38T stranded at CP Attica

[Matt L]

Last Saturday proved to be an interesting chase day with NS. It seemed to start normally enough, with westbound 309 arriving at CP Linden around mid-morning. However, the manifest freight entered Track 1 (right) at the interlocking instead of Track 2 (left) as westbound trains normally do here. 







Both photos in this post were taken by me the Molasses Hill Raod crossing in linden, NY on Sat 10/20/2012.

[Matt L]

Mind you, the Southern Tier Mainline in western NY sees about 12-16 trains per day... but this day was quiet even by those standards. The next train was eastbound 13T, which crossed Spring Road in the early afternoon. There was also a Geep in the power mix, which is not very common for the big manifest freights which have to tackle the grade at Attica Hill.











All photos in this post were taken by me Sat 10/20/2012 in Alexander, NY.  

[Matt L]

After 13T passed, a couple of railfans (whom I'd never met before) let me listen to their scanner... because 38T was stranded at CP Attica. i had been wondering where that joint NS/CP train was, since it normally makes the American leg of its trek during the morning or early afternoon.

I found 38T sitting near the Route 238 crossing, with just one locomotive. The crew was waiting for another locomotive, probably because this engine couldn't tackle the grade at Attica Hill alone.  BTW, the double track (albeit a siding) and old telegraph poles gave this location a familiar Erie Lackawanna feel.



The other locomotive had been set out because a problem forced the train to go into emergency near CP Attica.



This is CP Attica, which is next to the old Erie RR station used by NS for MOW. The tail end of 38T is in the background.



All photos in this post were taken by me Sat 10/20/2012 in Attica, NY. There was no sign of a relief locomotive coming from Bison Yard (or Gang Mills) in the near future. Nor was there any other traffic on this end of the Tier, so I didn't stick around for long. Oh well, it was  an interesting day anyway... thanks to a couple of kind strangers who kept me in the loop.