Eastern Railroad Discussion > Return to D&H Land - Part 1

We have been on the road the last week back to the old stomping grounds in Upstate New York along the D&H. This is Part 1 of that journey, I'll post the 2nd half when I get the pictures worked up.

Sunday May 14, 2023, Start of the trip east and the first stop was another old stomping grounds frequented when I lived in Western Pennsylvania. This is Westfield, NY in far western New York on Lake Erie along the old NYC RR, former LS&MS and now CSX Main west of Buffalo.

1. Here we find an old stone arch culvert over Chautauqua Creek still in service by CSX and older than the hills. A beautiful work of art.

2. The latecomer Nickel Plate took a different tact and built a trestle as seen here with Train14M passing over with NS 9674 and 9717. 14M is a Conway (Pittsburgh) to Buffalo train.

3. Up top on the CSX is Train I-009 west with CSX 7213 and 710 leading at North Gale Street crossing in Westfield, at the Rail Park.

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4. Next up is the I-162 east intermodal with CSX 5429 and 395 leading.

5. A nice friendly wave as the train highballs by makes it fun.

6. Train M367 comes west with CSX 5314 and 8907. A stuffed pig was noted riding the headend looking out the engineer's front window as it passed. Possibly it was really the hogger. He's just passed the I-162 whose tailend is at the right on Track 2.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/23 06:50 by train1275.

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7. Then we catch the NS Train 264 on the NKP side with UP 9033 and BNSF 7965. This completes our off the interstate tour here and we'll head east to Olean for a nice overnight stay. Sadly nothing was out to see on the WNYP RR there.

8. Next morning, May 15th, we are back in D&H Land and stop to visit our friend Joan Royston who lives in this nice 1799 built home with the D&H in her front yard in Afton, NY. Trains have largely been running at night according to our friends in this part of the world and nothing passed by during our visit.

9. Moving north we hear that a 265 is coming down out of Schenectady and we intercept him here at Pony Farm overpass just below the Oneonta yards on his way to Binghamton. Power is NS 6953, 9599 and CSX 703. CSX now has the old Pan Am and mixes in power just as in old Pan Am days. Met up with some of the old railfan gang here for a nice reunion, and it was good to see some of the old familiar train crews again too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/23 06:48 by train1275.

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10. Train 265 rounds the bend southbound at Pony Farm as he leaves Oneonta heading for Binghamton and then points west to 63rd Street Chicago. He originated in Ayer, MA.

11. We follow him south and make a 2nd catch at Afton passing in front of Joan's home, obscured behind the trees and brush to the right. Joan was out mowing her yard. This location along Route 7 always makes for a nice afternoon scene.

This concludes Part 1. I'll post the rest of the trip later.

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It’s great to see photos from your old stomping grounds! We don’t see a lot here from that area of NY.

Dan

Posted from iPhone

Great coverage of trains in D&H Land

Really nice stuff from western PA and NY. 
 The old CSX stone arch bridge is a work of art. I live along the original Philadelphia and Reading and also near many former Pennsylvania Railroad lines. The hand cut stone arch bridges of those day are absolutely amazing. When Conrail absorbed the PRR lines a noticeable rework was the addition of steel reinforcement rods, washers and nuts to retain the parapet/facia walls between the arches as they tend to push outwards over the years (Okay, Centuries, not years) This work appears to have been effective including the infamous PRR Rockville Bridge. It appears modern heavy commerce is straining these ancient structures. 
 As to the old P&R stone arch bridges, As Anthracite business increased on the P&R many stone arch bridges were widened on the mainline to accomodate a wider ROW to add additional tracks. When this was done it was via the use of poured concrete which totally hides the original facia of the stone arch bridges. It is obvious where there is a roadway under one of these expanded bridges.
 An exception is the original stone arch bridge on the north or western side of Black Rock Tunnel which was until recently a two track affair. For those who may not be aware the original P&R was built to very close track centers. Who knew what railroads would look like beyond the 1830s? That aside when NS reworked the Reading Line to meet PTC requirements they moved the original CP Phoenix switch west/north out of the tunnel mouth to a location off the bridge, therefore it is now a single track bridge and also downgraded to a hand-switch, the new interlocking about a mile west and now named CP Cromby, named for a now de-commissioned power plant. The former eastbound track is a controlled siding controlled on the west end by the dispatcher and used to store various crude oil, empty R&N coal hoppers, eythenol trains and whatever. The east switch near the tunnel was moved further east, beyond the former Phoenixville passenger station. I believe it is named CP Phoenix but I stopped listening to the scanner years ago, so I am not sure. 
Thanks for your ongoing interesting posts.
Gonut

Thanks for postingthese nice pics.