Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS 23K works Binghamton on July 4th

NS / PAS 23K (and 22K) operate 7 days per week including holidays. This 23K arrived Binghamton around 11AM on July 4th after departing Ayer MA the previous afternoon with a consist of 10 wells of blue trash containers bound for Alabama (i believe) ahead of the single stacked JBHU/EMP/Hub containers heading for Chicago. At Mechanicville, 23K stopped in the wee hours for crew change and to drop the trash containers for the 11Z manifest that operates to East Binghamton and to pick up double stacked containers bound not only for Chicago but also Buffalo as it turns out.
Photo 1: 23K crawls down the so-called Buffalo track on the west side of what long ago was the D&H Bevier St yard at Binghamton with the power stopping at the "fuel pad", ie, the Usher Transport tank truck full of DOT 1993 diesel.
Photo 2: About 45 minutes later with fueling completed, the inbound 23K crew has separated the 1st 5 IM cars and has pulled down to the QD where the conductor reverses the hand-throw switch to get on the ex-Erie main and to postion for the 2.5 mile shove east to NS' East Binghamton yard for crew change and to pick up a cut of EMP double stacks that had been brought up from Taylor Yard at Scranton overnight.

more...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/20 03:25 by JPB.

---

---

---

Photo 4: Conductor enjoys the breeze as 23K shoves back toward the crew change / pick-up point on what used to be DL&W track 1 but was renamed track "2 East" by Guilford back in the early '80s when this track became part of its 700 or so mile long north-south "Freight Main" stretching between Sunbury PA and Mattawamkeag. 
Photo 5: At 1230 pm, outbound crew is in charge of 23K as it lifts the EMP double stacks from Taylor compass west out of the yard to return to QD to attach to the rest of the consist before heading west on the ex-Erie Southern Tier route to Buffalo. Interestingly, those head 5 IM cars of JBHU containers acquired at Mechanicville will be dropped at Buffalo (I believe since they weren't on this train as it passed the Elkhart Live cam about 22 hours later). NS does not advertise any destination for Mechanicville originated containers other than Chicago 47th St so I'm not sure what this operation was about.

---

---