Scene Setter
I had plane tickets to Arizona for a week of sun and trains. It would have been a great trip, especially with some cool pics of various southwestern operations showing up on Flickr in the days leading up to my planned departure. However, one nagging concern kept me second-guessing that decision right up until literally the last minute. Despite a dismal weather forecast for the East Coast, and the anticipated hoards of (fellow) foaming fans, I decided a trip to see Western New York and Pennsylvania ALCOs was the better option. The threat - of course - was the arrival of several big GEs to replace the ALCos.
WYNP's ex-CSX AC6000 #6002 had recently come through St. Louis on its way from repainting on the Arkansas & Missouri and had already been recorded leading trains down to Pennsylvania. WNYP #6001 had departed St. Louis only days prior. There was no time to lose.
Fourteen hours after departing the St. Louis metroplex, I rolled into Olean, NY and headed directly to the shops to see how things were arranged for the following day. 6002 was positioned to lead something, but this here is what I came for...or at least some of what I came for.
Ex-CP MLW RS18u #417 and ex-NYC C430 #431 sit quietly at the WNYP shops, ready for the following morning's activities. 417 and ex-DH RS3M #406 would end up working the yard, while 431 apparently headed out to Falconer, NY in company with C430 #430 and C424 #435.
Scene Setter
I had plane tickets to Arizona for a week of sun and trains. It would have been a great trip, especially with some cool pics of various southwestern operations showing up on Flickr in the days leading up to my planned departure. However, one nagging concern kept me second-guessing that decision right up until literally the last minute. Despite a dismal weather forecast for the East Coast, and the anticipated hoards of (fellow) foaming fans, I decided a trip to see Western New York and Pennsylvania ALCOs was the better option. The threat - of course - was the arrival of several big GEs to replace the ALCos.
WYNP's ex-CSX AC6000 #6002 had recently come through St. Louis on its way from repainting on the Arkansas & Missouri and had already been recorded leading trains down to Pennsylvania. WNYP #6001 had departed St. Louis only days prior. There was no time to lose.
Fourteen hours after departing the St. Louis metroplex, I rolled into Olean, NY and headed directly to the shops to see how things were arranged for the following day. 6002 was positioned to lead something, but this here is what I came for...or at least some of what I came for.
Ex-CP MLW RS18u #417 and ex-NYC C430 #431 sit quietly at the WNYP shops, ready for the following morning's activities. 417 and ex-DH RS3M #406 would end up working the yard, while 431 apparently headed out to Falconer, NY in company with C430 #430 and C424 #435.