Running through the fall colors on the Southern Tier Mainline

[Matt L]

When he was alive, my father remarked that he loved having his birthday on October 17th because the leaves would peak around that time. I'm not a fan of shorter days or cooler weather, but I must admit the colors of October are beautiful. And what better to enjoy the fall colors than to be trackside?  Part of at least six days were spent photographing trains, including 3 days with the NS Southern Tier Mainline.

My first day with the NS was the most productive. The Bar Code unit led NS 309 westbound at MP 388/Dry Bridge Road in Alexander. This is the same location where I saw the NKP heritage unit and NKP #765 during the summer.



NS 39T westbound at MP 389/Spring Road in Alexander:



NS 28N sounded great as it crawled up Attica Hill at MP 389 in Alexander:



The trailing unit on NS 28N (at Spring Road Alexander) was a beast! lol



Since 28N was moving slowly up Attica Hill, getting ahead of the train was easy. This was near MP 380 in Dale:



NS 23K was heading westbound at MP 389 in Alexander with alot of power, including a BNSF unit buried in the middle:



NS 205 (at Dry Bridge Road in Alexander) was my final sighting for the day:



A slide show of each train seen that day:

http://s857.photobucket.com/user/Erielackawanna/slideshow/2015/Oct%202015/1010%20NS

All photos in this post and the link were taken by me Saturday 10/10/2015 in western New York.

[Matt L]

The following week, I set up next to the old feed mill at Linden Road, which was a customer for the Erie RR 60-70 years ago.



NS 28N heading eastbound at MP 385/Linden Road:




NS unit tank train 67N heading westbound at Linden Road, with the UP unit in the middle of the power:



A light snow was beginning to fall as NS 36T crossed Silver Road/MP 386:



A slide show of each train:

http://s857.photobucket.com/user/Erielackawanna/slideshow/2015/Oct%202015/1017%20Bethany%20NY

All photos in this post and the link were taken by me Saturday 10/17/2015 in Bethany, NY. This day would have been my father's 79th birthday, He encouraged my love of trains, and was a bit of a railfan himself- although not quite as hardcore as yours truly!

[Matt L]

The colors were a little past peak the following weekend, when NS 28N rumbled past MP 384 in Middlebury:







NS38T had a couple of stadard cabs (including an EMD SD60) in the power mix when it reach Silver Road/MP 386 in Bethany:











A slide show of both trains:

http://s857.photobucket.com/user/Erielackawanna/slideshow/2015/Oct%202015/1025%20NS

All photos in this post and the link were taken by me Sunday 10/25/2015 in western New York. I do have one more day by the tracks to share from last month, but y'all will will probalby agree with my decision to make it a separate thread when you see it.