T.G.'s Photography Blog

AMTK 95 leads the Lake Shore Limited east at Laird Rd. near Elbridge, NY.   Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, train P048 on CSX, is eastbound on CSX's Rochester Subdivision at Laird Road in the Elbridge, NY., and Jordan, NY ., area. The train had just passed through control point (CP) 306, which can be seen in the distance. The Lake Shore Limited is approximately fifteen miles away from its next station stop at Syracuse, New York. Photograph taken on March 27, 2023, at Elbridge, New York.

  P048-14 is eastbound passing by a field along Tow Path Road, nearing Auto 311 of the Rochester Sub.   Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited , led by AMTK 87 and AMTK 86, is eastbound on CSX's Rochester Subdivision at Auto 311, at Weedsport, NY. The Lake Shore Limited, known as P048 on CSX, is a few hundred feet from the Auto 311 block signals (out of sight to the right). Hidden behind the trees is Interstate 90, and right behind from where the photograph was taken is the old Erie Canal. Photograph taken on February 14, 2023, at Weedsport, New York. 

  P048-24 passes the old West Shore RR bridge abutment on the south side of the Rochester Subdivision.   Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited (P048-24), led by AMTK 95 and AMTK 118 rolls east past an old West Shore bridge abutment to the west of Bonta Bridge Road . This abutment is on the south side of the tracks. The abutment on the north is also still standing but is hidden by trees from the road. The West Shore RR tracks crossed the NYC on a northeast-to-southwest alignment.  Photograph taken on January 24, 2023, at Town of Brutus, New York.

  With fresh snowfall, the Lake Shore Limited rounds the curve at Oakland Road.   With a coating of fresh snow on the ground in the Central New York area I caught Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, led by a trio of locomotives. AMTK 108 , Amtrak's Phase VI 50th Anniversary schemed locomotive was leading the train, followed by AMTK 107, and AMTK 94. Here, the train is eastbound on CSX's Rochester Subdivision, rounding the curve at Oakland Road at Weedsport, New York. This area is referred to as Centerport by the railroad. Centerport was an old port on the Erie Canal that sits between Port Byron, New York, and Weedsport, New York. Photograph taken on January 23, 2023, at Weedsport, NY.

  Heading east, the Lake Shore Limited is rounding the curve at Oakland Rd. Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited (train symbol P04815), led by AMTK 124 and AMTK 90, is eastbound on CSX's Rochester Subdivision at Weedsport, New York. The Lake Shore Limited is coming around the curve at Oakland Road. This is milepost QC 313 of the Rochester Subdivision. CP 313 and the Centerport defect detector are about half a mile west of this location, hidden by the trees.  Photograph taken on December 15, 2022, at Weedsport, New York.

  Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited crosses over Onondaga Creek, at the southern end of Onondaga Lake.   AMTK 108 , Amtrak's Phase VI 50th anniversary locomotive, leads the eastbound Lake Shore Limited across Onondaga Creek . AMTK 108 is one of six locomotives painted to commemorate Amtrak's' 50th anniversary. Here, Onondaga Creek empties into Onondaga Lake on the lake's southeastern end. The view is looking northwest towards the industrial area that sits to the south of the New York State Fairgrounds on the lake's western side. Photograph taken on October 11, 2022, at Syracuse, New York.

With some fall colors behind it, P284-18 rounds the curve just to the east of Bridge Street.  AMTK 711 is leading Amtrak Empire Service train 284 east at CP 285 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision . 284, known as P284 on CSX, is coming around the curve on Track 2 between CP 286 and CP 285. P284 runs daily from Niagara Falls, New York, to New York City.  Photograph taken on October 18, 2022, at East Syracuse, New York.

  The Lake Shore Limited, with two private rail cars behind the engines, heads east at Savannah, NY.   While driving to see what fall colors remained in Central New York, the timing worked out to photograph Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited at Savannah, New York. I caught the train as it headed east through Control Point (CP) 320 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. CP 320 is on the eastern edge of Savannah, along the Seneca River . In addition to the train, a group of CSX maintenance of way (MoW) equipment is parked in the siding at CP 320. CSX has had crews working most of October on the Rochester Subdivision.   Today's Lake Shore Limited had the private passenger cars Hollywood Beach and Cimarron River trailing directly behind the Amtrak engines. Hollywood Beach is a former Seaboard Air Line car. Cimarron River is a former Frisco Railroad car. Photograph taken on October 28, 2022.

 In August 2022, I was in Memphis, New York, waiting on M367-23 when I heard Amtrak train P284-23 calling signals. M367 is a westbound manifest train, while P284 is one of Amtrak's eastbound Empire Serice trains. It sounded like they might meet close to Memphis. M367-23 in the distance at CP 300, is westbound on Track 1 of the Rochester Subdivision.   The first train to show up was M367, led by CSXT 343 and CSXT 5450. Above, M367 is passing through CP 300 at Warners, New York. Within a minute, the train was thundering through the quite hamlet of Memphis, New York. M367-23 approaches the Bennetts Corners Road crossing near milepost QC 302.5.   From the west came P284-23, led by AMTK 703 , passing alongside M367-23. Rolling at or near track speed (80 MPH), P284 passed through Memphis quickly. A short time later P284 will be arriving in Syracuse, New York , before continuing on its journey to New York City. P284 passes a string of empty BNSF grain hoppers just west of the c...

AMTK 100 leads the Lake Shore Limited by DeWitt Yard.   One of Amtrak's 50th Anniversary locomotives, AMTK 100 "Midnight Blue" led the Lake Shore Limited (train symbol P048) yesterday. The train is eastbound on CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision and is passing by DeWitt Yard in East Syracuse, New York. The train departed the Syracuse station about five minutes prior to passing by DeWitt Yard. Photograph taken on August 16, 2022, at East Syracuse, New York.

P048-08 is eastbound at CP285 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. AMTK 115 (GE P42DC) and AMTK 57 (GE P42DC) are the lead locomotives on today's Lake Shore Limited , train symbol P048-08. Above, the Lake Shore Limited is eastbound on Track 1 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. The train is passing the westbound absolute signals of Control Point (CP) 285 , next to DeWitt Yard. Photograph taken on August 8, 2022, at East Syracuse, New York.

Led by AMTK 701 and AMTK 119, P284-07 is eastbound on the Rochester Subdivision at Memphis, NY. Amtrak's Empire Service train P284 (Niagara Falls, New York, to New York City) is eastbound at Memphis, New York. P284 is on Track 2 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision and is nearing Bonnetts Corners Road. The next stop for P284 is Syracuse, New York. Photograph taken on July 7, 2022.

P284-17, led by AMTK 714, is eastbound along Saintsville Rd. at Kirkville, NY. The train is on Track 2 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision nearing Auto 280 .   Amtrak's Empire Service train P284 runs between Niagara Falls, New York, and New York City. P284 runs daily, making stops in the New York cities and towns of, Buffalo, Depew, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Amsterdam, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Hudson, Rhincliff, Poughkeepsie, Croton-on-Hudson, and Yonkers. Photograph taken on May 17, 2022, at Kirkville, New York.

  When I arrived at DeWitt Yard's western end, CSX train M367-07 was sitting on the North Runner . It was led by BNSF 7268 and CSXT 941. The orange pumpkin was a nice splash of vibrant color and a change of pace from the standard CSX blue here.  M367-07 at DeWitt Yard BNSF 7268 & CSXT 941 sit on the head end of a stopped M367-07 on the North Runner at DeWitt Yard.   Train M367 is the new symbol that took effect at midnight on June 4, 2022, and replaced the old train symbol Q367 . This prefix symbol change is another that CSX has implemented over the last nine months. The "M" stands for manifest. M367, like Q367 was, is a daily manifest freight train that originates at CSX's Selkirk Yard in Selkirk, New York. The train's final destination is Chicago, Illinois. Along the way, M367 stops at DeWitt Yard to set out and pick up freight cars. According to a friend, if you don't hear the crew call out the train's symbol, a common way to identify M367 is if you...

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...

 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 ...

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...

A few Sundays back, I was over at Memphis, New York , waiting for a train or two. Shortly after arriving, I heard Amtrak's Maple Leaf (train P063) get the okay from the CSX defect detector at milepost 291.9 in Syracuse, New York. Memphis is at milepost 302.6, just under eleven miles away, so it wouldn't be long before the Maple Leaf showed up. Led by AMTK 717, the Maple Leaf rolls west on the Rochester Subdivision at Memphis, NY. Just under ten minutes later, I saw the headlight of AMTK 717, a General Electric P32AC-DM , appear over the tracks just beyond the Warners Road overpass (milepost 300.10) in the far distance. The Maple Leaf was heading west on Track 1 of the CSX Rochester Subdivision and was kicking up a bit of snow as it hustled through town at 77MPH/124KPH. Its next station stop would be Rochester, New York. Then on to the New York cites of DePew, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls. Photograph taken on February 6, 2022, at Memphis, New York.

 We've had snow on the ground here in Central New York since early January. With the forecast calling for a series of warmer days, before another round of snow, I decided to head out on Monday to capture a few railroad photographs before the current snow melted.  Lake Shore Limited at Warners, New York I wound up photographing two trains this past Monday. The first train was Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, led by AMTK 108 and AMTK 121. AMTK 108 is one of Amtrak's 50th Anniversary locomotives, and it's painted in Amtrak's Phase VI paint scheme. The Lake Shore Limited is eastbound at MP 298 of the Rochester Subdivision. I caught the Lake Shore Limited, train P048 on CSX, at Pottery Road on the eastern edge of Warners, New York. Above, P048 is rolling east on Track 2 of the Rochester Subdivision, at milepost 298 . MP 298 is just to the west of Pottery Road. The train is about ten minutes away from arriving at the Syracuse train station. The other train I caught this past ...

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...