Fall railfan trip - 3

Hi, The New York, Susquehanna & Western typically runs a through freight from Binghamton, NY to Syracuse, NY with a return trip leaving on the northbound's arrival. This was to be the day's activity.

At breakfast at McDonald's in Cortland that morning I got to talking with a gentleman who, when I told him Jim and I were photographing trains, told me there was one switching in town down by the station. We quickly found the train and, upon talking to the crew, Jim learned the through freight was just leaving Binghamton. Since the local had a former NS unit still in black and with long hood leading, we headed south.

Our first shot was in Marathon, NY followed by

Messenger,

Tully,

Apulia Station

and Jamesville, just south of Syracuse (above and 2 below).

Due to congestion in the NYS&W yard in Syracuse the train sat in Jamesville for approximately 1 1/2 hours. While it was there a crew change occurred and we had lunch. After the train left we waited another 2 1/2 hours for its return before we gave up and headed west.

Thanks for looking.

Fall railfan trip - 2

Hi, The Lycoming Valley runs a local to Muncy, PA on Fridays and it has had their pair of GP35s in the Reading style paint scheme. While I had photographed the locomotives just sitting the last time I was in Williamsport, PA with Jim Kleeman I wanted to get them on a train. However, as was the case the day before, only one of the units was on the train with second one being the former NS GP38.

We caught the train leaving the yard in Newberry (above and below),

crossing Loyalsock Creek in the Montoursville area (above and below)

and at Hiller Road in Muncy, PA (above and below).

The next shot was rushed and I did not like it. The train beat us to the location after that, although we didn't know it at the time. So we waited and when it came through it was running northbound with the former NS locomotive leading. That was the end of the chase. At least we had a beautiful day with some nice opportunities. Thanks for looking.

Fall railfan trip - 1

Hi, On Thursday, September 5, Friend Jim Kleeman and I left on a ten day trip to Pennsylvania and New York. Our emphasis was on a series of shortlines starting with the Lycoming Valley in the Williamsport, PA area.

The Lycoming Valley's yard is in Newberry, PA. While we were hanging out at the east end of the yard a local arrived with SW9 #238 for power (above and below).

Meanwhile an NS coal train was being loaded. Trucks would bring in the coal and dump it on a pile. Then front end loaders would pick up the coal and dump the coal into hopper cars.

When the train was loaded it pulled east and

was spotted a track over (above and below).

Our goal was to photograph the run from Newberry to Northumberland, PA, train LV1, where the Lycoming Valley interchanges with NS. The LV has a pair of GP35s painted in a Reading inspired paint scheme and we hoped they would be on the train. Unfortunately only one of the units was on the train which we photographed at Hiller Road in Montoursville, PA (above and below).

Our final location for this train was Muncy, PA with at sunset (above and below).

Thanks for looking.

Summerail Trip - Final

Hi, Saturday, August 10, the day of the big Summerail show, dawned cloudy but we decided to go out and explore. After driving around Marion a bit we headed west along the former New York Central (Big Four).

It wasn't long before we came upon a coal train parked about a mile before the end of double track (above and below).

Continuing west we arrived at New Bloomfield where, after a short wait, we photographed Q262 and

Q364.

Back in Marion we hung around the station. Two north south lines, NS (former N&W, former PRR) and CSX (former C&O) cross CSX (former NYC, former Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis) here on multiple diamonds as all routes are double track. First up was a westbound on the former NYC.

Next was NS coal train #861 (above and below)

followed by NS #170 and

#117.

That evening the Illinois Terminal Heritage unit lead a southbound manifest through town.

Our final railfan location was Brackridge, PA, the home of ATI, formerly Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp. A few years ago ATI repowered their plant railroad and I wanted to get some photos of the new power. I knew the plant here had two sections separated by a small residential area where you could photograph the company's trains without trespassing.

The first thing we spotted were two locomotives sitting outside what appeared to be an engine house. One of them was an example of the locomotives that had been replaced. I had photographed these back in the late 90s and was glad to see one again.

The other locomotive was one of the new ones (above and two below).

A track mobile also was parked.

Norfolk Southern's Conemaugh Line (former Conrail, Former PRR) parallels the pant railroad (in the foreground above and below).

Local C39 was the last train of the trip.

Thanks for looking.

Summerail Trip - 8

Hi, August 8th and 9th were not very productive so I have combined them into one post. On August 8th we headed up to Jasonville, IN, the location of the Indiana RR's main yard and headquarters. However, we were told by an official that they do not provide information on train schedules to outsiders. So we were left to our interpretation of radio transmissions to figure out what was happening.

Eventually, we figured out a train of empty coal hoppers was on its way to Bear Run Mine located south of Duggar, IN. We intercepted the train where Count Road 350 N crossed the railroad north of Duggar

and then beat it to a fill south of town. The train had seven cars.

Fortunately the train slowed as it entered the mine area allowing another photo.

We got a couple of more angles as the train worked its way around the loading loops (above and below).

The railroad went dead until mid afternoon. As the westbound road train normally crossed Tulip Trestle between 3 and 6 PM we elected to make that our next location (above and below).

We just barely beat the train to the Indiana Route 54 overpass on the east side of Bloomfield for our last shot of the day.

On August 9th we drove to Marion, OH., location of Summerail by following CSX's former New York Central route between Cleveland, OH and St. Louis, MO. First up was Q008 in Union City, IN.

We then relocated to Union City, OH where another eastbound intermodal appeared.

In Ansonia, OH a westbound came right out of the morning sun.

We took a few minutes in while in Ansonia to check out the R. J. Corman operation and found their train just south of town (above and below).

After dropping their outbound cars and coupling to the inbounds at a siding on the south side of Ansonia the crew parked the train and left (above and two below).

Continuing east we encountered Q062 at Versailles, OH (above and below).

Our final train during the trip east was this westbound at Russia, OH.

A tank train sitting on the former C&O in Marion, OH looked great in the low sun.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.