Return of the 643

These January nights are a great time to be trackside with the lights on the D&H North End. I set my sights on 253 last night, after learning of its leader, CEFX 1030 and that the train was pulling into Mohawk Yard near Schenectady around 19:45. Remembering my last search for 253 which became very late departing from Mohawk Yard near Schenectady, tonights 253 should be up in my neck of the woods well before sunrise! LOL! Imagine my surprise while driving over to the free Crown Point ferry crossing of Lake Champlain, to hear a garbled conversation on the car scanner between night dispatcher Sandy and DS-13 on the Whitehall tower. Sandy was instructing DS 13, the local which serves the large International Paper mill in Ticonderoga, to plan on taking the siding at Whitehall to meet a 643 with the SOO 6027! Instantly wearing a big grin, I'm thinking.........you gotta be kidding me.......643 is running tonight with the same power set from the 642 I shot at Port Henry Tuesday night! So I arrive in Port Henry with the intention of shooting all four units on the curve there alongside the display train. Along comes a friend I have'nt crossed paths with in months, the third shift Port Henry policeman. We get to talking about local and world events until suddenly it dawns on me that I better get to setting up unless I want to watch 643 pass by from the civic! Before you knew it, maybe thirty minutes later, here comes 643 whistling into town, with Garys set up not finished, groan. Rather than get angry, quite a self-destructive emotion when you are alone, (laughing I reminded myself.......there is no one around who cares Gary, get over it) I figured this failure was universe leveling the playing field again after my two captures of 642 earlier in the week! LOL! What could I come up with for an encore? It was 03:30, 253 was around two hours away coming north, 643 had meets north of me with 930 and 252 to deal with. I gathered up the lights and headed for Plattsburgh, it was a long shot but how many trains will I get to shoot with SOO LINE and ICE power on it? After meeting 930 at Wadhams siding, 643 continued north towards its meet with 252 just south of Plattsburgh at Bluff Point. Arriving at the station in Plattsburgh I hopped out of the civic as 252 was passing by. It did'nt look good, but I optimistically began to set up the lights. I would get one chance at best! Worse, the setup at Plattsburgh is time consuming as you are required to drive a block or two to come around from setting up the majority of the lights along the backside of a fence guarding a sidewalk. As I drove back into the station parking area, I heard the crews inspecting each others train at Bluff Point, maybe five miles away. Placing two flash units on this side, then finding a spot for the stepladder and I was in business! A couple minutes later the Dock St. crossing signals are activated and around the curve comes the SOO 6027! As the head end comes downgrade past the station, I'm wearing a big smile as I click! Capturing the moment.......success! The engineer gives me a couple toots! You an imagine the conversation in the cab at the moment............."wait a minute, did'nt we just see Gary earlier at Port Henry?" Ha,ha,ha! The image was worth the effort getting up here legally from Port Henry. See what you think! Shot on January 28, 2011 at 04:59 in Plattsburgh, NY. Please enjoy! Comments are welcomed.


All The Best In 2011;
Gary