Eastern Railroad Discussion > Recent Buffalo & Pittsburgh Action

I moved to the Buffalo area in May, but until recently had not seen much out of the Buffalo & Pittsburgh during the day. The regular road freight between Salamanca and Buffalo runs at night and extra moves are irregular. My luck changed earlier this month when I caught an empty coal train coming into Buffalo and the road train was temporarily moved to a daytime run due to track work further south on the B&P.

1. RCPE 6410 leads an empty coal train into Buffalo on the Ebenezer Running Track on September 6. As of this afternoon, the loaded cars were still sitting down by the docks. The cars were loaded by front-end loaders and I heard that every car was overloaded and some of the coal needed to be removed before the train ran.

2. BPRR 452 leads train BFSI south on the former PRR Buffalo Line near the community of Chaffee.

3. The same BFSI approaching Machias Jct on September 12.

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4. Train BFSI crossing the Bird Swamp south of Machias, NY.

5. GP18 926 leads the local north out of Arcade on September 12.

6. BPRR 3331 leads an afternoon BFSI at South Wales on September 14.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/17 16:54 by ARandall70.

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7. Some early fall colors are apparent in this view of the BFSI near Holland.

8. Just north of Machias Junction, the line skirts Lime Lake.

9. Passing AD Tower at Ashford Junction.

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Nice collection of shots from a rarely seen operation. Thanks for sharing.

The track looks very good for a shortline, do any of the B&O CPL's survive? Thanks for posting these gems!

Posted from Android

Excellent collection of pics. Will be in the area in October.

Well done. Image eight across Lime Lake is a beauty.
Bob

cabsignaldrop Wrote:
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> The track looks very good for a shortline, do any
> of the B&O CPL's survive? Thanks for posting these
> gems!
>
> Posted from Android

None of the signals are active, but most all of them appeared to be in place. You can see one of the Ashford Junction signals turned to the side just to left of the rear locomotive in shot No.9.

North of Machias, the PRR position light signals on the Buffalo Line have been removed.

Down in Pennsylvania, some of the B&O CPLs are still active. I have yet to explore that part of the line.

No active CPLs that far north. Not sure if the PRR position lights between Machias and CP-GRAVITY are still in service but I wouldn't count on it. There are a few active CPLs at Mount Jewett, Johnsonburg, and DuBois if I recall correctly.

There are no signals in service on the Buffalo line from Machias to the Ebenezer Runner, and the only signal remaining on the Ebenezer is at CP Draw with the approach at A4W. They ripped all the signals on the Ebenezer out this past fall when it was downgraded. A couple of the heads are still standing on the Buffalo Line.

CP DuBois-CP Falls Creek, CP Harris-CP N Clarion, and CP Mt Jewett-CP Boyer are the only B&O CPLs still active. There are still quite a bit standing but are in various stages of disrepair.

jbohdan2 Wrote:
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> Nice collection of shots from a rarely seen
> operation. Thanks for sharing.

I agree. Very rare to see shots here on TO of the north ends of the old PRR Buffalo line and the B&P. Thanks for the effort. Great Post!
Steve B.

Fantastic shots! Love those standard cabs as well.

Well done.

KG

Love your B&P shots. Always wanted to shoot those RCPE units,but they are never on those coal trains to Bailey mine.

Randy

Very nice series! I am not familiar with the area - what was/is Ashford Jct? Thanks
BB

These are great! Thanks for sharing.

Nice shots!!

I absolutely hate that paint scheme that is taking over shortlines on various continents, but I guess there are some scenic places where those colors do look good.

Love the photos.

Garu

Posted from iPhone

bmarti7 Wrote:
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> Very nice series! I am not familiar with the area
> - what was/is Ashford Jct? Thanks
> BB


Ashford Junction is where the Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh line split into lines to Buffalo and Rochester.

B&P used the line from Ashford Junction to Buffalo until the late 1990s, when a failing bridge required that trains be rerouted via Machias Junction and over the Conrail(later NS) Buffalo Line.

SN711 Wrote:
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> I absolutely hate that paint scheme that is taking
> over shortlines on various continents, but I guess
> there are some scenic places where those colors do
> look good.
>
> Love the photos.
>
> Garu
>
> Posted from iPhone

While I also hate to see so many colorful shortlines disappear, the B&P has been a G&W line since its creation in the late 1980s. The colors fit here.