South of the border

[Matt L]

I went down to northern Pennsylvania towards the end of last week. Much of the day was spent with the Wellsboro & Corning RR, an Empire Link partner of NS, as well as Tioga Central RR. The two operations use the same tracks and share common ownership- WCOR is the freight operation and TIOC is the passenger hauler. The line itself is the former NYC Corning Branch/Conrail Corning Secondary.

When I arrived, a pair of recently purchased SD40-2s were drilling the transload facility at the WCOR yard.



Because WCOR and TIOC share common ownership, it's not unusual to see excursion, display and freight equipment being shuffled in the yard.



Number 506, a rare D&H RS3U, was also involved in switching operations.



SD40-2 #6072 was uncoupled from #6059 to run solo, shuffling a string of gondolas in the early afternoon.



All photos in this post were taken by me Friday 10/19/2012 in Wellsboro Junction, PA.

[Matt L]

Another pair of SD40-2s was fired up around mid-day, because the Tioga Central was running a 1 PM Lake Shore Limited excursion. The engines operated pull-pull. Number 307 is warming up at Wellsboro Jct, PA.



The rain had stopped by the time the excursion pulled out, so it was pleasant chase northward. Number 309 leads the train through Holliday, PA.    







The Lake Shore Limited lives up to the name, running along the west shore of the man-made lake and stopping there before returning south.  The next two shots were taken from Route 287 in Hammond, PA.







All photos in this post were taken by me Friday 10/19/2012.  

[Matt L]

Number 307 is fired up again for the return trip, while the passengers enjoy the lake view in Hammond, PA.



The Lake Shore Limited excursion heads south through the Tioga River valley in Holliday, PA.



I took my final shots of the Tioga Central passenger train at the Route 4039 crossing in Holliday, PA:











All photos in this post were taken by me Friday 10/19/2012 in Holliday, PA.  After the train cleared the crossing, I headed back to New York to chase NS, which will be another thread (and another day). I will take this opportunity to thank the employees of WCOR/TIOC for their friendliness and courtesy, especially chef Shannon from TIOC's dinner train.