East Trip - June & July 2010

These are from my trip to western New York and elsewhere chasing trains and being a tourist. These are a few of the train photos made on that trip.

June 18 - July 5, 2010; Trip Train Photos

Saturday June 19, 2010: Saturday June 19 was the first day chasing trains. In the morning of this day I went to Niagara Falls and explored Buffalo. After that I sought trains and ended up in Depew, NY and met some local railfans including Rob Ball who gave me some great tips on local foaming. To see more train photos from this day click here.

Sunday June 20, 2010: Sunday June 20 I spent a lot of time on the Tifft Street bridge. The volume of trains was huge. Three railroads run under the bridge including the Buffalo and Pittsburg, CSX and NS. I followed an ethanol train back to Depew and finished the afternoon shooting more here. To see more train photos from this day click here.

Monday June 21, 2010: Monday June 21 was kind of a bust in some respects. I had information that the Falls Road Railroad was running MWF, but the information was wrong. I went to Lockport and found the Falls Road Railroad was not running, I was told they were running Tuesday & Friday, but the Genesee Valley Transportation in not too nearby Batavia, NY was running. So, I followed the Erie Canal to Medina, then drove southeast to Batavia, where I got an Genesee Valley Transportation S6 working and some CSX action. Then I followed the CSX to Rochester where I got some action over the Genesee River Falls. Then I headed east to be in a good location to get the Ontario Midland on Tuesday. To see more photos from this day click here.

Tuesday June 22, 2010: Tuesday June 22 was a really good day. As far as train action was concerned, the Ontario Midland was a bust. But, there I found out about the Finger Lakes Railroad. The Finger Lakes RR uses a collection of U boats, B boats and a few GP's to do its business. They were very friendly and I had a great day! At the end of that day, I drove to Scranton. To see more photos from this day click here.

Wednesday June 23, 2010: Likely the best day of the trip, train wise. The NRHS convention happened to be going on this week. As soon as I went to the Scranton Parking Lot I met Steve Barry. A grain train with six ALCOs on the point was coming together and Steve gave me more pointers. I shot the train leaving Scranton then highballed to Moscow, PA. I got the train there in good light and then went to Tobyhanna for more great shots. An ex-SP RS32 was in the front! After that I went to Honesdale and photographed a returning excursion train with a BL2 on the point. After taking many photos of that my next stop was Scranton again. I took more photos at the museum area then shot locos around the D-L shops. To see more photos from this day click here.

Thursday June 24, 2010: Thursday I left Pennsylvania. In the morning I went to Moscow, PA again and shot the Pocono Express, an NRHS special powered by three RS3's. I also met Alex Mayes, his wife Teresa and CSX engineer Dale Diacont. After that, rather than chase it (which I should have) I shifted gears and prepared for my trip to New York. I was leaving the post office in Moscow when I saw another Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad grain train go by. I chased it to Tobyhanna where I was rewarded by an hour or so of watching and photographing the same six unit Alco set as before switching out cars. It was a definitely non-Tier II compliant event!

After that I went back to Scranton to shoot the deadline and other Alcos at the D-L shops. Then I headed to Rochester, the only other train I photographed was a Norfolk Southern train at Bevier St Yard in Binghamton, New York. To see more photos from this day click here.

Friday June 25, 2010: Friday was a frustrating day for chasing trains. I did a lot of driving and have little to show for it.

I had been told the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad (LAL) city train left Lakeville, NY (did you know there are three Lakeville, New Yorks?) for Genessee Junction On MWF at eight. I made it to a photo location outside of town at 7:30. I waited until around nine before deciding in my mind the train had left early and beat me out of town. That's what I thought.

I made the long drive to Genessee Junction and waited and waited. I had my iPad so I posted a what's up with this to an LAL newsgroup and eventually got a reply, the LAL did not run a city train that day!

I drove back to Lakeville and went to the shops and asked permission to take pictures, what do you know? They were very nice and I got it! That's how I got these photos.

Then, I decided to make a mad dog rush across New York to catch the Friday Falls Road Railroad train in Medina, NY. So, I had lunch, then drove through LeRoy and Batavia to Medina. No train.

So, I went into the RR museum there and asked, what's up with this? The reply, they ran Thursday this week rather than Friday. That's it, I decided. I switched to tourist mode. I did not do any more train chasing in New York after that. To see more photos from this day click here.

Thursday, July 1, 2010: The days before this were spent with my wife and friends visiting and doing the tourist thing. (See Related Links below.) On July 1st I got several hours on my own in St. Albans, VT. So I went to check out the RailAmerica Owned New England Central. I was pleased to find a rebuilt chop nosed cadillac being used in the yard. To see more photos from this day click here.