Nostalgia & History > Binghamton, New York, Double Stacs, May 1986

I had photographed double stac trains out West, but not in the East until this trip to Binghamton.

1. At 1215 24 May a westbound New York, Susquehanna & Western double stac train stopped on the CONRAIL (ex-Erie Lackawanna) main in Binghamton. On the point was ex-Burlington Northern SD45 #6360. A cut of general freight cars separated the motive power from the SeaLand double stacs.
2. #6360 pulled past the former Lackawana depot, but then stopped. 241230 May
3. I lensed a broad array of motive power in the yard area in Binghamton, including ex-BN SD45 #6486 and Santa Fe CF7 #2425. 241235 May



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/12 09:49 by captrr.

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4. Susquehanna C430 #3004 was another interesting piece of motive power nearby. 241240 May
5,6. The stopped Stac train gave me the opportunity to closely examine the one-month old NYSW well cars.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/12 14:55 by captrr.

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7. I found the shared truck design of these well cars particularly interesting.
8. Of course, equally as interesting were the Susi-Q Alcos comprising the 2nd and 3rd units in the motive power consist. Setting up for some roster shots, I was surprised when the train started backing across the Susquehanna River and into Conklin Yard. 241235 May
9. The back up proceeded in fits and starts, allowing me to cross the river and gain the overpass at the west end of Conklin Yard soon enough to lens the ex-BN SD45 easing back into the yard.

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10. We waited in vain for the stacs to leave Conklin Yard. When a train did show, it was eastbound Potomac Yard-Rouses Point, with Guilford (B&M) GP39-2 #366 on the point. 241420 May
11,12. In the early evening CONRAIL finally showed up, with a westbound stac train on the old Erie Lackawana. This train was really moving and we had to head west to shoot it roaring through Owego, New York, with GP40 #3220 on the point. 242000 May



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/12 09:37 by captrr.

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Nice stuff there!
Do you know what was on the "G" sign in the last shot?

13. Stacs were not as ubiquitous as they are today in 1986. I considered them worthy of a "stacs only" photo near Owego. 242010 May
14. Going back to Conklin Yard looking for the Susie-Q stacs, I came upon this New York Central (Peoria & Eastern) 50 ft sliding door boxcar. In all my years photographing trains, this is the only NYC freight car I ever shot!
15. The overcast returned by mid-evening. Final shot of the day, while still looking for that elusive Susie-Q stac train, was D&H RS11 #5011 approaching Conklin Yard on the former Lackawana main line. 252030 May



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/12 09:53 by captrr.

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Amazing stuff, back when the character of railroading was based on its variety not its uniformity. What a spot to watch trains, in both location and time.

And regarding: "Do you know what was on the "G" sign in the last shot?", in Image 10, that looks like the Guilford corporate logo.

Keep 'em coming!

- Kit

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography

CimaScrambler Wrote:
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> Amazing stuff, back when the character of
> railroading was based on its variety not its
> uniformity. What a spot to watch trains, in both
> location and time.
>
> And regarding: "Do you know what was on the "G"
> sign in the last shot?", in Image 10, that looks
> like the Guilford corporate logo.
>
> Keep 'em coming!
>
> - Kit

on the G sign a page zoom seems to reveal either sorry or scary from what i can determine

The word scrawled below the Guilford logo was "scabs."

captrr Wrote:
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> The word scrawled below the Guilford logo was
> "scabs."

Of Course! That makes sense, Big G and the D&H never did get along to well...Thanks!

When I lived in Albany in the mid- to late 1980s, I drove to and from central Pennsylvania to visit family. Binghamton was often a good place for me to take a break in the 6 1/2 - 7 hour drive and enjoy some of the rail action. Thanks, captrr, for the memories.

KSmitty Wrote:
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> captrr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The word scrawled below the Guilford logo was
> > "scabs."
>
> Of Course! That makes sense, Big G and the D&H
> never did get along to well...Thanks!

"Scabs" was an eventual outcome of Guilford creating Springfield Terminal to void the labor contracts of Delaware & Hudson, Boston & Maine and Maine Central, if I remember correctly.

I also recall that Guilford gave New York State some heartburn as the state invested in Delware & Hudson* but Guilford did not properly keep up its lines in New York State.

*Anyone remember D & H showing its appreciation to New York with its "I (heart) NY" boxcars?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/12 19:07 by RuleG.

And for the more common meaning, strikebreakers. A remarkable amount of equipment had "Scabs" sprayed on it during the strikes/labor disputes. D&H was deemed to much trouble and dumped in '88.
Upgrading, but then failing to maintain tracks was a Guilford specialty! Luckily, things seem to be changing as they more towards a being a 40mph railroad once again, and have kept speeds up for the Downeaster for 11 years now.

Although I have never been to Binghamton, seeing it on a subject line gets my attention. One of my musical friends is from that area, and even wrote a song about the town. What's the action like nowadays? Whatever's running there now probably doesn't have the "diesel museum" aspect of the 1980's.

In picture 10, is the third unit a N&W SD45 or that high hood ex-SD45 686 it inherited from NS? Earl is out...

Could be either an N&W unit or 1 of 9 ex-N&W SD45's Guilford had. Cant really tell from the angle.

Guys, I scanned a slide of the eastbound 109-car PYRP crossing the trestle at Nineveh 241550 May 86, but elected not to post it. (I always have to decide what to post and what not...I generally post about 40% of my scans and put them in my Flickr account. You can get too much of a good thing...and I shoot lots of rolling stock images for modeling purposes). I have more than 5,000 slides on Flickr, but have scanned more than 10,000 and have them on my hard drive, an external hard drive, and on DVDs.

Here is a link to that PYRP at Nineveh image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/captain_railroad/8234719868/

From that near broadside PYRP image, shot from below track level, the third unit in the consist was N&W SD45 #1734. I checked a few sites on the Internet. There are two images of #1734 still in service on N&W in 1985. But no indication if it still belonged to Norfolk Southern or had been sold/leased to Guilford in '86.

Cool! More classic stuff!! There goes my night, gonna "waste away"...