T.G.'s Photography Blog

 CSX Q561 is a manifest freight train that originates at Selkirk, New York, and terminates at Cincinnati, Ohio. During the train's journey, it stops in Syracuse, New York, to work at DeWitt Yard.  CSXT 524 leading Q561-29 at CP280 and Auto 280 Control point (CP) 280 sits at milepost (MP) 280.5 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, along Saintsville Road in Kirkville, New York. The CP is about a half of a mile west of North Kirkville Road. The subdivision here has three tracks. Track 2 is the southernmost track, Track 1 is the middle track, and Track 4 is the northernmost track. Track 4 is the only track controlled by a CP signal. The block signals for tracks 1 and 2 are intermediate/automatic signals. The CP signal is constantly lit, and the automatic signals are approach lit when a train enters the block. CSXT 524, CSXT 5439, CSXT 9010, CSXT 9051, CSXT 7790, and CSXT 9039 on Q561-29 at CP280/Auto 280.  Q561-29 was heading west on Track 4, which leads directly into DeWi...

 Wilkerson Pass is situated among the Rocky Mountains, about fifty miles west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and about eleven miles northwest of Lake George, Colorado. The summit of Wilkerson Pass looks out over the South Park Basin from the Front Range Mountains.   Wilkerson Pass' summit sits at 9,507 feet/2,898 meters above sea level. The Wilkerson Pass Visitor Center sits at the summit of the pass, on the south side of US 24. To the west you can see the Mosquito Mountain Range and to the southwest you can see the Collegiate Mountain Range. The Collegiate Mountain Range is part of the Sawatch Mountain Range. The South Fork South Platte River and the Middle Fork South Platte River flow through the basin. The confluence of the two rivers, south of Hartsel, Colorado, forms the South Platte River.  Mt. Yale is center-left, and Mt. Columbia is to the right, in this view from the summit of Wilkerson Pass. If you look toward the southwest from the visitor center over...

 Yesterday, the youngest and I went to Kirkville, New York, to catch a couple of trains on CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS). After photographing Amtrak train P284 from alongside Saintsville Road, we headed to Brewer Road, where it dead-ends at the tracks on the north side. KCSM on B725-23 at Auto 280 As we drove down Brewer Road toward Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, loaded ethanol train B725-23 rolled east in front of us. B725-23 was interesting because it had Canadian Pacific (CP) 8947 leading and Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM) 4763 as the end-of-train DP unit. B725-23 was handed off to CSX from CP at Bensenville, Illinois. Its destination is Sewaren, New Jersey. I honestly thought that B725-23 was long gone from the Syracuse, New York area and that I had missed it. KCSM 4763 is the end-of-train DP unit on B725-23 at Auto 280/CP280 of the STS. Having missed the lead CP unit, I quickly grabbed my camera and set it up to capture KCSM 4763 as it passed through the A...

 This past Saturday, I went to Savannah, New York, to check out control point (CP) 320 on CSX's Rochester Subdivision. The location is intriguing because the control point is on the southern edge of the Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area (NMWA) along the Seneca River and Crusoe Creek. Because of the spring thaw and lots of rain, the Seneca River and Crusoe Creek are flooding. I hoped the landscape would make an interesting backdrop. CP320 of the Rochester Subdivision Control Point (CP) 320 sits southeast of the confluence of the Seneca River and Crusoe Creek. It is to the west of the Seneca River and south of Crusoe Creek, along Railroad Road in the Town of Savannah, New York. CP320 is at milepost (MP) QC 320.5 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision (RS). Going east from CP320, the Rochester Subdivision first crosses over the original Seneca River channel on the  double-track Montezuma Trestle , a deck plate girder bridge. To the east of the trestle the line crosses over the ...

Along Bonta Bridge Road, in Brutus, New York, are remnants of the old West Shore Railroad (WS). The WS tracks crossed over Bonta Bridge Road and the New York Central Railroad tracks which the WS paralleled in the area. Today, the ex-NYC tracks are part of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. The NYC and the WS competed directly with each other between the New York City area and Buffalo, New York. When the WS fell on hard financial times it was taken over by the NYC, eventually making much of the WS' route unneeded. Bonta Bridge Road bridge abutment According to an old map of the WS that I found, on the east-west segment of the two railroads' routes across New York, the WS ran just to the south of the NYC from the Schenectady, New York, and Albany, New York areas to Syracuse, New York. At Syracuse, the WS tracks crossed over and ran to the north of the NYC tracks, before crossing back over to the south side of the NYC tracks at Brutus, New York. Looking north, the eastern abutment s...

 On Memorial Day Weekend in 2007, I was in Kansas City, Missouri, visiting friends. While visiting, one of my friends and I ventured out to the West Bottoms of Kansas City for a photography outing. There we happened upon a northbound BNSF train hauling newly built Boeing 737 fuselages. The Boeing 737 fuselages The fuselages on this train are B737 Next Generation (NG) models. The B737 NG was first produced in 1996.  Boeing's 737 fuselages are built at Spirit AeroSystems' (SA) plant in Wichita, Kansas. According to SA's website, the company was founded when Boeing sold its Wichita plant to SA in 2005. SA then continued building fuselages at the plant for Boeing. After the fuselages are built by SA they take a train ride to Boeing's assembly plant at Renton, Washington. Looking south toward the 12th Street viaduc t, as the Boeing train rolls north through the West Bottoms. Route of the fuselages BNSF uses specially modified flatcars, like the ones seen in the photographs h...

 On muggy morning in August 2006, I was exploring along BNSF's Cuba Subdivision in Pacific, Missouri . While out that way, I happened upon one of Loram Technologies' rail grinders working its way east on the Cuba Subdivision. Loram rail grinder RG331 Many companies today offer rail grinding services to the railroad industry. In addition to Loram, Speno, Pandrol Jackson, and Harsco provide the service. But Loram is probably the most well-known of this group. According to an article in Industry Today , Loram was founded in 1954 and got into the rail grinding business back in the 1970s. LMIX RG331 is grinding the rails on BNSF's Cuba Subdivision near MP 32, at Pacific, MO. Rail grinders are essential to maintaining the life of railroad tracks. Over time the profile of the rail head is worn and develops irregulates from contact with train wheels rolling over them. Rail grinding helps to restore the rail's profile and prolongs the life of the rails, as well as the wheels of ...

After catching train I009-02 with my drone over at Brutus, New York, my youngest and I wound up at the Erie Canal Trail parking lot in Memphis, New York. We wound up there because the youngest fell asleep while driving and experience has shown me that it's best to just let the little one sleep in the car. Experience has also shown me that trains rumbling by at track speed will not wake the little one.  So, while the youngest slept, I waited for a few trains. First up, intermodal train I004-02, led by CSXT 3393 A short time after arriving, I heard CSX train I004-02's crew calling out signals as the train rolled east along CSX's Rochester Subdivision.  A short time before I004-02 arrived, I heard Amtrak's Maple Leaf crew call out a clear at milepost 294. Memphis, New York, is at MP 302.6 . I began to wonder if somehow, I might capture a meeting of the two trains as they passed my location.  Led by CSXT 3393, CSX train I004-02 kicks up a cloud of snow at Memphis, NY. Led...

 Back in June of 2008, Union Pacific's (UP) Desoto carshop had an open house, so my dad and I headed down to DeSoto, Missouri, to take a tour of the facility. De Soto carshop The settlement of the De Soto area dates back to 1803, and the town of De Soto was later incorporated in 1869. The town's website says that the St. Louis & Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad (StLIM&S) came to the De Soto area in 1859 and built a depot for the town. However, Union Pacific's (UP) website states the railroad came to De Soto in 1857. Perhaps the two-year difference is due to when the railroad was first being built at De Soto and when it was completed. The first carshop was built by the StLIM&S Railway in 1865.  Later the StLIM&S was merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad , which continued to expand and use the carshop. A tool chest at the UP carshop in Desoto, MO.  Today, the carshop and De Soto Subdivision, which the carshop sits along, are part of UP, which merged w...

 With fresh snow on the ground from an overnight snowfall, my youngest and I headed out to catch a train or two while running errands yesterday. We wound up along the CSX Rochester Subdivision at Pump Road in the Town of Brutus, New York. Brutus, New York, is in Cayuga County, to the west of and across the county line from Jordan, New York, in Onondaga County I009-02 led by CSXT 728 and CSXT 7018 From about 190 feet above ground level, CSXT 728 and CSXT 7018 hustle I009-02 west on Track 1 at CP308. After arriving at Pump Road, I heard the defect detector (DD) at milepost (MP) 302.6 go off and report to the train's crew that there were no defects. This DD is located about six miles to the east in Memphis, New York . Soon, the headlight of CSXT 728 appeared to the east beyond the NY Route 31 overpass (MP 307.84) in Jordan, New York. Within a few minutes, I009-02 was quickly rolling through CP308 (MP 308.7). CP308 is a control point just to the east of Pump Road (MP 308.95). The ...

Back on a hot summer evening in June of 2008, I was up chasing trains in North St. Louis. While hanging out on Branch Street I heard a train coming north on the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) Merchants Subdivision. It turned out I was lucky enough to catch a BNSF manifest freight train being led by an ex-Santa Fe (SF) Warbonnet locomotive and a Canadian National (CN) cowl unit.  North Market Interlocking I first photograph the train as it rolled north through the TRRA's North Market Interlocking. The interlocking is listed as being at milepost 5.0 of the Merchants Subdivision, per a TRRA timetable. It is located between Branch Street, to the north, and North Market Street, to the south. North Market Interlocking is a junction where BNSF Hannibal Subdivision and a short NS line (now unused) interchange with the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. The NS line connects on the west side of the interlocking, while the Hannibal Subdivision connects on the east side of th...