NS across upstate NY and northern PA

[Matt L]

About 45 minutes later, I saw something I've never photographed at CP Cass until now... a westbound freight train:



Photo taken by me Saturday 1/31/2009 in Hornell, NY.    

[Matt L]

A former Conrail widecab was in the mix, too.



Photo taken by me Saturday 1/31/2009 in Hornell, NY. 

[Matt L]

Soon the end of the train passed by this crossing, which is West Street.



Photo taken by me Saturday 1/31/2009 in Hornell, NY.  I was standing with the ex-EL mainline (now WNYP) to my back and the Buffalo Extension in front of me.  CP Cass was to my right. 

[Matt L]

That was my last train for the weekend, but I got one more treat. Shortly after 2 PM, this hi-rail truck came down the WNYP. After they stopped to ask me if I was OK (they thought I was stuck in the snow), they drove away on West Street.



Photo taken by me Saturday 1/31/2009 in Hornell, NY.   

[Matt L]

Without intending to do so, I captured the WNYP hi-rail truck as I photgraphed the crossing signal for the Buffalo Extension at West Street.



Photo taken by me Saturday 1/31/2009 in Hornell, NY.   The Buffalo Extension was a 2 track line until Conrail intalled CTC in the early '90s.  Thetruck is turnong from West Street onto Buffalo Street.  

[Matt L]

Looking up the Buffalo Extension one more time, it is easy to see this was a 2 track ROW once upon a time:



Photo taken by me Saturday 1/31/2009 in Hornell, NY.     

[Matt L]

This is the final look at CP Cass... for now. The signals look like they are lit, but they are not. We are looking east from West Street:



Photo taken by me Saturday 1/31/2009 in Hornell, NY. I hope everyone has enjoyed this tour of NS. The former EL and LV certainly have their charms. I will add more pictures from my neck of the woods to this thread as future trips permit.

[Matt L]

Well, it's been a while since I've had a chance to visit here. It's been a busy spring and (what passes for) summer, which included a number of train chases.

Let's resume with a return to Hornell on Easter weekend. Here is a westbound freight passing through the junction at CP Cass:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

The same train heading up the ex-Erie/EL Buffalo Extension:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

Tail end of the same train crossing West Street:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

About an hour later, an eastbound manifest freight entered Hornell on the Buffalo Extension:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009. 

[Matt L]

The same train entering the former Erie/EL mainline:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

Running next to Buffalo Street in Hornell:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

That train had an usual treat tacked onto its tail, a caboose!



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

This caboose is property of GVT, which owns a collection of shortlines. The hack was in transit from the Falls Road (FRRR) near Niagara Falls to the Delaware-Lackawanna RR in Scranton, PA.



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

As the afternoon deepened, a westbound CP/NS transfer freight approached CP Cass:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

With the recent closure of SK yard in Buffalo, the CP/NS transfer freight would terminate at Bison Yard that evening. Seen at Hornell, NY:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009

[Matt L]

heading west on the Buffalo Extension:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

With the sun about to set, the CP/NS transfer was the last train I saw that day:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

The following day, I was visting family in Corning... which was a convneinet opportunity to photograph in the Gang Mills area. Here is the well-known Gang Mills yard, as seen from across Route 15:



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009.

[Matt L]

A coal train was also idling on a siding west of the Gang Mills yard.



Photo taken by me Saturday 4/11/2009. It was Easter- so I saw nothing else that day.

[Matt L]

Oh boy, I've been away for a while! I guess it will take a while to get caught up here... but I promise to make the wait worthwhile. Let's move forward to last summer. This was an eastbound coal train idling on the former EL at Binghamton, NY:



Photo taken by me Friday 7/10/2009.

[Matt L]

The NS line in Binghamton is notoriously difficult to photograph, as most of the ROW is is bordered by private property to the south. Thus I had to settle for shooting into the sun when this CP transfer freight arrived:



Photo taken by me Friday 7/10/2009.

[Matt L]

While the CP freight slowly crept westward, this westbound NS freight was waiting at the junction of the former Erie and DL&W mainlines:



Photo taken by me Friday 7/10/2009 in Binghamton, NY   

[Matt L]

Later that same afternoon, this eastbound NS freight rumbled through Wellsburg, NY-  a small town on the former Erie/EL mainline between Elmira and Binghamton.



Photo taken by me Friday 7/10/2009.