I grew up in the Southern Tier of upstate NY and still have family there... so I usually take my summer vacation there. Three days were spent trackside and/or on a train. Let's start with CP Cass. It's a former Erie/EL junction and one of my favorite spots to railfan.
When I arrived, the MOW crew was working on the tracks.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
A Jordan Spreader was also working on the tracks:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
This cherry picker was cleaning up loose rail:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
Around mid-day, the MOW was temporarily halted to let a pair of trains pass through the interlocking. The first train was an eastbound mixed freight:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
The leading SD60M, #6764, is on home rails... as she was built for Conrail.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
The trailing unit was one of several BNSF locomotives I saw that day.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
I caught the tail end of the eastbound mixed freight as I headed up to West Street... so I could set up for train #2.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
The westbound freight is 22K, a real hotshot that runs from Ayer, MA, to Chicago daily. It did pause briefly so the cherry picker could finish cleaning up the loose rail near the tracks.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
With the cherry picker out of the way, 22K headed through the interlocking at CP Cass:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
NS 9322, a GE C40-9W, was the first of 4 locomotives powering 23K. I liked the mix of wide cabs and standard cabs.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
NS symbol freight 23K crossing West Street:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
Both of the standard cab locomotives on 22K, including #8673, were GE C39-8Es:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
As we saw in a previous photo, 22K had auto racks up front. However, its special status as part of the Pan Am Southern operation guarantees most runs also have stacks and/or TOFC in the mix.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
After 22K passed, the MOW work continued in the Hornell-Canisteo area during the afternoon. With the Southern Tier Mainline effectively closed, it gave me a golden opportunity to scout out a new location to watch NS. I eventually settled on a crossing in thr Canisteo River valley which was just east of a passing siding. Sure enough, an eastbound NS freight entered the siding shortly after 5 PM... and then stopped.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
With the eastbound freight being halted, I figured a westbound freight had to be approaching. This guess was soon rewarded by the sound of a train rumbling through the Canisteo River valley. I was also lucky to be catching the freight at the west of end of Rattlesnake Curve as it came into view:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Hornell, NY.
Crossing Canisteo River Road:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
Rattlesnake Curve, which is to the east of the Canisteo River Road crossing, is well known to Erie, EL and CR fans.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
Given the time of day, I am assuming the westbound mixed freight was probably 12T.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
12T and the eastbound freight train meet at the passing siding.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
After 12T passed, the eastbound freight got under way again.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
The eastbound freight crosses Canisteo River Road:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
In contrast to the other trains I saw that day, the eastbound freight was led by an EMD- SD70M #2608.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
There were also two BNSF units on the eastbound NS freight:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
Since the tracks were closed during the afternoon, I figured the eastbound freight was probably 13T... the daily run between Bison Yard (Buffalo) and Allentown.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in West Cameron, NY.
After 13T passed, I decided to chase it east to Gang Mills. This was no easy task- sonce the Southenr Tier Mainline has a speed limit of 40-50mph and the Canisteo River Road has a speed limit varying between 45 and 55 mph. That said, I did catch up to the train about 1/2 way between West Cameron and Gang Mills:
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Rathbone, NY.
I managed to get ahead of 13T one more time and capture as it headed into the Gang Mills yard. With the sun sinking low in the sky by this point, I decided to call it day.
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Photo taken by me Friday 8/20/2010 in Rathbone, NY.
The following day, I rode the Tioga Central RR's dinner train... which operates just over the border in Pennsylvania. On this occasion, the train was led by RS3u #506.
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Photo taken by me Saturday 8/21/2010 in Middlebury Center, PA. The locomotive was built as D&H RS3 #4112 in the early '50s and remained in the D&H fleet during the Dereco years. She was later rebuilt as an RS3u in the mid '70s to handle the joint D&H/N&W Apollo/Mercury TOFC trains. The D&H eventually sent the other RS3us to the scrapper, but #506 was sold to the Tioga Central in 1988.
Two days after that, I chased the Wellsboro & Corning RR from northern Pennsylvania to Gang Mills (NY) and back again. Here are a pair of WCOR SD40-2s leading a train north on a rainy morning.
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Photo taken by me Monday 8/23/2010 in Lindley, NY. The Wellsboro & Corning shares the same ownership, tracks and locomotives with the Tioga Central. WCOR is a freight operation, while TIOC is a passneger operation.
I was unable to capture any shots of the Wellsboro & Corning RR interchanging with NS at Gang Mills as that takes place next to a river and a steep hill... but I did seet his freight heading out of the yard. Since it the consist was mostly tank cars, I'm guessing it was headed to Painted Post for interchange with the Bath & Hammondsport RR.
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Photo taken by me Monday 8/23/201o in Gang Mills, NY. I hope you have enjoyed this series. To view the source albums in full, go to:
1. http://s857.photobucket.com/albums/ab139/Erielackawanna/Hornell08202010/
2. http://s857.photobucket.com/albums/ab139/Erielackawanna/Steuben08202010/
3. http://s857.photobucket.com/albums/ab139/Erielackawanna/TIOC08212010/
4. http://s857.photobucket.com/albums/ab139/Erielackawanna/WCOR08232010/