pjkaz177
Y203 // North Tonawanda, NY
Afternoon CSX Niagara local Y203 is northbound on track one on the Niagara Branch, crossing the Erie Canal in North Tonawanda on a beautiful July Friday evening.
Earlier in the evening, Y203 started their day with a stop at DKP on track two about three miles south of the canal bridge. Unfortunately in late 2022 DKP pulled out their stake as a CSX customer, whereas they had been a staple of local business for many years prior. At the time Y203 was also still responsible for making nightly drops at Kenmore Yard, bringing cars down for the then morning Kenmore local Y191. Said job was based out of Frontier Yard in Buffalo for nearly two years following the pandemic in 2020, traveling up to Kenmore each morning and returning in the afternoon. The job was moved to Niagara as L036 amid the system-wide symbol changes made by CSX in April 2022. With work at DKP and the drop at Kenmore complete, the next move is always to turn the whole train at CP 8/7/I (that's the letter i), then proceed north on track one to serve their remaining customers. On this day there was no work at Aurubis or Washington Mills, so in the beautiful evening light it was straight up to Robinson St to work WestRock, and eventually Niagara Sheets at the end of the Lockport Industrial Runner. The head end of the train has found a pocket of sunshine underneath the bascule bridge's counterweight, only ever lifted once in its history. No major freight traversing the canal has needed more than the allotted height in the lowered position. I don't believe the bridge even has a motor anymore should it ever need to be raised again.
This is one of those shots which I'd file in the "forgotten gems" folder, as it was one I'd long since forgotten about. Such is the case with many one-off shots I've taken between the more significant events of a particular day, such as the industry shots I so deeply covet. In fact, my day railfanning started not with Y203, but rather a loaded eastbound ethanol train. These used to carry K symbols and were notorious for bringing desirable foreign power to the region. This one in particular utilized a KCS SD70 leader and GE rear DPU. While shooting that in Depew, I met one of my now railfan friends for the first time that day too. I normally worked a closing shift at the car wash on Fridays back then, but that day I just happened to be scheduled for an open to cover another manager on vacation. Pretty much any time I was scheduled to open on a day I normally closed, I made use of the rest of the day to get out and railfan. I always felt it was the Universe's way of freeing me up to go see things I otherwise couldn't see. One such case of this schedule flipping was quite costly some three months prior, unfortunately becoming a valuable lesson for how I've prioritized shots and shot opportunities since. Always the summers are slipping away...
Y203 // North Tonawanda, NY
Afternoon CSX Niagara local Y203 is northbound on track one on the Niagara Branch, crossing the Erie Canal in North Tonawanda on a beautiful July Friday evening.
Earlier in the evening, Y203 started their day with a stop at DKP on track two about three miles south of the canal bridge. Unfortunately in late 2022 DKP pulled out their stake as a CSX customer, whereas they had been a staple of local business for many years prior. At the time Y203 was also still responsible for making nightly drops at Kenmore Yard, bringing cars down for the then morning Kenmore local Y191. Said job was based out of Frontier Yard in Buffalo for nearly two years following the pandemic in 2020, traveling up to Kenmore each morning and returning in the afternoon. The job was moved to Niagara as L036 amid the system-wide symbol changes made by CSX in April 2022. With work at DKP and the drop at Kenmore complete, the next move is always to turn the whole train at CP 8/7/I (that's the letter i), then proceed north on track one to serve their remaining customers. On this day there was no work at Aurubis or Washington Mills, so in the beautiful evening light it was straight up to Robinson St to work WestRock, and eventually Niagara Sheets at the end of the Lockport Industrial Runner. The head end of the train has found a pocket of sunshine underneath the bascule bridge's counterweight, only ever lifted once in its history. No major freight traversing the canal has needed more than the allotted height in the lowered position. I don't believe the bridge even has a motor anymore should it ever need to be raised again.
This is one of those shots which I'd file in the "forgotten gems" folder, as it was one I'd long since forgotten about. Such is the case with many one-off shots I've taken between the more significant events of a particular day, such as the industry shots I so deeply covet. In fact, my day railfanning started not with Y203, but rather a loaded eastbound ethanol train. These used to carry K symbols and were notorious for bringing desirable foreign power to the region. This one in particular utilized a KCS SD70 leader and GE rear DPU. While shooting that in Depew, I met one of my now railfan friends for the first time that day too. I normally worked a closing shift at the car wash on Fridays back then, but that day I just happened to be scheduled for an open to cover another manager on vacation. Pretty much any time I was scheduled to open on a day I normally closed, I made use of the rest of the day to get out and railfan. I always felt it was the Universe's way of freeing me up to go see things I otherwise couldn't see. One such case of this schedule flipping was quite costly some three months prior, unfortunately becoming a valuable lesson for how I've prioritized shots and shot opportunities since. Always the summers are slipping away...