"Hot Tips"

Acting on “hot tips’ from Noah Fowler to my south, and Frank Jolin north of me in Quebec, I was traveling over to Port Henry Station tonight when North End Dispatcher Gordy Smith came on the air, providing one part of a conversation, the second part I did not pick up, with the crew of train 642 which was apparently ready to depart from Rouses Point, NY. Evidently, the crew had (most gratuitously for me) inquired what was coming toward them on the railroad tonight. I was all ears! 642 had a rebuilt SD 60, BNSF Dash-9 and SD 40-2 for power! Gordy’s line up reminded me why I started looking for a way to photograph trains at night years ago. He told 642’s crew they would be meeting 253 at Bluff Point, near Plattsburgh, and 253 had one of the newly rebuilt SD 40-2s with flared radiators, CP 5012 leading. 931 was meeting a 252 at the time further south at Fort Ticonderoga, and 931 had a BNSF leader. Well behind 931 still south of Whitehall at the time was a 609 with a rebuilt SD 60M, BNSF Dash-9, rebuilt SD 60 power combo! Four trains with great leaders! This fact was not lost on Gordy, who mentioned to 642’s crew how if he was not working he would have been out chasing trains today! lol! This scenario reminded me of how it was every evening years ago, the D&H North End, quiet all day long excepting two Amtrak trains, would suddenly transform into a busy railroad after dark, which in turn inspired me to search for a way to photograph trains at night.

 

Tonight, one of the four trains, 253, was already out of reach too far north of me. I had been told of 609 and it’s power but 931s BNSF leader was a surprise! So I highballed over to Port Henry, quickly set up the lights and caught BNSF Dash-9 4123 coming past me from atop the cab roof of the RS-18. Gordy earlier had told 642s crew they would meet 609 either at Howards siding or Whitehall as 609 had work to do in Whitehall and he said The Chief would make that call later. So with 931 captured and myself back down on the ground off the surprisingly high RS-18 cabs roof, I was contemplating what would happen. Would I see 609 or 642 first? The rebuilt SD 60 leaders were the prize to get tonight, while the BNSF 4123 was a bonus. A precedent had been set before, remembering the pair of spotless BNSF SD 70ACes leading a 930 which was held at Howards for hours waiting for a 609 in this same situation. Talking equipment defect detectors are at Howards to my north, (twenty min. away) and Fort Ticonderoga south of me, (forty five min. away) but this location sits in a bowl and it is not unusual to not pick up either detector. What to do? I set up for 642, as I figured if they were running down to Whitehall they would show up first within the hour roughly, then if they did not show, I would move the lighting back in time to get 609 coming by as running time from Whitehall is around ninety min.

 

Forty minutes later I have the lighting set up and I’m drinking tea! What could go wrong!? I wait a half hour.............forty five min. No 642. I realize 642 is not coming first. The lighting gets moved back, lol! Forty five min. later, after I am satisfied with the lighting I can hear ‘em, EMD’s far away south of me, coming up Lake Champlain with a haz mat train of empty crude oil tank cars. Leader CP 6259 is an ex-SOO LINE wide cab SD 60, one of a handful built for the SOO, and Gordy has mentioned in passing how these are some of his favorite engines, so Railfan Rule #5 goes into effect: Always try to shoot a good photo of the dispatchers favorite locomotives for him! ha,ha,ha! Some twenty minutes later 609 is in town, I’m in position atop the cab roof and the engineer is giving a couple toots to the large D&H Track Gang as he passes them situated on the m.o.w. siding south of me, then 6259 swings around the curve, past the station and below me, captured in a flash! What a difference the fresh red paint 6259 wears versus the older oxidized red the many GE’s wear now! So this one is for you Gordy, and of course the many other viewers on this list. Shot on May 15, 2014 at 01:59. Special thanks to Noah Fowler and Frank Jolin! Please enjoy! Comments are welcomed.

 

All The Best In 2014;

Gary Knapp