Hot Stone
Every now and then on NYS&W's Utica line during the early years, there would be unit stone trains. I always called them "Hot Stone" because trainman Joe White always used the term "hot" for a special box car move or if a car just HAD to be in Binghamton to make a connection. "Hot Stone" was seasonal; spring through fall. Barretts Construction in Binghamton, NY have their own gravel pit near Cassville, NY. They loaded Susquehanna trains at Richfield Jct on an old iron overpass that was retrofitted with a dump chute. Barrett dump trucks convoyed from the pit to the dump site loading anywhere from 20-40 hoppers. Then it was off to Binghamton! Smaller cuts of stones rode along with the local jobs UT1/BH1 which was quite common, but at times if a crew went on duty at Richfeild Jct to load stone, this RJ1 or BHX would highball straight to Bingo creating "Hot Stone" because Barretts needed it ASAP and crews would be running short on time. It made for a great.chase. Here we find a BHX sailing along south of Sherburne, NY with a single Alco C430 and 20 loads of stone. This train would have to make at least two trips from RJ to Paris summit up the 1.8% grade before putting everything together for the race to Binghamton.
Hot Stone
Every now and then on NYS&W's Utica line during the early years, there would be unit stone trains. I always called them "Hot Stone" because trainman Joe White always used the term "hot" for a special box car move or if a car just HAD to be in Binghamton to make a connection. "Hot Stone" was seasonal; spring through fall. Barretts Construction in Binghamton, NY have their own gravel pit near Cassville, NY. They loaded Susquehanna trains at Richfield Jct on an old iron overpass that was retrofitted with a dump chute. Barrett dump trucks convoyed from the pit to the dump site loading anywhere from 20-40 hoppers. Then it was off to Binghamton! Smaller cuts of stones rode along with the local jobs UT1/BH1 which was quite common, but at times if a crew went on duty at Richfeild Jct to load stone, this RJ1 or BHX would highball straight to Bingo creating "Hot Stone" because Barretts needed it ASAP and crews would be running short on time. It made for a great.chase. Here we find a BHX sailing along south of Sherburne, NY with a single Alco C430 and 20 loads of stone. This train would have to make at least two trips from RJ to Paris summit up the 1.8% grade before putting everything together for the race to Binghamton.