T.G.'s Photography Blog

 With some snow still on the ground, I decided to head out a catch a few trains before the great thaw occurs over the next few days. For the first time in almost a month, our temps are supposed to get above freezing for a few days, plus some rain on Wednesday.  CSXT 7252 and CSXT 4535 leading I004 I heard I004-30 (the 30 represents the day the train originated on) calling out block signal indications as it made its way east along the Rochester Subdivision. The train was rolling east at a speed of between 50 to 55 MPH, according to the defect detectors along the line. I caught the train as it headed east at milepost 298 . This view is looking north from Warners Road, as I004-30 rolls east, just west of Pottery Road. I004 is a daily priority intermodal train that originates at Bedford Park, Illinois, near Chicago, Illinois, and runs to South Kearny, New Jersey. Between Bedford Park and South Kearny, the train passes through Garrett, Indiana, Deschler, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, Buf...

Back in 2008, I caught Union Pacific (UP) 6720 and UP 6726, both ex-Chicago and Northwestern (CNW) locomotives, leading a loaded coal train south through Valley Junction in East St. Louis, Illinois . The train was making its way toward UP's Chester Subdivision, which starts on the southern edge of the junction . At this point the majority of the train is still coming down off of the east approach from the MacArthur Bridge . The MacArthur Bridge crosses the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois.  The junction/interlocking is controlled by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA). UP 6720 and UP 6726 lead a loaded coal train at Valley Junction. These locomotives are painted in CNW's Operation Lifesaver (OL) paint scheme. While the two locomotives still retained their CNW OL paint scheme, they had been patched as UP locomotives. You can see under the cab's side windows the new UP markings and locomotive numbers. A patched loc...

 With a forest behind my house, I see quite a bit of wildlife from time to time . In addition to the wildlife there are a couple of cats in the neighborhood that like to sit at the edge of my backyard and the forest, and hunt for food. Earlier this month I looked out my kitchen window and saw one of the two regular cats sitting on a tree stump watching the forest, presumably for lunch. A cat sitting on a tree stump at the edge of the forest. Photograph taken on January 13, 2022, near Syracuse, New York.

With a very low chance of snow forecasted yesterday, I headed out to run some errands. While driving to the grocery store the youngest fell asleep in the car. Not wanting to disturb the nap, I made a detour over to Memphis, New York, along CSX's Rochester Subdivision. As seems to be the case lately, the forecast proved to be wrong.  No snow at Memphis? I arrived at Memphis, NY., and snow started to fall heavily . Apparently, the weather did not get the memo about the low chance of snow and no snow accumulation for the day. I am starting to think I should just disregard the weather forecast and assume there will be snow fall every day. In total, between yesterday and last night, my area got about 3-4 inches of fluffy lake-effect snow, on top of what we already had. Snow falls on the Rochester Subdivision, at Memphis, NY. AMTK 96 leading the Lake Shore Limited I heard the Lake Shore Limited making its way east over the Rochester Subdivision on Track 2 as it passed over the defect de...

With snow on the ground, BNSF 6385 (still in Burlington Northern Cascade Green), BNSF 518, BNSF 101 (still in the Warbonnet scheme, but re-lettered to BNSF), & FURX 1161 roll east on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, at South Kingshighway Blvd., in St. Louis, Missouri. BNSF 6385 leads a quartet of locomotives east on the Hannibal Subdivision.  The train is about two miles to the east of BNSF's Lindenwood Yard, where it departed from, and is heading toward Grand Avenue Interlocking . Grand Avenue Interlocking is about two miles further east of this location. Lines from BNSF, Union Pacific, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis all meet there. At Grand Avenue Interlocking the train will get onto TRRA's Merchants Subdivision for a roughly five-mile run, until it reaches North market Interlocking in North St. Louis , where the train will get back onto BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision.  BNSF 6385 is an EMD built SD40-2 . It was built for the Burlington Northern Rai...

On Tuesday, my youngest and I went over to Memphis, New York, to try and catch a train or two in the snow that had fallen from a recent storm. Initially, we headed there to catch Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited. While waiting for the Lake Shore Limited,  CSX train I009-17  passed through Memphis. As I009 was approaching our position, I heard the Amtrak crew call out clear at milepost QC 317. We were at milepost QC 302.6. Instead of photographing the Lake Shore Limited at Memphis, I decided to head over to one of my favorite spots along the Rochester Subdivision at Pottery Road in Warners, New York.  AMTK 112 leading the Lake Shore Limited at Warners, New York As we left Memphis, I heard the defect detector (DD) at milepost QC 313.7 give an all clear to the Lake Shore Limited (LSL). The LSL was closing the distance to us quickly. The DD reported a speed of 70 plus MPH for the LSL. We managed to get to Pottery Road, near milepost QC 298 just as the headlight of the LSL appeare...

 With fresh snow on the ground, the youngest and I headed out to Memphis, New York, to catch the Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, and any other train that might come along on CSX's Rochester Subdivision. I009-17, led by CSXT 7914 After arriving at Memphis, New York , I saw the control point (CP) signals to the east at CP300, in Warners, New York, were lined for the eastbound Lake Shore Limited (LSL) on Track 2. However, before the LSL showed up the headlight of CSXT 7914, leading priority intermodal train I009-17 (Port Newark, NJ. to Bedford Park, IL.), appeared to the east of CP300 (milepost QC 300.7). Memphis is at milepost 302.6.  CSXT 7914 and train I009-17 kick up a cloud of snow at Memphis, NY. Less than two minutes later, I009-17 (the 17 is the date the train originated on) came hustling through town at 59MPH on Track 1, kicking up a cloud of snow. Within seconds of the locomotives passing, the scene became engulfed in the cloud of snow. Below, about one hundred feet in fr...

With a bit of snow still on the ground, from a light snow fall the day before, I headed out to Warners, New York, to catch intermodal train I162-02 coming by the old New York Central (NYC) 298 milepost.  Train I162-02, led by CSXT 7233, is east bound on Track 2 at MP QC298. The old NYC milepost is just to the west of Pottery Road and sits on the south side of the tracks. These old mileposts count the distance from Grand Central Terminal, which was built by the NYC, in New York City. There are many of these old mileposts (see the fifth photo linked post) still standing along the Rochester Subdivision, which was part of NYC's old Water Level Route through New York.  I162-02 starts to lean into the curve, west of Pottery Road. I162 is a daily intermodal train that runs from North Baltimore, Ohio, to Port Newark, New Jersey. I162 works Collinwood Yard at Cleveland, Ohio, Frontier Yard at Buffalo, New York, and DeWitt Yard at Syracuse, New York. Photograph taken on January 3, 202...

 Earlier this month the area got some lake effect snow, off of Lake Ontario to the north of us. The snow came down fast, and by the time it stopped there was four to five inches of snow on the ground. This photograph was taken early, during the first wave of snow fall, and was the view from my kitchen window. When the first wave of snow fall slowed, I headed out to catch Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited in the snow . By the time I got to the location where I photographed it, the snow had picked up again. Photograph taken on January 7, 2022, at Syracuse, New York.

While out and about today, I heard a CSX "K" train call out over the radio feed. A  "K" train  on CSX is a bulk commodity train, such as a  tank car  train carrying oil or ethanol. When the crew called out for a clear signal, they called out BNSF 5192 as the train's leader. Foreign power (another railroad's locomotive) is fairly rare these days on the CSX Rochester Subdivision due to CSX trying to limit foreign power on the railroad, so I decided to try and catch it. BNSF 5192 leading CSX train K636-12 The youngest and I headed over to Warners, New York, and wound up getting to the Herman Road crossing just as the headlight of BNSF 5192 was just beyond the bridge in the background. Within a few minutes, K636-12 rolled east on Track 2 of the Rochester Subdivision. This stretch of track is between milepost (MP) QC299 and MP QC300. K636 is a loaded ethanol train that runs from Bensenville, Illinois, to Linden, New Jersey. The train is handed off to CSX from Ca...

 Today the Syracuse, New York, area got hit with a lake effect snowstorm. After the first wave of snow seemed to be over, I thought that the Lake Shore Limited (LSL) would look great kicking up the snow on the ground. I decided to head over toward Warners and Memphis, New York, to try and catch LSL on the Rochester Subdivision. I wound up at Memphis, New York , about fifteen minutes before the LSL arrived. AMTK 112 and the Lake Shore Limited kick up snow at Memphis, NY. I heard the defect detector (DD) at milepost (MP) QC 313.7 go off, and about seven to eight minutes later the LSL, led by AMTK 112 and AMTK 172 came roaring through Memphis kicking up a cloud of freshly fallen snow.  After arriving forty minutes late into Rochester, New York, the LSL was trying its best to make up time.  The Lake Shore Limited rolls over the defect detector at Memphis, NY. Within a few seconds the LSL had passed over the DD at Memphis (MP QC 302.6) and was rolling on toward its next ...

Early on December 22, 2021, the Syracuse, New York, area had snow flurries falling, heavily at times. There wasn't much snow accumulating on the ground, but there were enough flurries falling that I thought they would make for an interesting photograph with a train. I017 at Auto 280 My youngest and I went to Kirksville, New York, and as I drove east on Saintsville Road, I saw the headlight of priority intermodal train I017-22. The train was to the east of the Kirksville Road North crossing, which is a half of a mile east of Automatic 280/Control Point (CP) 280  (milepost 280.5). CP280 is a semi-CP. That means that only some of the tracks are governed by the CP. Tracks 1 and 2 are controlled by Automatic block signals. I017, with CSXT 833 and CSXT 473, rolls east on Track 2 through Auto 280, next to CP280. Train I017 runs daily from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Bedford Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. With CSXT 833 and CSXT 473 leading, plus mid-train distributed power unit...

While out running errands the 22nd, of last month, I happened to drive through Solvay, New York. As I crossed the Finger Lakes Railway (FGLK) tracks at Bridge Street, I saw that a switch job was working the Solvay Yard to the east. FGLK 2304 FGLK 2304 works at Solvay Yard, near Bridge Street. Working the yard today as FGLK 2304, a General Electric (GE) B23-7 . It was built as Southern Railway (SOU) 4016, in 1981. The locomotive was originally built with a high nose, but it was later rebuilt with a low nose. The locomotive has a remote-control system. The antenna for the remote system is visible on the front of the locomotive.  FGLK 2304 works on the south lead track at the western end of the yard. The railway yard at Solvay is the railroad's eastern terminus. The FGLK's main line is the old New York Central's (NYC) Auburn Branch. The Auburn Branch was originally NYC's main line before the Water Level Route was built to the north of it. After the Water Level Route was bu...