What I did on my summer vacation

[Matt L]

Since school has already started in some states already, and will start in NY next week, I guess my inner child wants to write a report. lol

Anyway, I was on vacation in the Southern Tier region on NY last week. Day #1 began at CP Cass. My first sighting was eastbound NS/CP 38T around 8 AM.








Eastbound NS mixed freight 13T arrived around 9:30 AM.







Westbound NS intermodal freight 23K arrived shortly after 10 AM. Unlike the previous shots, I was standing on the State Route 21 bridge.







I spent the late morning and early afternoon west of Hornell, searching for the WNYP local that often runs on Thursday. I couldn't find Ol-2. the may have been delayed until after dark... or maybe didn't run at all. NS has been doing trackwork on the Southern Tier mainline out in the Corning-Elmira area for the past weeks, which may affect the WNYP. 

I went back to Hornell, had an early dinner... and caught 12T heading westbound CP Cass after 7 PM.







All photos in this post were taken by me Thursday 8/22/2013 in Hornell, NY. 

[Matt L]

The next day was better. I caught NS H77 picking up a short string of tank cars from the Bath & Hammondsport RR @ Painted Post.



The B&H Alcos, including recent acqusition #416, led a nice consist westward at Painted Post.



In addition to the usual tank cars, the B&H also picked up some NJT doubledecker coaches from NS. They were headed to Kanona to be refurbished. This is the Hamilton Street crossing Painted Post:



I was hunting for the S&A heritage unit in the Elmira-Sayrea area, but never found her. On the other hand, I did see NS local H10 pulling out of the yard in Elmira.







Here is another look at the yard in Elmira from a more open area. A high nose Geep was idling in the background.



All photos in this post were taken by me Friday 8/23/2013 in upstate NY. All rights are reserved.  

[Matt L]

Day #3 began with a special treat, which I will share at another time. (It really deserves its own thread.) Afterward, I hung out by the Southern Tier Mainline, and caught 12T heading west during the afternoon.







Both photos in this post were taken by me Saturday 8/24/2013 in Castile, NY. I hadn't seen a train at the State Route 39 crossing in about 20 years... back when the Tier was owned by Conrail. It was a nice way to wrap up the train chasing portion of my vacation.