West-of-Deerfield Gawking

[jaymac]

Sitings from a 10-11-2013 trip to East Portal:
-Whether covered in changing foliage or snow, the Hoosac Range being hit by first light is an impressive sight.
-At 0715 and seen from Rte. 2, an EB was holding east of CPF-402, whether for a crew or signal unknown, but was east of Depot Road before 0810. The radio would reveal it was RJED.
-At 0745, a WB was sitting uncrewed at 415 with NewBlues 606 and 616 and NS 3476 plus mebbe a half-mile of cars.
-The new signals seem to be in service, at least the ones readily visible from South River Road.

[B&M 1227]

I ran into 206 on my way to Albany today.

Coming back I stopped to see the great walls of ties at Johnsnville and Buskirk. In Buskirk they have 5 old D&H hoppers on the siding for tie loading. There was also a MOW crew picking up ties at Jville yesterday, and Hunt Rd/Buskirk today.

EDRJ/MO was in Eagle Bridge with an HLCX leader (7843?) a PAR SD40 and an NS SD40.

[johnpbarlow]

Are the new ties being delivered by truck? I think I saw a flat bed semi filled with new ties heading north yesterday on I-88 between Binghamton and Rotterdam.

[BM6569]

Also, are more NS track gangs heading this way afterall?

[B&M 1227]

All these ties are old splinters. I assume they were never really collected after the last round of tie replacement. The NS work train bound for PAR was just a bunch of bare tables. From what I've heard the NS crews over in Athol will be heading back down to Virginia.

[atholrail]

The NS MOW train with NS 2529 was at Athol today, empty. I think this maybe for the NS rail gang to put their equipment on after they are done with their work. I thought this train came onto the property with an NS tie/surface gang though? Maybe they unloaded the tie/surface equipment somewhere then ran to Athol to pick up the rail gang equipment? Anyone seen any NS equipment out west??

[newpylong]

NS Surfacing gang came into Deerfield in the early AM hours today.

[B&M 1227]

i've noticed a lot of mow equipment around this week. yesterday there were a couple guys working in the signal cabinet in eagle bridge and today there were several crews across ny state. around 130 the hi-rail crane they've been using to fix the bridges at the ny state line went cruising west through north petersburg tailing edmo. there were also a couple pan am hi-rail pickups in buskirk, and a hi-rail bucket truck at hunt rd.

didn't run into anything other than edmo, but i can hear rj-2 finally arriving in north bennington now. i believe the rj-1 crew took rjay out of mechanicville, resulting in the late vtr connection.

[atholrail]

Heard D3 talking with EDRJ this morning about doing something at Soapstone. So it was off to East Portal to see what was going on. EDRJ had NS 3468-3471-512 and around 45 cars. They left the train at Soapstone, proceeded to CPF 415 and backed the 512 off on the # 1, then returned the NS power to the train and tied it down. The crew then hopped on the 512 and went west light power.

[newpylong]

In an example of how messed up things are lately, stopped in the Hoosick/Eagle bridge area since 0930 or prior was:

EDMO on the 2 track Eagle Bridge. AD-2 on 1 track at Hoosick Junction. RJED at MP 450 on the single. MOED, RJ-1 and yesterdays AND today's 22K stopped behind RJED all along the single iron.

[pnolette]

Bad crew shortage? Never heard of that many trains tied down on the main before.

[atholrail]

23K with NS 6722-CN 2452-NS 9841 and 83 T/COFC was to hold at Buckland for oncoming traffic per D3 around 1700...

Although east of Deerfield, 206 has been canned at Millers Falls on the # 1 all afternoon.

[CPF363]

In an example of how messed up things are lately, stopped in the Hoosick/Eagle bridge area since 0930 or prior was:

EDMO on the 2 track Eagle Bridge. AD-2 on 1 track at Hoosick Junction. RJED at MP 450 on the single. MOED, RJ-1 and yesterdays AND today's 22K stopped behind RJED all along the single iron.

Since Norfolk Southern purchased a 50% interest to create Pan Am Southern in 2009, and the Patriot Corridor, what has really been done to keep the track up? True, there was the big track blitz of welded rail train after welded rail train and crews from NS working to get rid of all of the curve-worn wide gauge followed by ST's tie installation crew. They picked most of all of the 10s and crews from either Ayer or Mechanicville could make the entire run in one shift. But, what has been done since 2009? NS has done some spot welded rail here and there over the past few summers but no speakable tie work to follow. They can put in all of the rail they want, but without the good ties to keep it all in gauge followed by proper ballasting, tamping and proper surfacing, there is no way the speeds are going to be maintained. Add to the fact that there was a significant winter this year to compound the problems. Too bad that during 2010, 2011 and 2012, there were no real tie replacement programs that would maintain speeds they achieved in 2009 across the line. Now more catchup work is required. Wonder if Norfolk Southern ever takes the time to compare the operations of the Patriot Corridor with those of the Meridian Speedway operated by the Kansas City Southern Railway?

[B&M 1227]

Pan Am's been stepping up there game, but it's taken a while. They dropped the rail which helped out a lot , but they haven't done a lot of surfacing which has caused a few more 10s to pop up. New switch panels are going in all over D3(when was the last time that happened) as well as significant bridgework. Give it another decade and you'll see a VERY different railroad. They've been slow about it, but they're still getting things done with the limited resources.

[newpylong]

In an example of how messed up things are lately, stopped in the Hoosick/Eagle bridge area since 0930 or prior was:

EDMO on the 2 track Eagle Bridge. AD-2 on 1 track at Hoosick Junction. RJED at MP 450 on the single. MOED, RJ-1 and yesterdays AND today's 22K stopped behind RJED all along the single iron.

Since Norfolk Southern purchased a 50% interest to create Pan Am Southern in 2009, and the Patriot Corridor, what has really been done to keep the track up? True, there was the big track blitz of welded rail train after welded rail train and crews from NS working to get rid of all of the curve-worn wide gauge followed by ST's tie installation crew. They picked most of all of the 10s and crews from either Ayer or Mechanicville could make the entire run in one shift. But, what has been done since 2009? NS has done some spot welded rail here and there over the past few summers but no speakable tie work to follow. They can put in all of the rail they want, but without the good ties to keep it all in gauge followed by proper ballasting, tamping and proper surfacing, there is no way the speeds are going to be maintained. Add to the fact that there was a significant winter this year to compound the problems. Too bad that during 2010, 2011 and 2012, there were no real tie replacement programs that would maintain speeds they achieved in 2009 across the line. Now more catchup work is required. Wonder if Norfolk Southern ever takes the time to compare the operations of the Patriot Corridor with those of the Meridian Speedway operated by the Kansas City Southern Railway?

That have been doing a lot, fixing or rebuilding things that eventually would become a problem. They totally rebuilt the #2 deck of the Hudson River Bridge, and a plethora of other bridges that have been in service long before we have been around. These are usually very big, and costly projects. They have been replacing switches all over as well.

Problem is none of these hide the fact that the 2009 rebuild was half a**. They did enough to get the line up to track speed for a season so the Patriot Corridor could start with a bang and it's been declining since. Unless a serious resurfacing happens it's always going to be bandaiding until the fall, and then all hell breaks loose in spring thaw.

I also wonder what NS thinks of how their investment has panned out. I have a hard time making excuses when there are shortlines with faster mainlines. They are running a lot of tonnage these days compared to years past, an efficient mainline is critical.