Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Trackside Log for Tuesday, March 31, 2009

No sooner had I gotten home from work today when I heard train horns approaching. I grabbed my camera and dashed over to Farr Street to take a photograph across the field.
  • 1703 Fenwick - CP 427 north - CP 8790-CP 9573
I haven't had much luck seeing trains after work in a while, so this was nice to see. Soon after a light power northbound ran by but I didn't hear it in time to photograph it.
  • 1725 Fenwick - CP work 3097 north - CP 3097-CP 3042

So I waited to see if it would return from Smithville before it got dark.  It did.

  • 1845 Fenwick - CP work 3042 south - CP 3042-CP 3097

There wasn't a lot of light left, but certainly enough.  The train returned with a single pipe flat car.  Not bad for after work.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Trackside Log for Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Today was the day after Sam and I returned after our trip to the Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade. Our entire plan for the day was to relax which we mostly accomplished by playing Lego Batman on the Xbox 360. Very nice. The weather was quite nice so I turned the scanner on. Canadian Pacific held off running a train until late afternoon, but at least it was something.

  • 1643 Fenwick - CP 426 south - CP 8643-CP 8750-CP 3042

The 3042 was to be dropped off in Welland yard. A northbound was also soon to follow, but I decided to just listen to it pass behind my house.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Trackside Log for Monday, March 23, 2009

It was the Monday after the Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade and it was back to work for our hosts Ken and Kim and time for Sam and I to start our trek home. First we drove to Farnham, Quebec to see if anything was there. Farnham used to be home to a variety of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic power but in the last couple of years it has all been moved to other locations. Today the yard was void of locomotives so Sam and I continued on.

Our next destination was Rouses Point, New York. My GPS (nicknamed Flo) decided that the best way to get there was to cross the border at Alburg, Vermont. Now I've crossed the border between Canada and the United States over one hundred times from coast to coast and never had any significant problems. Today was the day. We were pulled into the office to fill out paper work and have the car submitted to a search. I have no idea what prompted this, but in the end nothing came of it. What a bother. Anyway, when we got to Rouses Point, New York Canadian Pacific train 252 south was just clearing customs. I think they took less time than we did.

  • 1328 Rouses Point, NY - CP 252 south - CP 8730-CP 8751

I decided to photograph the train again in Plattsburgh so Sam and I hit Interstate 87 and made our way to the rather amazing Delaware & Hudson station there. It wasn't long until train 252 arrived.

  • 1422 Plattsburgh, NY - CP 252 south - CP 8730-CP 8751 (photo)

I considered photographing it again, but it stopped to switch along the way so I went to Port Henry to find the former CP 1800 which is on display there.

  • 1600 Port Henry, NY - display at station - CP 1800 (photo)
To be honest I was getting a bit frustrated with the way things were going that day so Sam and I made the decision to blast back to my home for the night. The border crossing back into Canada at Fort Erie was a breeze by the way. Overall the long and winding road trip to this year's parade was good. The trains certainly weren't plentiful, but they were interesting. I normally capture the GPS data during trips like this. Click these words to see a map of our route.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Trackside Log for Friday, March 20, 2009

Sam and I awoke to a beautiful morning in Brunswick, Maine. After our complimentary breakfast we headed a few blocks to the junction of Guilford and the Maine Eastern, my first quarry for the day. There was nothing of interest there so we ventured east to Rockland whilst keeping an eye and ear out for anything in between. US 1 sort of follows the track, but we found nothing between. Upon arrival at the shops in Rockland we were rewarded with one of their FL9s and a snow plow. This is what I was hoping for.

  • 1003 Rockland, ME - Maine Eastern power - MERR 488 (photo)
  • 1005 Rockland, ME - Maine Eastern plow - ME 64525 (photo)

We then made our way down to the cement unloading facility on the coast and managed to locate a local switching cars.

  • 1018 Rockland, ME - Maine Eastern local - MERR 3573 (photo)

Sam wanted to get a photo of her by the ocean so we headed over to the local pier and took a couple pictures. After exploring a bit more we heard on the scanner that the local was switching so I returned to the unloading facility and caught the local leaving with a cut of concrete cars.

  • 1040 Rockland, ME - Maine Eastern westbound - MERR 3573

The rest of the day was filled with nice scenery and visits to railways with nothing to photograph. Nothing was left at the Belfast and Moosehead Lake in Belfast. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic offered nothing at either Bangor or Brownville Junction. We also dropped by the MMA shops in Derby. I could see a pair of ex-Canadian National SD40-2s off in the distance, but nothing to photograph there since everything was behind the shop buildings. It was interesting to see though.

That was about it for daylight so Sam and I drove straight on to our friends Ken and Kim's home in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec for the Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Trackside Log for Thursday, March 19, 2009

Sam and I awoke to what was looking to be a promising morning in Rutland, Vermont. After a quick breakfast at the Red Roof Inn we drove over to the Vermont Railway yard to see what was up. There were two sets of power around but the Providence & Worchester and Washington County pairing was hiding on us. However, the pair of former Helm Leasing engines was easily photographable.

Next we began our northerly trek through Vermont. First stop was White River Junction where we discovered a New England Central GP38-2 parked across from the Amtrak station.

  • 1020 White River Junction, VT - NECR power - NECR 3869 (photo 1, photo 2)

The sun was just starting to come out on the way to our next major stop, St. Johnsbury, Vermont. This is on the former Canadian Pacific (later Canadian-American) Lyndonville Subdivision. It's now operated by the Washington County Railroad, a member of the Vermont Rail System. Two locomotives were present with the crew chatting in front.

  • 1219 St. Johnsbury, VT - Washington County power - VTR 307 and GMRC 304 (photo)

We continued north to the junction at Newport, Vermont but aside from a variety of freight cars nothing else was present. We then turned southeast and drove to North Stratford, New Hampshire to check out the New Hampshire Central. Unfortunately the only locomotive around was comfortably parked inside the shed. Onward we trekked through Crawford Notch en route to North Conway and the Conway Scenic Railroad.

  • 1652 North Conway, NH - Conway Scenic power - BM 4268 (photo)
  • 1653 North Conway, NH - Conway Scenic power - CSRX 573 (photo)
  • 1654 North Conway, NH - Conway Scenic power - CSRX 23 (photo)
  • 1659 North Conway, NH - Conway Scenic power - CSRX 6505-CSRX 6516 (photo)

After photographing what I could we continued eastward to the St. Lawrence and Atlantic's shops in Lewiston Junction, Maine. It was getting pretty dark, but I managed to photograph two locomotives parked in front of the shops. Quite a few other engines were parked back by the shops.

  • 1851 Lewiston Junction, ME - St. Lawrence & Atlantic power - SLR 3008-LLPX 1505 (photo)
It was getting dark quickly so Sam and I bolted for what would be our overnight location, the Travellodge in Brunswick, Maine. Since it was the coast of Maine we had to have fish and found some good food at Joshua's Tavern.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Trackside Log for Wednesday, March 18, 2009

This was day one of our trip to Montreal for the 185th St. Patrick's Day Parade. Sam and I decided to take a few vacation days and make a trek out of it. Our route would take us through New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before arriving in Quebec. I picked Sam up from the train station in Aldershot. Before her GO train arrived I photographed a couple Canadian National trains.
  • 1207 Aldershot, ON - CN 435 west - CN 2518-CN 8006
  • 1224 Aldershot, ON - CN eastbound - CN 2688-CN 5251-IC 2710
The weather was starting to improve after the trains of course. But Sam's GO train arrived and we were off. As soon as we got to the border of New York the weather started getting dark and miserable. It didn't improve as we drove east. The first stop I wanted to make was at the Finger Lakes Railway. It was still dark, but I wanted to see what was going on anyway.
  • 1641 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway power - FGLK 2301 (photo 1, photo 2)
The lighting was really low and I was just able to manage a few slides. Since conditions didn't get any better Sam and I motored for Rutland, Vermont which was our overnight destination. Hopefully the next day would be better.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Trackside Log for Sunday, March 15, 2009

I spent the day at home but had the scanner on. Sundays are typically pretty quiet on the Canadian Pacific Hamilton Subdivision and today was no exception. However, train 426 did announce itself in Smithville so I drove over to Boyle for a photograph.

  • 1313 Boyle - CP 426 south - CP 8634-CP 8522

I took a couple slides and returned home. That's about as eventful as it got.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Trackside Log for Saturday, March 14, 2009

The weather was to be very nice today and I hadn't spent time on the CSX Buffalo Line around Angola, New York in quite a long time so I grabbed my gear and headed out at about 0730. After a relatively quick border crossing I made my way to Sturgeon Point Road. After a short couple of minutes I could see the headlights of a westbound ethanol train and hear the horns of an eastbound.
  • 0910 Angola, NY - CSX K655 west (ethanol) - BNSF 5856-BNSF 6094
  • 0912 Angola, NY - Amtrak 48 east "Lake Shore Limited" - AMTK 132-AMTK 104

Soon after Amtrak I could hear more horns approaching from the west on the Norfolk Southern tracks.

  • 0921 Angola, NY - NS eastbound - NS 9936-NS 2535

Then a foreman got on track one east of me to conduct a track inspection. Unfortunately that meant all trains were routed on track two for most of the morning.

  • 0926 Angola, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 5264
  • 1001 Angola, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 7926-CSXT 7359
  • 1010 Angola, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 5337-CSXT 7660
  • 1045 Angola, NY - CSX Q114 east - CSXT 5319-CSXT 5215
  • 1056 Angola, NY - CSX Q263 west - CSXT 7735-CSXT 8723
  • 1122 Angola, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 5428-CSXT 5467
  • 1128 Angola, NY - CSX westbound (Somerset coal) - CSXT 680-CSXT 274
  • 1243 Angola, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 7524-CSXT 9004
  • 1306 Angola, NY - CSX Q140 east - CSXT 5102-CSXT 5115
  • 1335 Angola, NY - CSX eastbound ethanol - CSXT 7348-CSXT 8666
  • 1346 Angola, NY - CSX eastbound light power - CSXT 7628-CSXT 2662
  • 1347 Angola , NY - NS eastbound intermodal - NS 2762-NS 2725
  • 1409 Angola, NY - CSX eastbound - UP 4621-CSXT 7512

I was getting rather tired of the eastbounds so I was delighted to see a westbound signal.

  • 1442 Angola, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 5460-CSXT 5242
  • 1509 Angola, NY - CSX westbound intermodal - CSXT 5415-CSXT 5317

Time was getting on and the lighting at Angola was degrading so I decided to call it a day. I couldn't stay much longer anyway because I was going to a Bulldogs hockey game at 1900.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Trackside Log for Thursday, March 5, 2009

I was home sick today which sucked. The day started out sunny but would Canadian Pacific run any trains? Of course not. In the afternoon it clouded up and that's when the first train of the day showed up. I was feeling up to a walk so I hiked down to the Foss Road crossing to see train 426.

  • 1553 Fenwick - CP 426 south - CP 9653-CP 9631

It was gloomy but at least I got to photograph something.