Well, surprise surprise! We heard the horn this morning while we were getting the mail so we jumped in the Blazer and took off! The power was just coming up to Lake Ave. as we crossed the bridge so we swung down Boxart St. and snapped off a couple as the power was coming under the bridge.
After that we headed north to Petten St. The day was scuzzy but I shot the train anyhow. I counted 50 loads as the train continued north under the O'Rourke Bridge. I hope to catch as many trips on the runner as possible before the end...
For now the Charlotte Runner is still a relevant source to railfan! Last week we caught 2 big GE units at Greenleaf Rd. The train was so long that the tail end was just under the Lake Ave. over-pass in Charlotte. I'm gonna miss the trains in my neighborhood even if they are CSX!
My wife surprised us with a trip to the Caboose Motel in Avoca, New York this Veteran's Day. They have 5 former Conrail N5 cabooses on a section of track that you can sleep in! The cabooses would have been originally built for the Pennsylvania Railroad but are now all painted red with black roofs. Each car has a different roadname on the side of each one, If I remember right they were Nickle Plate, Erie, New York Central, Great Western and Pennsylvania railroads. We, of course, stayed in the New York Central painted caboose! The outside of each caboose is pretty much all original but the interior transformation is quite nicely done. As you enter there is a small table on the right and a bathroom with a shower on the left. In the cupola there is a bed on each side of the car at the level of the cupola windows, neat!To the rear of the car is the "master" bedroom with a full size bed on the left and a single size bed on the right. The room had heat and A/C and a coffee maker with coffee on the sink counter under the left side cupola bed. There is also cable T.V. and a fridge. One more neat touch was a speaker mounted on the wall next to the phone that played train sounds. Don't worry there is a volume control in case the sounds are too much. This was a fun experience to sleep in this renovated caboose and if you're in the area I would highly recomend it!!! If you do stay at the Caboose Motel remember that Cohocton is just north up 390 a bit, home to the B&H's engine house and for the moment a lot of BIG Alcos!
Today in Rochester Yard we spotted this MBTA GP-40M (i think). This is a neat looking locomotive! It's got a wide cab, rare for a 4 axle unit (around here anyways), flared SD-45 style radiators and a wide striker plate on the rear end to mate up with the car diaphragms. Oh, yeah and the purple paint! The problem is that while I was shooting the "T" engine the yard crew was switching a couple of MTA cars. They were both "named" cars but the cut was out of range to see what they were. The cars were shoved onto a track with DMM and GWI cars so I would imagine they are heading to Dansville.
