What a day! I called OMID (a RR that is rarely photgraphed or discussed) but the weren't running 'cause they'd only gotten 1 car from CSX last night, so they decided to do track work instead.
Very nice folks to talk to so I'll give OMI another shot someday.
Then I called R&S- the crew man was coming off duty, so he said to come down and ask for a manager. More on that later...
Finally, I got smart and called LAL. Nice lady, just like OMID, told me that the train was about to leave Lakeville (8:11AM) so I should have time to see it. Well, that would be true if hadn't been tied up on the phone trying to line up job interviews- darn work always gets in the way of 'fanning!
So I got down to Henrietta at 10:19AM. According to the nice folks at Dailey's Trailer Rental, LAL had already gone thru. I jumped in my car and raced over to Genesee Jct. THe train had already departed for Brooks Ave yard so I took a few quick pics of the 6 cars left by CSX and headed for R&S.
When I got there, I asked an R&S employee for permissiion to take some pix but he said "not today". Oh well, I guess he had more pressing matters than me. No problem. He did tell me that LAL had just left so I went back to Genesee Jct, getting there just as LAL returned. I took a few more shots and went over to East River Road.
I had to wait a few minutes but that didn't matter. It gave me time to line up my camera shot so I could use the bridge over the Genesee River (between Scottville Rd and East River Rd) as a photo prop. The train finally departed the yard around noon with 18 cars in total. Notice that LAL got more cars in interchange from R&S than CSX. Anyway, I got my shots and headed to the Bailey Rd crossing south of RIT.
After 30 minutes passed, I wondered if the train had stopped. Then playing a hunnch, I got on Lehigh Station Rd to visit Matthews & Field Lumber. Sure enough, I got there just in time to see the Alcos headed north on the Mortimer Industrial track. They'd left the lead car of the train on the spur- not a surprise since it was an Oregon and Northwestern boxcar.
I headed back to Bailey Rd. Along the way, I stopped to play the Mega Millions. A news crew from 13WHAM TV was there and the camreman asked me what I'd do with the $205 million ajackpot- I replied: "I'd act like its Monopoly and buy a railroad. Not a one of the big ones, just a short one."
By the time I got back to Bailey Road, the crossing gates were lowering so I decided to turn off and head for the Lehigh Station Road crossing. I got there at 1:20PM in plenty of time to photograph the train. At this point #s 424 and 420 were hauling 17 cars- all tankers and covered hoppers. I finished off my film and that's was then end of my 'fanning for the day.
These pics will be posted some day, when I get a scanner.
The next time I have "employment issues", I gotta remember to get out of the house and go watch a train!
