Trackside Log for Saturday, December 29, 2007

Marcus and I woke up and got on the road. Very close to the Courtyard hotel where we stayed is Duncansville, Pennsylvania where the Everett Railroad stores some of its equipment. We stopped by there to see what we could photograph.

• 0904 Duncansville, PA - Everett Railroad power - EV 1712-EV 1828 (photo 1, photo 2)
• 0910 Duncansville, PA - Everett Railroad power - EV 4 (photo)

Now we headed over to the Norfolk Southern. First stop was the Gallitzin tunnels. Soon after we arrived a westbound popped through the tunnel.

• 0937 Gallitzin, PA - NS westbound - NS 7611-NS 9835 (photo)

Marcus had never been to Horseshoe Curve before so we made the short drive and climbed the many stairs. Traffic seemed uncharacteristically quiet this day. Later we learned that Norfolk Southern had a derailment the day before. Six ethanol cars derailed west of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. That would explain it.

• 1000 Horseshoe Curve, PA - static display - PRR 7048 (photo)
• 1020 Horseshoe Curve, PA - NS westbound - NS 7618-NS 9402
• 1035 Horseshoe Curve, PA - NS 23Z west - NS 9453-NS 9836

Marcus and I wanted to check out some more locations so we headed over to Lilly to hopefully see a train or two. Fortunately intermodal trains were still running.

• 1143 Lilly, PA - NS 21A west - NS 7560-NS 9750
• 1232 Lilly, PA - NS 22Q east - NS 9443-BNSF 910 w/ helper NS 3343-NS 3349
• 1236 Lilly,PA - NS eastbound - NS 2775-BNSF 4765

I also wanted to show Marcus the railfan bridge in Cassandra so we popped over there.

• 1324 Cassandra, PA - NS helper eastbound - NS 3359-NS 3339 (photo)
• 1342 Cassandra, PA - NS helper westbound - NS 3350-NS 3337

You know it's a bad day at the tracks when all you see are helper sets running back and forth. Well, since not much was going on and it was only a two day trip, Marcus and I called it quits and drove back home. I hope the next time I go to Cresson will be more fruitful.

Trackside Log for Friday, December 28, 2007

Marcus and I got together during some vacation time over the holidays to take a quick trip down to the former Pennsylvania Railroad around Cresson, Pennsylvania. We took a railway highlight route down to Altoona where we were to stay the night. First stop was the gravel quarry north of Salamanca where a Buffalo & Pittsburgh GP9 is stationed.

• 1135 north of Salamanca, NY - Buffalo and Pittsburgh power - BPRR 203 (photo 1, photo 2)

Quite recently the Western New York and Pennsylvania had taken over a portion of the former PRR Buffalo Line between Olean, New York and Driftwood, Pennsylvania. We stopped off at Olean to see what was there and if they might be running the line.

• 1240 Olean, NY - Western New York and Pennsylvania power - WNYP 431 (photo 1, photo 2)
• 1242 Olean, NY - Western New York and Pennsylvania power - HLCX 7201-WNYP 430 (photo 1, photo 2)

Everything was parked and it didn't appear that they were heading out any time soon so we drove on down the Buffalo Line. In keating we encountered a pair of Norfolk Southern SD60Is still in Conrail paint on the R. J. Corman interchange in Keating, Pennsylvania.

• 1457 Keating, PA - R.J. Corman power - NS 6725-NS 6718 (photo 1, photo 2)

Continuing south we heard on the scanner that a northbound coal train was approaching. We quickly scoped out a decent location to photograph it.

• 1558 Hyner, PA - NS 631 north - NS 2582-NS 6648 (photo)

Once we got to Lock Haven we quickly discovered that the Nittany and Bald Eagle was not in town but a pair of Norfolk Southern engines were.

• 1630 Lock Haven, PA - NS power - NS 5101-NS 4620 (photo 1, photo 2)

It was getting pretty dark by now so Marcus and I drove straight to Altoona after a few photos.

Trackside Log for Saturday, December 8, 2007

Well I'd spent the morning photographing children sitting on Santa's lap at the agricultural hall in Binbrook. After that mayhem I needed some quiet time. Copetown and the Canadian National Dundas Subdivision fit the bill. I made the short drive and relaxed trackside to see what whould transpire. The first event was the arrival of train 148.

• 1230 Copetown - CN 148 east - CN 5704-CN 8005
• 1254 Copetown - Via 72 east - Via 901
• 1258 Copetown - Via 73 west - Via 6416
• 1309 Copetown - CN eastbound - CN 5791-CN 9416
• 1326 Copetown - CN westbound - CN 5769-CN 2638-CN 5263

The weather was starting to get rather cloudy so I decided to call it a day. I left to return to Binbrook since I'd be attending the Hamilton Bulldogs game that evening.