What a whirl of events over the past 36 hours! I spent the past two days at the southern end of Pleasant Valley, watching the briefly rejuvenated B&H. I have to say that this was pure luck, because my sister and I had decided to celebrate my mother's 71st birthday (yesterday) by taking her to an italina restuarant in Corning. The plans were made well over a month ago, which included mt staying at Mom's overnight so I could indulge in train watching- preferrably along the B&H.
Well, I sure got my wish... in spades! I arose at 7AM yesterday and after a qucik shower, loaded the car and headed straight to Bath. After a quick stop for gas, and breakfast, I was at the construction site alongside the original B&H mainline or Don Brown (of the Ontario Central says), the
real B&H.
I set-up taking photographs with disposable cameras (I brought 8!) immediately. The unloading was rather slow- it took nearly an hour to unload a flatcar, so I took occasional breaks to see my Dad (in a nursing home nearby) and drop by Momo's house for a quick lunch. I was back in tome to catch more unloading, and an eventual reshuffling of the flat cars to out laods in place for transfer to the tractor trailers that took them to the construction site.
Along the way, I also had a chance to converse with engineer Randy Brewer and conductor Warren Edsall. Although I had been 'fanning the B&H since 1976, Randy did not immediately recall me. No offense taken, though, because I haven't been around the B&H much in the last 15 years or so. Randy did recall my father (who was a businessman in H'port 30 years ago) so then he began to realize who I was. Randy and Warren acted very professionally- even doubling as flagmen for the tractor trailers that crossed Rt. 113 twice so they could access the route to the construction site. Ditto for today's crew, apparently borrowed from the B&H's parent road LAL.
When I arrived today, I had missed another reshuffling that had taken place early in the morning. They had actually started work at 7AM. but I was in no shape to get-up that early after my mother's b'day festivities last night. So I sat patiently and at 3PM, S-1 #5 roared to life. The crew hitched up the remaining empties and headed south. I raced ahead and took many, many pictures where the tracks parallel May Street in Bath- mostly at the crossings at East Washington Street and Rt. 415. The train continued south and eventaully came to a stop right before the junction with the former EL Wayland Branch. The crew turned off the venerable engine of #5 and tied the train down for the night- so you might be able to get some pictures of it before empties are returned to NS. According to Randy Brewer, the (per diem?) charges on the flatcars are quite high so the RR is anxious to return them. BTW, the flatcars are still lettered "Southern."
The crew also tried to joke with me that the locomotive had broken down, but I replied, "She's an Alco, you can't break her! Number 5 is too tough for that!" We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes. Then I took a few more pictures of #5 and left. I used up
7 disposable cameras in just 30 hours- what a good time!
When these pictures are developed, I will forward them to Luther so he can post them on
http://www.lalrailfan.net . It will take a little while because cash is tight, so please be patient.
P.S. WROC TV-8 News stopped by to film the story for 6:00 News and I was in the piece! Read about it here:
http://www.wroctv.com/news/story.asp?id=24309&r=l . It should be noted that I didn't come
just to watch the train, out of respect for Mom.
