Southern Tier - West of Binghamton

Correction: the geometry unit is #34, while the train symbol is NS 905. It is moving west on the Tier right now and was spotted at Owego a little over 90 minutes ago.

NS unit sand train 68N will be heading from Buffalo to Sayre on the Tier tonight. Lead unit is BNSF.

There was a 2nd run of 68N on the Tier yesterday afternoon. Three BNSF units powered that train.

And before sunrise this morning, Saturday 3/18/17, a 62Z with a BNSF leader + 2 was dropped at NYSW just east of CP-BD in Binghamton.

According an NS Southern Tier group on FB, there is/was supposed to be another NS 68N run to Sayre today. Also, NS 28N had a pair of CP units for power this morning.

NS I06 is running on the Southern Tier Mainline tonight. It is an extra section of NS 206. Last I knew, the train was somewhere west of Gang Mills.

Owing to a recent derailment on the Pittsburgh Line, NS ran a couple of detours on the TIer this weekned, including 24Z and 21Z.

So I'm out and around Attica today.. checked the signals at Molasses hill Rd (Linden) - all reds. Went down Spring Rd - all unlit. Went downtown for gas and lunch (Attica) and all reds there. Came back up Spring Rd and saw the eastbound signals come on over a half hour ago. Yellow on track one, yellow over red track two. How far in advance are these signals activated? I assume I'll see an eastbound eventually but I could have driven to Buffalo to check by now. Anyone know the system around here? I don't understand why some signals are always lit and others not.

Well I got my triple-header eastbound at 15:55 at CP Linden. Fairly short mixed train - I could see it's entire length from the road. Third unit looking very fresh. At least an hour heads up on the Spring Rd. signals. Struggling with pictures but I'll add some when I get back to a laptop.

I'm looking forward to your photos. As far as the system for signals goes, I think NS uses NORAC rules. I don't know the exact distance for NS to activate a green or yellow signal, but it's generally not long before the train arrives.

In the Conrail era post-EL - before the line was re-signaled - here is how the signalling worked:

Between Attica and Depew the eastward signals (all approach lighted) would come on when a route was lined for westward movement between those two points. The old eastward approach signal at Town Line Rd would be a sure indicator for train movements.

This was also the case between Rock Glen and Linden; driving down Dale Rd. you could see a couple of eastward signals, and when they showed red you knew you had a westbound coming.

If I remember correctly, once the end of a train passed a block signal, it stayed lit and would show progression from red to yellow to green. When the aspect changed to green the signal light would go dark.

Here is a picture of a westbound approaching the Erie St. crossing in Lancaster on July 30, 2004. Signal 411E had been RED (normally dark) for a while, which told me there was westbound traffic approaching.

NS 975, including #5642 aka the First Responders unit, is in Binghamton for training until tomorrow.

NS 206 was spotted at CP Cass last night for the 1st time since early spring.

Both NS 206 and 205 are back on the Tier for now, in order to help relieve the burden on NS 22K and 23K at Mechanicville. It is not clear whether this change is temporary or permanent.

The NS geometry train is currently in greater Buffalo right now, and is expected to head east to Binghamton today via the Tier.