Easter Weekend in the Finger Lakes

[Matt L]

Aaahhh... Easter Weekend. It's a wonderful time to spend with family and friends in the part of upstate NY where I grew up. A 3 day weekend is also a prefectly good excuse to be trackside.

Day #1 was spent at CP Cass on the Southern Tier Mainline. 13T arrived around mid-morning.



This is the tail end of the train clearing Cass Street.





38T arrived later in the morning. The big red barns were supplied by Canadian Pacific, as this train is joint NS/CP operation between Toronto (ON) and Binghamton (NY).



The consist rumbles across Cass Street:





Eastbound symbol freight 206 arrived in the early afternoon:



The tail end of 206 clears the signals east of Cass Street:





True to form, NS supplied me with one final train less than 15 minutes before I planned to leave in the late afternoon. To quote Hannibal, I love it when a plan comes together... and 13T arrives at the interlocking in the nick of time.



13T heads up the old Erie Buffalo Division, ending my first day.




All photos in this post taken by me Satruday 4/72012 in Hornell, NY.  

[Matt L]

Day #2 was Easter. Most of the day was spent with family (and I really do enjoy it), but I managed to get about 90 minutes by Southern Tier Mainline.

The yard at Gang Mills was quiet, but I did catch a few vintage EMDs like #3046:



I can only hope to catch this pair of SD40-2s powering H06 when I chase that local through the heart of the Finger Lakes in June. On this occasion, they were idling.



Both photos taken by me Sunday 4/8/2012 in Gang Mills, NY.



12T made an appearance around mid-afternoon. I can remember seeing Erie Lackawanna trains at this crossing back in my youth.



12T heads west, bound for Gang Mills and eventually Buffalo.



Both photos taken by me Sunday 4/8/2012 at Hammond Street in Big Flats, NY.

[Matt L]

Day #3 didn't exactly go according to plan, but my improvisation skills paid off.

I paid a visit to the Bath & Hammondsport RR, but they were not running any trains that day. I did capture B&H #4 (nee NKP 85) in the main yard.



Photo taken by me Monday 4/9/2012 in Cohocton, NY.


After weighing my options, I headed off to chase the Finger Lakes Railway. This meant one more look at Norfolk Southern along the way, which is expanding the Baker Street yard due to a surge in local traffic, mostly related to gas drilling.



Photo taken by me Monday 4/9/2012 in Corning, NY. This yard is part of the Corning Secondary, which was NYC's Corning Branch.



The Finger Lakes Railway was running their local HW2. This train is a regular sight on Mondays and Fridays.

 

Photo taken by me Monday 4/9/2012 in Watkins Glen, NY.


After picking up loads of salt from US Salt and Cargill along the shore of Seneca Lake, HW2 grinds up hill on a 1% grade.



Photo taken by me Monday 4/9/2012 at Argetsinger Road in Reading, NY.


My 3 days of chasing ended with watching HW2 shuffling cars at the transfer yard on their Watkins Glen Division. Another Finger Lakes Railway local (HW1?) will take the cars north to Geneva for interchange with Norfolk Southern on the Corning Secondary.



Photo taken by me Monday 4/9/2012 in Himrod, NY.