A pleasant surprise on the Southern Tier Mainline

Matt L · March 04, 2013, 07:50:04 PM

I was back at it again two days ago... trackside with the Southern Tier Mainline. The morning began with began with NS/CP westbound 39T at CP Linden shortly before 9 AM. It's been a while since I've seen this train.

Both photos in this post were taken by me Saturday 3/2/2013 at the Molasses Hill Road crossing in Linden, NY.

Matt L · March 04, 2013, 07:54:55 PM

I was headed to the store for a chase fuel top-off (aka Mt Dew) when I spotted an eastbound train in the distance. I turned the car around... and despite the slick roads, got ahead of the train to intercept NS/CP 38T at the Vernal Road overpass.

Both photos in this post were taken by me Saturday 3/2/2012 in Dale, NY.

Matt L · March 04, 2013, 08:03:10 PM

After I finally got my badly needed mt Dew, I settled down by the signals at MP 389. Eastbound NS 13T arrive late in the morning. A standard cab SD60 was the 3rd unit in the power mix.

The 4th final train of the day passed MP 389 shortly before 2 PM EST. Westbound NS 309 also had a standard cab SD60...

...but the nice surprise was a genuine Erie Lackawanna hopper in the consist. NS still has a fleet of them, and it was pretty nice to see it on a former EL line!

All photos in this post were taken by me Sat 3/2/2013 at Spring Road in the Town of Alexander, NY. This was another fun day with the Southern Tier Mainline... and there will be a couple more of them this month.

dschlegel · March 05, 2013, 08:02:16 AM

Nice catch with the EL hoppers! I actually saw two on Sunday afternoon running east in a manifest on the Reading line but didn't have my camera ready.

Dan

Matt L · March 06, 2013, 07:15:46 PM

Thanx, Dan. I can remember when Conrail used to keep long strings of EL hoppers at Gang Mills 30 years ago, so this was nice blast from the past. These EL hoppers are pretty unusual because CR painted just about everything else it kept after 1981 into standard color schemes.

dschlegel · March 06, 2013, 07:23:26 PM

Hey Matt! There was about 20 or so EL hoppers in Allentown yard by where the roundhouse used to be located. They were still there up until maybe 4 or 5 years ago, but were hauled out to who knows where.

There were still some ex Reading boxcars and gons around CR into the early 90's, but I can't say I've see one since maybe 94.

All in all cool stuff!
Dan

NSMoWandS · March 07, 2013, 03:12:29 PM

Taken in Aug 2012 in Harrisburg, PA. There was 6 of them. Other Dan.

steveiez · March 07, 2013, 03:44:07 PM

EL coal hoppers were used to deliver coal at Carnegie Mellon Uni. They switched to gas because CM is an enginering school, and "students" wanted coal out.

Matt L · March 07, 2013, 07:16:56 PM

Quote from: NSMoWandS on March 07, 2013, 03:12:29 PM
Taken in Aug 2012 in Harrisburg, PA. There was 6 of them. Other Dan.

Excellent! Does anybody know how many EL hoppers still exist?

dschlegel · March 07, 2013, 09:28:08 PM

Quote from: steveiez on March 07, 2013, 03:44:07 PM
EL coal hoppers were used to deliver coal at Carnegie Mellon Uni. They switched to gas because CM is an enginering school, and "students" wanted coal out.

Why, because fracking moves pollution further down the supply chain from the power plants?

I know a bigtime railfan who works at CMU, but I am not sure if he would rather have the school burn coal or gas, he is a rather interesting and very intelligent guy.

Dan