GMA train video

Oh, here's a cellphone video of the train we shot too.

Good Morning America Whistlestop Tour

Thanks to the good folks at Railroad.net I found out that the Good Morning America Train would be coming through Rochester this evening!
Power was provided by two specially decorated Amtrak Genesis engines.
The third "unit" in the consist was a strange beast indeed! An F-40 ph "Cabbage" had been given a set of balls! No, really, balls, over the baggage/ engine room area the roof line was lowered and a pair of domes, probably for live feed during broadcasts, had been added to the roof!
A matched set of 6 Superliner cars decorated in a real nice red, white and blue reflective scheme made up the majority of the consist.
On the tail-end a pair of BEAUTIFUL, restored Pennsylvania private cars were bringing up the markers. I ran across Main street to try and get a going away shot but after almost getting whacked by an RTS bus I found my batteries had died... what a PUTZ! I forgot to pick up new ones on my way out to shoot today. Oh well, I got some shots.

Steam on the Arcade and Attica, part II

With #18 sounding for the grade, we departed Arcade station on time. After clearing the road #18 enters a "canyon" between two brick buildings with the exhaust barking nicely. The line curves through the parking lot and across the famous plate girder birdge. The trip to Curriers is about 45 minutes there are a few grade crossings along the way to give the crew a chance to perfect there skill on the 2-8-0's deep throated whistle. At Curriers, #18 makes a run around move to facilitate the return to Arcade. The crew makes a photo stop along side the freight station for a few minutes then we re-board for the return trip to Arcade. The 1920 Alco couples on to the last car of the train, a 1940's vintage composite gondola with benches, and were on our way. After working Diesel Days at the RGVRRM all those years you think I would have remembered the "hazzards" of riding in the open, but I didn't. We stood in the gondola about 20 feet from the smoke box door of #18 and we recieved our "Free Souveniers". As she accelerated with her train we were rewarded withh a shower of soot!!! Yay!!! We didn't mind, I'd take coal soot over diesel soot any day! Once we got back to Arcade we stopped at a few stores and I was able to shoot the second train of the day as it crossed the bridge behind the parking lot. This was a great trip behind one of the VERY few steam locomotives operating in New York state. You should try it!

Steam on the Arcade and Attica

Once a year on our anniversary my wife and I get to leave the kids with grandma and take a well earned overnight vacation by ourselves! Last
year we had a great time in Niagara Falls but this year money was a bit tighter so my wife tried to find something closer to home. We spent Saturday night in a cabin at the "Tumble Hill Campground" in Chohocton, N.Y.. The next morning after an awesome breakfast of sausage and blueberry pancakes made by her dad we stopped by the B&H's engine house in town to check on the Alcos. There were still 5 big 6 axle monsters there. Numbers 3670, 3664 & 3674 are all M 636's and 3660 & 77 are C-636's. B&H numbers 4&5 were there too. I would have stayed and shot some more pics but we were running late for the second half our getaway!

We headed west to Arcade to catch the first train of the day, we arrived just 10 minutes before depature time! We got our reserved tickets and boarded the second to last car in the train. In a couple of minutes, with two longs a short and a long from #18 we were on our way. More on the trip on my next post!

425 & 418 in Henrietta!

Yesterday, we were shopping in Henrietta

and I was amazed to catch the LA&L crossing West Henrietta road! I have know that they still used these tracks to serve the lumber yard for a while but have never caught the move in person. As we crossed the tracks, the wrong side as far as the lighting was concerned, I saw 425's nose creeping towards the road. 425 and 418 looked and sounded GREAT as the headed south (or east) across the road. I would have chased it but we were hungry, so we went to The Cracker Barrell instead.

Falls Road Re-activated!

Wow, not even 3 months after my post about the eastern end of the Falls Road, CSX has started serving Klein Steel on Vanguard Parkway (off of Emerson). Last week I spotted 2 flat cars behind their plant and today I spotted 3 flats. I accidently deleted the pics but I hope to actually get some shots of a train moving on this line. Stay tuned railfans!!!

Diesel Days is coming!!!

It's that time of year again! The Rochester Chapter of the NRHS is holding their annual Diesel Days event! August 24th & 25th the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum will join forces with the New York Museum of Transportation to pull off this mammoth event. Visitors will board a rail vehicle at the N.Y.M.T. on E.River Rd. to begin their journey. At the half way point of their ride they will switch to one of several locomotives that will be running that weekend.
These photos were taken last Thursday evening while preparations were being made for the event. The first shows our former US Army, Fairbanks Morse switcher number 1843 pulling a train North up the line. 1843 is the ONLY operating Fairbanks Morse switcher in New York State! She is pulling an ex-Lackawanna M.U. car, an ex- Pennsylvania Baggage/ Mail car, ex- NYC baggage/ R.P.O. the "Alonzo B. Cornell" and an ex- NYC coach built for the Empire State Express.
The second photo shows one of our MDT reefer cars that were built in East Rochester, New York at the NYC's Despatch Shops.
The last two photos show my personnal favorite at the museum. This Alco is ex-LV #211, she has had a busy career. She was built for the Pennsylvania Railroad then traded to the LV. After serving the LV she became Conrail #5487 until her rebuild where her origional Alco powerplant was removed and replaced by an EMD. After leaving Conrail she was leased to the Rochester and Southern for a while then she was donated to the R&GVRR museum.
For more information about Diesel Days or information on the museum collection you can go to their website at; http://www.rgvrrm.org/ .
Thanks for looking! Hope you can make it out!

New York Central returns to Rochester!

Sort of anyway! On the night of August 12, 2008 Amtrak's train number 49, "The Lake Shore Limited" had the former New York Central observation car the "Hickory Creek" tacked on to it's rear end. The train was only about 18 minutes late, which ain't too bad, when it made it's station stop in Rochester on it's westward sprint to Chicago.

This car is truly a beauty! At 11:18 pm the locomotives lit up the night as they decellerated into the station. The train stopped with the "Creek" just 2 car lengths short of the platform. I had to walk down to get some pics as my last two attempts were stymied by both the weather and bad timing. What a sweet ride this would be to depart from New York's Penn station and glide along the Hudson. Viewing the scenery through the comparativly huge picture windows as you head west through the Mohawk Valley then across western New York's fertile farm country. That would be the way to travel!

Falls Road remnants in Rochester

Last week I took a drive down Mt. Read Blvd. towards Lyell and decided to check out the New York Central's old "Falls Road" line. Just west of Mt Read next to the city operations center The B&O crossed over the N.Y.C on a plate girder bridge. I was surprised at how well maintained the line still looked after sitting dormant for near 20 years! The passing track is still there and the switch is complete, incuding the ground throw. I would had loved to get a shot of a B&O train on the bridge as a NYC train passed underneath!

I think summer is here!

A couple weeks ago we were heading home from taking my elderly aunt shopping and while passing the yard I spotted something interesting on the main at 369! I was kinda in a hurry to get home but the bathroom would have to wait! I headed to the back of the parking lot behind the Village Gate mall to the site of the old Trail Van terminal. I don't get to see CP Rail around here much so it was a neat contrast to the more common CSX paint. This week I hope to get some photos of the ex Family Lines Geep that's working Rochester Yard. It's in CSX paint but you can see the old markings fading through. Even the old numbers are visible beneath the numbers it's wearing now!