Eastern Railroad Discussion > Now that spring is here, some winter weather

'Twas a balmy 3 below zero this morning, not all that unusual for the second day of spring in upstate NY.  Except that this year (and last) were unusually warm and dry, with the second warmest February ever recorded.  So it feels COLD, and for the first time all winter, there's a load of snow on the ground from last week's blizzard.  When the going gets tough, the tough go railfanning.

1)  Here was my first attempt at snowy RR photography, taken last week on the 14th, about halfway through the storm.  There's a little less than 2 feet on the ground in Cobleskill, with another 6 inches on the way for the hills surrounding town.  The depot is nowhere near as nice a location as it used to be, since it has been converted to restaurant use.  But it's almost the only place in town where you can actually reach the tracks on a plowed street.  Alas, there's no train--the one I heard on the radio has beaten me here because the county road I used to get into town was blocked by drifting.

2) Over the weekend, I'm working in the studio when the scanner alerts to a southbound.  The roads are clear now, so it's a quick clean trip to Howes Cave, then back to work.  Snowbanks are still waist high, despite the sunny meltout that's underway.

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Ah, but there's an advantage to late winter snow.  We don't have to wait for the weekend to chase trains.  With the days getting longer, and with the advent of daylight savings time, we now have at least a chance of catching a chaseable train on the evening commute, heading home.

3)  Tuesday evening finds a southbound in the hole at the Esperance end of the Delanson siding, waiting in the lengthening shadows for a northbound that won't arrive until after dark.

4)  And the next night, it happens again, except this time we find the train in Delanson, and it's not being held for a meet.

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5)  The Delanson siding has a bunch of 10 mph speed restrictions, so it's easy to catch up with the train as it crawls along.  And the long shadows allow you to work images of the photographer and his car into the frame.

6)  This time, there's no hold at Esperance and the train rolls (slowly) out onto the single track to start the climb up Richmondville.

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7 and 8)  Interestingly, both trailing GEs show evidence of recent incidents.  I've heard crews refer to these as "toaster fires"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/17 10:43 by march_hare.

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9)  One of the last locations to catch sunlight before it disappears behind the hills is at Central Bridge, where the former D&H crosses Schoharie Creek.. This shot had become almost impossible because of vegetation growth during the 1980s and 90s.  But Hurricane Irene totally washed away the ROW in 2011, and the replacement earth work hasn't been reclaimed by the sumac jungle.  Not yet anyway.  I doubt this angle will survive more than a couple more years.

Weekend forecast is for 50 degrees and rain, so a lot of this will disappear into typical springtime slop soon.  But it was a fun few days!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/17 10:44 by march_hare.

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Thanks for posting.  Love to see shots on the D&H Albany and Susquehanna main.
Steve B.

Nice shots!!  You made good use of the March snow.

I had a busy week at work due to the storm.....was unable to get out much.