T.G.'s Photography Blog

The Waning Crescent Moon phase is the phase of the Moon just before the New Moon. The current Waning Crescent phase began yesterday on September 28, 2021. It will continue until October 6, 2021, when the New Moon will occur.  The Waning Crescent Moon phase Waning Crescent Phase During the Waning Crescent Phase, the visible amount of the Moon's surface, from Earth, decreases from 49.9% to 0.1%. Today, according to timeanddate.com, approximately 44.6% of the Moon's surface is visible. Once the last sliver of the Waning Crescent Moon disappears, the New Moon will occur. The Waning Crescent Phase occurs after the Third Quarter Moon and Waning Gibbous Phase . Photograph taken at 09:28AM, on September 29, 2021, from Syracuse, NY.

 While driving south on highway, I spotted Empire Service train P284 head east past Destiny USA Mall. I decided to head over to CSX's DeWitt Yard to catch it after it departed the Syracuse train station. CSXT 3279 on the point of train Q017-28 DeWitt Yard was pretty busy upon arrival. The westbound signal for Track 2 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) at CP285 was green, so a westbound train was on its way. A few minutes later CSXT 3279 was leading train Q017-28 west through the yard, approaching CP285 at Bridge Street.  CSXT 3279 leading train Q017-28 at DeWitt Yard Q017 is a daily intermodal train that runs from Worcester, MA., to Bedford Park, IL. (near Chicago, IL.) CSXT 3279 was the lone unit on the front of the train. CSXT 3326 (no photo) was the mid-train distributed power unit (DPU). CSXT 3209 and CSXT 418 on Q009-27 While waiting for the Amtrak train to show up, Q009-27 was sitting at CP285 waiting to depart out of DeWitt Yard and head west for Bedford Park, I...

On a recent outing, we stopped by the Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct on the Erie Canal, in Camillus, New York. The aqueduct is the only one, of thirty-two aqueducts, to be fully restored and navigable.  Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct The Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct was built on what is know as the Enlarged Erie Canal, and it replaced an older aqueduct that was further downstream of its location. The aqueduct and this section of the Erie Canal were unused after the completion of the New York State Barge Canal, which was completed in 1918. Looking east from the parking area. The Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct was originally completed around 1841-1842. It was used for many years, until it was abandoned and dismantled. For years the canal here was mostly dry, and all that was left of the aqueduct were the stone supports. Looking east from the towpath, on the western side of the aqueduct. Eventually, interest in restoring the aqueduct and this section of the canal gained enough traction that a group of volu...

While out on a drive to see if the tree leaves had accelerated their fall color change, we heard the track detector at milepost QC323.6 of the Rochester Subdivision (Savannah, NY.) start talking for Amtrak's eastbound Lake Shore Limited. We therefore headed over to Pottery Road to wait for it.  CSX 3453 leading train Q363-21 First up was CSXT 3453  (a General Electric built ET44AH) leading train Q363-21 west on the Track 1 of the Rochester Subdivision at Pottery Road (MP QC297.76). Train Q363 is a daily manifest train that runs from Selkirk, NY., to Avon, IN. Below, the train is coming west around the curve just to the east of Pottery Road (milepost 297.76). CSXT 3453 leading Q363-21 This was a long train. The defect detector a few miles to the west of Pottery Road at milepost QC302.6 (Warners, NY) reported an axel count of 572. Subtracting twelve axles for the two locomotives (CSXT 3177 was the mid-train DPU) works out to 140 four-axle freight cars on this train. Below, the ...

While searching around on Google Maps, following the Finger Lakes Railroad (reporting mark: FGLK) mainline from Slovay, NY., I came across an old railroad station along the rail line at Martisco, NY.  New York Central Martisco Railroad Station Nestled among the trees, at the end of Martisco Road, is the old Martisco train station. The two-level, brick station was built in 1870, by the New York Central Railroad (NYC) to replace the original wooden built station, and sits a couple of miles north of Marcellus, NY. Martisco Station sits along the Finger Lakes Railway's mainline, which runs from Slovay, NY., to Canandaigua, NY. A trackside view of Martisco Station The station is owned and operated by the Central New York Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society  (CNYCNRHS). The station houses a museum as well as a library, featuring railroad related items and documents.  Looking southwest down the mainline According to the CNYCNRHS this rail line was part of the...

  While driving along Onondaga Lake, I spotted a stopped train sitting on CSX's St. Lawrence Subdivision. After confirming that the train to be heading southbound, I headed down to Destiny USA Mall, where the St. Lawrence Subdivision connects with the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. Train Q621 at CP291   Below, Q621, with CSXT 3115 on the point, is on the St. Lawrence Subdivision (SLS), just north of the wye at CP291. The wye connects the SLS (commonly called the Massena Line) with the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS). The SLS starts here at milepost (MP) QM2.0 and runs north to Massena, New York. CP291 sits at MP 291.5 of the STS. CSXT 3115 with Q621, waiting just north of CP291   From this vantage point the train is about 1,400 ft. (426 m.) away. This location worked out well because there is a railroad service road that runs mostly straight from my vantage point, helping to prevent any obstacles that might have interfered with the composition.    Below, th...

With rain falling in the Central New York area on Wednesday, my son wanted to go find some trains, so we headed out to see what we could find on CSX's Rochester Subdivision. Initially, we drove west to Memphis, NY. While driving there we heard on the scanner a train going through the defect detector there. The hot box detector at that location reported that the detector was malfunctioning. When we got to the Bennetts Corners Road crossing, which is just to the east of the detector, I spotted a CSX maintenance worker working on it.  AMTK 108 and AMTK 125 leading the Lake Shore Limited I decided to start working our way back east along the line, and when we crossed the bridge over the tracks at Warners, NY., I spotted a headlight in the distance, to the west of town. As we were driving east toward Pottery Road I heard the Memphis defect detector (mile post QC302.6) go off, reporting an axle count of 52. That told me that it was the Lake Shore Limited . We got to the Pottery Road cros...

 Back on August 29th, I caught the Waning Gibbous Moon in the late morning. This weekend, I was able to catch the Waxing Crescent Moon on the evening of Saturday, September 11, 2021. The Waxing Crescent Moon The Waning Gibbous Phase is when the amount of the Moon surface that is visible from Earth shrinks, ranging from 99.9% to 50.1%. The Waxing Crescent Moon is when the visible amount of the Moon's surface starts to grow, after the New Moon. The Waxing Crescent Moon's visible amount of surface ranges from 0.1% to 49.9%. The Waxing Crescent Moon Photograph taken on September 11, 2021 at 19:26 EST, from Syracuse, NY

Today I traveled west to Brutus, New York, along CSX's Rochester Subdivision. Brutus is the largest town in Cayuga County. On its east side, it borders Jordan, New York, in Onondaga County. The town of Weedsport, New York, is the largest village within the town of Brutus. Q162-13, with CSXT 3453 The first, and only, train I photographed today was train Q162-13, which was sitting just to the west of the Bonta Bridge Road crossing. Q162-13 had CSXT 3453 (a General Electric built ET44AH) as the only locomotive on the front of the train. The train did have CSXT 3283 serving as the distributed power (DP) unit  on the rear of the train. CSXT 3453 on the point of Q162-13 Q162-13 had been stopped to the west of CP308 (milepost QC308.7) to allow a number of trains to pass by it on Track 1, before it would cross over to Track 1 from Track 2 to proceed east. I believe Track 2 had a maintenance worker checking something near milepost 297.76 (Pottery Road) further east of here. A tighter shot o...

While passing over the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision near Destiny USA Mall, I saw the tail end of a manifest freight heading east. I decided to head over to DeWitt Yard to see if I could catch it there. I figured the chances were low at catching the train, since it had a big head start on me, but I tried anyway. Q364-12 at DeWitt Yard The train must have slowed to a crawl as it headed east from the Destiny USA Mall area because I managed, without speeding, to get to DeWitt Yard before the train showed up. The train turned out to be Q364-12, a daily manifest freight that travels from Avon, Indiana to Selkirk, New York. Below, the train is passing through CP285, on the western side of  DeWitt Yard .  Q364-12 passes the "Thank You Rail Roader's" sign at DeWitt Yard  Today, Q364 was running with four locomotives in a 4x0x0 configuration, and was hauling 117 cars. Locomotives, CSXT 5204, CSXT 829, CSXT 828, and CSXT 7774 were leading the train.  Photograph taken on S...

After visiting my kids favorite park in Minoa, NY., we decided to drive along Saintsville Road and see if we spotted any indication of a train. As luck would have it, we saw a manifest freight slowly departing DeWitt Yard. Q560-07 We quickly headed down Saintsville Road to Automatic 280 on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS). I like to incorporate the road here into my shots if I can, but after arriving at Auto 280 I began to wonder if the car driving east down the road would obstruct my composition. However, once again, luck was on my side and Q560-07 got to us first, as it rolled by on Track 2 of the STS. CSXT 778 and CSXT 5365 lead train Q560-07 eastbound along Saintsville Rd. Q560 is a manifest freight train that travels from Cincinnati, OH., to Selkirk, NY. Today, Q560-07 was running with the two locomotives, and sixty-seven freight cars.  Photograph taken on September 8, 2021, at Kirkville, NY.

 While standing out on my deck, I noticed the Moon was still high above Central New York, so I grabbed my camera and new telephoto lens to capture a photograph of it.  The Moon from Central New York, during the late morning I had recently picked up a new telephoto lens with a maximum focal length of 600mm, so I wanted to see what kind of detail I could see in the Moon with the lens. The image was taken with a  Canon EOS 6D, and is cropped a bit. I am pretty happy, though, with the level of detail I see in the photograph. Waning Gibbous Phase On this day, the Moon was still in the Waning Gibbous Phase, which occurs after a Full Moon. The last full Moon had occurred on August 22, 2021. The phase lasts for about a week, with the amount of the Moon made visible by the sun decreasing each day. On August 30th, the Moon would enter the Third Quarter Phase. According to Timeanddate.com, the visible portion of the Moon during the Waning Gibbous Phase decreases from 99.9% to 50.1%...

 After taking the kids to Lewis Park in Minoa, NY., we decided to head over to Kirkville, NY., to catch Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, with AMTK 108 leading the train. We got lucky, and also caught a CSX manifest freight leaving DeWitt Yard. Auto 280/CP 280 on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision Looking east toward Auto 280 and CP280, while being eaten alive by mosquitos. After finding a nice spot next to the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS), along Saintsville Road, at Town Isle Road, and getting attacked by New York's native "bird", the mosquito, we had to move east a bit more. After driving east, a short distance, we found another nice place to pull off of the road at the Auto 280 and CP 280 block signals (located at milepost (MP) QC280.5). Thankfully, there were no mosquitos at this spot. CP280 on the Syracuse Terminal Sub., along Saintsville Rd. The STS has three tracks at this location. Track 2 is closest to the road, then Track 1 in the middle, and Track 4 is th...

  CSXT 482 leads manifest train Q364-31 east through Auto 280, next to CP280. CSXT 482 leads train Q364-31 east on Track 1 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. Q364-31 is passing between the block signals of Auto 280. Auto 280 sits next to CP280 (milepost (MP) QC280.5), along Saintsville Road. The train is approaching the North Kirkville Road crossing. Train Q364 is a daily manifest freight train that runs from Avon, Indiana, to Selkirk, New York. Today the train had an axle count of 630, giving it a car count of 153, plus the three locomotives. The train was running with its locomotive power in a 3x0x0 configuration. Q364-31passed through Fairport, NY., very early on the morning of September 1, 2021, at 2:50AM. It spent quite a bit of time in Syracuse before departing today because Fairport is just over an hour away from the Syracuse area. Syracuse Terminal Subdivision The Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) is three main tracks here. The closest track is Track 4, which leads in...