T.G.'s Photography Blog

AMTK 95 leads the Lake Shore Limited east at Laird Rd. near Elbridge, NY.   Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, train P048 on CSX, is eastbound on CSX's Rochester Subdivision at Laird Road in the Elbridge, NY., and Jordan, NY ., area. The train had just passed through control point (CP) 306, which can be seen in the distance. The Lake Shore Limited is approximately fifteen miles away from its next station stop at Syracuse, New York. Photograph taken on March 27, 2023, at Elbridge, New York.

  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. 

  P048-24 passes the old West Shore RR bridge abutment on the south side of the Rochester Subdivision.   Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited (P048-24), led by AMTK 95 and AMTK 118 rolls east past an old West Shore bridge abutment to the west of Bonta Bridge Road . This abutment is on the south side of the tracks. The abutment on the north is also still standing but is hidden by trees from the road. The West Shore RR tracks crossed the NYC on a northeast-to-southwest alignment.  Photograph taken on January 24, 2023, at Town of Brutus, New York.

  With fresh snowfall, the Lake Shore Limited rounds the curve at Oakland Road.   With a coating of fresh snow on the ground in the Central New York area I caught Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, led by a trio of locomotives. AMTK 108 , Amtrak's Phase VI 50th Anniversary schemed locomotive was leading the train, followed by AMTK 107, and AMTK 94. Here, the train is eastbound on CSX's Rochester Subdivision, rounding the curve at Oakland Road at Weedsport, New York. This area is referred to as Centerport by the railroad. Centerport was an old port on the Erie Canal that sits between Port Byron, New York, and Weedsport, New York. Photograph taken on January 23, 2023, at Weedsport, NY.

  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.

  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.

  The Lake Shore Limited, with two private rail cars behind the engines, heads east at Savannah, NY.   While driving to see what fall colors remained in Central New York, the timing worked out to photograph Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited at Savannah, New York. I caught the train as it headed east through Control Point (CP) 320 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. CP 320 is on the eastern edge of Savannah, along the Seneca River . In addition to the train, a group of CSX maintenance of way (MoW) equipment is parked in the siding at CP 320. CSX has had crews working most of October on the Rochester Subdivision.   Today's Lake Shore Limited had the private passenger cars Hollywood Beach and Cimarron River trailing directly behind the Amtrak engines. Hollywood Beach is a former Seaboard Air Line car. Cimarron River is a former Frisco Railroad car. Photograph taken on October 28, 2022.

AMTK 100 leads the Lake Shore Limited by DeWitt Yard.   One of Amtrak's 50th Anniversary locomotives, AMTK 100 "Midnight Blue" led the Lake Shore Limited (train symbol P048) yesterday. The train is eastbound on CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision and is passing by DeWitt Yard in East Syracuse, New York. The train departed the Syracuse station about five minutes prior to passing by DeWitt Yard. Photograph taken on August 16, 2022, at East Syracuse, New York.

 We've had snow on the ground here in Central New York since early January. With the forecast calling for a series of warmer days, before another round of snow, I decided to head out on Monday to capture a few railroad photographs before the current snow melted.  Lake Shore Limited at Warners, New York I wound up photographing two trains this past Monday. The first train was Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, led by AMTK 108 and AMTK 121. AMTK 108 is one of Amtrak's 50th Anniversary locomotives, and it's painted in Amtrak's Phase VI paint scheme. The Lake Shore Limited is eastbound at MP 298 of the Rochester Subdivision. I caught the Lake Shore Limited, train P048 on CSX, at Pottery Road on the eastern edge of Warners, New York. Above, P048 is rolling east on Track 2 of the Rochester Subdivision, at milepost 298 . MP 298 is just to the west of Pottery Road. The train is about ten minutes away from arriving at the Syracuse train station. The other train I caught this past ...

With a very low chance of snow forecasted yesterday, I headed out to run some errands. While driving to the grocery store the youngest fell asleep in the car. Not wanting to disturb the nap, I made a detour over to Memphis, New York, along CSX's Rochester Subdivision. As seems to be the case lately, the forecast proved to be wrong.  No snow at Memphis? I arrived at Memphis, NY., and snow started to fall heavily . Apparently, the weather did not get the memo about the low chance of snow and no snow accumulation for the day. I am starting to think I should just disregard the weather forecast and assume there will be snow fall every day. In total, between yesterday and last night, my area got about 3-4 inches of fluffy lake-effect snow, on top of what we already had. Snow falls on the Rochester Subdivision, at Memphis, NY. AMTK 96 leading the Lake Shore Limited I heard the Lake Shore Limited making its way east over the Rochester Subdivision on Track 2 as it passed over the defect de...

On Tuesday, my youngest and I went over to Memphis, New York, to try and catch a train or two in the snow that had fallen from a recent storm. Initially, we headed there to catch Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited. While waiting for the Lake Shore Limited,  CSX train I009-17  passed through Memphis. As I009 was approaching our position, I heard the Amtrak crew call out clear at milepost QC 317. We were at milepost QC 302.6. Instead of photographing the Lake Shore Limited at Memphis, I decided to head over to one of my favorite spots along the Rochester Subdivision at Pottery Road in Warners, New York.  AMTK 112 leading the Lake Shore Limited at Warners, New York As we left Memphis, I heard the defect detector (DD) at milepost QC 313.7 give an all clear to the Lake Shore Limited (LSL). The LSL was closing the distance to us quickly. The DD reported a speed of 70 plus MPH for the LSL. We managed to get to Pottery Road, near milepost QC 298 just as the headlight of the LSL appeare...

 Today the Syracuse, New York, area got hit with a lake effect snowstorm. After the first wave of snow seemed to be over, I thought that the Lake Shore Limited (LSL) would look great kicking up the snow on the ground. I decided to head over toward Warners and Memphis, New York, to try and catch LSL on the Rochester Subdivision. I wound up at Memphis, New York , about fifteen minutes before the LSL arrived. AMTK 112 and the Lake Shore Limited kick up snow at Memphis, NY. I heard the defect detector (DD) at milepost (MP) QC 313.7 go off, and about seven to eight minutes later the LSL, led by AMTK 112 and AMTK 172 came roaring through Memphis kicking up a cloud of freshly fallen snow.  After arriving forty minutes late into Rochester, New York, the LSL was trying its best to make up time.  The Lake Shore Limited rolls over the defect detector at Memphis, NY. Within a few seconds the LSL had passed over the DD at Memphis (MP QC 302.6) and was rolling on toward its next ...

This past Tuesday, I saw on Virtual Railfan's, Fairport, New York, camera chat that CT rail 6705 was coming east on Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited that day. I decided to try and catch the the Lake Shore Limited, so I headed over to CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, along Saintsville Road, at Kirkville, New York. AMTK 104, AMTK 105, and CNDX 6705 CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision runs parallel to Saintsville Road , between milepost (MP) 282 and milepost 280. I decided to set up at Auto 280/CP280, which is at MP 280.5. This location has a safe area that you can pull off to the side of the road and has a clear view to the east and west. AMTK 104, AMTK 105, and CNDX (CDOT/CT rail) 6705 lead the Lake Shore Limited. After about a fifteen-minute wait, I saw the headlight of the Lake Shore Limited (Amtrak train 48/CSX train P048) on the eastern edge of DeWitt Yard, at MP 282.5 . Soon, the Lake Shore Limited, led by AMTK 104, AMTK 105, and CNDX 6705 were rolling through Auto ...

The CSX Syracuse Terminal Subdivision   The Syracuse Terminal Subdivision was formed from the western end of the CSX Mohawk Subdivision in January 2011. The Syracuse Terminal Subdivision starts at Control Point (CP) 263 (milepost QC 263.8) in Oneida, New York. It then goes west to CP296 (MP QC 296.8) at Airport Road, to the west of Solvay, New York. The Mohawk Subdivision now ends at the westbound absolute signals (WAS) of CP263, since CP263 is part of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. On the western end, the STS meets the CSX Rochester Subdivision and ends at the westbound absolute signals. CP296 is part of the Rochester Subdivision. Both the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision and the Rochester Subdivision are controlled by CSX's NF dispatcher in Jacksonville, Florida. Auto 280/CP280 On October 2, 2021, I caught AMTK 711 leading train P063 at Auto 280/CP280 (MP QC 280.5), along the three-track segment of the subdivision. Auto 280/CP280 sits along Saintsville Road in Kirkville, New Yo...

On a partly cloudy morning in East Syracuse, New York, I was waiting at on the western end of CSX's DeWitt Yard for Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited. While waiting, I was able to catch two other trains at the yard. CSXT 112 and CSXT 5350 leading Q560-01 The first train I caught was Q560-01, a daily manifest freight train that runs from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Selkirk, New York. Along the trains journey to Selkirk, it makes a stop at DeWitt Yard to drop off and pick up cars. Below, at Bridge Street, Q560 comes around the curve on Track 1 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) at CP285. Behind the bridge and train are the old New York Central coaling towers .  CSXT 112 leads Q560 at CP285 Below, CSXT 112 and CSXT 5350 lead train Q560-01 onto the New Lead, from Track 1 of the STS. The block signals on the cantilever signal bridge control the yard's departure lead tracks. Q560-01 eastbound on the New Lead at DeWitt Yard Q115 being switched by CSXT 3390 and CSXT 479 While train Q560...

While out on a drive to see if the tree leaves had accelerated their fall color change, we heard the track detector at milepost QC323.6 of the Rochester Subdivision (Savannah, NY.) start talking for Amtrak's eastbound Lake Shore Limited. We therefore headed over to Pottery Road to wait for it.  CSX 3453 leading train Q363-21 First up was CSXT 3453  (a General Electric built ET44AH) leading train Q363-21 west on the Track 1 of the Rochester Subdivision at Pottery Road (MP QC297.76). Train Q363 is a daily manifest train that runs from Selkirk, NY., to Avon, IN. Below, the train is coming west around the curve just to the east of Pottery Road (milepost 297.76). CSXT 3453 leading Q363-21 This was a long train. The defect detector a few miles to the west of Pottery Road at milepost QC302.6 (Warners, NY) reported an axel count of 572. Subtracting twelve axles for the two locomotives (CSXT 3177 was the mid-train DPU) works out to 140 four-axle freight cars on this train. Below, the ...

With rain falling in the Central New York area on Wednesday, my son wanted to go find some trains, so we headed out to see what we could find on CSX's Rochester Subdivision. Initially, we drove west to Memphis, NY. While driving there we heard on the scanner a train going through the defect detector there. The hot box detector at that location reported that the detector was malfunctioning. When we got to the Bennetts Corners Road crossing, which is just to the east of the detector, I spotted a CSX maintenance worker working on it.  AMTK 108 and AMTK 125 leading the Lake Shore Limited I decided to start working our way back east along the line, and when we crossed the bridge over the tracks at Warners, NY., I spotted a headlight in the distance, to the west of town. As we were driving east toward Pottery Road I heard the Memphis defect detector (mile post QC302.6) go off, reporting an axle count of 52. That told me that it was the Lake Shore Limited . We got to the Pottery Road cros...

 After taking the kids to Lewis Park in Minoa, NY., we decided to head over to Kirkville, NY., to catch Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, with AMTK 108 leading the train. We got lucky, and also caught a CSX manifest freight leaving DeWitt Yard. Auto 280/CP 280 on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision Looking east toward Auto 280 and CP280, while being eaten alive by mosquitos. After finding a nice spot next to the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS), along Saintsville Road, at Town Isle Road, and getting attacked by New York's native "bird", the mosquito, we had to move east a bit more. After driving east, a short distance, we found another nice place to pull off of the road at the Auto 280 and CP 280 block signals (located at milepost (MP) QC280.5). Thankfully, there were no mosquitos at this spot. CP280 on the Syracuse Terminal Sub., along Saintsville Rd. The STS has three tracks at this location. Track 2 is closest to the road, then Track 1 in the middle, and Track 4 is 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...