T.G.'s Photography Blog

 With fresh snow on the ground from an overnight snowfall, my youngest and I headed out to catch a train or two while running errands yesterday. We wound up along the CSX Rochester Subdivision at Pump Road in the Town of Brutus, New York. Brutus, New York, is in Cayuga County, to the west of and across the county line from Jordan, New York, in Onondaga County I009-02 led by CSXT 728 and CSXT 7018 From about 190 feet above ground level, CSXT 728 and CSXT 7018 hustle I009-02 west on Track 1 at CP308. After arriving at Pump Road, I heard the defect detector (DD) at milepost (MP) 302.6 go off and report to the train's crew that there were no defects. This DD is located about six miles to the east in Memphis, New York . Soon, the headlight of CSXT 728 appeared to the east beyond the NY Route 31 overpass (MP 307.84) in Jordan, New York. Within a few minutes, I009-02 was quickly rolling through CP308 (MP 308.7). CP308 is a control point just to the east of Pump Road (MP 308.95). The ...

 Last Saturday, after catching CSX train X626-18  led by Union Pacific locomotives at Memphis, New York, I caught CSX intermodal train I004-18 further to the east at Warners, New York.  I004-18 eastbound at Warners, NY. CSXT 3087 leading I004-18 east of CP300 at Warners, NY. Above, I004-18 is eastbound on Track 2 of the Rochester Subdivision and is cresting a small hill. This spot is just to the east of control point (CP) 300 (milepost (MP) QC 300.7), near Warners Road. Through the trees and brush on the right side of the photograph you can see a red signal on one of the westbound control point block signals . The westbound signals are about 3,100 feet from me.  The old NYC milepost 300 still stands about 500 feet east of Warners Road. Across the tracks and about 300 feet east of my position is the old New York Central milepost for mile 300. The Rochester Subdivision was once part of the NYC's Water Level Route. The miles on the Rochester Subdivision count up going ...

With a bit of snow still on the ground, from a light snow fall the day before, I headed out to Warners, New York, to catch intermodal train I162-02 coming by the old New York Central (NYC) 298 milepost.  Train I162-02, led by CSXT 7233, is east bound on Track 2 at MP QC298. The old NYC milepost is just to the west of Pottery Road and sits on the south side of the tracks. These old mileposts count the distance from Grand Central Terminal, which was built by the NYC, in New York City. There are many of these old mileposts (see the fifth photo linked post) still standing along the Rochester Subdivision, which was part of NYC's old Water Level Route through New York.  I162-02 starts to lean into the curve, west of Pottery Road. I162 is a daily intermodal train that runs from North Baltimore, Ohio, to Port Newark, New Jersey. I162 works Collinwood Yard at Cleveland, Ohio, Frontier Yard at Buffalo, New York, and DeWitt Yard at Syracuse, New York. Photograph taken on January 3, 202...

 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.

 The other day my oldest decided that October 19th, was Train Day, so while out running errands we made our way to the CSX Rochester Subdivision. Manifest train Q368-17 We didn't have to wait long for a train. As we got to the Pottery Road crossing, near milepost 298, we saw the headlight of eastbound train Q368-17. Q368 is a daily manifest freight train that runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Selkirk, New York.  Q368-17 approaching milepost 298. Q368-17 was being led by CSXT 952, a General Electric built ES44AC-H. CSXT 952 was built in November of 2011, per RRPicturesArchives.net. CSXT 952 was the only locomotive at the front of the train. Q368 did have a mid-train DPU, which is not shown here. The old milepost, on the bottom left of the photograph, is from the days when this line was owned by the New York Central Railroad. The milepost count up from Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Many of these milepost still stand along this rail line. Photograph taken on October 19...

The plan of heading to Onondaga Lake Park quickly got dashed when rain storms rolled through the Syracuse area. So, instead, my youngest and I went looking for some trains.  CSXT 5321 leading train Q368-29 At Pottery Road, on the CSX Rochester Subdivision, the first train we caught was Q368-29, being led by CSXT 5321, CSXT 261, and BNSF 4270. The train is traveling east on Track 2. The first photograph is as the train passes the old New York Central 298 milepost , which is just to the west of the crossing.  Q368-29 passing the NYC 2298 milepost. Q368 is a daily manifest train that travels from The Belt Railway of Chicago's Clearing Yard to CSX's Selkirk Yard in Selkirk, NY. The train travels through the New York cities of: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany. CSXT 5321 leans into the curve east of Pottery Road. Today, a long string of empty flat cars brought up the end of Q368-29. Below the end-of-train (aka, FRED) device hangs off of the couple of the last flat car,...

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 ...

While searching around on Google Maps, following the Finger Lakes Railroad (reporting mark: FGLK) mainline from Slovay, NY., I came across an old railroad station along the rail line at Martisco, NY.  New York Central Martisco Railroad Station Nestled among the trees, at the end of Martisco Road, is the old Martisco train station. The two-level, brick station was built in 1870, by the New York Central Railroad (NYC) to replace the original wooden built station, and sits a couple of miles north of Marcellus, NY. Martisco Station sits along the Finger Lakes Railway's mainline, which runs from Slovay, NY., to Canandaigua, NY. A trackside view of Martisco Station The station is owned and operated by the Central New York Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society  (CNYCNRHS). The station houses a museum as well as a library, featuring railroad related items and documents.  Looking southwest down the mainline According to the CNYCNRHS this rail line was part of 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...

Today I traveled west to Brutus, New York, along CSX's Rochester Subdivision. Brutus is the largest town in Cayuga County. On its east side, it borders Jordan, New York, in Onondaga County. The town of Weedsport, New York, is the largest village within the town of Brutus. Q162-13, with CSXT 3453 The first, and only, train I photographed today was train Q162-13, which was sitting just to the west of the Bonta Bridge Road crossing. Q162-13 had CSXT 3453 (a General Electric built ET44AH) as the only locomotive on the front of the train. The train did have CSXT 3283 serving as the distributed power (DP) unit  on the rear of the train. CSXT 3453 on the point of Q162-13 Q162-13 had been stopped to the west of CP308 (milepost QC308.7) to allow a number of trains to pass by it on Track 1, before it would cross over to Track 1 from Track 2 to proceed east. I believe Track 2 had a maintenance worker checking something near milepost 297.76 (Pottery Road) further east of here. A tighter shot o...

I saw that AMTK 46, one of Amtrak's 50th anniversary commemorative locomotives, was leading the eastbound Lake Shore Limited today. I decided to load up the kids in the car and head out to try and catch it. We went to what is fast becoming our usual spot at Pottery Road, along CSX's Rochester Subdivision. After waiting for about ten minutes I saw the headlight of AMTK 46, a few miles away as the train was passing through the heart of Warners, NY. Soon, the block signals to the west of Pottery Road came on and the crossing gates went down. Lake Shore Limited approach Pottery Road I was hoping that the lettering on the side of the locomotive would turn out better, but the way the light reflected off of the side caused it to not be as readable as I had hoped. A tighter view of AMTK 46 The Lake Shore Limited was moving fast, making up some lost time on its scheduled arrival into Syracuse, NY. In addition to the photographs, here's a  link to a video  I captured with my phone as...

While out driving some errands, I made a quick detour to Warners, NY., to see if there was any railroad action happening on the CSX Rochester Subdivision. After waiting for a bit at Pottery Road, I decided to head west a few miles to Herman Road, on the eastern edge of Warners. As I drove down Herman Road and crossed the tracks I spotted that the block signals to the west of Herman Road were on.  After a few minutes of waiting, the headlight and ditch lights of train Q162-15 became visible in the far distance. Train Q162-15 was creeping along very slowly, so it took it a few minutes before it got near to the crossing. Below, CSXT 3163 and CSXT 477 lead the train as it approaches the Herman Road crossing, at mile post 299.12.  Q162-15 nearing Herman Road After the locomotives passed through the crossing at Herman Road, the train neared the signals to the east of the crossing. The high green had Q162-15 cleared into Slovay, NY., where the Rochester Subdivision ends and the Syrac...