Eastern Railroad Discussion > Eastern Road Trip Part 1 - MA and NY

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity for a road trip during a visit to east coast relatives, in conjunction with an RDC ride on the Reading & Northern that I had a ticket for.  So with a few days to fill, I decided to head west from Boston and try to see the Alcos on the WNY&P (along with every other railfan within several hundred miles) before heading to the R&N.  But Part 1 is the leadup to the Alcos!

1)  Pan Am freight (I think the AYPO) leaving Ayer, MA heading toward Portland ME with an ex-CSX C40-8 in the lead, on MBTA track.  Love the surviving B&M signals!
2) Same train moving onto Pan Am track at Willows Jct at east end of Ayer.
3) Westbound MBTA train at Ayer with an MPI HSP46 on the point. 
 

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4)  Westbound MBTA Wachusetts train at Ayer with F-40 on point.  A survivor!  I'm puzzled by the seemingly random placement of the bilevel cars in the train consists.
5)  Pan Am ex-CSX C40-8 set switching at East Deerfield MA yard.
6)  Same.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/19 22:57 by dwatry.

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7)  Amtrak EB Maple Leaf running about an hour late at Fonda NY.
8)  WB CSX CBR train at Lock 14 of the NY State Barge Canal (Mohawk River/Erie Canal system) at Palatine Bridge.  Very hard to get good locations along this section of the old NYC - the RR is jammed between the river and the highway, with very limited access. 
9)  WB CSX intermodal next morning just east of Utica NY at Lock 19 on the Barge Canal. 
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/19 23:26 by dwatry.

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10)  Finger Lakes Railway eastbound train at Seneca Falls NY.
11)  Another set of immaculate FL Rlwy GP-38s switching at Geneva NY.  That's Seneca Lake in the background - one of the Finger Lakes.
12)  NS local behind a pair of SD-40s coming off of Seneca Lake branch at Baker Street Yard in Corning NY.    I had chased this train for a while on the branch looking in vain for good photo opps!

Next post - WNY&P!
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/19 22:55 by dwatry.

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Very nice!

Great start of your trip. Those Finger Lakes Geeps certainly look sharp.
Bob

The random placement of the bi-levels is NOT for the extra capacity, but for their having a working rest room.
The single level cars do not have rest rooms, except for the 500's and there are few of them left and even fewer
with operating rest rooms.
Frank30

Nice shots!

Frank30 Wrote:
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> The random placement of the bi-levels is NOT for
> the extra capacity, but for their having a working
> rest room.
> The single level cars do not have rest rooms,
> except for the 500's and there are few of them
> left and even fewer
> with operating rest rooms.

I had wondered about this, too! Thanks for that information.

As for the NS train into Geneva, N.Y., the official name for the line they run (FYI) is the Corning Secondary. It's an ex-NYC line that once ran all the way from Lyons, N.Y. to Jersey Shore, Pa., but over the years it has been broken up into segments and the part through the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania was abandoned by Conrail in the late 1980s. The piece between Geneva and Lyons belongs to Finger Lakes now but is out-of-service, with Solvay having become the preferred interchange point with CSX.