T.G.'s Photography Blog

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 . 

  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...