A Day in Binghamton

[ssw9662]

Today we decided to head up to Binghamton to attempt to catch some action on the NS and CP lines in the town. Our goal was to go to the CP yard in Conklin and wait for a train that was to head up with two of the three D&H painted engines on it, then wait until after dark for the CP Holiday Train to show up.

We spent the journey up to Binghamton following the CP Sunbury Sub up from Scranton, although we saw no trains due to work being performed on a tunnel in the area. After arriving in Binghamton, we decided to check out the south end of the lead for Conklin Yard, since there's often a yard job working there. The weather forecast of wind, snow, and cold temperatures proved to be accurate, and we were greeted by some heavy snowfall when we set up for our photos of the yard job switching cars in the yard.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=214022&nseq=0


We then decided to head into the NS/Susquehanna yard in Binghamton, where we found NS 31T/CP 930 recrewing next to the old Lackawanna station. By now, the morning's snow had started to accumulate, as you can see in this shot.

http://ssw9662.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=972921


While driving past the CP yard in Conklin, we found that CP 251 was getting ready to leave the yard with a pair of CP SD40-2's sandwiching an ex-UP leaser. Just as we pulled into the Binghamton Arby's parking lot, the headlight on the lead engine appeared. The train was preparing to stop to get permission from the NS Southern Tier dispatcher to cross the diamond at CP-BD.

http://ssw9662.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=972915


A few minutes after 251 cleared the diamond, NS sent H88 lite eastbound with an SD60M and a Dash 9.

http://ssw9662.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=972922


About an hour later, the H88 returned with cars from the Susquehanna. (Sorry about the bad lighting on this one)

http://ssw9662.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=972923


While driving through town we came across the 39T, which had just got off the CP and was moving at a good clip. I didn't have time for a shot from the bridge you can see on top of the photo, so I settled for a grab shot from the side of the road.

http://ssw9662.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=972924


After waiting for an hour or so without seeing any trains, we decided to call it a day. While we didn't see the D&H units (They probably passed while we were railfanning the NS at CP-BD) or the Holiday Train (Which I decided not to bother with because it meant spending two more hours in 10 degree temperatures, something that I wasn't up for doing), we did fairly well considering that Binghamton always seems to be a hit-or-miss spot.