T.G.'s Photography Blog

This ariel view looking is looking across B705 in the Belle Isle siding, toward the FGLK yard at Solvay, NY.     After photographing Z520-10 on Tuesday , I noticed that loaded ethanol train B705, with CN 3863 and CN 3099, was tied down in Belle Isle siding. With the drone still in the air I captured this view, looking west, of B705 sitting at Belle Isle with the Finger Lakes Railway (FLGK) yard behind the train. The industrial complex right behind the rail yard is the former Syracuse Energy Corp. (SEC) cogeneration power plant. The coal-fired power plant supplied electricity and steam power to nearby companies. In September 2013, the plant closed when its biggest customer built and began using its own power plant. Per a news article at Syracuse.com, The customer built its own power plant due to concerns about SEC keeping the plant open. Photograph taken on October 10, 2023, at Solvay, NY.

  CSXT 4014, an SD40-3 rebuild, is switching a block of intermodal cars at a snow covered DeWitt Yard.   Back in January of this year, CSXT 4014 was switching blocks of intermodal cars at CSX's DeWitt Yard. CSXT 4014 is pulling a cut of cars west down the Departure Yard Lead from the Departure Yard. The Departure Yard sits east of the I-481 bridge in the background. Almost all of the intermodal trains that pass through DeWitt swap blocks of intermodal cars there. In addition, the yard itself is designated as an inland port and trailers and containers are dropped off and picked up there by customers. Below, I009-26 , one of the intermodal trains that works DeWitt Yard daily, is departing DeWitt Yard via the South Runner . I009 runs from Port Newark, New Jersey, to Bedford Park, Illinois, in the Chicago area. With fresh snow on the ground at DeWitt Yard, CSXT 4014 is pacing I009-26 west at DeWitt Yard.  Photographs taken on January 27, 2023, at East Syracuse, New York.

X368-11 comes around the curve along Oakland Rd. at Weedsport, NY.    At Weedsport, New York, in the area called Centerport by the railroad, CSXT 954 is leading X368-11 east on the Rochester Subdivision. In the background, just beyond the curve, X368 is passing through the Centerport defect detector (DD) (milepost (MP) QC 313.7) and Control Point (CP) 313  (MP QC 314.0). X368 is an extra M368 that originated at Chicago, IL., and is destined for CSX's Selkirk Yard at Selkirk, NY. Photograph taken on March 11, 2023, at Weedsport, 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.

  Looking northeast, CSXT 3106 leads I017-14 west on Track 2, under the Oakland Rd. bridge.   Last week I was out at the Centerport area, between Weedsport, New York, and Port Byron, New York, where I caught I017 heading west on the Rochester Subdivision. I017 was making its daily trek from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Bedford Park (Chicago), Illinois.  I017-14 crossed from Track 2 to Track 1 at CP 313 (MP QC 314.0) .  Stretched over a mile and a half across the landscape, I017 crosses to Track 1 at CP 313.

  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. 

S609-07 is westbound passing under Oakland Rd. bridge on the western side of Weedsport, NY.       CSXT 5102 and CSXT 3032 are leading CSX train S609-07. S609 is a special movement carrying military equipment from Fort Drum at Fort Drum, New York, to Fort Polk, in Vernon Parish, Louisiana. CSX will move the train to Rose Lake, Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri, where it will then be handed off to Kansas City Southern (KCS). KCS will take the train the rest of the way to Fort Polk. Fort Drum is home to the US Army's 10th Mountain Division. Fort Polk is home of Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), as well as the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division.  The end of S609-07 is seen here, with the train stretching west through the area known as Centerport. Photographs taken on February 7, 2022.

CSXT 5312 leads M364 east through a snow-covered landscape at Memphis, NY.   Back on January 23, a fresh blanket of snow covered Central New York. I took the opportunity to head out and capture M364 coming east through Memphis, New York. In addition to the snow-covered landscape, M364 featured Canadian National (CN) 3177 working as a distributed power unit. M364 is a daily manifest train that runs from CSX's Avon Yard in Avon, Indiana, to Selkirk Yard in Selkirk, New York. Avon, Indiana, is on the western edge of Indianapolis, Indiana.  Manifest train M364 is eastbound in this view from above. In the left-lower corner, through the trees, the old tow path of the Erie Canal can be seen.  In this view, CN 3177 is the mid-train distributed power unit on M364-22. Photographs taken on January 23, 2023, at Memphis, New York.

  Yesterday, I caught CSX's intermodal train I017 at Weedsport, New York, on its daily trek from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Chicago, Illinois. CSXT 3436 is leading I017-10 west at the Oakland Road bridge at milepost (MP) QC 313.1 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. A half mile west of Oakland Road is a defect detector at MP QC 313.7 and a little further west is  Control Point (CP) 313  (MP 314.0). CSXT 3436 leads I01710 west under the Oakland Rd. bridge at Weedsport, NY.    The area is beteween Weedsport, New York, and Port Byron, New York, is commonly called Centerport. Centerport and Port Byron were old ports on the Erie Canal before the canal was moved north to the Seneca River. Centerport isn't a town or hamlet, and the area is part of the Town of Mentz, New York. The area is on the west side of Weedsport and northeast of Port Byron. CSXT 514 is the distributed power unit on I017-10, in this view looking west. The front of the train is at CP 313 and is passin...

  I004-09 is eastbound, just to the east of DeWitt Yard, passing by a frozen pond at milepost QC 282.   Intermodal train I004-09, led by CSXT 915, is eastbound at Minoa, New York. The train is just east of CSX's DeWitt Yard, which is on the other side of the bridge in the distance. This location is at milepost QC 282.0 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. I004 is on Track 2, with Track 1 to the right, and Track 4 to the far right. Photograph taken on January 9, 2023, at Minoa, New York.

  With snow on the ground, CSX train M364-14 is eastbound along Clinton Road at Pump Road.   With a couple of inches of snow on the ground, I caught CSX manifest train M364-14 as it came eastbound at Brutus, New York. CSXT 3256, CSXT 8842, and CSXT 6143 are leading M364 alongside Clinton Road, at Pump Road. This is milepost (MP) 309 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. The old New York Central milepost 309 marker still stands here on the south side of the tracks, just west of the Pump Road railroad crossing (out of sight, bottom left). The train will soon pass-through Control Point (CP) 308 (MP QC 308.6) and enter Jordan, New York. This side of CP 308 is known as Jordan, as well. However, officially the train is the Town of Brutus, New York. Photograph taken on December 15, 2022, at Brutus, New York.

  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.

  UP 2584 and UP 7323 passes by the old Railroad "Y" (red building to the left) at East Syracuse, NY. B741-07 passed through East Syracuse, New York, last weekend, and was led by a pair of Union Pacific (UP) locomotives. UP 2585 and UP 7323 provided another primary color to the railroad landscape of Syracuse, which primarily sees CSX blue. In the above photograph, the locomotives are leading B741 through CP 286 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. B741 is a loaded ethanol train that runs from Proviso, Illinois, to Linden, New Jersey. The train is handed over to CSX from UP at Proviso.  Photograph taken on December 10, 2022, at East Syracuse, 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.

Under an overcast sky, B725-12 is eastbound on Track 2, passing by the Jordan Industrial Lead.    On a dreary fall day in Central New York, Canadian Pacific (CP) 8000 added pop of color to the landscape. CP 8000 and Norfolk Southern (NS) 4334 are leading loaded ethanol train B725 -12 east on CSX's Rochester Subdivision. The train was handed off from CP at Bensenville, Illinois. CSX will take the train to Sewaren, New Jersey. Once the train was unloaded it came back west through Central New York as train B726-17, on November 19, 2022. Photograph taken on November 14, 2022, at Jordan, New York .

  I007 sits on the siding at DeWitt Yard, to the east of CP 285.   Intermodal train I007 -17 (North Bergen, New Jersey, to Rose Lake, Illinois) is stopped on the siding at DeWitt Yard, between the Departure Yard Lead (to the north) and Track 1 (to the south) of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision . The intermodal cars sitting on Track 1 are part of I157-17. When this photograph was taken, I157's locomotives and some cars they picked up from the Departure Yard were pulling west of CP 285 , in order to shove back on Track 1 and pick up the rest of the train. In the background is the intermodal facility at DeWitt Yard. Photograph taken on September 17, 2022, at East Syracuse, New York.

A late-summer sunset reflects off the Seneca River at Liverpool, NY. This photograph is looking west across the Seneca River at Liverpool, New York . I captured this sunset last month a little over a week before the official end of summer. The sunset struck me as a sign that summer was almost over, and sure enough the temperature changed on a dime here in Central New York. One day I had the air conditioner running, and the next I had the heat on in case the house got too cold at night. 

  Local train L026-19 is northbound along the eastern edge of Onondaga Lake.   Led by CSXT 6085, L026 is heading north on CSX's St. Lawrence Subdivision along the eastern edge of Onondaga Lake. The St. Lawrence Subdivision follows closely to the eastern side of the lake between  CP 291 , to the south, and  Liverpool, New York , to the north. The St. Lawrence Subdivision begins at CP 291, on the eastern side of Murphy's Island. At CP 291 the subdivision connects with CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision.   L026 is heading to its first stop at Woodard, New York, in the Clay, New York, area. After Woodard L026 will head north on CSX's Fulton Subdivision, which diverges from the St. Lawrence Subdivision at Woodard.   Photograph taken on September 19, 2022.

CN 2247 and CN 5779 lead X368-23 east at CP 286 on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. Canadian National (CN) 2247 and CN 5779 lead CSX train X368-23 east through Control Point (CP) 286 on CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. X symbolled trains are unscheduled trains that are an additional section to the normally scheduled counterpart train. X368-23 is an extra section (or extra train) of M368 (Chicago, IL., to Selkirk, NY.).  Photograph taken on June 25, 2022, at East Syracuse, New York.

A flooded field along the Seneca River reflects the sky above at Savannah, NY. Back in March 2022, I was at Savannah, New York, photographing trains on CSX's Rochester Subdivision . This field, which sits along the western side of the Seneca River , was flooded by the river. The clouds were moving in from the west as another round of storms were coming. Photograph taken on March 19, 2022, at Savannah, New York.