Eastern Railroad Discussion > Rochester, NY and Southern Teir help

I will be traveling to Rochester, NY this weekend and will have a few half days to railfan Sunday morning, and the following Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

I am very interested in seeing the WNY&P/LAL/B&P Alcos in action.
Is anyone willing to share any intell on their typical operations?
Also any help for the NS/CSX and G&W lines?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/14 18:27 by Roadrailer.

LA&L runs Mon-Fri out of Lakeville up to Genesee Junction and Brooks Avenue Yard (near the airport) to interchange with CSX and the R&S. I think they usually get going around 0700 and usually switch Barilla in Avon on the way north, although sometimes they skip the pasta plant and/or switch it on the way south, depending on the plant's needs or the availability of the Lakeville switcher job to work the plant. They also sometimes run a Sunday crew up to switch the Barilla plant, but to my knowledge that job never goes farther north.

WNY&P trains can go to four different places out of Olean -- Falconer, Driftwood, Hornell, and Farmers Valley. I don't know the current schedule for any of these trips, but a friend of mine had a very successful chase to Driftwood on a recent Tuesday. The best thing to do with them is to visit the yard office first thing in the morning and sign a release and they may advise you as to what's running.

The Bath & Hammondsport, another Alco-powered LA&L operation, bases a weekday crew at Cohocton. Some days they just run down to the gas plant at Savona, switch out the LPG cars, and then run back home. Others (usually MWF in the past), they run down to the NS interchange at Painted Post. Most of the traffic is the LPG business, but they do sometimes run an odd car or two from the feed/fertilizer business in Cohocton. I hear they're now also transloading fracking sand at Coopers Plains, but I don't know if that's busy enough to warrant running the interchange run more frequently than 3x/week.

There are no Alcos on the B&P. Their normal operation is daytime switcher(s) around Buffalo and a night turn from Salamanca to Buffalo and back. On a recent Monday I caught a Buffalo-based switch job coming back in from a trip to Arcade Junction, where they interchange with the Arcade & Attica now; it had two engines and two cars. South of Salamanca there is a daily road freight to Punxsutawney that swaps crews with a train up from Punxsy en route, usually at Johnsonburg, plus a weekday local shifter at Bradford, PA. Up in Rochester, there's a nighttime turn from Brooks Ave to Silver Springs and a daytime turn down to the salt mine at Hampton Corners. There's probably also a Rochester switcher but I don't know that for sure.

The Southern Tier has about a dozen trains per 24 hours, not including locals. The CSX main line through Rochester, of course, has dozens of freight trains plus eight(?) Amtrak trains per day, and lots of New York Central searchlight signals that are about to bite the dust (and used to have many more, especially east of town).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/14 19:04 by toledopatch.

The Arcade & Attica is in the mix, too. No idea about their weekend activities. Operates GE industrial engines.

Thank you. Looks like I'd be lucky to see any Alcos actually running.

Is there enough of a chance to see anything at the Erie GE facility to warrant the drive?

Roadrailer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you. Looks like I'd be lucky to see any
> Alcos actually running.
>
> Is there enough of a chance to see anything at the
> Erie GE facility to warrant the drive?


I guess that depends on how much the possibility of seeing a new engine or three, mainly at a distance unless something's on one of the delivery tracks to either CSX or NS, is worth to you. If you were really lucky, you could catch a test run on the East Erie Commercial, but I don't know how often that happens; I caught a set of new SP units out for a gallop 20 years ago by chance while passing through.

The problem with foaming most shortlines if you don't start the day with them is that it can be hard to find the train later in the day. Even when you know a particular run starts later in the day, or an interchange is typically made at lunch time, the later you start, the worse your odds of success.

What time you expect to become available on Friday afternoon could affect your ability to catch either the LA&L or the R&S/G&W "Salt Shaker" leaving town, for example. If you'll be able to be to the Genesee Junction/Brooks Avenue Yard area by 1 p.m., you stand a good chance of catching at least one of those trains, if not both. But if you won't get out until, say, 3 p.m., it could be a lost cause.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/14 09:14 by toledopatch.

Roadrailer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I will be traveling to Rochester, NY this weekend
> and will have a few half days to railfan Sunday
> morning, and the following Friday afternoon and
> Saturday morning.
>
> I am very interested in seeing the WNY&P/LAL/B&P
> Alcos in action.
> Is anyone willing to share any intell on their
> typical operations?
> Also any help for the NS/CSX and G&W lines?

Southern Tier I thought you were talking about more out of the CSX Rochester area. I know more toward Elmira. If you are gonna head that way, check out the locals there. H12 I got a few times, never know what power is on it, and they arrive as the Lehigh Railway leaves (connection is Sayre, PA) If you have questions let me know.

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> WNY&P trains can go to four different places out
> of Olean -- Falconer, Driftwood, Hornell, and
> Farmers Valley.

I understood that WNYP no longer runs to Falconer from Olean. I thought that the furthest west they go from Olean is Salamanca. Can anyone confirm?

KG

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LA&L runs Mon-Fri out of Lakeville up to Genesee
> Junction and Brooks Avenue Yard (near the airport)
> to interchange with CSX and the R&S. I think they
> usually get going around 0700 and usually switch
> Barilla in Avon on the way north, although
> sometimes they skip the pasta plant and/or switch
> it on the way south, depending on the plant's
> needs or the availability of the Lakeville
> switcher job to work the plant. They also
> sometimes run a Sunday crew up to switch the
> Barilla plant, but to my knowledge that job never
> goes farther north.
>
> WNY&P trains can go to four different places out
> of Olean -- Falconer, Driftwood, Hornell, and
> Farmers Valley. I don't know the current schedule
> for any of these trips, but a friend of mine had a
> very successful chase to Driftwood on a recent
> Tuesday. The best thing to do with them is to
> visit the yard office first thing in the morning
> and sign a release and they may advise you as to
> what's running.
>
> The Bath & Hammondsport, another Alco-powered LA&L
> operation, bases a weekday crew at Cohocton. Some
> days they just run down to the gas plant at
> Savona, switch out the LPG cars, and then run back
> home. Others (usually MWF in the past), they run
> down to the NS interchange at Painted Post. Most
> of the traffic is the LPG business, but they do
> sometimes run an odd car or two from the
> feed/fertilizer business in Cohocton. I hear
> they're now also transloading fracking sand at
> Coopers Plains, but I don't know if that's busy
> enough to warrant running the interchange run more
> frequently than 3x/week.
>
> There are no Alcos on the B&P. Their normal
> operation is daytime switcher(s) around Buffalo
> and a night turn from Salamanca to Buffalo and
> back. On a recent Monday I caught a Buffalo-based
> switch job coming back in from a trip to Arcade
> Junction, where they interchange with the Arcade &
> Attica now; it had two engines and two cars. South
> of Salamanca there is a daily road freight to
> Punxsutawney that swaps crews with a train up from
> Punxsy en route, usually at Johnsonburg, plus a
> weekday local shifter at Bradford, PA. Up in
> Rochester, there's a nighttime turn from Brooks
> Ave to Silver Springs and a daytime turn down to
> the salt mine at Hampton Corners. There's probably
> also a Rochester switcher but I don't know that
> for sure.
>
> The Southern Tier has about a dozen trains per 24
> hours, not including locals. The CSX main line
> through Rochester, of course, has dozens of
> freight trains plus eight(?) Amtrak trains per
> day, and lots of New York Central searchlight
> signals that are about to bite the dust (and used
> to have many more, especially east of town).


To add to what Patch said,

The B&H running to Painted Post is very consistent on a M/W/F basis. The trouble is, the timing is all over the place right now. Also, this time of year, activity is pretty good to Cohocton. The spring and fall are good on that part of the line plus the Bombardier between Avoca and Kanona is seeing a number of NJ Transit cars at the moment. These cars sometimes are going through to Cohocton as well. Moves west of the gas plant (between Savona and Bath) on Tuesdays and Thursdays are common but unpredictable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/14 16:13 by NYSWSD70M.