Bennett Levin's E8As and freight action in the rain

[Matt L]

As noted in the "Heads Up" subforum, Bennet Levin's beautifully restored Pennsy E8As led an excursion through upstate NY, Ohio and Pennsylvania this weekend. The trip began in Port Jervis (NY) and headed west on the NS Southern Tier Mainline to Painted Post, where it diverged to the Bath & Hammondsport RR for an overnight stay.

I caught up to it early the following morning- this shot was taken shortly after 6 AM.  



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in the Village of Bath, NY.

[Matt L]

To alleviate the need for a runaround, the B&H provided a pair of Alco Centuries for the westward trip from Painted Post to Bath. The C424ms also took the excursion a few miles further up the B&H about 30 minutes after this shot was taken.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in the Village of Bath, NY.

[Matt L]

After cutting off the Alcos, the E8As led the train eastward through Bath again.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in the Village of Bath, NY. The old B&H freight house is in the background.

[Matt L]

Unfortunately, the old sailor's proverb about a pink sunrise proved too- it was raining steadily when the excursion crossed Cameron Road.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in the Village of Bath, NY.

[Matt L]

East of Cameron Road, the excursion passes a former B&H customer. This was an active yard once upon a time. The B&H interchanged with the Erie, EL and finally Conrail here... with the interchange point being moved further east a couple of times since the mid 1990s.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in the Village of Bath, NY.

[Matt L]

The excursion approaches Babcock Hollow Road. The ROW here is ex-Lackawanna. The B&H leases the line from NS between Bath and Painted Post.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in the Town of Bath, NY.  

[Matt L]

The excursion approaches the Savona Thurston Road crossing.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Savona, NY.   

[Matt L]

The excursion crosses a very wet County Route 333.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Campbell, NY.

[Matt L]

The excursion continued eastward to Painted Post, where it returned to the Southern Tier mainline and headed west again. Here we see the train about 1/2 mile from CP Cass. The crew was waiting for clearance from the dispatcher to leave the Tier and diverge onto the Western New York & Pennsylvania RR (WNYP).



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY. The NS trainmaster and pilot also left the train while the lead E8A was parked under the bridge.

[Matt L]

Clearance granted, the excursion resumes its westward journey.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

The excursion crosses Taylor Street.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

The excursion crosses Cass Street.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

An NS MOW truck accompanied to the locomotives to the interlocking with the WNYP.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

The excursion diverges on the WNYP. I chose not to chase the train any further, due to heavy rain and lack of familiarity with the dirt roads along the ROW.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

Thanks to an alert from a fellow railfan, I did catch NS 310 pulling into the city about 15 minutes later.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

NS 310 rumbles eastbound next to Buffalo Street.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

The GMTX lease units are making inroads in upstate NY. The trailing SD60 in 310 was the 2nd GMTX unit I've seen this year.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

Wet... wet... wet... while 310 rolls through the city.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

Go figure... I found two predecessor hoppers side by side in the consist of NS 310!  ;D



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

[Matt L]

Coil cars brought up the rear of 310. I don't often end a chase due to poor weather... but there was too much rain. This was the final shot of the day.



Photo taken by me Saturday 8/6/2011 in Hornell, NY.

A very special thank you goes out to Bennett Levin, the Juniata Terminal Railroad, Norfolk Southern, the B&H RR, the WNYP and the private coach owners because they all made this excursion happen. 

[butch]

To bad about the rain, but it looks like you had a good time chasing.

[Matt L]

Thanks, Butch. I missed the excursion's run on the Southern Tier Mainline the previous day (owing to work commitments), but it was profiled in the Elmira Star Gazette. The article title is in error, though. A few excursions have passed through the City of Elmira since 1970. It is a good read, otherwise... and the pictures are excellent.