Eastern Railroad Discussion > Busy day on NYC main near Lyons NY

Yesterday, I went to meet some friends near Lyons and Newark NY to do some trainwatching. I didn\'t arrive until about 1:30 PM, but my friends had been there since 6am. In the 14 hours they were there, they saw 38 trains in daylight - add one more eastbound van I saw after they left and it would have been 39. They saw 7 Amtrak trains (EB Lakeshore, the two Maple Leaf trains, plus two extra trains behind the Lakeshore in the morning, and two extra westbounds about five minutes apart in the evening. I am curious as to the two Amtraks eack way late in the day and in the A.M. There were many intermodal trains and mixed freights. Not a lot of foreign power, except for two UP units behind a CSX GE leading the Q390. Pretty decent traffic, compared to the typical day I have spent trackside at the former PRR mainline near Altoona or Enola in recent weeks. I still think CSX got the lion\'s share of the traffic. Maybe I am just there at the wrong time, every time.

Jim,
I share the same jinx as you. I never seem to catch the heavy train volume on the Chicago line that others seem to catch. I was out yesterday about 150 miles east of Lyons from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM and only say 14 trains which is pretty slow for this line.

Jim-

The four Amtraks you describe are Empire Service Trains. Just check your Empire Corridor schedule card. BTW, I thought the Tier was heating up? Just up for a change of pace?

LE

Jim, Saw those 2 Amtraks 5 minutes apart last night too. That was really weird! I mean both going west. Sounds like all of the action was early today. Got to fan from 7 to 8:30 tonight after the rain stopped. Only saw 3 trains. Was waiting for Q-351 with it\'s BNSF on the point. It was late again. With the dark clouds and sunset approaching, not enough light to get a shot anyway. Last 3 nights have been slow here in Batavia. Better times ahead, I hope. Don\'t get to do much fanning during the day, even on days off. BTW, who mows your lawn? LOL! Have another "flight" planned for the next decent night weather wise. Hopefully I\'ll get some train pics this time. Kev...

The power for Q351 wasn\'t even on the train when I left Selkirk at 15:00. I was expecting the power to be CEFX 3175, UP 3911(flagged), and UP 3988. Q390 arrived at 14:00 with UP 4321 and CSX 5940.

wnyfan wrote:
>Got to fan from 7 to 8:30 tonight after the rain stopped. Only saw 3 trains. Was waiting for Q-351 with it\'s BNSF on the point. It was late again. With the dark clouds and sunset approaching, not enough light to get a shot anyway.
>
> [%sig%]

Say, where did that BNSF go when u caught it on today\'s Q620?? Thought it was to go out on Q351 with the other UP\'s??

Possinly my guess that it might go out on tonight\'s Q377 to Avon, IN or L371 to Salem, IN..

Who knows..

TOMT7X

Q620 arrived at about 14:30 and I left at 15:00, so it was still with the CN power. After that who knows what they did with it.

TOMT7X wrote:

> Say, where did that BNSF go when u caught it on today\'s
> Q620?? Thought it was to go out on Q351 with the other UP\'s??
>
> Possinly my guess that it might go out on tonight\'s Q377 to
> Avon, IN or L371 to Salem, IN..
>
> Who knows..
>
> TOMT7X
>
> [%sig%]

Jim,

As we have discussed before, you and I seem to have the exact opposite luck. On July 3 you observed no trains while driving between Duncanon and Enola while on July 12 I observed 7! This is of course in both the north and southbound drives on RT15. Conversely, I spend a great deal of time near CSX and see few. The most recent Saturday spent on CSX result in one train in 3.5 hours. I am sure we missed a number on either side but still, you can hit a flat spot in the line up on CSX as well. Do you think the fact that it was the day before the holiday might have had an impact on your July 3 observations?

Anyway, I don\'t think the PRR side is any slouch.


NYSWSD70M