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Y202 // 84 Lumber Depew
The counterpart photo to the previous post, this is my first instance of getting a daylight shot at 84 Lumber as Y202 pulls one empty.
2022 was a very goal oriented year for me behind the camera. A very specific list of shots guided me throughout the year, offering challenge after challenge just waiting for luck to turn at every corner. That list of shots was primarily comprised of industries as always, industries which are often worked after sunset, but under the right circumstances occasionally seeing daylight.
84 Lumber, as the old adage goes, is no exception. Well, at least this location specifically, located near QC 429 on the CSX Buffalo Terminal Subdivision. At one point, there were four locations in Western New York served by rail. One of these is in Tonawanda, which used to be a toss-up between day and night depending on the surrounding industry work, but due to one business leaving the railroad game and a change to operations, is now almost always worked first when there is a car to spot. A third rail-served location existed near CP 21 on the Niagara Branch, but closed for good some number of years ago and has yet to be redeveloped. A fourth location sits on Buffalo & Pittsburgh's old Third Sub in Orchard Park, however B&P decided it no longer wanted to serve this location, despite the business making repairs to its own spur in anticipation of continued business. Service ceased in the mid to late 2010s.
Adding to the challenge of shooting Depew in daylight were several factors of Y202's job. Nowadays 84 sits on a M/W/F schedule, along with Nabisco on the Belt Line west of Frontier Yard, and the A Industrial branch at QC 431. Nabisco at this time was still consistently worked on all three of its service days, pretty much always first, followed by a shove through the yard, or pulling south down to the main and shoving eight miles out to 84 from QC 437. The factors to contend with were always how long it takes to get out of the yard, battling with both the second shift remote switcher and any road train attempting to depart the yard west, followed by how long the switch at Nabisco takes, then finding an opening to shove out to 429. The switch for 84 Lumber sits on track four, which is also a common track to stage crewless trains on at 429, thus blocking Y202 from performing its duties altogether, until a crew is called, or sometimes actively crewed trains waiting on inbound traffic so they may start their journey east. And lastly, the conductor has to be able to work at a moderate pace. With a start time of 1559 hours, at peak sunlight in June that leaves five hours to make it to 84 Lumber in daylight. And yet time after time, I was let down. In fact in late May, they made it out in daylight, only to shove the entire train down the spur to grab an empty rather than going in light power. That was the closest I got in the early going...
In late June of 2022, miraculously all these factors and more combined to give me a fighting chance. A Friday evening, normally I would have been at work, but since my band had a show scheduled that night, I switched to a morning shift. Our singer got stuck in Virginia after visiting his girlfriend, with inclement weather and tornadic activity canceling his flight home, resulting in us dropping the show and my night suddenly free. For what was the first time that year according to the engineer, Nabisco did not need a switch. Unbeknownst to me, an empty car still remained at 84 after two were delivered on Monday that week. I had the Broadcastify feed running for Buffalo to listen for things to shoot that evening, and Y202 called at the east end of Frontier to head straight for 84 Lumber. The night before, having been out with Rodney on L035 on Lockport, he told me that in his opinion a shot in daylight would be impossible. And yet there I found myself less than 24 hours later. Never tell me the odds. I love to defy them.
Y202 // 84 Lumber Depew
The counterpart photo to the previous post, this is my first instance of getting a daylight shot at 84 Lumber as Y202 pulls one empty.
2022 was a very goal oriented year for me behind the camera. A very specific list of shots guided me throughout the year, offering challenge after challenge just waiting for luck to turn at every corner. That list of shots was primarily comprised of industries as always, industries which are often worked after sunset, but under the right circumstances occasionally seeing daylight.
84 Lumber, as the old adage goes, is no exception. Well, at least this location specifically, located near QC 429 on the CSX Buffalo Terminal Subdivision. At one point, there were four locations in Western New York served by rail. One of these is in Tonawanda, which used to be a toss-up between day and night depending on the surrounding industry work, but due to one business leaving the railroad game and a change to operations, is now almost always worked first when there is a car to spot. A third rail-served location existed near CP 21 on the Niagara Branch, but closed for good some number of years ago and has yet to be redeveloped. A fourth location sits on Buffalo & Pittsburgh's old Third Sub in Orchard Park, however B&P decided it no longer wanted to serve this location, despite the business making repairs to its own spur in anticipation of continued business. Service ceased in the mid to late 2010s.
Adding to the challenge of shooting Depew in daylight were several factors of Y202's job. Nowadays 84 sits on a M/W/F schedule, along with Nabisco on the Belt Line west of Frontier Yard, and the A Industrial branch at QC 431. Nabisco at this time was still consistently worked on all three of its service days, pretty much always first, followed by a shove through the yard, or pulling south down to the main and shoving eight miles out to 84 from QC 437. The factors to contend with were always how long it takes to get out of the yard, battling with both the second shift remote switcher and any road train attempting to depart the yard west, followed by how long the switch at Nabisco takes, then finding an opening to shove out to 429. The switch for 84 Lumber sits on track four, which is also a common track to stage crewless trains on at 429, thus blocking Y202 from performing its duties altogether, until a crew is called, or sometimes actively crewed trains waiting on inbound traffic so they may start their journey east. And lastly, the conductor has to be able to work at a moderate pace. With a start time of 1559 hours, at peak sunlight in June that leaves five hours to make it to 84 Lumber in daylight. And yet time after time, I was let down. In fact in late May, they made it out in daylight, only to shove the entire train down the spur to grab an empty rather than going in light power. That was the closest I got in the early going...
In late June of 2022, miraculously all these factors and more combined to give me a fighting chance. A Friday evening, normally I would have been at work, but since my band had a show scheduled that night, I switched to a morning shift. Our singer got stuck in Virginia after visiting his girlfriend, with inclement weather and tornadic activity canceling his flight home, resulting in us dropping the show and my night suddenly free. For what was the first time that year according to the engineer, Nabisco did not need a switch. Unbeknownst to me, an empty car still remained at 84 after two were delivered on Monday that week. I had the Broadcastify feed running for Buffalo to listen for things to shoot that evening, and Y202 called at the east end of Frontier to head straight for 84 Lumber. The night before, having been out with Rodney on L035 on Lockport, he told me that in his opinion a shot in daylight would be impossible. And yet there I found myself less than 24 hours later. Never tell me the odds. I love to defy them.