Railroaders' Nostalgia > Snow in Upstate NY

With the recent blast of "Lake Effect Snow" I dug (No pun intended) out some from the winter of 93-94. At the time I was working the WAHJ14 (W=Way Frt, A=Albany Div, HJ=Himrod Jct.) which ran over the last remaining portions of the PRR Elmira Branch between Watkins Glen, NY and Bellona. Snow in this territory is no stranger. Even back in the steam days trains would get stuck in the drifts. In fact there is a series of photos from a professional photographer hired by the Track Supervisor to show the snow conditions because Philadelphia would not believe the conditions. The photos did show a train stuck and snowplow action.

Back to the 93-94 winter. January started out with s few inches but when the winds cut in then the fun began. The day before on January 18th we ran north from Watkins to Himrod and the track just had a dusting of snow. Then overnight the winds kicked in and on the way south the next morning we started to hit the drifts. Had two GP40-2 and four empty salt cars but the drift was just too long. Only had about twenty feet to get out of it but we were done. Could not even back up and with the hoppers being empty made it much worse. Called the Dispatcher who relayed the info to the Head Track Supervisor, who had never had much snow experience sent two guys up with shovels. To make things short it was day 4 when we were on the move again.

In March had more problems and had the Jordan Spreader and plow with us much of the time. Our local Track Supervisor just want me to take the plow but I told him once I got north I wanted to get back. Good thinking as we plowed both directions. The one time I had the plow in the ditch was due to ice on a farm crossing caused by snowmobiles packing the flangeway in. Took three days to get the plow back on.

In the cut at Benton, NY we plowed twice that season and both time took three runs to get through. After the second run I got out to expose some film. Back in the late 70's I did get a train stuck here but it was dark out and no photos.

1. WAHJ14 Southbound at Lakemont, NY January 19, 1994.
2. Stuck Day 1
3. Two days later on January 21.

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4. WAHJ14 Lakemont, NY January 21, 1994
5. Freed on Day 4 and had a dozer run ahead to clean the track Glenora, NY January 22, 1994
6. WAHJ14 with the plow at Bellona, NY January 25, 1994

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7. North of Penn Yan, NY the plow took a right turn March 1, 1994.
8. March 3, 1994.
9. Plow back on and hitting the drift at Benton, NY March 10, 1994

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10. Benton, NY March 10, 1994.
11. At the north end of the line Bellona, NY

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Greta photos, never had to deal with this running Santa Fe So Cal locals ;-)
JB

Great photos and story. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to share the story and the pictures... Being an ole Tennessee boy; I can't imagine what winter is like where folks actually have to plow snow...

Thanks again...
leroy

Great series, thanks so much for posting it!