Trackside Log for Monday, November 27, 2006

Today was the last day of Marcus' and my trip around New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We started off by leaving the Best Western in Henrietta and driving straight to Lakeville, New York to catch the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville running. To date I'd never been able to photograph them operating. We arrived just in time to see them getting ready to take off for the day.

• 0815 Lakeville, NY - LAL northbound - LAL 420-LAL 425

We chased it ahead to Avon where it lifted a hopper from the siding…

• 0845 Avon, NY - LAL northbound - LAL 420-LAL 425

...reversed back onto its train…

• 0859 Avon, NY - LAL northbound - LAL 420-LAL 425

...and headed north again.

• 0905 Avon, NY - LAL northbound - LAL 420-LAL 425

We chased it ahead again where it was switching a grain elevator.

• 0926 North Avon, NY - LAL northbound - LAL 420-LAL 425

Next we chased it one more time. We arrived in North Rush where we discovered a small railroad museum we didn't know was there. It made a nice scene for the LAL train.

• 0941 North Rush, NY - LAL northbound - LAL 420-LAL 425

We then photographed some of the locomotives at the Rochester & Genessee Valley Railroad Museum.

• 0948 North Rush, NY - Rochester & Genessee Valley Railroad Museum power - LV 211, USAX 1843, Rochester & Genessee Valley 1654, Eastman Kodak 6

There were a variety of other engines there as well but they were unfortunately impossible to photograph. We called it quits for the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville and drove to the Finger Lakes Railway in the hopes of finding them running. No sooner had we arrived in Geneva, New York when we were stopped by crossing gates. Nice timing, eh! We waited for the train to pass and drove ahead of it.

• 1112 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway westbound - FGLK 2201-FGLK 1751

As luck would have it we were able to photograph the 2201 in its fresh Lehigh Valley paint. We proceeded to the Finger Lakes Railway shops to see what else we might find.

• 1127 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway power - FGLK 1801
• 1135 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway power - FGLK 2304
• 1151 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway power - FGLK 2301
• 1152 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway plow - FGLK 10

We were just about to leave Geneva for the CSX mainline when we noticed that engine 1751 was returning to the yard. We found an interesting place to photograph it.

• 1205 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway eastbound - FGLK 1751/FGLK 2201
• 1215 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway eastbound - FGLK 1751/FGLK 2201

The train was now operating in push/pull mode and stopped just short of the yard. Marcus asked the Finger Lakes engineer if they were waiting for a train. It turned out they were.

• 1236 Geneva, NY - NS southbound - NS 8452-NS 9438

Following the Norfolk Southern train the Finger Lakes train entered the yard.

• 1239 Geneva, NY - Finger Lakes Railway eastbound - FGLK 1751/FGLK 2201

We then concluded that we were done in Geneva and turned north toward the CSX's former New York Central mainline. After driving along the track we found an interesting location and waited for a while to see what might show up.

• 1341 Palmyra, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 4753-CSXT 4801-CSXT 4841
• 1349 Palmyra, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 5333-CSXT 5277-CSXT 621
• 1400 Palmyra, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 5348-CSXT 4721

We decided to start driving west toward home. We followed the tracks but didn't see much else. I'd photographed a location in Fairport, New York in May 1999 during the final days of Conrail. The location was an abandoned road bridge over both the mainline and the Erie Canal. I had previously learned that the bridge was replaced and the road reopened. I was curious to see what it looked like so we searched out the location. Our first train turned out to be the eastbound Maple Leaf.

• 1514 Fairport, NY - Amtrak 64 east - AMTK 187

The eastbound Maple Leaf met its westbound counterpart just west of town. We waited for the westbound to arrive but it had a red signal and stopped. Before long an eastbound autorack train arrived after which Amtrak departed.

• 1525 Fairport, NY - CSX Q268 east - GCFX 3078-CSXT 8532
• 1528 Fairport, NY - Amtrak 63 west - AMTK 90

It was starting to get pretty dark so Marcus and I put away the cameras and moved westward toward home. It had been a rather productive three days.