A little over a week ago, I headed back down to the Finger Lakes region to catch some more NS action. Although it was a cloudy (and occasionally drizzly) day, there was plenty of light to get a good shot of this local freight heading eastbound.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY. The train was moving away from me.
I suspected the local was headed to the Elmira area, which is about a 20 minute drive east of Corning. Sure enough, my guess was confirmed when the local returned westbound a little over an hour later.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
This local was the only 4 axle power I saw that day, since it had GP38-2s at each end.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
Around mid-afternoon, 12T arrived.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
12T slowed as it moved onto the lead for Gang Mills, which is a yard a few miles west of this location.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
The tail end of 12T disappears under the Route 414 overpass.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
This light engine move came from the Elmira yard during the afternoon.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY. The origin of this move was confirmed by a fellow railfan who I met later that day- he had a scanner.
The light engine move had a pair of SD60s up front and a pair of GE widecabs in the rear. The GEs would resurface later in the day, after stopping at Gang Mills.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
BNSF power definitely present on the Southern Tier Mainline that day, since eastbound 13T also had a pair of "pumpkins" leading the train.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
There was also a NS unit on 13T, which was an EMD.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
I don't know if auto racks are normal for 13T, but it had them on this trip.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
As 13T headed off into the distance, the Southern Tier Mainline quieted down. The next train would not appear for a couple hours.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
The next train was the target of my chase- the usually nocturnal H06. This local departs Gang Mills between 5 PM and 7 PM, so some or all of the trip is in darkness. The 15 hour days of late spring and early summer are the best time to catch it. In this case, H06 pulled off the Southern Tier Mainline at approximately 6:45 PM EDT.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY. I heard a couple of delays with this train, thanks to the scanner shared by a fellow railfan I met. Among other things, the SD60s seen earlier were apparently supposed to power H06, but a decision was made to use these GEs instead.
Since I did a rather extensive pictorial of H06 from a chase earlier last month, I will try to avoid duplication in this set of photos.
In this case, the H06 is passing between 2 sets of covered hoppers at Baker Street Yard. The string of hoppers at left had been there a while, but the set at right was a recent addition.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Corning, NY.
H06 approaches the northern limit of Baker Street Yard.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in North Corning, NY.
H06 heads up the 0.85% grade in the hilly countryside of the Finger Lakes.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Post Creek, NY.
One curious aspect of this run of H06 was the pair of GEs running elephant style on the northbound run to Geneva.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Beaver Dams, NY.
H06 crosses Camp Ground Road.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Beaver Dams, NY.
For those of you who recall my last chase of H06, this location is between Route 414 (where I stood) and Cooley Road... which crosses the tracks a couple miles north of here.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Beaver Dams, NY.
A good location to catch H06 on a cloudy day is next to the KOA Camp grounds along Route 414. This view is looking roughly SW, so it only works late in the day when the sun is obscured.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Beaver Dams, NY. NOTE: this location is about 5-8 miles north of Camp Ground Road.
The consist overtook me along Route 414 and the engineer gave me a friendly toot of the horn.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Beaver Dams, NY.
The tracks curve away from Route 414 in rural Schuyler County, so I headed down to Watkins Glen for a quick "pit stop" after taking this shot.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Dix, NY.
I drove ahead of H06 and set up for the intercept at the Route 14 crossing. The train arrived shortly after 9 PM EDT- thank goodness for long June days!
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Himrod, NY.
As with my previous chase of H06 this year, fading light made for difficult photography so I opted against following H06 northward after it crossed Route 14.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Himrod, NY.
Instead of attempting a frustrating chase in darkness... I drove up to Geneva, bought gas and checked into my hotel... where I stayed the night.
H06 arrived shortly after 10 PM.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in Geneva, NY.
The street lights of Geneva helped a little with capturing H06 in darkness- these might be some of the latest photographs (in terms of clock time) I've ever taken.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in the city of Geneva, NY.
Interchange with the Finger Lakes Railway is just a short distance up the Corning Secondary- these covered hoppers were destined either for a salt mine or the local glass plant.
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Photo taken by me Sun 6/26/2011 in the city of Geneva, NY, in the parking lot of my hotel. FGLK also has a wye, where NS turned the GEs (running elephant style) for the return trip to Gang Mills. I didn't stick around for that- although I could hear the horn blowing as the locomotives were turned. I also heard an FGLK local in the middle of the night.
I resumed chasing the next day. NS was long gone... but the Finger Lakes Railway had action going on at teh south end of Seneca Lake. There was MOW work, as well as local HW2.
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Photo taken by me Mon 6/27/2011 in the town of Watkins Glen, NY.
Monday of last week altogether a much better day weatherwise than Sunday, as we can see with FGLK #2307 running hammerhead with HW2 along the shore of Seneca Lake.
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Photo taken by me Mon 6/27/2011 in the town of Watkins Glen, NY.
FGLK local HW2 running on an ex-Pennsy line in the southern Finger Lakes.
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Photo taken by me Mon 6/27/2011 in the village of Watkins Glen, NY.
Yes, I can still watch a train crewman flag a crossing in upstate NY! ;D
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Photo taken by me Mon 6/27/2011 in the village of Watkins Glen, NY.
FGLK HW2 switching at Cargill's salt mine.
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Photo taken by me Mon 6/27/2011 in the village of Watkins Glen, NY.
After dropping the boxcar at Cargill, HW2 was finished in Watkins Glen for the day. the FGLK crew took the train back to the yard at Himrod. I caught it at the former Pennsy crossing at Route 14, after the train climbed a 1.1% grade north of Watkins Glen.
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Photo taken by me Mon 6/27/2011 in Starkey, NY. Please don't confuse this crossing with the NS crossing in Himrod (which a former NYC route).
The Finger Lakes Railway has two yards in Himrod- one that is at the junction where FGLK (ex-Pennsy) intersects with the NC (ex-NYC). The other yard is south of town and HW2 tied up here after finishing work for the day.
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Photo taken by me Mon 6/27/2011 in Himrod, NY. My chase ended here- I hope all of you enjoy viewing it as much as I enjoyed the chase itself.