T.G.'s Photography Blog

Priority intermodal train I001 is a once-a-week train that runs from North Bergen, New Jersey, to Bedford Park, Illinois. I001 and its counterpart I002 are probably the highest priority trains on CSX, due to them carry high priority UPS trailers and containers. I001-29 at CP280 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision Last Tuesday, I was at Kirkville, New York, to see what the view of CP280 was like from Brewer Road. Shortly after arriving at where Brewer Road dead-ends at the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, I saw the crossing lights at North Kirkville Road begin to flash. Looking to the east, beyond the crossing, I saw the headlight of CSXT 3185 peaking above the crest of the small hill near the crossing. I001-29 wasn't wasting any time as it hustled west on Track 2 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, doing close to fifty miles per hour.  Looking east, from Brewer Rd., as I001-29 splits the automatic signals for Track 2 and Track 1. CP280 is a "semi" control point. The onl...

 Yesterday, the youngest and I went to Kirkville, New York, to catch a couple of trains on CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS). After photographing Amtrak train P284 from alongside Saintsville Road, we headed to Brewer Road, where it dead-ends at the tracks on the north side. KCSM on B725-23 at Auto 280 As we drove down Brewer Road toward Syracuse Terminal Subdivision, loaded ethanol train B725-23 rolled east in front of us. B725-23 was interesting because it had Canadian Pacific (CP) 8947 leading and Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM) 4763 as the end-of-train DP unit. B725-23 was handed off to CSX from CP at Bensenville, Illinois. Its destination is Sewaren, New Jersey. I honestly thought that B725-23 was long gone from the Syracuse, New York area and that I had missed it. KCSM 4763 is the end-of-train DP unit on B725-23 at Auto 280/CP280 of the STS. Having missed the lead CP unit, I quickly grabbed my camera and set it up to capture KCSM 4763 as it passed through the A...

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 ...

 Yesterday, my youngest and I set out to run an errand over in East Syracuse, New York, and while out we took a quick detour over to the Minoa and Kirkville areas to see if any trains could be found either at the eastern end of DeWitt Yard, or further east along the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. I017-22 at CP280/Auto 280 on the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision While driving back west on Sainstville Road, from North Kirkville Road, I saw the automatic signals at Auto 280/CP280 (MP QC280.5) come on, lined for a westbound on Track 1. We were in luck; well, I was in luck because my youngest had fallen asleep while we drove to Kirkville. Train I017-22, led by CSXT 3042, rolls west at Auto 280.  Soon, the headlight of CSXT 3042, leading train I017-22, appeared to the east, and within minutes was rolling through Auto 280 on Track 1. Track 1 and Track 2 here are controlled by automatic signals and Track 4 is controlled by control point signals.  From Auto 280, train I017-22 stretc...