Adventures in and around Buffalo, including my 1st visit to SK Yard

[Matt L]

I was out in greater Buffalo last Friday, in what has become a very fun ritual. I like to get out to Buffalo at least once in early spring, July and late summer. I saw alot of interesting stuff on this trip.

Part of the morning was spent at GB Diamond. In the past, I had set up south of the diamond regardless of the time of day, but I've discovered north of the diamond is the better place to be in the morning. Eastbound 14T was my first NS sighting.











NS also snet an MOW truck down the track 9ex-NKP mainline) between trains. Note the former Pennsy and LV bridges inthe background.



I'd never seen NS handle their auto rack trains with just one unit before but westbound 287, like its predecessor, sported just a singe widecab for p0wer.







All photos in this post were taken by me Friday 3/21/2014 in Blasdell, NY. All rights are reserved. 

[Matt L]

I'd been at Buffalo Creek Junction earlier in the morning, but all the action was CSX and Amtrak. My 2nd trip snagged a couple of NS trains, including local H42 with a familiar SD40-2 for power. The Buffalo & Pittsburgh had also sent a local to their yard.



H42 heads out on the ex-NKP main. It was going to drop those cars off at a couple of customers just a few miles to the the west.



Westbound mixed freight 309 popped out of the yard shortly after H42, with a bright BNSF pumpkin leading the way.



It didn't take long for 309 to overtake H42. They met near the B&P bridge.



The B&P local usually has a pair of switchers, or a switcher and a Geep. I guess they decided to throw in some extra HP for this job. BTW, #886 is an ex-N&W unit.



All photos in this post were taken by me Friday 3/21/2014 in Buffalo, NY. All rights are reserved.

[Matt L]

I also made a stop at CP Draw and caught a couple of CSX trains there. Next up was a new location for me- SK Yard. This is a longstanding Erie facility that was later used by EL, Conrail, the D&H, CP and now NS. A local with a pair of ex-PC GP38-2s made a shove move into the yard. The west end of SK yard is at the north end of Babock Street in buffalo.






After SK Yard quieted down, I headed over to Bison Yard in Cheektowaga.



A string of older EMDs was also parked at Bison Yard:



There was also a local (I think) parked on the west side of the Harlem Road bridge. Since it had a string of boxcars and was sitting on the old Lackawanna mainline, I wonder if it was going to interchange wit hthe Depew, Lancaster & Western RR in a day or two. Then again, it could have been something else.



All photos in this post were taken by me Friday 3/21/2014 in Erie County, NY. All rights are reserved.

[Matt L]

I ended the day over at the Bayview Road crossing, which had been site of a nasty incident two night earlier. Some angry jerk had deliberatelyparked his girlfriend's car on the NS line and it had been hit by a train. Thankfully, the only signs of the collison were a few tire gouges in the shoulder of the road. Everything else seemed fine.



NS's operations seemed unaffected, as eastbound 22K came through normally.











All photos in this post were taken by me Friday 3/21/2014 in Buffalo, NY. I hope y'all have enjoyed the pictorial of my latest visit to Buffalo- it sure was fun for me. 

[NSMoWandS]

All in all a nice time. Does the cab numbers on that 2nd autorack trains loco look funny? And those ruts at the crossing look like they are from a wrecker(or something with dual wheels) than from an auto.
DE Dan

[Matt L]

I didn't notice anything odd on #9669, but maybe you see something I missing. 

I agree with your assessment on the tire ruts- a car woudn't leave dueal tire marks, but a heavy vey vehicle like a tow truck could do that.

And yes, it was a fun day. The weather for a couple days prior had been poor, and the weekend afterward was also poor. i was thankful for a sunny day and lots of action. CSX was also quite busy and had plenty of foreign power... but that's beyond the scope of this forum.

oh BTW, I may have yet another vantage point to try out when I go back to Buffalo this summer, and (assuming I can access the spot) it will involve shooting NS from the former Lehigh Valley.