T.G.'s Photography Blog

The Seneca River Montezuma Bridge, commonly called the Montezuma Trestle, spans the Seneca River and part of the Montezuma Marsh on Hog Island, between Savannah, New York, and Montezuma, New York. The bridge is part of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. This line is a former Conrail, Penn Central Railroad, and New York Central Railroad line. The Seneca River at this location is the dividing line between Cayuga County (to the east) and Wayne Country (to the west).  Seneca River and NMWMA at Montezuma Trestle Looking north, at Hog Island (right of the river) as CSXT 3453, CSXT 5461, CSXT 5314, CSXT 7793 lead Q367-15 west. The Seneca River flows from Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, east and northeast to the Junction of the Three Rivers, north of Syracuse, New York. The Seneca River flows from the south to the north here, but it is not the main river channel at this location anymore. The Erie Barge Canal is the primary channel now. The canal borders Hog Island from the southern t...

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...

On Christmas Eve morning, we woke up to snow on the ground. After the youngsters played in the snow for a few hours, my oldest and I ventured out to find some trains on CSX's Rochester Subdivision before the snow melted. We wound up at Memphis, New York, where I could safely park at a trailhead along the Erie Canal Trail, and the little one could watch safely from the car. Throughout two short visits to Memphis, we saw five trains. Memphis, New York Located about ten miles west of Syracuse, New York, Memphis is a hamlet in the Village of Van Buren, New York. Memphis is one of ten locations along the Rochester Subdivision with defect detectors. Both Track 1 and Track 2 have detectors at QC302.6, just to the west of Bennetts Corners Road. Both tracks have hotbox detectors (HBD) and dragging equipment detectors (DED).  The Rochester Subdivision was part of the old New York Central Water Level Route. When the NYC and Pennsylvania Railroad merged, the line became part of the Penn Centra...

 While out running an errand in downtown Syracuse, I decided to take a quick detour over to DeWitt Yard to see if any trains were arriving or departing. Upon arriving I spotted a manifest train sitting on the North Runner track. The train started to move west, as I was driving down toward Bridge Street, but was moving slow enough that I was able to capture a few images. CSXT 913 and CSXT 450 leading Q367-06 Leading train Q367-06 was CSXT 913 and CSXT 450. I caught the train as it snaked it its way along the North Runner track on the western side of DeWitt Yard. The train had made a stop in DeWitt Yard to switch freight cars before moving on to Bedford Park, IL. (near Chicago, IL.). Q367 originates in Worcester, MA.  Q367-06 makes its way west on North Runner. A container crane stands in the background at DeWitt Yard. The North Runner track , as its name implies, runs along the northern edge of the yard. The track curving to the right of North Runner is the Inbound track. To th...

 After visiting DeWitt Yard's western side a few days earlier, the kids and I decided to head over to the western side again and catch Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited at CP285. Priority intermodal train Q004-29 Very shortly, after arriving at the yard, priority intermodal train Q004-29 made an appearance. On the point is CSXT 3222,  leading its train of double stack containers east on Track 2 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. The block signals in the background are on the eastern edge of CP285. On the right side of the photograph you can see one of the control shacks with its satellite dish for CP285. CSXT 3222 leads Q004-29 east at DeWitt Yard The kids love seeing all of the colors on the intermodal trains, and like to shout out the colors of the containers as they roll by on the trains.  Double stacks on Q004-29 CSXT 3120 was the distributed power unit (DPU) on the rear of Q004-29. Below, the train is passing under the I-481 overpasses. CSXT 3120 is the distributed po...