Saturday, September 26, 2009

Train Action in Syracuse (again)

Two new videos shot in and east of Syracuse, NY. The first is a tripfrom the West end of the CSX yard in East Syracuse to the a bit west of the grade-level crossing in Kirkville, NY. Action filmed on August 24 and 25 shows an engine move along Track 2, some Amtraks, and a SD40-2 switching on the South Runner (all in East Syracuse). Next we see 2 short silent clips of westbound trains passing under the pedestrian overpass in Minoa, one of an autorack whose power included CSX 1191(MP15AC) and the other of a UP-powered reefer train. Finally we see yet two more Amtraks along the straight at CP 280.5 near Kirkville and a stack train.




The second video was shot at milepost 280.5 along the straight of Saintsville Rd showing a westbound CSX stacktrain, the eastbound Amtrak Lake Shore Limited pulled by two Genesis units and stills of another (eastbound) CSX stacktrain.







Saturday, September 5, 2009

Come vist at the Great New York State Model Train Fair in Syracuse

Come visit our Euro-modular layout at the Great New York State Model Train Fair in Syracuse this coming November 7-8. We'll be (hopefully) hidden in plain sight with others in the Euro-East area there. More on the train show here.



Below an overview of the layout that you can read more about here. The image above (part of the show's Flash slideshow) is the right hand module below.



And here a video with Mike Nataluk's module in between ours. More videos at YouTube. Just click on "Our Layouts/Unsere Anlagen in H0, N, and Z" where the playlists are and then scroll down to select...




We're also hoping to bring our z-scale layout a detail of which is below.


Hope to see you there.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

GG1 4933 in Syracuse Vandalized!

Well, maybe not quite vandalized, but not sure how else to describe it...

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 926 / 4926 / 4933
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.


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Friday, August 21, 2009

Trainspotting with the Syracuse Chiefs

Footage of TRAINS shot during the Chiefs August 18, 2009 game against the Buffalo Bisons at Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse. The CSX mainline runs behind the stadium with a nice view from behind the visiting team dugout. The Chiefs won 1:0 with the winning run driven in at the bottom of the 9th. An unfortunately dull game with dull train action. Interesting was a rather short autorack. Also shown is Pops, one of the Chief's mascots, who does a dance to a choo-choo song on the visiting team dugout roof. We close with some 0-gauge Chiefs collector's cars sold by J&R Junction in Syracuse. See also Baseball in Syracuse for a report from last year.