T.G.'s Photography Blog

  At milepost 280.5 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) is control point (CP) 280 and the automatic (auto) 280 block signals. CP 280 is a semi control point and only controls Track 4. Track 1 and Track 2 are governed by auto block signals. The block signals for CP 280 and Auto 280 sit along Saintsville Road, about half a mile west of the North Kirkville Road crossing (MP280.7) in Kirkville, New York. What is a control point?   CPs are locations on a railroad where a railroad dispatcher's instructions are remotely sent to the CP to control train movements. The signaling system's logic implements the dispatcher's instructions in the field and determines what aspects the control point signals show. These instructions set a train's route and give instructions to the crew, such as the permissible speed. An automatic/intermediate block signal is different because they are only governed by track conditions within the automatic signal's block of track and the n...

CN 3115 is one of the Canadian National Railway's (CN) heritage locomotives. Heritage locomotive paint schemes usually honor railroads acquired by present-day railroads . CN 3115 honors BC Railway, whose railroad operations were acquired by CN in 2004. BC Rail began life as Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) in 1912. In 1918 the British Columbia provincial government took over the PGE. In 1972 PGE was renamed British Columbia Railway, and then in 1984, that name was shortened to BC Rail.  Q212-22 arriving at CP282 Nearing CP282, CN 3115 leads Q212-22 slowly east on Track 1. CP283's signals are in the background. I heard CSX's NF dispatcher, who controls the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) tell Q212-22 that it was going into Track 7 to hold for some traffic coming west. Track 7 runs between CP286 and CP291 of the STS. NF was making room for I017-21 to run west on Track 2 while I009 worked the Departure Yard Lead and tied up Track 1 at CP285. CP285 is on the western end ...

On February 10, 2007, I was railfanning along TRRA's Merchants Subdivision in North St. Louis. While near North Market Street and North 1st Street, I spotted a train to the north coming south off the Merchants Bridge near Bremen Avenue. The green color of the locomotive in the far distance indicated to me that a former Burlington Northern locomotive was leading the train. Southbound at North Market Street The train came south approaching North Market Interlocking featuring a colorful lash up featuring FURX 7227 (ex-BN), BNSF 159 (ex-Santa Fe), and BNSF 7129. The train is a transfer run from TRRA's Madison Yard in Venice, Illinois, to BNSF's Lindenwood Yard in southwestern St. Louis, Missouri. FURX 7227 (ex-BN), BNSF 159 (ex-ATSF), and BNSF 7129 pass Grossman Iron & Steel. First Union Rail (FURX) 7227 is an SD40-2, built by Electro-Motive Division (EMD) for Burlington Northern (BN) in 1980. After working for BN, the locomotive became FURX 7227 before being sold to Norf...

On December 2, 2006, St. Louis, Missouri, and much of the surrounding areas were still covered in ice and snow from a winter storm. The previous day I finished up by taking photographs along the Jefferson City Subdivision in Maplewood, Missouri, so I decided to head back there. When I arrived at Maplewood, I found the subdivision was a parking lot due to the double-track subdivision being reduced to a single-track subdivision between Webster Groves, Missouri, and Pacific, Missouri . A distance of about twenty-five miles.  UP 6066 passing a late Kansas City Mule At Maplewood, I found Amtrak's Kansas City Mule, train 311, and Union Pacific train MASNP. Both trains stopped on Track 1, with the KC Mule only a few hundred feet behind MASNP. The block signal for Track 2 at CPD007 in Maplewood was clear for an eastbound train on Track 2, so I set up to capture the train as it came east past the K.C. Mule.  UP 6606 leads a coal train east on Track 2, past a stopped KC Mule at Big Ben...

 Starting on November 30, 2006, through the early morning of December 1, 2006, St. Louis, Missouri, and surrounding areas got hit by a winter storm. St. Louis escaped the large amounts of snow that other places across Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois received, but the region got blanketed with sleet and ice. With a small layer of snow of top. On December 1st, I ventured out to capture some railroad photography.  UP 7114 under Spring Avenue at Grand Interlocking The first photograph of the day was Union Pacific (UP) 7114 sitting under the old Spring Avenue overpass at Grand Interlocking. The train and its crew were waiting to head east off a siding along the Jefferson City Subdivision and through the interlocking. The old Spring Avenue overpass at this time hadn't been used for years, and half of it had already been torn down north of the tracks. Grand Interlocking is a junction of UP's Jefferson City Subdivision, BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, and the Terminal Railroad Associ...

Priority intermodal train I001 is a once-a-week train that runs from North Bergen, New Jersey, to Bedford Park, Illinois. I001 and its counterpart I002 are probably the highest priority trains on CSX, due to them carry high priority UPS trailers and containers. I001-29 at CP280 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision Last Tuesday, I was at Kirkville, New York, to see what the view of CP280 was like from Brewer Road. Shortly after arriving at where Brewer Road dead-ends at the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, I saw the crossing lights at North Kirkville Road begin to flash. Looking to the east, beyond the crossing, I saw the headlight of CSXT 3185 peaking above the crest of the small hill near the crossing. I001-29 wasn't wasting any time as it hustled west on Track 2 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, doing close to fifty miles per hour.  Looking east, from Brewer Rd., as I001-29 splits the automatic signals for Track 2 and Track 1. CP280 is a "semi" control point. The onl...

 The American Robin has become much more visible over the last month now that the spring thaw is well underway. I've seen many flitting about from tree branch to tree branch in the forest behind my house . As well as scurrying around on the lawn foraging for food. While, I haven't been able to capture a photograph of one yet near my home, I did manage to capture some photographs of a robin while over in Kirkville, New York, earlier this week. American Robin While I was in Kirkville, New York, photographing trains , I happened upon this robin perched in a nearby tree eating what looks to be a small flower or flower bud from a sumac seed head (thanks, to Jim, for his comment below identifying the sumac seed). Cornell University's All About Birds website states that in the fall and winter robins eat a lot of fruit and seeds. In the warmer months the robins forage for worms in the ground. An American Robin perched in a tree at Kirkville, NY. According to the All About Birds we...

CSX train L030, nicknamed the Jordan Turn, is a CSX local that works industries along CSX's Rochester Subdivision between Macedon, New York, and Jordan, New York. The local runs five days a week, Monday through Friday The Jordan Turn When I came upon L030-11 working in Jordan, New York, the train had just finished its work at the Central New York Feeds mill. CSXT 6516 was heading west down the Jordan Industrial lead to run around the set of freight cars that it would take back to Rochester. The CNYF mill is the last industry that L030 works at before heading back west to its home base in Rochester.  CSXT 6516 is back on the Jordan Industrial track and is backing toward its string of cars. Generally, L030 heads out from Rochester early in the morning, between 5:30 AM to 7:00 AM. On March 11, 2022, the day I took these photographs, L030-11 (the 11 is the date of the train's origin) passed by the Virtual Railfan camera at Fairport, New York, just east of Rochester, at 6:50 AM.  6...