Eastern Railroad Discussion > Opting Outside at Bear Mountain

Today I joined many in a new campaign dedicated to spend time outdoors, marked by the tag #optoutside, avoiding the shopping madness and promoting time spent out in the open air. I have lived in Manhattan for a year and a half now, meaning that getting time out in the wilderness as well as time spent railfanning have been limited due to many other commitments. This was my second outing to Fort Montgomery and Bear Mountain and the action today did not disappoint for many reasons. My girlfriend and I made the trek from the Big Apple round trip on Metro North to Manitou this morning, taking a long hike to the summit of Bear Mountain State Park, with many trains traveling up and down the Hudson while we enjoyed our time outside.

Photo 1: The first train of the day, CSX AC44CW 330 leads an intermodal train through the cut, just south of the visitors center at Bear Mountain.

Photo 2: After hiking up close to the summit of Bear Mountain, we stopped for our packed lunch at a rock outcropping, greeted by a distant Autorack led by a standard cab CSX SD40-2 approaching Iona Island.

Photo 3: Back at water level, we got positioned at Fort Montgomery on a pedestrian bridge overlooking the large suspension bridge and a great view of a local headed by CSX GP40-2 6954 and slug 2354.

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Photo 4: Across the river, Metro North P32DC-AM 229 in New Haven McGinnis livery heads north to Poughkeepsie on the water level route.

Photo 5: Leaving the park walking across the bridge back to Manitou, we caught a trash train led by CSX AC44CW 302.

Photo 6: This is when real luck kicked in like no other. While waiting in Manitou for the train back to Manhattan a headlight approached in the distance. I shot a quick test to see if the image was any good, as the sun had just set and light was fading fast. After zooming into the shot it was very clear that NS SD70ACe 1074 the DL&W heritage unit was at the point of this long oil train.

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Photo 7: One quick close up of 1074. It stopped at the siding just across the river across from Manitou until our train arrived. For those at points south interested in catching the unit, it is heading to South Philadelphia on CSX K048.

Photo 8: Amtrak P32DC-AM leads northbound on a train just before we made our way back to the city.

I hope you enjoyed our day of opting outside. Have a safe and enjoyable rest of the holiday weekend.
Best,
Jonathan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/15 17:26 by californiarails.

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You need to "opt" outside more often, great series of well composed shots!

Outstanding, #3 majestic

Great stroke of luck to catch the E-L unit on CSX. Very nice set of photographs.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

Great series, mix of trains and locations. Well done.

You had a banner day.
John

Great stuff.

Just curious, how long did it take you to walk from the Manitou stop to the other side of the Bear Mountain bridge? I am thinking of doing the same thing sometime.

Andrew C

Thanks all for the compliments!

Andrew, it is possible and be weary the distance traveled on foot to these locations. It is about 3 miles one way to Bear Mountain State Park from Manitou and took us maybe an hour at a brisk pace. You have to walk on the shoulder of the highway to the bridge but it is wide and many hikers use the shoulder for other trailheads. Of course, the point of our trip was also to hike so we planned on the long walk. Be sure to check the Metro North schedules in advance because trains to Manitou are fairly infrequent. They were running a Saturday schedule yesterday. We took the earliest train leaving Harlem-125th at 7:54 and returning from Manitou at 4:26. It's a very remote stop so be sure to get back in good time for the trip back to Manhattan.

Jonathan

Love the pictures.

The short line bus runs to the bear mountain inn and highland by for folks who want a one way walk.

Posted from Android

I like Pics 2 and 5!!

Fantasitc, big fan of the #OptOutside campaingn too

Thanks for the info Jonathan.

Andrew C