintenance Building. Get off of the expressway and go down hill toward the river, the parking lot is on the left. A gravel road leads around the mound to the tracks. Walk, don't drive in (see below). Note that some genius at the Fairmont Park Commission decided that no one can park in this lot when the West River Drive is closed (see below).

Access to CP Belmont from the Belmont Gardens is from West River Drive. Enter the driveway to the Boelson Cottage, and go up the short steep dirt road to the tracks. It's OK to drive up to the tracks on this side. Note that West River Drive is closed on weekends during the summer so the yuppie Center City rollerblade and bike crowd has somewhere to go (and no one else can get to the west side of the park.) This makes getting between CP Belmont and CP River a pain.

NOTE: Every TV and Mail train is met by Conrail Police at CP Belmont. They inspect the train as it rolls by and then leave to catch it further down the line. The Officers are generally cool, if you are. Don't be stupid. Stay away from the tracks. Don't drive in on the maintainer's roads. Don't act like a foaming idiot. If they say git, then git! They have every right to throw you out.

Radio Frequencies:

A dragging equipment detector at CP Park announces eastbound Trenton Line trains coming out of Grey's Ferry Yard. Another dragging equipment detector at CP Zoo announces westbound Harrisburg Line trains coming off of the High Line.

News Page

Images:

	Conrail C30-7A 6598, C39-8 6007, and C36-7 6641 lead train CSSE (CSX Phila. - SElkirk Yard Albany, New York) at CP Belmont. This photo was taken from belmont gardens side of the tracks. April 10, 1992
	Delaware and Hudson Train #558 rolls through CP Belmont on April 10, 1992. There is no a single D&H unit in the consist of Norfolk Southern C30-7 8056, PLM Leasing SD40 3104, and GATX Leasing (ex-UP) SD40-2 2003.
	Conrail SD60M 5533 leads train PICA (PIttsburgh - CAmden, NJ) east at CP Belmont on October 31, 1998. In earlier years, This train would be on the track in the foregound, the ex-RDG Belmont Branch which connected to the ex-PRR high line and a circuitous route to the Delair bridge and Camden.
	Conrail solved this operational headache by building a connection between the Trenton Line near CP Park and track 0 of the Northeast Corridor. In the process, Conrail had to get rid of a lot of excavated material, so they piled it up at CP Belmont. This mound is one of the best photo locations in the area as this and the next three photos show. Conrail's Harrisburg line local WPPG-76 heads down the ex-RDG Belmont Branch toward the ex-PRR High Line past 30th Street Station on to South Philadelphia on a beautiful November 15, 1998.
	Conrail SD50 6727 leads an empty coal train from Atlantic City west over Columbia Bridge. January 25, 1998.
	CSX GP40-2 6248 leads C36-7 5832 and 2 former NYSW B40-8's on TV174 (Atlanta-North Jersey) at CP Belmont on October 31, 1998.
	TV174's southbound counterpart TV175 is just one spine car and 3 trailers led by six CSX units. GP40-2 6235 leads the way on November 15, 1998. Although they are Conrail trains TV174/175 almost always have CSX power.
	Delaware and Hudson Train #558 crosses the Columbia Bridge in May, 1992. This photo was taken from Kelly (East River) Drive south of the bridge.

Fairmount Park North

Back to John's Railfan Guides

Home