Passenger Trains > Amtrak Copes w/ Rochester NY storm problems

At aound 3pm Sunday afternoon 3/16/25, a line of severe storms pushed east through western New York apparently causing power line to fall across CSX double track mainline in the Gate NY area about 4 miles west of Amtrak's Rochester depot. As a consequence, in the 7 hours between 1600 and 2300, 12 CSX freights (11 eastbounds) and 1 Amtrak train, #64 the eastbound Maple Leaf, were "detoured" around Rochester on the ex-NYC West Shore route between N Chili and Fairport/Wayneport (see attached map). I use quotation fingers around the word detoured because generally only a few CSX freights use the bypass each day but Amtrak never does.  

Here's the sequence of interesting Amtrak moves captured at Fairport selectively illustrated with screen grabs from Virtual Railfan's Fairport live cam:

1. At 1410 Amtrak's westbound Maple Leaf #63 passes Fairport cam ~10 minutes late on Main 1 on its way to the Rochester Amtrak depot, with its Buffalo and Canada-bound passengers unaware that they will get to see Fairport twice more before their trip is complete due to the track outage at Gates as the wire removal process gets underway.
2. At 1831, Amtrak Empire Service train 281 passes the cam (photo 2) going west on M2 to Rochester. As with train #63, we will see this train again!
3. Between 1906 and 2232, CSX will send 9 freights east across the West Shore before a combined Amtrak 63 and 281 appear backing east on M1 preparing to make a westbound move on the West Shore due to the continuing track outage.

more to follow....

---

---

---

When in the New York Central past did that portion of line see regular passenger service ? 

The story continues:

4. At 2244, 10 minutes after the combined 63 & 281 10 mile shove from the Rochester depot to Fairport, Amtrak's #64, the eastbound Maple Leaf operating 9+ hours late completes the extremely rare Amtrak move over the West Shore bypass (photo 4). 
5. At 2237, #64 backs past the cam on Main 2 on its way to the Rochester depot with no marker lights illuminated (?) in photo 5.
6. At 2347, apparently the mainline tracks at Gates have re-opened and the combined 63 & 281 head back toward Rochester avoiding the use of the bypass - I'm guessing that 63 & 281 ran through the depot without stopping?
7. At 0013 3/17/25, the 2nd Empire Service westbound of the day, #283, heads up Main 1 to Rochester
8. At 0028, Amtrak 49, the wb Lake Shore Ltd headed for Rochester on main 2.
9. And at long last at 0055 3/17/25, Amtrak #64 appears for the 3rd and final time heading east on main 2 running about 11 hours late. 

I assume Amtrak #63 running perhaps 10 hours late ultimately made it to Toronto to ensure there would be equipment for #64 departure of 3/17/25. Amtrak 49 was delayed about 2 hours.

Thanks to the maintainers of the Fairport train log that enabled this unique sequence of events to be documented.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/25 07:22 by JPB.

---

---

---

If 63 was 10 hours late, that meant off the train with their luggage at the border for an hour at about 2am. 

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When in the New York Central past did that portion
> of line see regular passenger service ? 

Never once the NYWS&B was absorbed into the NYCRR

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When in the New York Central past did that portion
> of line see regular passenger service ? 

Probably need to go back to the days of an independent West Shore RR. That didn't last long. Vanderbilt bought them out right around the time the line was completed. 

I spent a lot of time working on industrial sites along that line. I don't think there were any indications of stations, anywhere. 

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > When in the New York Central past did that
> portion
> > of line see regular passenger service ? 
>
> Probably need to go back to the days of an
> independent West Shore RR. That didn't last long.
> Vanderbilt bought them out right around the time
> the line was completed. 
>
> I spent a lot of time working on industrial sites
> along that line. I don't think there were any
> indications of stations, anywhere. 

American-Rails.com article re: the West Shore Railroad has an 1889 timetable for the complete West Shore RR system (some 3 years after the West Shore was acquired by the NYC in late 1885). I've attached a snip of that timetable showing that only a single pair of daily passenger trains, 123 and 124, operated between Newark NY and East Buffalo Jct over the track that is today's CSX West Shore sub.

---

I know a portion between Utica and Syracuse was also a 3rd rail interurban - Oneida Railway.

FWIW...the west shore around rochester is used by 6 to 12 EB freights a day.   It helps a lot when things get congested with a lot of CSX freight and Amtk.

JPB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> march_hare Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > joemvcnj Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > When in the New York Central past did that
> > portion
> > > of line see regular passenger service ? 
> >
> > Probably need to go back to the days of an
> > independent West Shore RR. That didn't last
> long.
> > Vanderbilt bought them out right around the
> time
> > the line was completed. 
> >
> > I spent a lot of time working on industrial
> sites
> > along that line. I don't think there were any
> > indications of stations, anywhere. 
>
> American-Rails.com article re: the West Shore
> Railroad has an 1889 timetable for the complete
> West Shore RR system (some 3 years after the West
> Shore was acquired by the NYC in late 1885). I've
> attached a snip of that timetable showing that
> only a single pair of daily passenger trains, 123
> and 124, operated between Newark NY and East
> Buffalo Jct over the track that is today's CSX
> West Shore sub.


Perfect!  I have only 1 West shore timetable, a bedraggled version that only covers the Hudson Valley.