Priority intermodal train Q004-18 with CSXT 3402 and CSXT 713

To Pottery Road We Go

Over the last 48 hours, Central New York has received 4-6 inches of rain, leading to lots of flooding across the region. With no reports of flooded roads in my immediate area  I decided to venture out and try to catch a train on CSX's Rochester Subdivision. With kids in tow, we headed quickly over to Pottery Road. On our way to where Pottery Road crosses the Rochester Subdivision, the rain actually stopped for a short amount of time. However, shortly after arriving at the crossing, the rain started again. Oh, well.

CSX Q004-18

With the rain starting to pick up, I spotted the headlight of Q004-18 a couple of miles away. Q004 is a priority intermodal train that CSX operates daily from Bedford Park, Illinois, to South Kearny, New Jersey. Normally, Q004 would be hustling across the Rochester Subdivision, but due to the heavy rain falling for the last few days across the region a lot of slow orders had been issued. It took Q004-18 about an hour and a half to get to Warners, NY., from Fairport, NY.

In the first photograph, above, the train is passing the block signals, which are about a mile west of the crossing. On the left side of the photograph is one of the old New York Central mile markers. This one is for mile 298, and they count the distance from New York City.

Moving along at a slow pace, CSXT 3402 and CSXT 713 start to lean into the curve at Pottery Road. CSXT 3402 is a General Electric (GE) ET44AH and CSXT 713 is a GE ES44AC-H.

With 144 cars, plus CSXT 3417 working as a mid-train DPU (it's tucked away in this photo, twelve cars back), Q004-18 was a long train, stretching between 1.5 and 2 miles in length.

Photographs taken on August 19, 2021, at Warners, NY.