T.G.'s Photography Blog

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...

Back on October 22, I headed over to CP286 on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. As I arrived train Q364-21 was already rolling east through the control point.  Q364-21 at CP286 and CP285 CSX train Q364 is a daily manifest that runs from Avon, Indiana, to Selkirk, New York. Today's train, Q364-21, originated at Avon, Indiana on October 21, 2021. The "-21" suffix, in the train ID, indicates the date of the train's origination. Freight cars on Q364-21 are rolling under the signal on the western edge of CP286. Above, 364-21 is rolling east (toward the camera) on Track 2 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS), under the signal bridge that is on the western edge of CP286. At the signal bridge, to the left of the train, is the eastern end of Track 7, which Amtrak trains use to access Syracuse's passenger station. Track 7 runs between CP286 and CP291 . Q364-21 is rolling under the cantilever signal bridge at CP286. The light was changing fast, and I took the above p...