Trackside Log for Sunday, April 15, 2012

This morning I awoke to my last day in Cresson, Pennsylvania. I got up, collected my belongings and had breakfast at The Station Inn before heading out to see what the railways would present before my camera. As we were finishing breakfast an eastbound came to a stop in front of the inn. I went to the viewing platform in time to see a helper set pass it on track two.

• 0826 Cresson, PA - NS helper east - NS 6303-NS 6323
  

Then the helper set switched to track three before backing onto the front of the eastbound freight.

• 0833 Cresson, PA - NS helper east (reversing) - NS 6303-NS 6323
  

After a considerable wait the eastbound departed with its additional power whilst a westbound arrived.

• 0904 Cresson, PA - NS eastbound - NS 6303-NS 6323-NS 9465-NS 8409-NS 9659 w/ helper NS 6324-NS 6320
  
• 0914 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 7708-NS 9007-NS 7693
  

Next the Pennsylvanian crept into town faced with a stop signal while a westbound approached on track three.

• 0931 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 9292-NS 2616 w/ helper NS 6308-NS 6307-NS 6310-NS 6322
  
• 0932 Cresson, PA - Amtrak 42 east - AMTK 9
  

It took about 15 minutes before train 42 was presented a green signal. I waited around a while longer but nothing else showed up. Since the weather wasn't the best I decided to start my way back home. Naturally, a westbound came around the bend just as I was leaving.

I took the scenic route north following R.J. Corman tracks past the coal loadouts in Fallentimber and Mahaffey before heading to the Buffalo & Pittsburgh starting at Riker Yard. I didn't find anything to photograph until Salamanca where train SIJB was parked in front of the old Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh station.

• 1355 Salamanca, NY - BPRR SIJB south - BPRR 3330-BPRR 3333-OHCR 3328-BPRR 1512
  

After a number of photographs I continued heading north. The weather was rather wet for most of the rest of my trek to the border so I simply drove home. Overall it was a rather productive weekend for photography. More important though, I had a nice relaxing three days.

Trackside Log for Saturday, April 14, 2012

This morning I awoke to the sounds of R.J. Corman SD40-2s lifting an empty coal train out of Cresson. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to get outside before they left town. But after getting dressed I headed to the viewing platform to see what trains would roll through Cresson before breakfast at The Station Inn.

• 0733 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 9943-NS 9774-NS 9872
  
• 0736 Cresson, PA - NS 534 east - NS 6742-NS 6721-NS 6735 w/ helper NS 6326-NS 6314
  
• 0746 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 2683-NS 9489
  

Next I noticed a westbound helper set approaching the switch to the maintenance facility. I walked a bit west to photograph its entrance.

• 0758 Cresson, PA - NS helper west - NS 6329-NS 6328
  
• 0814 Cresson, PA - NS helper west - NS 6323-NS 6303
  
• 0823 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 6726-NS 6720
  

Just before it was time for breakfast a group of five SD80MACs was preparing to leave the maintenance facility. They pulled up in front of The Station Inn for a photograph.

• 0825 Cresson, PA - NS light power - NS 7211-NS 7210-NS 7215-NS 7208-NS 7209
  

At that point I had photographed 15 of the 17 total SD80MACs on Norfolk Southern's roster. Only 7206 and 7216 eluded me.

After a fine breakfast at The Station Inn I decided to head west. Things had quieted down quite a bit and I found myself at Portage waiting for something to happen. Eventually a couple freights arrived.

• 1037 Portage, PA - NS westbound - NS 6719-NS 6729-NS 6717
  
• 1040 Portage, PA - NS eastbound - NS 9637-NS 6782-NS 6628-NS 8842 w/ helper NS 6324-NS 6320
  

It was still rather slow on the Pittsburgh Line so I decided to explore a bit. I wound up in Summerhill where I waited for a while but the only thing moving was an oriole. Of course, as soon as I got in my car to scout a new location the quintet of SD80MACs from the morning rolled by in front of me. Now it was joined by a pair of Dash-9s on the back. I decided it would be a nice time to head to Cassandra for a while. Hopefully traffic would pick up when I got there.

• 1139 Cassandra, PA - NS westbound - NS 6314-NS 6326-NS 6806-NS 9615
  
• 1144 Cassandra, PA - NS eastbound - NS 9803-NS 9763-NS 9291-NS 2684-NS 6613
  
• 1150 Cassandra, PA - NS westbound - NS 9785-NS 2744
  
• 1158 Cassandra, PA - NS helper west - NS 6321-NS 6325
  
• 1201 Cassandra, PA - NS eastbound - NS 9830-NS 9707-NS 9851
  
• 1229 Cassandra, PA - NS helper east - NS 6304-NS 6319
  
• 1252 Cassandra, PA - NS helper west - NS 6313-NS 6306
  
• 1319 Cassandra, PA - NS eastbound - NS 7638-NS 8911 w/ helper NS 6315-NS 6312-NS 6303-NS 6323
  
• 1328 Cassandra, PA - NS eastbound - NS 9453-NS 2720-NS 6795
  
• 1342 Cassandra, PA - NS eastbound - NS 9435-NS 8384-NS 9366
  
• 1426 Cassandra, PA - NS eastbound - NS 9204-NS 2749 w/ helper NS 6325-NS 6321-NS 6326-NS 6314
  
• 1440 Cassandra, PA - NS westbound - NS 9478-NS 2523-NS 9222
  
• 1445 Cassandra, PA - NS 10N east - NS 8403-NS 8768-NS 9004
  

After the eastbound passed by we heard an R.J. Corman train talking to the Norfolk Southern dispatcher. I headed over to Cresson to attempt a photograph of them coming in. Well, I was a bit late for that, but I managed to photograph them parked by the maintenance facility.

• 1537 Cresson, PA - R.J. Corman power - RJCP 7084-RJCP 7097
  
• 1549 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 9485-NS 9155-NS 9389
  
• 1603 Cresson, PA - NS eastbound - NS 9224-NS 7670
  

Now that it was starting to rain, I took the opportunity to relax on the patio of The Station Inn and watch the freight instead.

• 1610 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 9612-NS 9589
• 1650 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 7692-NS 2742

And of course the rain meant that the second half of the R.J. Corman coal train arrived at Cresson. I braved the drizzle for the quartet of red locomotives.

• 1700 Cresson, PA - R.J. Corman westbound - RJCP 7095-RJCP 7117-RJCP 3478-RJCP 8861
  
• 1706 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 7707-NS 8900 w/ helper NS 6312-NS 6315
• 1721 Cresson, PA - NS westbound - NS 9967-NS 8942-NS 2710

After a quick bite to eat, and a few missed trains, I was back in my room (the Western Maryland room) looking out over the Norfolk Southern tracks.

• 1858 Cresson, PA - NS eastbound ethanol - NS 6328-NS 6329-NS 8420-NS 6746-NS 9954 w/ helper NS 6315-NS 6312
• 1937 Cresson, PA - NS helper east - NS 6306-NS 6313

At that point it was getting too dark to see. All in all, a rather productive day.