Railfanning 2-25 to 3-1-2013, V

Hi, This post covers the final day of the trip Bill Kalkman and I made to north central Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier Region of New York State.  We devoted the day to RJ Corman's Pennsylvania operation centered in Clearfield, PA

From an employee at their yard we learned there was a train loading at Cherry Tree, PA which would head for Bigler when it was done loading.  Also, there was a train loading at Osceola Mills, PA that would depart the mine around 2:30 PM.  We headed for Cherry Tree checking out photo locations as we went.

Just west of Curwensville we encountered a train with 3 NS SD-60s sitting so we stopped to take a few photos.
 

When we arrived at the mine in Cherry tree we found the train with a matched set of SD-40s still loading.  This was accomplished with 2 large front end loaders.  We shot from both sides of the train.

We obtained permission from a local farmer to go out in his field where we shot the train as it backed up to couple its cuts together.

Our first photo location after the train left Cherry Hill was at Kantz Hill Road, south of Burnside, PA.

From there we beat the train into Burnside.

Our next stop was McGees Mills where the tracks cross US 219.

In Mahaffey we were able to find the first bridge where the train crossed the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

State Route Route 969 runs right along the tracks in many places offering a variety of photographic angles. Five are shown below.

The train hit a car at a grade crossing in Curwensville.  After it came to a stop it needed to back up to the accident site.  The back up move is shown below.

Finally, the train got underway again after a 1:30 delay.  We caught it again crossing the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

We easily beat the train into Clearfield where we photographed it running down the middle of  a street on the west side of town.

The final shot of this presentation was taken in Woodland, PA.  The train symbol changed from RBS-1 (for Rosebud Mine Shuttle) to BCS-1 (for Bigler Coal Shuttle).  Trains inbound to the mine use the first track encountered entering Woodland from the main road.  There is a connection to the mine load out track just beyond the load out that forms a loop.

I really enjoyed the excellent company of Bill Kalkman and the great photo opportunities.  For me it was mostly virgin territory but Bill was a top notch as a guide.  Thanks for looking.