Up West Albany Hill
CSXT local L020 has 17 cars trailing two ACSES equipped ex Chessie GP40-2s as they had back to their home base in South Schenectady after a trip to Rensselaer and up the Troy Branch. They are seen climbing the nearly 1.6% grade of West Albany Hill through the Tivoli Lake Preserve at about MP 144.6 on Main 1 of Amtrak's Hudson Line. Prior to the building of Selkirk Yard and the Castleton bridge the New York Central's main shops and yards were just ahead at West Albany and all freight trains to New York City and Boston had to battle this brutal grade. Upon opening of that bypass, this route was relegated to just passenger trains and local freights, a role it continues to play a century later.
This route dates from 1845 when the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad replaced it's steep pioneering route west from the Hudson River to Schenectady which opened in 1831 as the first component road of what would ultimately become the New York Central Railroad when Erastus Corning united it with myriad other small roads in the state. Cornelius Vanderbilt would gain control of the NYC in 1867 and merged it with his Hudson River Railroad in 1869 to form the contiguous New York City to Buffalo 'Water Level Route' and the rest is history. Ultimately this line would pass from the NYC to Penn Central in 1968, then Conrail in 1976, and finally CSXT in 1999. In Conrail days this was the east end of the Chicago Line though in CSXT years it was designated as the northern end of the Hudson Line. In December 2012 Amtrak took over control and dispatching of the Hudson Line from Hoffmans to Poughkeepsie under a long term lease agreement with CSXT who continues to provide freight service over the entirety of the route.
Albany, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
Up West Albany Hill
CSXT local L020 has 17 cars trailing two ACSES equipped ex Chessie GP40-2s as they had back to their home base in South Schenectady after a trip to Rensselaer and up the Troy Branch. They are seen climbing the nearly 1.6% grade of West Albany Hill through the Tivoli Lake Preserve at about MP 144.6 on Main 1 of Amtrak's Hudson Line. Prior to the building of Selkirk Yard and the Castleton bridge the New York Central's main shops and yards were just ahead at West Albany and all freight trains to New York City and Boston had to battle this brutal grade. Upon opening of that bypass, this route was relegated to just passenger trains and local freights, a role it continues to play a century later.
This route dates from 1845 when the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad replaced it's steep pioneering route west from the Hudson River to Schenectady which opened in 1831 as the first component road of what would ultimately become the New York Central Railroad when Erastus Corning united it with myriad other small roads in the state. Cornelius Vanderbilt would gain control of the NYC in 1867 and merged it with his Hudson River Railroad in 1869 to form the contiguous New York City to Buffalo 'Water Level Route' and the rest is history. Ultimately this line would pass from the NYC to Penn Central in 1968, then Conrail in 1976, and finally CSXT in 1999. In Conrail days this was the east end of the Chicago Line though in CSXT years it was designated as the northern end of the Hudson Line. In December 2012 Amtrak took over control and dispatching of the Hudson Line from Hoffmans to Poughkeepsie under a long term lease agreement with CSXT who continues to provide freight service over the entirety of the route.
Albany, New York
Friday October 25, 2024