T.G.'s Photography Blog

 Control Point (CP) 285 sits along CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) on the western end of DeWitt Yard. This end of the almost three-and-a-half-mile long yard is in East Syracuse, New York. The CP, along with CP286, controls trains on the STS, as well as trains entering and departing DeWitt Yard. A trio of CSX locomotives, including CSXT 6479, enter DeWitt Yard via the New Lead, next to MP 286. CP285, officially, per a 2004 CSX timetable, is at milepost (MP) QC 286 of the STS. Close to the center of CP285, the New York Central (NYC) concrete milepost 286 still stands on the south side of the tracks at the Bridge Street overpass. East end of CP285 CSXT 452 & CSXT 76 lead ethanol train B725-03 east on Track 2, past intermodal train I169-03 on the Departure Yard Lead.   The east side of the CP is east of Bridge Street, along East 1st Street, at MP QC 285.97, per one of the relay/control cabins. This end of the CP controls trains heading west on Track 1 and Track 2 of ...

  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...

 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...

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...

While out and about today, I heard a CSX "K" train call out over the radio feed. A  "K" train  on CSX is a bulk commodity train, such as a  tank car  train carrying oil or ethanol. When the crew called out for a clear signal, they called out BNSF 5192 as the train's leader. Foreign power (another railroad's locomotive) is fairly rare these days on the CSX Rochester Subdivision due to CSX trying to limit foreign power on the railroad, so I decided to try and catch it. BNSF 5192 leading CSX train K636-12 The youngest and I headed over to Warners, New York, and wound up getting to the Herman Road crossing just as the headlight of BNSF 5192 was just beyond the bridge in the background. Within a few minutes, K636-12 rolled east on Track 2 of the Rochester Subdivision. This stretch of track is between milepost (MP) QC299 and MP QC300. K636 is a loaded ethanol train that runs from Bensenville, Illinois, to Linden, New Jersey. The train is handed off to CSX from Ca...

 Last month, while at the Pottery Road crossing on the Rochester Subdivision, I caught CSXT 5325 and CSXT 255 leading train K622-29. The train, below, is passing the old New York Central milepost 298 marker that is just to the west of Pottery Road. K622-29 was eastbound on Track 2 of the subdivision. CSXT 5325 leads train K622-29 east on Track 2 at MP 298. Train K622 is an as-needed loaded ethanol train that runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. K622-29 had an axel count of 468. Minus sixteen axles for the two locomotives and one buffer car, gave the train a tank car count of 113. Tank cars on K622-29 stretch into the distance on the Rochester Subdivision. Photographs taken on October 2, 2021, at Warners, New York.

In this first photograph, BNSF 7824 and BNSF 7039 are seen sitting on the BNSF Hannibal Subdivision (the tracks curving in from the left side) at Grand Interlocking. The train was waiting for clearance to proceed east, through the interlocking and onto the TRRA Merchants Subdivision. The other set of tracks that curve in from the right side of the photograph are Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision. After the BNSF train makes its way onto the TRRA Merchants Subdivision , it will head toward north St. Louis, where the train will get back on to the Hannibal Subdivision at North Market Interlocking. The road way in the photograph is the Chouteau Avenue overpass. This second image shows a closer view of the BNSF train as it sits waiting to proceed through the interlocking. Grand Interlocking is one of the busiest railroad junctions in the St. Louis area. Amtrak, BNSF, TRRA, and UP trains all pass through this junction. Amtrak trains that pass through the interlocking ...