My birthday weekend

[Matt L]

To celebrate my birthday, I spent 3 days in NY's Southern Tier region.

On day #1, I had to contend with a bit of lake effect snow while intercepting NS local  h52 at Rock Glen. The 3 engines had dropped off a string of cars for the Rochester & Southern a few miles down the track (Silver Springs) and were head back to Bison Yard:



Due to the slick roads, chasing NS 309 was impossible... but I did catch these coil cars in the middle of the train at Portage:



Further east, the roads were dry so I could chase NS 28N heading east... including the County Route 81 crossing in Rathbone:



The crew of NS 23K was super friendly. They gave me lots o' horn as the passed Philo Road in Horseheads:



I also caught NS 37T at Philo Road in Horseheads. Although the train is officially billed as a mixed freight, the consist typically includes alot of intermodal from Taylor yard (in PA) these days:



A slide show of the action on Day #1:

http://s857.photobucket.com/user/Erielackawanna/slideshow/2017/Jan%202017/0128%20%20S%20Tier

All photos in this post and the link were taken by me Saturday 1/28/2017 in central and western NY. 

[Matt L]

Day #2 was spent mostly at Philo Road in Horseheads.

NS local H85 heading back to Gang Mills as a light engine move:

http://s857.photobucket.com/user/Erielackawanna/slideshow/2017/Jan%202017/0128%20%20S%20Tier

NS 28N heading eastbound at the same location:



NS 23K also passed by Philo Road, with a KCS belle as the 3rd unit!





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NS uses part of the former DL&W yard in Elmira as a transload  facility:



A complete slide show of all3 trains and the yard:

http://s857.photobucket.com/user/Erielackawanna/slideshow/2017/Jan%202017/0129%20S%20Tier

All photos in this post and the link were taken by me Sunday 1/29/2017 in Chemung County, NY.

[Matt L]

Day #3 was my actual birthday, and the last day I could spend trackside before heading back to work.

NS local H85 had been pared down to 2 units when I caught them working the yard in Gang Mills:



NS 28N passes an MOW employee at CP Erwins in Gang Mills:



As NS 28N passed through Gang Mills, I noted that (just like the rpevious 2 days) it had a cut of intermodal  spine near the the end of the train. With NS 205 and 206 being cut back to Buffalo, NS putting the TOFC traffic on 22K ,23K, 28N and 287.



I wrapped up the chase day with the Bath & Moondsport RR's C424ms at County Route 125 in Savona. they'd just wrapped up swtiching a customer and were headed back to the engine house in Coopers palins:



A full slide show of NS and the B&H on Day #3, including the "going away" shots:

http://s857.photobucket.com/user/Erielackawanna/slideshow/2017/Jan%202017/0130%20NSBH

All photos in this post and the link were taken by me Monday 1/30/2017 in Steuben County, NY. A big thanks goes out to the employees of the Baht & Hammondsport RR for their professionalism and friendliness. These trains really were the icing on my birthday cake!

[thpbears]

Nice catches. Thanks for sharing

[dschlegel]

Happy birthday! Looks like you had a great 3 days!
Dan

[Matt L]

Thank you both very much for the kind words! I have to skip chasing for the first half of this month, but rest assured I'll be back trackside as soon as i have a free weekend.