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.

Trackside Log for Friday, April 13, 2012

I decided a couple weeks ago that it would be nice to take this day off and make a long weekend of it to head down to Cresson, Pennsylvania. Having two long weekends in a row is rather nice. So, having left Missy at my sister's house the night before, I set off nice and early for the border. My plan was to follow the Buffalo & Pittsburgh to Salamanca, New York and then the Western New York & Pennsylvania to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. I spent the entire morning driving without seeing any rail traffic. The first encounter with a train was at almost noon in Renovo, Pennsylvania.

• 1158 Renovo, PA - NS H4W north - NS 2740-NS 6803
  

When I got into Renovo proper I discovered a Trackmobile shunting cars for McKees Rocks Company.

• 1203 Renovo, PA - McKees Rocks Company switcher (Trackmobile)
  

When I arrived at Lock Haven I passed by the Norfolk Southern yard to see if anything was happening. A variety of NS and Nittany & Bald Eagle power was on hand but not really photographable. I resumed my trek toward Cresson.

After checking into The Station Inn I made my way to Gallitzin since the light was quite nice for photographing westbound exiting the tunnel. I didn't have to wait long for one.

• 1550 Gallitzin, PA - NS westbound - NS 6786-NS 9015
  

Just after the train had passed by I heard a crew talking to the Norfolk Southern dispatcher. A large light power move was about to depart Cresson. I decided the place to be to photograph it was probably Lilly.

• 1621 Lilly, PA - NS westbound light power - NS 7203-NS 7202-NS 7214-NS 7205-NS 7207-NS 7212-NS 7204-NS 7201-NS 7200-NS 7213
  

That consist was made up of over half of Norfolk Southern's roster of SD80MACs. They only have 17.

I decided to hang out on the Over Bridge Street bridge for a while to see what traffic might be in the area.

• 1628 Lilly, PA - NS westbound helper - NS 6300-NS 6318
  
• 1637 Lilly, PA - NS eastbound helper - NS 6322-NS 6310
  
• 1653 Lilly, PA - NS westbound - NS 9363-NS 9719-NS 9859
  
• 1657 Lilly, PA - NS eastbound - NS 9361-NS 9733
  

The shadows were starting to creep in and I was getting a bit hungry so I drove back to The Station Inn for the evening. After stowing my gear in my room and a supper at the Cresson Springs Family Restaurant I decided to relax on the porch of the inn for a while.

Trackside Log for Saturday, April 7, 2012

This morning was again resplendent under its bright blue skies. When I awoke I turned on the scanner and in short order heard train 246 reporting the south siding switch Smithville returned to normal position. I headed over to Chantler Road for a photograph.

• 0833 Fenwick - CP 246 south - CP 8814-CP 8798-CP 5928
  

I photographed the two ES44ACs on train 255 a day earlier but now they were joined by an SD40-2.

Trackside Log for Friday, April 6, 2012

When I awoke this Good Friday morning I turned on the scanner to see if Canadian Pacific would produce any traffic for the holiday. It wasn't long until I heard train 255 asking the dispatcher where train 246 was. I was going to be seeing a pair of trains. When the dispatcher responded that 246 was going to be departing Kinnear Yard in ten minutes I decided to seek out a different location to the north for a photograph. I settled on St. Ann's Road in St. Ann's.

• 0828 St. Ann's - CP 246 south - CP 8952-CP 9776
  

Knowing that train 255 was waiting in Welland Yard for 246 I drove to the bridge over the Welland River to photograph the northbound.

• 0916 Fenwick - CP 255 north - CP 8814-CP 8798
  

After a surprisingly productive morning I returned home to relax. I didn't get much relaxation time before I heard the dispatcher talking to a rail grinding train at Vinemount. Once it activated the defect detector at mile 27.8 I headed over to Chantler Road for a photograph.

• 1044 Fenwick - CP rail grinder south - RG 404 (LMIX 3404)
  

The Hamilton Subdivision was remarkably busy for a holiday Friday.

Trackside Log for Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Today I was returning to the Jarvis area after an appointment in Hamilton. I decided to swing by the Southern Ontario Railway's facilities in Hagersville to see if anything was going on. There wasn't any activity but one of the GP20Ds was parked on a stub that used to be an interchange track with the Canada Southern Main Line.

• 1008 Hagersville - SOR power - CEFX 2015
  
• 1008 Hagersville - SOR maintenance of way - OWS no#
  

I also swung by their yard in Garnet to see if train 596 was there. As is common, it was. This time it was parked on the yard lead with no freight on the main line.

• 1026 Garnet - SOR 596 south - CEFX 2006-CEFX 2014
  

Then it was back to work.

Trackside Log for Thursday, March 29, 2012

On my way to work this morning I decided to drive past the Southern Ontario Railway's yard in Garnet. Train 596 was parked right at the 8th Concession crossing so I stopped to take a photograph.

• 0846 Garnet - SOR 596 south - RLK 4057-CEFX 2006-CEFX 2014
  

Trackside Log for Monday, March 26, 2012

You can tell the days are getting longer when you have nice light for a photograph after getting home from work. Daylight savings time helps too. Tonight I heard the horns of a Canadian Pacific loaded ethanol train approaching town. I dashed out to River Road for a photograph.

• 1759 Fenwick - CP 640 south - CP 8889-CSXT 621
  

Train 640 has replaced train 626. Likewise, train 641 has replaced train 627. It's also been a while since a CSX locomotive ran through on one of the ethanol trains.

Trackside Log for Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Today I was at home with Missy relaxing to some music and playing euchre. Well, I was playing euchre. Missy was napping nearby. Anyway, I had the scanner turned on and at about 1100 I heard train 255 obtain a clearance out of Welland Yard. By this time the sun had shown itself so I took Missy over to Hewitt Road for a photograph.

• 1138 Welland - CP 255 north - CP 8952-CP 8600
  

Then we went back home to enjoy the spring-like day.

Trackside Log for Sunday, March 11, 2012

It was a very pleasant day in Niagara. I missed train 255 this morning while sleeping in after the missed hour due to changing the clock for daylight savings time. However I left the scanner on and heard a southbound in the afternoon.

• 1504 Fenwick - CP 246 south - CP 9648-CP 9563
  

I included the photograph of the trailing AC4400CW because I found the spray paint enhanced number on the cab to be quite amusing.

Trackside Log for Saturday, March 10, 2012

When I got up this morning I turned on the scanner to listen for any activity on the Canadian Pacific Hamilton Subdivision. It wasn't long before I heard train 255 alert the dispatcher to their departure from Buffalo, New York. A while later, just as the train was approaching the junction between the Canadian National Stamford Subdivision and the Hamilton Subdivision I heard a southbound report the Smithville mile board. I decided to take Missy over to Boyle for a photograph across the fields of corn stover.

• 1015 Boyle - CP 246 south - CP 9640-CP 9657
  

Now that I knew the two trains would be meeting at the north siding switch in Welland, I headed there for a look at train 255. First I took a photograph of the two meeting.

• 1032 Welland - CP 246 south - CP 9640-CP 9657
  
• 1038 Welland - CP 255 north - CP 8646-CP 8534-CITX 3170-SOO 6026
  

After a brief chat with a fellow railfan at Hewitt Road Missy and I returned home.