Trackside Log for Friday, October 7, 2011

It was the beginning of the Thanksgiving Day long weekend in Canada. It was to be a beautiful weekend so I elected to take the Friday off. My chosen activity for a fantastic sunny day was to drive over the border and visit Westfield, New York and the former New York Central and Nickel Plate Road tracks. After a relatively straight forward border crossing my first stop was in Dunkirk to see if anything was around. What I found was a parked Union Pacific and a CSX train switching. The CSX train took off on me, but I was easily able to photograph the Union Pacific.

• 0855 Dunkirk, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 5309-CSXT 8073
• 0900 Dunkirk, NY - CSX power - UP 6950
  

A local was working the east end of the yard in Dunkirk, but I couldn't see it easily. With little other activity in town I made the short drive to my destination, Westfield. I grabbed a quick breakfast from McDonalds and headed for the little railfan park at North Gale Street. Then I waited. Nothing moved for over an hour but then it got busy.

• 1042 Westfield, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 5411-CSXT 477 (video)
  
• 1047 Westfield, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 4719-CSXT 4766-CSXT 7829
  
• 1056 Westfield, NY - CSX K385 west - CSXT 4827-CSXT 4789 (video)
  
• 1108 Westfield, NY - CSX Q380 east - CSXT 5361-CSXT 7578
  
• 1113 Westfield, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 5309-CSXT 8073
  

As quickly as the traffic picked up, so too did it taper off. It was another ¾ of an hour before the next train, a Norfolk Southern. It was 1½ hours for the next CSX train.

• 1156 Westfield, NY - NS 316 east - NS 9607-NS 8954
  
• 1242 Westfield, NY - CSX Q227 west - CSXT 8343-CSXT 8098 (video)
  
• 1308 Westfield, NY - NS 15M west - NS 9197-NS 6777-NS 6539
  
• 1316 Westfield, NY - North Gale Street crossing with numbered tracks
  
• 1322 Westfield, NY - NS 287 west - NS 9327
  
• 1336 Westfield, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 7684-CSXT 614
• 1337 Westfield, NY - NS 916 east (rail train) - NS 6112-NS 9428
  
• 1501 Westfield, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 5005-CSXT 8725
• 1520 Westfield, NY - NS 205 west - NS 9417-NS 9504
  
• 1525 Westfield, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 5470-CSXT 7511
• 1535 Westfield, NY - NS 309 west - NS 7586-NS 9030
  
• 1541 Westfield, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 8714-CSXT 5200
• 1550 Westfield, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 5347-CSXT 8541
• 1559 Westfield, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 4756-CSXT 4849-CSXT 696
  
• 1603 Westfield, NY - NS 14T east - NS 8887
• 1616 Westfield, NY - NS 22K east - BNSF 4740-NS 9918-NS 8416

Throughout the afternoon a series of locals arrived and kept the boredom away with some conversation. But the day was getting on so I bid them adieu and began the journey home. Along the way I made one last stop trackside in Brocton where I managed to see a few more trains.

• 1700 Brocton, NY - CSX eastbound - CSXT 5449-CSXT 7522
  
• 1710 Brocton, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 7318-CSXT 7596
  
• 1728 Brocton, NY - NS 206 east - NS 9913-NS 7547
• 1734 Brocton, NY - CSX westbound - CSXT 724-CSXT 7906-CSXT 7678
  

After the quick rush of trains things seemed to die down a bit again. This time I drove back to Interstate 90 and straight home. Other than a rather slow afternoon on CSX it was a great day with beautiful weather and more Norfolk Southern trains than I'm accustomed to.