It's most unusual.........a night where the D&H North End is silent. Normally a nocturnal operation for the most part, when nothing moves all night, I check the mornings weather forecast after midnight, if sunny skies are promised, it's time to drive up to Rouses Point and keep an ear open for late running southbounds. Upon hearing clearance given on CP Rails Lacolle Sub, (and confirming the leader NOT to be one of the unattractive 9500s.....) the doorway of opportunity creaks open for the possibility of capturing an image of the train further south above Lake Champlains Willsboro Bay in morning light! Tonight, 250 came out of "Oh Canada" around 04:00, and I even set up the lights optimistically in Plattsburgh, before hearing M.O.W. foremen speaking with the dispatcher about 250 coming south........later! Ha,ha! Are'nt scanners wonderful?! Back on the road south, the lighting given the night off, more interesting news arrived via the scanner, talk of a 251 w/CEFX 1049 coming north! He would be at Willsboro in an hour and a half! Shortly afterwards, Gary arrives at Cove Lane in Willsboro, location of the three car capacity dirt "parking lot" offerring access via a rough trail, to the tracks above. Thus an idyllic situation presented itself! May you all be so fortunate in your endeavors. A word to the wise here; this was an idyllic situation because I knew where everthing was. This is a dangerous place to walk in to. You don't want any surprises. Signs are mounted along the tracks in spots: Danger: High Risk Area a reminder for M.O.W. folks. Arriving a mile and a half up the tracks at this spectacular location, I learned along the walk-in via the hand held scanner that 251 would be first through here, meeting 250 further north. The weather......not a cloud in the sky! A very rare combination of events which I was most fortunate to be in position to record! Getting two trains out here under the same sunny morning skies I have never done! SO........ here is the first, of two from.....The View! Right on schedule, 251 with CEFX 1049 comes drifting downgrade around the point in dynamic braking, at perhaps twenty mph, completing the scene. There are only a handfull of the colorful blue CEFX leasors remaining on the CP Rail roster, making this quite a satisfying capture. The friendly crew offer waves as they pass below me. This view is shot from a rock outcropping akin to the one two poles away to the south. Mother Nature "encourages" you to pay attention walking around up here! The view south shows the end of the bay, and on the horizon out over the broad lake itself morning fog banks still burning off. Before I carefully climb down to track level, prior to walking down to the further rock outcropping to prepare for 250, I stare and marvel at the massive rock cuts from the 1850s, the days of black powder and drills! When finally built, this section of the Delaware & Hudson was considered among the great engineering achievements:
"The building of the track along Willsboro Bay, where the Sage Mountains meet the shore, was where the heaviest difficulties were encountered. In places, drillers had to be let down by ropes from the tops of the ledges, to commence blasting. Along this section the scenery compares favorably with similar locations in the mountainous western portion of the United States.
The Chateaugay Republican said of the track along Willsboro Bay:
"On this six-miles the rock cuttings are almost continuous. The track runs about 90 feet above the surface of the lake while on the left the perpendicular wall grows, as we move northward, until finally it culminates in the Great Red Rock Cut, a smooth perpendicular precipice one hundred and five feet above the track at the highest point, while below it also extends ninety feet down to the water's edge. One hundred feet out from the shore, the bay is 210 feet deep. A halt was made here to give all a chance to view this wonderful piece of work, and then the train crept along on this shelf and through the tunnel. The tunnel is one of the handsomest ever constructed, the shape of a perfect arch through a rock which sparkles in the sunshine as if it were made of crystals."
The above from: A Historical Sketch of the New England Berkshire & Western Railroad Company courtesy of Rensselaer Railroad Heritage Website.
SHot on Sept. 21, 2009 at 08:22 with the 5D (ISO 160 & 1/500) and Zeiss ZF 28/2 (Nikon) lens set at f6.4. Please enjoy! Comments are welcomed!
All The Best In 2009;
Gary
This is a picture of a Reading Caboose on the Slate Picker, in the middle 70s, that Chris Lynch gave me while I was in the hospital in Burlington. I will admit that I do not remember it but we had lots of junk back then. I came across a cheap Reading caboose at the show in Hartford and said what the heck. I'll grunge it to look like that one. Check out the number on the real one and the HO caboose. What are the chances of that???
I made the big move and headed eastward after last night in La Grange. Setting up the tent in another state park south of Lexington, with plans to shoot RJ Corman in Midway, and Frankfort, Kentucky, while remaining within striking distance of La Grange. Midway offers a few locations of it's own to enjoy! Frankfort, while containing street running, did'nt click with me. Maybe this fall if I return down this way, I'll see something I like there. In Midway however, I think you'll agree, this view from the second floor of an old civil war era hotel, is not too shabby, even with several flash units not set-up properly behind the power at "train time!" Not concerned, I reminded myself I was here for two more nights, we'll see this train again. The surprise was on me though, as I discovered with business down, this job did'nt seem to operate daily as it did in Fall of 2007 when I was here, and this was to be my only encounter with the GP 38-2s, (one on each end of train) this visit. The ex-CSX line also hosts a night road freight which I planned to look up. After capturing this view, I carefully came down the creaky wooden steps back to street level and noticed a Versailles County Sheriff cruiser slowly coming down the street toward me. Stopping opposite me, the window drops down, I lean down to look inside...........and recognize Officer Alan Leigh! We had met here in Midway during my visit in Fall of 2007, and Alan has been included in my mailing list for night photos ever since! We recalled that night as being downright cold, featuring temps. in the low twenties! Frosty! After mentioning a drunk wandering around nearby, (you don't want him getting tangled up with one of your tripods....)Alan helped me out again tonight, ringing up the RJ Corman dispatcher for me, (as he had generously done in Oct. 2007) to inquire wether there would be any more trains passing through Midway overnight. The word that came down was no, there would not be. Thus saving me from hanging around five hours for nothing. After talking photography and how we were each doing overall, Alan continued on with his patrol, I thanked him for his help then picked up the lighting and drove over to La Grange, perhaps sixty miles away, arriving just in time to witness the last train of the night pass by! I expected this to happen more often than it did actually, with the low traffic levels.
Work continues on the Operation Lifesaver caboose at the Saratoga County fairgrounds. 
The entrance......
Painting handrails......
Old D&H cast iron "No Tresspassing Sign"
The night of April 25th was an opportunity for a happy reunion for me with Point Of Rocks Station. What a backdrop for shooting passing trains! Plus, I have the Zeiss 100/2 with me, being employed for the first time photographing this location. The incredible lens certainly delivers the goods on this spring evening, well actually it's very early morning when the shot is taken. You can zoom into the cab and read the engineers and conductors faces quite clearly as their locomotive enters into the photo at maybe thirty mph! For those who have never visited this historic B&O location, the picturesque station presents problems photographically, as two double track mains combine here into the double track main heading west toward Cumberland,MD. In our view here the other pair of tracks is off to the immediate left. This track arrangement results in signals and masts literally all over the place, making it difficult to obtain a clear view of the station with passing trains. The same signals provide helpful warning of approaching westbounds, which come in quietly, you hear the low rumble of train noise before you hear the locomotives light whine, ah drifting slowly along you think........until they come into sight in this curve which leads them up past you! Looking through the 5D viewfinder, the cab entering into the scene is imposing even against the large station. Knowing where I have prefocused for......"don't let them go into that window", I press the shutter release and the viewfinder goes black due to the mirror being up while the flash units fire. As the crew passes me though, I'm all smiles, having glanced at the image on the lcd monitor, I give them a happy wave from the stepladder. Clean power! Gratitude is an emotion which arrives often during this trip. Shot on April 25, 2009 at 04:07 with the 5D and Zeiss ZF 100/2 (Nikon) set at f2. Please enjoy! Comments are welcomed.
What little money the SVRR had available went into electrical upgrades and weather stripping to keep the cab heaters running and the drafts to a minimum. Public image is not a factor. If it were we'd still be running passenger trains. Anyway, the guy who would run the wash rack got furloughed last month.
What a difference a little paint makes. Doors are on and windows next, guess they will only let people peek in windows this year and have it up and running 2010--hope things are going well on your jobs!
We buried my Grumpy Ol Engineer (Jeff Rice) today. The ceremony took place at 1130 in Greenmount Cemetery . At approx 1145, as if on queue, the Rutland Amtrak train came rumbling down the hillside from Fair Haven, it's whistle blearing for Tom Cat's Crossing then Route 4. It was very fitting. He worked as a fireman and then became a locomotive engineer with the Delaware & Hudson Railroad which later became Canadian Pacific Railroad. He retired in August of 2004, after more than 40 years of service.
The Slate Picker switching the Back Half (track name) at the Cot Bed in Granville. Photo by Chris Lynch when he was 15 years old. Spring 1976
Not sure of the date, early 90s probably, Saratoga Yard.
Engineer John Heman Keys St Luc Yard, Montreal, Que. Aug. 1991........John started Sept 1965, retired Feb 2009.
I don't railfan much anymore, but when I saw these locomotives together I knew it was something special. PAR EDMO sitting in Eagle Bridge, waiting for a loaded coal train to pass, with ST 621, B&M 69o and ST 643.
Rob D
