Current operations in Ithaca

Does anyone have any current data on what goes on in Ithaca? I'll be up there for a seminar in a week or so and i'd love to see if there's any active rail at all. It's been years since i'd been up in that area. Search results for Ithaca on this site are slim, but the Mike Walker/SPV lists the NS as going through town and the NYSW not far away in Cortland.

Any gorges railfanning to be had? (sorry..)

Greg Deibler "Lehighrrgreg" on this forum is an NS Conductor that I think serves the Ithaca secondary, so he probably has the most current info. He spends a considerable amount of time in the Lehigh Valley forum, so you may want to post this inquiry there.

I would guess that the branch sees 2-4 trains per week based on coal and Salt needs to the AEG station and the Cargill Salt Plant. When I was at Cornell from 1996-2000, trains ran just about any time as needed.

As for the NYSW, there Syracuse division branch does see some traffic, although I don't know the frequency, you might want to post on the NYSW forum as well.

Your third option is to drive to Elmira, which is about 40 minutes from Ithaca. There you would have access to the NS Southern Tier Line. You could also drive to Sayre, PA and check out NS there.

Finally, the FGLK RR is in Geneva, which is about 50 minutes from Ithaca, and NS runs up the Corning Secondary to drop traffic at nights.

Brooks

You can always go over to Corning station and check in with the NYSW to see if anything is running. Locals and crews report there.

-otto-

bwparker1 wrote:Your third option is to drive to Elmira, which is about 40 minutes from Ithaca. There you would have access to the NS Southern Tier Line. You could also drive to Sayre, PA and check out NS there.

Or just drive down route 34 from Ithaca to Waverly..
then you get the Southern Tier main *and* Sayre both in the same place..
You could also drive from Ithaca to Owego and catch both the NS southern tier main and the Owego & Hartford..

IMO there isnt much of a reason to head over to Elmira from Ithaca..
because Elmira has ONLY NS..while Owego or Binghamton have more variation..

Otto Vondrak wrote:You can always go over to Corning station and check in with the NYSW to see if anything is running. Locals and crews report there.

-otto-

Otto,
I assume you mean Binghamton?
there is no NYSW in Corning...

Scot

Scott has good points, I just mentioned Elmira, because I used to drive there from Ithaca and I believe it is a bit shorter than heading to Waverly or Sayre, and it is definitely shorter than heading to Binghamton. I don't know what sort fo free time your conference allows for.

Brooks

And what's wrong with Binghamton? Too!

eotd wrote:

Any gorges railfanning to be had? (sorry..)

There is an old PRR Bridge that crosses a gorge to the West of Seneca Lake, but you would have to catch the FLGK Himrod to Watkins Local to truly do some Gorge Railfanning.

You'll see a coal train (loads then empties) about two to four times a week, a daily local with around 50 salt cars and that's about it.

Ithaca yard (you should be able to find it without much trouble) will occasion either some of the local or coal trains' power in layover, and last I knew, the collection of full and empty cars inbetween points.

The coal can run about anytime, the local might be caught in the light. For instance, they're in the Sayre yard right now (14:33) getting around to head north.

Tom H>

Tom, what does the local you mention do, does it just serve Cargill, or does it work other industries in the Sayre/Waverly area?

Brooks

wow, thanks guys. sounds like i got some options. i will have much of saturday afternoon and evening free, then i gotta decide when i leave. it'll be tough, i do like it up there.

bwparker1 wrote:Tom, what does the local you mention do, does it just serve Cargill, or does it work other industries in the Sayre/Waverly area?

Brooks

The local is primarily for Cargil, but will handle overhead coal cars and work GE Railcar in Sayre as well as Hancor in Waverly as needed.
Local H11/H12 usually will drop and pickup the H13 traffic and carry it off from Sayre unless it goes NE, where a special unit train, 674/675, will handle the exchange in Bingo.

Tom H>

Are H12/H11 coming from Elmira? or are they based out of Sayre as well?

Brooks

bwparker1 wrote:Your third option is to drive to Elmira, which is about 40 minutes from Ithaca. There you would have access to the NS Southern Tier Line. You could also drive to Sayre, PA and check out NS there.

There is also some local traffic in Elmira, which can be interesting. I don't what loco NS assigns to the Elmira yard now but it was a GP38-2 during the final years of CR and the beginning of NS ownership. BTW, there is a great story about an accident in that yard in the current issue of Trains.

NS uses anything....

bwparker1 wrote:Are H12/H11 coming from Elmira? or are they based out of Sayre as well?

Brooks

H11/12 runs Elmira to Mehoopany and back. Frequently outlaws in Sayre during the process. They handle mainly boxcars for P&G plant, but also tank cars for Sylvania and misc. for Towanda, PA.

Elmira sees a couple locals. H2G, H11/12, H13 (occasionally), H2E, others...Shame Elmira yard area just doesn't have good visual access. Clemens Center Prkwy being emergency parking- I've been moved along three times in as many years trying to spot what was in the yard there....

Tom H>