Tim Stockwell
Beginner's Luck
Plows are something I haven't shot much of over the years, mostly because the snowfall in New York's Capital Region usually doesn't warrant them. January 7, 2003 was a major exception, however. With our area having been hit with two back-to-back nor'easters, something had to be done. On this day, I was out running errands when I came across a fairly normal CP Train 169 heading north out of Albany with the usual pair of NS Dash-9s for power. Being on break from college and not having much else to do, I decided to follow the train north. After jumping ahead of the train and arriving in Mechanicville, I was pleasantly surprised to find a CP plow train with this Jordan Spreader holding on the Colonie Main at CPF467. I headed up to Coons to wait for it, and had the opportunity to shoot ST Train AYMO first. Then came the dramatic moment seen here, and after that Train 169 and ST Train EDMO (4 trains at Coons in 1 hour!). I then headed up to Crescent where I caught a Guilford plow train coming off the Rotterdam Branch (a photo of which can be found in my B&M book). This was quite the catch for me at this time as I had only been doing railroad photography for a few years and wasn't yet connected to the rest of the railfan community to have even known that two plow trains would be running! So, thank God I was too young and naive to blow-off a pair of NS Dash-9s on 169!
Beginner's Luck
Plows are something I haven't shot much of over the years, mostly because the snowfall in New York's Capital Region usually doesn't warrant them. January 7, 2003 was a major exception, however. With our area having been hit with two back-to-back nor'easters, something had to be done. On this day, I was out running errands when I came across a fairly normal CP Train 169 heading north out of Albany with the usual pair of NS Dash-9s for power. Being on break from college and not having much else to do, I decided to follow the train north. After jumping ahead of the train and arriving in Mechanicville, I was pleasantly surprised to find a CP plow train with this Jordan Spreader holding on the Colonie Main at CPF467. I headed up to Coons to wait for it, and had the opportunity to shoot ST Train AYMO first. Then came the dramatic moment seen here, and after that Train 169 and ST Train EDMO (4 trains at Coons in 1 hour!). I then headed up to Crescent where I caught a Guilford plow train coming off the Rotterdam Branch (a photo of which can be found in my B&M book). This was quite the catch for me at this time as I had only been doing railroad photography for a few years and wasn't yet connected to the rest of the railfan community to have even known that two plow trains would be running! So, thank God I was too young and naive to blow-off a pair of NS Dash-9s on 169!