Turkey Day & the Tier 2011

[Matt L]

So... I was off to the Southern Tier (region) of upstate NY to see my family for Thanksgiving two days ago. Since I'm single and a couple extra hours to kill, why not spend it with the Southern Tier Mainline? The Tier has seen a tremendous surge in traffic over the last couple years, owing to major growth in traffic for the gas drilling that has sprouted up just "over the border" in the Northern Tier on Pennsylvania. The Southern Tier Mainline has been having serious delays with clogged traffic since Hurricane Irene hit in late August, so I correctly guessed NS would take advantage of the down time during the holiday to clear out excess freight cars.

This interesting 4 pack of widecabs was idling at the west end of Gang Mills Yard in late morning.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in Gang Mills, NY.

[Matt L]

There was also a cut of cars getting shoved on a siding.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in Gang Mills, NY.

[Matt L]

The widecabs shoving the cut of cars reach the signals at CP Erwin.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in Gang Mills, NY.

[Matt L]

It looks all of the widecabs have coupled together, but they're actually on 2 separate tracks.




Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in Gang Mills, NY.

[Matt L]

The widecabs and the cut of cars have passed under the Route 417 bridge and are slowly heading east through the yard.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in Gang Mills, NY.

[Matt L]

Meanwhile, the 4 pack of widecabs west of the Route 417 bridge had gotten under way and was approaching the signal at CP Erwin.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in Gang Mills, NY.

[Matt L]

The widecabs were pulling a short consist up the tracks to be coupled onto another string of cars... which were out of sight from this location.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in Gang Mills, NY. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good photo of the action at the far west end of the yard legally, so I left the area shortly taking this shot.

[Matt L]

These locomotives were idling near the east of the yard, so I thought that perhaps an eastbound would be departing soon.



Photo taken be me Thursday 11/24/2011 in Gang Mills, NY.

[Matt L]

Based on that hunch, I headed east and set up just blocks from where I started watching trains 38 years ago. However, all the traffic on the Tier seemed to be westbound on Thanksgiving... as evidenced by the only freight train I saw crossing the bridge.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in the City of Elmira, NY.

[Matt L]

Standard cabs are becoming less common on the Tier (except for local action) of late, so it was nice to see one leading this NS freight across the Chemung River.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in the City of Elmira, NY.

[Matt L]

With the manifest freight consisting primarily of tank cars and covered hoppers, I'm guessing it may have been 12T. If so, much of this traffic would have been dropped off at Gang Mills for a couple of local shortlines.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in the City of Elmira, NY.

[Matt L]

The tail end of the NS manifest freight is coming off the Chemung River bridge.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in the City of Elmira, NY.  BTW, I was standing on the sidewalk of the South Main Street bridge. It's a pretty handy location for afternoon and evening shots, since all the bridges over the Chemung River in Elmira are aligned roughly north-south.

[Matt L]

It was a beautiful day for late November (low 50s and sunny) for upstate NY... but family and dinner were my priorities for Thanksgiving Day. I ended the chase not longer after the manifest freight cleared the bridge. I did get a final shot of the Southern Tier Mainline while sitting at a traffic light. NS uses the former Erie for much of that route and this bridge still has the old Erie lettering on it.



Photo taken by me Thursday 11/24/2011 in the City of Elmira, NY. I hope everyone at jreb.org enjoyed Thanksgiving as much as I did.