Eastern Railroad Discussion > Autumn Adventure, Day 3..homeward bound with the BPRR

Sunday was the final day of our little adventure.

(See previous threads)

We had some good intel that the BPRR would be running its southbound road train on Sunday from East Salamanca NY, but arrived at the depot at the appointed time and didn't find a train. Hmmmm. Fortunately, some other fans showed up and reported that the train coming from Buffalo had outlawed between Machias and Ashford Jct the night before and that a crew should be showing up shortly to take it south. Bonus mileage. Cool!
1. We soon located the train sitting at Bird NY, tied down and awaiting a crew, and were delighted to find a clean BPRR SD45 leading 2 matching sisters. How many times I'd hoped to get a solid BPR lashup only to find a scuzzy ex CR,SP, KCS, or CSX unit leading the parade. Not today! Now we just needed that crew to show up. After a quick run back to Ellicottville for more caffeinated fuel, we arrived back at Bird to find the crew boarding the train.
2 & 3. We positioned ourselves on a hillside about a miles south, at a place the atlas calls Bakerstand NY. Some pretty thick clouds had moved in on us, but as the train started to get rolling, the Sun Gods smiled and nicely lit the scene as he got up to speed crossing some swampy terrain.

---

---

---

4. Heading south, the clouds really rolled in as the train neared Ashford Jct. Here's a b&w version of the train passing the still standing tower, which unlike the one at Falls Creek PA, still looks to be in pretty good shape.
5. We continued south from there to a shot JAL had pointed out while heading north (always pays to scout ahead :) and we lensed the the orange locomotives rolling past an equally orange pumpkin patch just south of Ellicottville.
6. Arriving at East Salamanca, we got the classic shot of the train rolling by the depot, as they were preparing to stop to make a pick up at the south end of town.

---

---

---

I really like your last two photos.

Nice work. Thanks for sharing. But I was really surprised how little foliage there is in #2. Thought sure there would be more color. Last picture looks like leaves are still hanging on.

Thanks... Tom

We soon heard indications on the radio that our other train of interest was getting into the picture: WNYP's office car special that was running west from Olean. JAL navigated us over to Carrollton, where the BPRR crosses over the WNYP mainline. Would we get an over under?
Nawww.
7. The BPRR pulled south, heading for Bradford, crossing overhead about 10 minutes before the OCS train made its appearance.

After the OCS cleared, we headed down to Bradford to find the BPRR crew in the midst of making a big pickup. This gave us time for lunch and time to listen to the STeelers beat up on the BRowns on the radio. Unfortunately, when the train pulled, the sun Gods frowned and scuzzed us out, so we headed down to the big horseshoe bend at Droney, a spot I'd always been interested in but had never visited. Like many PA hoseshoe curves, its pretty treed in, but a road crossing in the middle allows good access.

8. The SIJB could soon be heard roaring upgrade towards us, and put on a great show as his 3 SD's passed in run 8 with their long, heavy train in tow.
9. Why it pays to never put the camera away: halfway back in the train was a large cut of stone picked up at East Salamanca..including an old hopper of obvious WM heritage!

---

---

---

Tominde Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice work. Thanks for sharing. But I was really
> surprised how little foliage there is in #2.
> Thought sure there would be more color. Last
> picture looks like leaves are still hanging on.
>
> Thanks... Tom

Thanks

There was a big wind and rain on Friday night that knocked out a lot of color, especially further north.

At this point, Alex had to head home, but Peter the Irishman and I pressed on to Mt Jewett.

10, 11: After a fairly long wait, we finally found the train creeping up to the south end of the siding to get talked by the CPL signals, allowing us to burn plenty of pixels
12. It was getting late, but we couldn't resist getting one last shot at a location out in the woods I'm showing as Midmont PA.

Now it was just after 4PM, and despite the temptation to head further soouth to Johnsonburg, Peter turned east to New Jersey and I headed southwest to Pittsburgh, wrapping up a great day on a great weekend.

Thanks for looking all!

---

---

---

Mike,
really nice stuff thanks for sharing!!!

Mark Mautner

GREAT pictures - and thanks for making my evening with the former Western Maryland hopper!

Rob H.
Keymar, MD.

More great photos.

Thanks for posting.

Elly Wefel
Retired Railroader
Blue Ridge, VA

Looks like a great chase! Definitely wish I could have hung for one more day. The SOUND of those EMDs at the horseshoe must have been amazing! ; )

Jon

Enjoyed your trilogy Mike, thanks for sharing all those great images.
—Mac

resqjon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks like a great chase! Definitely wish I could
> have hung for one more day. The SOUND of those
> EMDs at the horseshoe must have been amazing! ;
> )
>
> Jon

Thanks everyone.

Jon, listening to those 645's roar up that grade, we were thinking of you buddy.

Sure enjoyed this 'journey,' PittsburghMike! Felt like I was there! What a stellar wknd you guys had; fantastic images. Those G&W SD-45's have always looked good to me. Loved your E Salamanca station shot, spent a little time there in the 70's. Thanks for sharing your efforts.