The broken rail I didn't see

[Matt L]

While I was out shooting NS earlier this month, I ran into a couple of fellow members of the Norfolk Southern Southern Tier Sightings FB group. They had a scanner and let me know that... due to a broken rail at MP 373... eastbound 13T would be held at CP Linden to let westbound 309.

Sure enough, 13T crawled up Attica Hill very slowly. This location is the Spring Road crossing aka MP 389. 











All photos in this post were taken by me Saturday 10/4/2014 in Alexander, NY.  

[Matt L]

It took a while for 309 to arrive because the train had to cross the broken rail at a speed of 10 MPH, as per the dispatcher. This gave us plenty of time to set up at Dry Bridge Road (roughly MP 388), which is where we saw the two trains meet.



















All photos in this post were taken by me Saturday 10/42014 in Alexander, NY.

[Matt L]

Chasing 309 westward to Bison Yard would have been difficult, due to speed limits in downtown Alexander and Attica. On the other hand, I knew it would take a while for 13T to get up to full speed east of CP Linden. Setting up at MP 380 (near the Dale Road crossing) was an easy choice.











All photos in this post were taken by me Saturday 10/4/2014 in Dale, NY.

[Matt L]

At this point, my fellow FB group members and I parted company. They went down to Rock Glen (which is near MP 373 and the broken rail) but I chose MP 384 instead. Corey and Rob did tell me that NS/CP westbound 39T was "sitting in the hole" down at Rock Glen. Normally, I could have expected 39T about 30-45 minutes after 13T passed MP 380... but it took over 90 minutes for 39T to arrive. I was getting ready to leave MP 384 at 3 PM when I finally heard  the horn of the approaching train.











All photos in this post were taken by me Saturday 10/4/2014 at Silver Road in Linden, NY.  

P.S. The broken rail was fixed that weekend, and operations are definitely back to normal on the Southern Tier Mainline.