T.G.'s Photography Blog

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.

  With snow falling, M561-18 is westbound on Main 2 of the Rochester Subdivision at Memphis, NY. Yesterday with some mid-morning snow falling, I caught CSXT 214 leading M561-19 (manifest train, Selkirk, New York, to Cincinnati, Ohio) at Memphis, New York . The train is westbound on Track 2 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. In the distance, obscured by the snow the train is passing through Control Point (CP) 300 at Warner's New York. M561-18 is stopped at CP 306 as a crew member works to find the train's issue.   A short time after the train passed through Memphis, it made an emergency stop at  Jordan, New York , due to a loss of the computer display screens in the cab. The problem was a loose battery knife switch on the lead locomotive that caused the unit to lose partial power. Photograph taken on December 19, 2022, at Memphis, New York. 

Led by AMTK 701 and AMTK 119, P284-07 is eastbound on the Rochester Subdivision at Memphis, NY. Amtrak's Empire Service train P284 (Niagara Falls, New York, to New York City) is eastbound at Memphis, New York. P284 is on Track 2 of CSX's Rochester Subdivision and is nearing Bonnetts Corners Road. The next stop for P284 is Syracuse, New York. Photograph taken on July 7, 2022.

  B727 is a loaded ethanol train that runs from Bensenville, Illinois, to Linden, New Jersey. The train is handed off from Canadian Pacific (CP) to CSX at Bensenville. Often ethanol trains like B727 continue with their run-through power . Other times the receiving railroad will swap out the delivering railroad's locomotive power for their own.  B727-30 at Memphis, NY. From the air, CP 9366 and & CP 8633 lead B727-30 east at the defect detector (MP 302.6) in Memphis, NY.   I saw this train pass by Virtual Railfan's cameras at Fairport, New York, just after 8 AM Wednesday. By the time I got out the door, I was sure I had missed my opportunity to photograph it. Luck was on my side, though not the train's crew. B727-30 stopped to allow Amtrak's Empire Service train P284 to pass it near milepost (MP) 313. Then, when B727 went to start moving again, the lead engine's prime mover wouldn't start. Talking with CSX's mechanical department in Jacksonville, Flori...

After catching train I009-02 with my drone over at Brutus, New York, my youngest and I wound up at the Erie Canal Trail parking lot in Memphis, New York. We wound up there because the youngest fell asleep while driving and experience has shown me that it's best to just let the little one sleep in the car. Experience has also shown me that trains rumbling by at track speed will not wake the little one.  So, while the youngest slept, I waited for a few trains. First up, intermodal train I004-02, led by CSXT 3393 A short time after arriving, I heard CSX train I004-02's crew calling out signals as the train rolled east along CSX's Rochester Subdivision.  A short time before I004-02 arrived, I heard Amtrak's Maple Leaf crew call out a clear at milepost 294. Memphis, New York, is at MP 302.6 . I began to wonder if somehow, I might capture a meeting of the two trains as they passed my location.  Led by CSXT 3393, CSX train I004-02 kicks up a cloud of snow at Memphis, NY. Led...

Foreign locomotive power on CSX trains seems to have increased recently. For a short period of time last year CSX was removing as much foreign power as it could to save on repaying horsepower hours to other railroads. Over the past couple of months CSX trains on the Rochester Subdivision have had foreign power from other railroads, including BC Rail (a Candian National operated railroad), BNSF , Canadian National (CN), Canadian Pacific, Illinois Central (IC, and CN owned), Kansas City Southern , and Union Pacific (UP). Previously, for a few months CSX was pulling foreign power and replacing it with its own locomotives. X626-18 at Memphis, NY. UP 6024 is on the point of CSX train X626-18 at Memphis, NY. This past Saturday I was lucky and caught CSX train X626-18 being led by UP 6024 and UP 7834. I caught X626 as it rolled east at 40MPH on Track 2 of the CSX Rochester Subdivision, at Memphis, New York. The "X" designation means this is an extra section of train Q626 . I got th...

Two Wednesdays back, I was lucky enough to catch a CSX train with Kansas City Southern locomotives leading a military train through the Central New York region. As luck would have it, I was able to see and photograph another CSX train this past Wednesday with foreign power. This past Wednesday, I caught K684-14 with Illinois Central (AAR reporting mark IC) 2706 and British Columbia Railway (AAR reporting mark BCOL) 4648 on a loaded ethanol tank car train. BCOL is also known as BC Rail. CSX train K684-14 at Memphis, New York Except for a CSX signal maintainer, everything was quite on the railroad when I arrived at my usual spot at the Erie Canal Trail parking lot in Memphis, New York . The signal maintainer was working on the block signals to the west at milepost 303.5 of the Rochester Subdivision. The parking lot is off of Bennetts Corners Road, which is MP 302.54. A CSX signal maintainer's vehicle is parked to the west at the block signals at MP 303.5. I listened as the train...

A few Sundays back, I was over at Memphis, New York , waiting for a train or two. Shortly after arriving, I heard Amtrak's Maple Leaf (train P063) get the okay from the CSX defect detector at milepost 291.9 in Syracuse, New York. Memphis is at milepost 302.6, just under eleven miles away, so it wouldn't be long before the Maple Leaf showed up. Led by AMTK 717, the Maple Leaf rolls west on the Rochester Subdivision at Memphis, NY. Just under ten minutes later, I saw the headlight of AMTK 717, a General Electric P32AC-DM , appear over the tracks just beyond the Warners Road overpass (milepost 300.10) in the far distance. The Maple Leaf was heading west on Track 1 of the CSX Rochester Subdivision and was kicking up a bit of snow as it hustled through town at 77MPH/124KPH. Its next station stop would be Rochester, New York. Then on to the New York cites of DePew, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls. Photograph taken on February 6, 2022, at Memphis, New York.

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...

 With fresh snow on the ground, the youngest and I headed out to Memphis, New York, to catch the Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, and any other train that might come along on CSX's Rochester Subdivision. I009-17, led by CSXT 7914 After arriving at Memphis, New York , I saw the control point (CP) signals to the east at CP300, in Warners, New York, were lined for the eastbound Lake Shore Limited (LSL) on Track 2. However, before the LSL showed up the headlight of CSXT 7914, leading priority intermodal train I009-17 (Port Newark, NJ. to Bedford Park, IL.), appeared to the east of CP300 (milepost QC 300.7). Memphis is at milepost 302.6.  CSXT 7914 and train I009-17 kick up a cloud of snow at Memphis, NY. Less than two minutes later, I009-17 (the 17 is the date the train originated on) came hustling through town at 59MPH on Track 1, kicking up a cloud of snow. Within seconds of the locomotives passing, the scene became engulfed in the cloud of snow. Below, about one hundred feet in fr...

 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 ...

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...

With a fresh coating of snow on the ground, from an overnight snowfall, my youngest and I headed out to see if we could find any trains on CSX's Rochester Subdivision . We heard train I017-23 call out that it had a clear signal at control point (CP) 290, which is in Syracuse, New York, on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision . We were at Warners, New York, about ten miles ahead of I017-23 , so I decided to go to Memphis, New York, to catch the train. CSXT 3325 leads I017-23 west at MP QC302 of the Rochester Subdivision. We arrived  at the Bennett's Corner Road crossing (MP QC 302.54), in Memphis, New York , and s oon saw the headlight of CSXT 3325 on the point of I017-23 in the far distance. I017 is a daily priority intermodal train that runs from Worchester, Massachusetts to Bedford Park, Illinois.  I017-23 disappears into a cloud of snow to the west of Bennett's Corner Road. Moving at a speed of 56MPH (per the defect detector at MP QC 302.6) I017-23 came roaring through th...