Nostalgia & History > Chasing a SusieQ SeaLand stack train

Back in late August 1987, My father and I headed out from our home in (on?) Long Island to my college in Geneseo, NY for the start of my third year (not really my 'junior' year, since it took me five years to get a bachelor's degree due to changing both majors and schools, but that's another story).  During our journey, we of course took ample time to railfan.  

One of our main targets was to bag a NYS&W SeaLand stack train somewhere on the ex-Erie mainline between Hancock and Binghamton, NY.  For those not in the know, in 1987 the Susquehanna was hauling dedicated SeaLand stack trains from Binghamton, NY to Little Ferry, NJ, utilizing Conrail (ex-Erie) from Binghamton to Campbell Hall, NY, and then its own rails (ex-L&HR to Campbell Hall to Sparta Jct, NJ) to Little Ferry. It would receive/deliver the trains from/to the D&H at Binghamton, NY, who would in turn haul it to Buffalo to be handed over to CSX.  This was the time before SusieQ acquired four B40-8s to help with traffic, instead relying upon second-hand ex-BN SD45s and F45s to get the trains over the road.

Without further ado, let's begin the chase (8 photos to follow).  We knew a westbound stack was imminent (not sure how - probably got a head's up from somebody), so we first set up at Hale Eddy, NY, where the Erie closely paralleled Rte 17. 

1.  Before our SusieQ stack, Conrail crashed the party with its own westbound intermodal, hauled by a three-pack of SD50s and a C30-7A.  A nice train in its own right:

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2.  Our target train came along in due time, with two ex-BN SD45s still in full cascade green paint, spliced by an ex-BN F45 in full SusieQ yellow-jacket splendor:

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And the chase was on! 

3,4.  Our next spot was in Deposit, NY, where we shot it from the Laurel Bank Ave bridge.  Here she is coming and going - with a top-down look at the F45 as it crosses the west branch of the Delaware River:

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5.  The train must've slowed down and/or stopped (details have been lost in the sands of time), because we bagged it again at the Rte. 17 overpass less than a mile west of the last shots:

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6.  We then took off for our next spot, the top of the grade at Gulf Summit, NY.  The conductor apparently has had enough of these foamers chasing his train, although it seems he has a pretty wide smile on his face.  Anyone recognize him?

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7.  Going away at Gulf Summit - this is where the Erie (and later EL) had a helper pocket - in EL days many times the helpers were a pair of F units.  On the far left is my father's Toyota Camry with a Sears "X-Cargo" luggage carrier on the roof to hold all my stuff for college:



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/24 20:01 by rbenko.

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8.  I don't remember why we bypassed the scenic highlight of the line, Starrucca Viaduct, but we did - maybe we tried to beat it from Gulf Summit and didn't make it in time.  Anyway, our last photo of the train was in Kirkwood, NY, just east of Binghamton.  Here is our friendly conductor striking yet another pose as the train heads under Kirkwood Conklin Road:

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Thus endith the chase.  Thanks for viewing.

Rob Benkovitz
West Palm Beach, Florida

Real nice Rob.  Thanks 
jb

First-rate, well-documented chase.
Bob

Beautiful!!! You scored bigtime. Those Sea-Land Gunderson 5 packs were nice and sounded great on stick rail. Hard to believe some of those cars are still running.

twl

Posted from Android

And an excellent chase it was.
JB

Posted from Android

very nice.  upstate NY is a lovely place.

Those vertical bars would make opening a container en-route pretty difficult.  Just sayin'

Great photos and a wonderful time capsule.

Rich

Great pics, thanks for posting. In the 70's and early 80's, I did that chase many times, but don't ever recall catching the same train at both Gulf Summit and Starruca Viaduct. 

Great photos.

If one is on the wrong side of the tracks at Gulf Summit you need to wait for the train to pass before continuning your chase.

Very tough to get a good shot on Starucca Viaduct then as the train is rolling downhill toward Binghamton.   I don't remember ever beating a westbound train after getting it at Gulf Summit.   It could be done with eastbounds if you drove really fast!

Fantastic sequence. Thanks for posting.

Great chase brother.  I don't remember seeing yours or Dad's shots but then again we saw a lot of NYSW stack trains back then.  You did not mention that before the ex BN power arrived they relied on five ex Conrail C430's, a lone ex LIRR C420 and a couple of ex ATSF CF7's to haul these trains in the very beginning.  To add to that occasionally they would have one of their 1962 vintage GP18's in the power consist for these Sea Land trains.

cjvrr Wrote:
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> Great photos.
>
> If one is on the wrong side of the tracks at Gulf Summit you need to wait for the train to pass
> before continuning your chase.
>
> Very tough to get a good shot on Starucca Viaduct then as the train is rolling downhill toward
> Binghamton.   I don't remember ever beating a westbound train after getting it at Gulf Summit. 
> It could be done with eastbounds if you drove really fast!

Thanks for the compliment.  Yeah, it would be tough to beat the train to the Viaduct after nailing him at Gulf Summit - I don't recall ever doing it with any other train.  I was looking at Google Maps, and it seems you can get to Starrucca from either side of the tracks, but the roads on the south side of the tracks seem pretty rural (i.e. dirt).  Why we decided on Gulf Summit instead of the Viaduct I have no clue. Whatever - water under the bridge - Gulf Summit made a very standard-but-nice wedgie shot. 
 

stevelv Wrote:
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> Great chase brother.  I don't remember seeing yours or Dad's shots but then again we saw a lot
> of NYSW stack trains back then.  You did not mention that before the ex BN power arrived they
> relied on five ex Conrail C430's, a lone ex LIRR C420 and a couple of ex ATSF CF7's to haul these
> trains in the very beginning.  To add to that occasionally they would have one of their 1962
> vintage GP18's in the power consist for these Sea Land trains.

Good call DB!!  Maybe if you get your butt in gear and scan some of your slides from that period, you can then share those shots of the Centuries with the TO faithful!!