Tim Stockwell
CP Work Train at Waterford, NY
Scratch a win for deciding to put my camera in my car today and also deciding to monitor the CP D&H 161.100 frequency despite the non-stop issuances of "Track and Time" to MOW crews. On my way to a staff meeting in Albany this morning, I heard the CP D&H dispatcher give a work train with the CP 3134 permission to head north from CPO5 (Colonie Yard) on the Colonie Main to CPO17 where it would then spend the day working south. "Ooh, a GP38-2 instead of an 'ECO'!," I thought. On the way home from my staff meeting, I continued to monitor my scanner and learned that the train was at about milepost 14, still working its way south. The question now was whether the engine was on the north end of the train or the south end of the train, and which way it was facing. Thankfully, it was on the south end of the train and facing the "right" way. Just before the sun sank below the horizon, the train crept out onto the Mohawk River Bridge at Waterford, heading into Cohoes to pick up more discarded wires from alongside the tracks. In addition to the nice leader, this was a neat little train, complete with a caboose that has since been converted into a shoving platform. With daylight activity on the Colonie Main being at perhaps an all-time low, getting a move like this--especially one with neither "ECOs" nor GEVOs for power--was a nice treat.
CP Work Train at Waterford, NY
Scratch a win for deciding to put my camera in my car today and also deciding to monitor the CP D&H 161.100 frequency despite the non-stop issuances of "Track and Time" to MOW crews. On my way to a staff meeting in Albany this morning, I heard the CP D&H dispatcher give a work train with the CP 3134 permission to head north from CPO5 (Colonie Yard) on the Colonie Main to CPO17 where it would then spend the day working south. "Ooh, a GP38-2 instead of an 'ECO'!," I thought. On the way home from my staff meeting, I continued to monitor my scanner and learned that the train was at about milepost 14, still working its way south. The question now was whether the engine was on the north end of the train or the south end of the train, and which way it was facing. Thankfully, it was on the south end of the train and facing the "right" way. Just before the sun sank below the horizon, the train crept out onto the Mohawk River Bridge at Waterford, heading into Cohoes to pick up more discarded wires from alongside the tracks. In addition to the nice leader, this was a neat little train, complete with a caboose that has since been converted into a shoving platform. With daylight activity on the Colonie Main being at perhaps an all-time low, getting a move like this--especially one with neither "ECOs" nor GEVOs for power--was a nice treat.