A Long Day, A Long Ways
A re scan from a previous posting.
This was one hell of a day. Being just 14 years old on a limited budget, just how does a young teenage railfan end up 60 miles from home under the famed Starrucca Viaduct shooting the Delaware & Hudson? Well, it goes like this. Get up real early. 5AM early. Head over to the neighbors house who has your Saturday morning Binghamton Press newspapers waiting for you. 67 in all. Load them in the carry bag and roll off through the south side of Norwich, NY on your route. The best thing about the Saturday paper was that it was the lightest of the week and could be delivered in one outing. The Press was an afternoon paper during the week and an AM paper on the weekends, so not much new news to cover in a 12 hour period for Friday afternoon to Saturday morning.
After making the round I get home, grab my camera bag stuffed with a Canon AE-1 and a cheap 135mm tele picked from 42st Photo a year earlier with paper route money. Clamp it to the back rack of the 24 inch 10 speed and head off onto NYS RT12 south for Binghamton and the D&H Bevier St. yard, 41 miles away.
It is there where I watched Alcos switching the yard and freight trains coming and going with a mix of three builders and some N&W mixed in. Part II. Along comes J.J. Young Jr. with his chauffeur, Elwood. We have a good BS session until JJ gets some info from the yard office of some moves on the Wilkes Barre main. They invited me to take a ride with them. So with the bike laying up against the hand rails to the yard office, I jump in the back of the red Chevy Nova and off we go zipping east on NYS RT17 at a pace of hell break, JJ cursing at other drivers with words unheard of my my young ears! Elwood calming steering around folks as if he ran moonshine in the Fifties on southern dirt roads. They were quite the duo! 23 miles later we end up in the shade under a tree by the viaduct on this super hot day. A northbound had passed us with a solid blue C420 leading.
www.flickr.com/photos/129482043@N04/35856254104/in/photol...
And then the Arrarat helpers pulled into the siding and into position for a southbound and for our cameras. I took this one shot of the 5017. Having just one roll of film, you have to hope for the best and not waste any.
Part III the southbound shows up and rolls by with a GE U23B leader and the chase was on!
www.flickr.com/photos/129482043@N04/36469198401/in/photol...
We followed him all the way to the summit, 16 miles away.
That's where the chase ended and we headed west for Binghamton. I think the dynamic duo would have continued on if it weren't for me. They knew it was getting late and even during the long days of summer, it'd be quite late for me getting home on two wheels. It would be 35 miles back to Bingo and 41 miles back home. A long day, about 16 hours, and a long ways, nearly 160 miles. Not a bad day for a rail buff who has yet to get a drivers license!
A Long Day, A Long Ways
A re scan from a previous posting.
This was one hell of a day. Being just 14 years old on a limited budget, just how does a young teenage railfan end up 60 miles from home under the famed Starrucca Viaduct shooting the Delaware & Hudson? Well, it goes like this. Get up real early. 5AM early. Head over to the neighbors house who has your Saturday morning Binghamton Press newspapers waiting for you. 67 in all. Load them in the carry bag and roll off through the south side of Norwich, NY on your route. The best thing about the Saturday paper was that it was the lightest of the week and could be delivered in one outing. The Press was an afternoon paper during the week and an AM paper on the weekends, so not much new news to cover in a 12 hour period for Friday afternoon to Saturday morning.
After making the round I get home, grab my camera bag stuffed with a Canon AE-1 and a cheap 135mm tele picked from 42st Photo a year earlier with paper route money. Clamp it to the back rack of the 24 inch 10 speed and head off onto NYS RT12 south for Binghamton and the D&H Bevier St. yard, 41 miles away.
It is there where I watched Alcos switching the yard and freight trains coming and going with a mix of three builders and some N&W mixed in. Part II. Along comes J.J. Young Jr. with his chauffeur, Elwood. We have a good BS session until JJ gets some info from the yard office of some moves on the Wilkes Barre main. They invited me to take a ride with them. So with the bike laying up against the hand rails to the yard office, I jump in the back of the red Chevy Nova and off we go zipping east on NYS RT17 at a pace of hell break, JJ cursing at other drivers with words unheard of my my young ears! Elwood calming steering around folks as if he ran moonshine in the Fifties on southern dirt roads. They were quite the duo! 23 miles later we end up in the shade under a tree by the viaduct on this super hot day. A northbound had passed us with a solid blue C420 leading.
www.flickr.com/photos/129482043@N04/35856254104/in/photol...
And then the Arrarat helpers pulled into the siding and into position for a southbound and for our cameras. I took this one shot of the 5017. Having just one roll of film, you have to hope for the best and not waste any.
Part III the southbound shows up and rolls by with a GE U23B leader and the chase was on!
www.flickr.com/photos/129482043@N04/36469198401/in/photol...
We followed him all the way to the summit, 16 miles away.
That's where the chase ended and we headed west for Binghamton. I think the dynamic duo would have continued on if it weren't for me. They knew it was getting late and even during the long days of summer, it'd be quite late for me getting home on two wheels. It would be 35 miles back to Bingo and 41 miles back home. A long day, about 16 hours, and a long ways, nearly 160 miles. Not a bad day for a rail buff who has yet to get a drivers license!