Saturday, September 5, 2009
Come vist at the Great New York State Model Train Fair in Syracuse
Sunday, August 30, 2009
GG1 4933 in Syracuse Vandalized!
Was at the New York State Fair in Syracuse today and went to check in on the Central New York Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society's display at the back near the CSX mainline. One of my favorites was GG1 4933 of the Pennsylvania RR that had been a beautiful tuscan red...
But, what did I see there instead... Yes, this was also once its color. Yes, the tuscan red was worn and needed some maintenance... But Amtrak? Even Penn Central black would have been preferable... Blech! I suppose I should see the upside to it all – the engine had received some tlc this summer, and Amtrak is a "brand" people today recognize... More about the repaint can be found here.
GG1 electric locomotive 926 was built in 1943 by the Pennsylvania Railroads’s Juniata Shops in
Altoona, PA, as number 4933. It served electrified territory on the PRR from Penn Station in New York City to Harrisburg. When the PRR was merged into the Penn Central, the road number 4933 was retained. The locomotive operated under catenary, picking up power through roof-mounted pantographs. It could reach speeds of 100 mph in passenger service. It was famed industrial designer Raymond Lowery who urged that GG1 bodies be welded to improve appearance and who designed the famous PRR pinstripe paint scheme (left photo). In 1971, #4933 was transferred to Amtrak ownership, where it was first renumbered as 4926, and later, 926. Amtrak retired the GG1s in 1981. CNY NRHS member Ollie Kenyon purchased the 926 and donated it to the CNY Chapter. For many years, it was displayed here in classic PRR livery
LENGTH: 79.5 feet
WEIGHT: 238.5 tons
BUILT: 1943 – Pennsylvania RR Juniata Shops, Altoona PA
From the historical marker. Below a view from above via Google Earth still showing the tuscan red.
View Larger Map
Friday, August 21, 2009
Trainspotting with the Syracuse Chiefs
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Back along the tracks...
First there was the ballast tamper...,
Then the ballast regulator...
These were followed by a truck removing old ties, but there are no images of that. I do have some video though that I will upload in the next week or two...
Once these were gone, the cork popped and all sorts of trains came through.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Trainspotting off the Willis Ave bridge in Solvay (Syracuse), NY
After a four-week break decided it was time to go trainspotting again and this time headed West to the Willis Ave bridge in Solvay, a part of greater Syracuse. This location in interesting because there are great views of downtown Syracuse through the trees, Onondaga Lake (our local Superfund site and beautiful in spite of it), as well as some larger local industries and a power plant. 5 trains in almost 3 hours isn't bad (The first train arrived as I was parking - a boring westbound stack train) and the Finger Lakes Railway GE B23-7 with a (very) short freight was a treat. Below an overview of the location.
Click here to watch video with better quality
Monday, November 24, 2008
Some more Syracuse views from the summer...
The videos below were shot from near the Willis Ave Bridge in the Solvay part of Syracuse.
Westbound CSX power with empty coal hoppers.
Westbound CSX power with construction debris / trash.
And some noses from the Central New York Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society's collection. The GG-1 of the Pennsy and an E8A of the Lackawanna. The diesels were operational until recently.
Ethanol and AutorackTrains in East Syracuse
Und noch ein video... 2 Loks, ein Schutzwagen und 100 Kesselwagen mit Ethanol... Aufgenommen im August in der East Syracuse CSX Yard.
And one of an empty westbound autorack train... Most of these seem to move around the rails empty...
Und einer von einem Autorackzug mit leeren Wagen. Die meisten scheinen einfach leer durchs Land zu fahren.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
A train you can model | Ein Moba gerechter Zug
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
"Great New York State Model Train Fair" in Syracuse
The DB class BR65 pushing a local headed by a mitteleinsteigswagen and followed by four 3-axle umbauwagen, all of post-war construction. The steam engine in the back was controlled via the Hagenuk telegraphic system, much as on ships...
An eye-level shot of the ore train heading along my modules by going through an underpass before crossing the bridge and finally disappearing under the end loop. A DR class 175 diesel railcar comes towards the viewer. This was the pride of the DDR's fleet.
Final picture of the ore train and a TEE heading around my modules with a very tired Sofia sitting on her mother's lap.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Minoa end of the East Syracuse CSX yard
Hatte Lust mir mal an einem anderen Ort Züge in der Syracuse gegend anzuschauen und entdeckete die Fußgängerbrücke in Minoa am östlichen Ende des CSX Rangierbahnhofs in East Syracuse. Guter Blick auf die Züge wennauch durch einen Zaun. Die warmen Abgase von den Loks waren auch gut an diesem kühlen herbst Tag. Die Herbstfarben klingen ab, sind aber noch schön.
The same train on the other side of the overpass | Der selbe Zug auf der anderen Seite der Brücke
West-bound manifest freight | Gemischter Güterzug in westlicher Richtung
Eastbound UP manifest freight in East Syracuse | Gemischter Güterzug in östlicher Richtung mit Union Pacific Loks
Monday, June 2, 2008
Baseball in Syracuse
Went to a Syracuse Chiefs yesterday (Sunday) even though I'm not a big baseball fan. They even have a steam loco in their logo and an engineer as a mascot. As I said, I'm not a big baseball fan, but the tickets were free, my daughter brought a friend the the stadium is right by the main CSX east-west line here in Syracuse, NY. About a 1/4 mile west of the stadium a line down from Canada merges into the mainline in an 18" h0 radius turn. Very tight and they go real slow. Although the line is CSX one can also see engines from other lines such as UP, BNSF, and NS. During the 2.5 hours of the night game (Syracuse won 5-4 after a homer with one on in the bottom of the 9th) 13 trains with an average car number of 90 passed by. Lots of stacktrains and intermodals but also two Amtraks and a few mixed freights. The view from the stadium, behind the visiting team dugout is best, allowed for slightly less than the length of a Dash-9 between the trees, not a lot. Distance to the tracks from our seats was about 450'. Pics were taken with a 2.1 megapixel... Here an overview via Google Earth.
Bin gestern (Sonntag) zu einem Baseballspiel der Syracuse Chiefs gegangen... Haben sogar eine Dampflok im Logo und einen Engineer als Maskot. Baseball mag ich eigentlich nicht so, aber die Karten bekammen wir gratis, meine Tochter hatte einen Freund dabei, und das Stadion ist direkt am Bahndamm von der CSX Ost-West Hauptstrecke in Syracuse, New York. Ca. ein halber Km westlich (von links im Bild, sieht Ansicht unten) mündet das Gleis von Kanada in einer Märklin R1 Kurve in die Hauptstrecke. Obwohl CSX sieht man dort auch Loks vieler anderer Firmen, z.B. Union Pacific, BNSF, und NS. In den 2.5 Stunden die das Spiel dauerte (Syracuse gewann im 9. dank eines Homeruns 5-4) fuhren 13 Züge dabei. Durchschnitts Zuglänge war um die 90 Wagen, viele Stacktrains und Intermodal, aber auch 2 Amtrak und Sonstiges. Das Blickfeld vom Gleis hatte ganz knapp die Länge einer Lok, was Aufnahmen erschwerte. Distance von meinem Platz zum Gleis, ca 150+ Meter. Kamera ist eine kleine Olympus mit 2.1 Megapixels. Hier mal eine Übersicht mit Google Earth.
In the image below the train on the left is eastbound, train on the right westbound.
What a lucky shot!
Der Zug unten links kommt vom Westen, der von rechts von Osten. Glück gehabt!
Zwei Videos. Das Spiel hat sich dem Tempo der Züge angepaßt!
Der Wochenmarkt ist auch direkt am Bahndamm, neben dem Stadion... Hier ist es wirklich schwer klare Sicht vom Gleis zu haben.
Werde demnächst noch ein Spiel fest einplanen.
p.