T.G.'s Photography Blog

  With snow falling, CSXT 846 leads I162 by CP 285 and into DeWitt Yard.   Yesterday, another round of snow fell on the Syracuse, New York, area. With snow falling, I162-27 makes its way into DeWitt Yard at Control Point (CP) 285 on the Inbound Lead . The Inbound Lead diverges from Track 1 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision at CP 286, a half mile to the west of CP 285, and leads into DeWitt Yard. The Inbound Lead isn't officially part of CP 285. I162 is heading to the South Runner to work the intermodal departure yard. I162 runs daily from North Baltimore, Ohio, to Port Newark, New Jersey.  Photograph taken on February 28, 2023, at East Syracuse, New York.

  AMTK 709 leads P284 through CP 285, with Bridge St. and the old NYC coaling towers in the background.   With fresh snow on the ground and more falling, AMTK 709 leads train P284-28 east through control point (CP) 285 on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. CP 285 is at the west end of CSX's DeWitt Yard. In the background is Bridge Street and the old New York Central (NYC) coaling towers.  Photograph taken on February 28, 2023, at East Syracuse, New York.

  M621-26 is passing the westbound CP signal bridge for the siding and Departure Lead at CP 285.   M621-26, led by CSXT 5459 and CSXT 4574, is arriving at DeWitt Yard via Control Point (CP) 285. M621 is eastbound, coming off Track 1 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision to the controlled siding, which runs between CP 285 and CP 283. The siding sits between Track 1 (to the south) and the Departure Lead (to the north). M621 runs south from Masenna, NY., to Syracuse, NY., before going east to Selkirk, NY. Between Masenna and Syracuse the train uses CSX's St. Lawrence Subdivision to CP 291 (west of DeWitt Yard) where it gets on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision and comes east to DeWitt Yard. M621-26 rolls east on the south side of a snow-covered DeWitt Yard. I009 is westbound in the background. Photographs taken on January 27, 2023, at East Syracuse, New York.

  With snow falling, M561-18 is westbound on Main 2 of the Rochester Subdivision at Memphis, NY. Yesterday with some mid-morning snow falling, I caught CSXT 214 leading M561-19 (manifest train, Selkirk, New York, to Cincinnati, Ohio) at Memphis, New York . The train is westbound on Track 2 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. In the distance, obscured by the snow the train is passing through Control Point (CP) 300 at Warner's New York. M561-18 is stopped at CP 306 as a crew member works to find the train's issue.   A short time after the train passed through Memphis, it made an emergency stop at  Jordan, New York , due to a loss of the computer display screens in the cab. The problem was a loose battery knife switch on the lead locomotive that caused the unit to lose partial power. Photograph taken on December 19, 2022, at Memphis, New York. 

  With CP 291's eastbound signal bridge in the distance, I017 hustles west at Syracuse, NY.   From the New York Empire Trail bridge on the southwestern corner of Onondaga Lake I caught CSX intermodal train I017-17 (Worcester, MA., to Bedford Park, IL.). I017 is westbound on Track 1 and is passing through CP 291 (in the distance) of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. Here, the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision follows the southern end of Onondaga Lake between Interstate 81, to the east, and Interstate 690, to the west. Photograph taken on November 17, 2022, at Syracuse, New York.

BNSF 4779 leads a grain train north under I-255, on the Chester Subdivision at CP D009.   Back in 2006 it was common to see BNSF trackage rights trains on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision . I'm not sure if it is still the case today, as I've been away from the St. Louis area for many years now. Above, BNSF 4779 is leading this northbound grain train at Control Point (CP) D009 at Columbia, Illinois. A short while later, the train passes under CP D006's old Missouri Pacific cantilever signal bridges at UP's Dupo Yard. BNSF 4779 passes under the cantilever signal bridges at CPD006, at Dupo Yard. Photographs taken on July 23, 2006, at Columbia, IL., and Dupo, IL.

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.

With rain falling, CSXT 3294 leads I020-18 east on Track 2 at CP313 of the Rochester Subdivision.   CSXT 3294 leads intermodal train I020-18 east at Townline Road. I020 is passing the westbound control point (CP) signals at CP313. Townline Road runs along the border between the Town of Mentz, New York, and the Town of Brutus, New York. The location is known as Centerport on the railroad. I020 is in Mentz and is about to cross the road into Brutus. I020 is a daily intermodal train that runs from Bedford Park, Illinois, to Worcester, Massachusetts. The train stops to work both DeWitt Yard in Syracuse, New York, and West Springfield, Massachusetts. Photograph taken on March 19, 2022.

CSXT 3461 leads I017-21 west on Track 2 at Auto 280. Auto 280 sits along Saintsville Rd. in Kirkville, NY. I017 is a priority intermodal train that passes through the Syracuse, New York, area on its journey from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Bedford Park, Illinois. The train doesn't stop to work at DeWitt Yard in Syracuse, and often uses Track 2 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision to bypass the congestion of trains entering or leaving DeWitt Yard via Track 1. DeWitt Yard is two miles to the west (to the left) of Auto 280 and CP 280 . 

Control point (CP) 308 is at milepost (MP) 308.7 of the CSX Rochester Subdivision. The CP sits on top of the Onondaga County and Cayuga County border, just to the east of Pump Road. On the east side of CP308 is Jordan, New York. To the west of it is the Town of Brutus, NY. The area west of CP308, even though it is in the Town of Brutus, is commonly referred to as Jordan. The route is clear for a Track 2 to Track 2 eastbound movement at CP308. In the photograph above, the route is set with a clear signal for an eastbound train on Track 2. The movement will be Track 2 to Track 2. CP308 has a single crossover that allows either eastbound movements from Track 2 to Track 1 or the reverse, westbound movements from Track 1 to Track 2. Q560-14 at CP 308 CSXT 893 and CSXT 5291 lead Q560-14 east at MP QC 309 toward CP308 at Pump Rd. The Bonta Bridge Rd. crossing is in the background. Very often, routes at CPs are set far in advance of a train. However, I didn't have long to wait this time. ...

  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 ...

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...

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...

 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...

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...

With a bit of snow still on the ground from a late-November snowfall, I went to Kirkville, New York, to see what the railroad action was like . There I photographed CSX trains Q363-29 and Q368-27 on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision . CSXT 3013 leading Q363-29 CSXT 3013 leading Q363-29 west at Kirkville, NY. CSXT 822 leading Q368-27After arriving, I saw Q368-27 working on Track 4 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. I also noticed the control point (CP) signals at CP280 were on. Usually, the signals for Tracks 1 and Track 2 are not on when only a train is working on Track 4. Soon a headlight far to the east appeared, and a few minutes later train Q363-29 , led by CSXT 3013, came west on Track 1, passing alongside Q368-27. Train Q363 runs daily from Selkirk, New York, to Avon, Indiana.  CSXT 822 leads Q368 east on Track 4 at CP280 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. Photographs taken on November 29, 2021, at Kirkville, New  York. After Q363-29 was gone, I went further e...

 Last month, while at the Pottery Road crossing on the Rochester Subdivision, I caught CSXT 5325 and CSXT 255 leading train K622-29. The train, below, is passing the old New York Central milepost 298 marker that is just to the west of Pottery Road. K622-29 was eastbound on Track 2 of the subdivision. CSXT 5325 leads train K622-29 east on Track 2 at MP 298. Train K622 is an as-needed loaded ethanol train that runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. K622-29 had an axel count of 468. Minus sixteen axles for the two locomotives and one buffer car, gave the train a tank car count of 113. Tank cars on K622-29 stretch into the distance on the Rochester Subdivision. Photographs taken on October 2, 2021, at Warners, New York.

CSXT 5223 leads priority intermodal train I001-02 west on Track 2 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. The train is passing the old New York Central (NYC) milepost for 282, which can be seen to the right of the train. Train I001-02 is nearing CP282, which is within mile 282, on the eastern edge of CSX's DeWitt Yard. The eastern portion of DeWitt Yard is in Minoa, New York. CSXT 5223 leads I001-02 at MP QC282, at the edge of DeWitt Yard. The Syracuse Terminal Subdivision has three main tracks on the eastern side of DeWitt Yard. Track 2 is the right most track, Track 1 is the middle track, and Track 4 is the left most track. Track 4 runs between the rail yard and CP278 at Oneida, New York. I001-02 rolls along Track 2 at CP283 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, alongside DeWitt Yard. I001 is a once-a-week priority intermodal train that leaves North Bergen, New Jersey, on Tuesdays, and arrives at Bedford Park, Illinois, the next day. The train doesn't stop to work any other t...

 Earlier this week I was over at the western end of CSX's DeWitt Yard. I noticed that the signal for the northern most departure lead track was green for a westbound train, so I parked near CP285 and waited. Soon I saw the headlight of CSXT 3010 to the east of the Interstate 481 overpass, about a half of a mile east of CP285. While slowly pacing a CSX work truck, CSXT 3010 and CSXT 7868 lead train I009-01 through CP285. CSXT 3010 (YN3b scheme) & CSXT 7868 (YN2 scheme) lead I009-01 west at CP285. Train I009-01 was on its way to Bedford Park, Illinois, from Port Newark, New Jersey. I009 (formerly Q009) is a daily intermodal train , and always stops to work DeWitt Yard . When I took this photograph I009-01 wasn't ready to depart yet, but due to the train's length, it needed to pull west past the signals at CP285 in order to push back into the intermodal yard.  Photograph taken on November 2, 2021, at East Syracuse, New York.