Ben's Bridge

The only other spot that I know of is the road south of Bens Bridge that goes over the exiting tracks. So, there are no trespassing signs there too? That was a decent alternative spot

Well I'm sure CSX is happy to see the railfans go but it would be nice if they or a nearby town set up a railfan area.
Anyhow, I have the same question. Selkirk became a great place for me to go after experiencing high volume freight locations in the Midwest. Where else is around where one can sit and enjoy a high volume of freight trains? I'm not into commuter trains, and I like rolling stock so spots where I can get the sides of the train are needed.

Plate C wrote:Well I'm sure CSX is happy to see the railfans go but it would be nice if they or a nearby town set up a railfan area.
Anyhow, I have the same question. Selkirk became a great place for me to go after experiencing high volume freight locations in the Midwest. Where else is around where one can sit and enjoy a high volume of freight trains? I'm not into commuter trains, and I like rolling stock so spots where I can get the sides of the train are needed.

I would recommend Amsterdam, just to the west along the CSX main-line. There's a place a bit west of there called "Guy Park" that
was a nice place to sit nearby with parking available. The Amtrak "station" is also nearby. Check it out on Google Maps. Not a bad place!

Charlie

charlie6017 wrote:

Plate C wrote:Well I'm sure CSX is happy to see the railfans go but it would be nice if they or a nearby town set up a railfan area.
Anyhow, I have the same question. Selkirk became a great place for me to go after experiencing high volume freight locations in the Midwest. Where else is around where one can sit and enjoy a high volume of freight trains? I'm not into commuter trains, and I like rolling stock so spots where I can get the sides of the train are needed.

I would recommend Amsterdam, just to the west along the CSX main-line. There's a place a bit west of there called "Guy Park" that
was a nice place to sit nearby with parking available. The Amtrak "station" is also nearby. Check it out on Google Maps. Not a bad place!

Charlie

I totally agree and in my working days train watchers and photographers were often aeen around this area and both spots were reasonably safe as well.
Noel Weaver

Thank you gentlemen, very helpful. I'll look into it more. What's the traffic like there. Freight an hour? More? Less? Also, looked on Google maps, looks like I might be shooting into the sun there? Or are there camera friendly shots to be had? Thanks again!

Plate C wrote:There's a place a bit west of there called "Guy Park" that was a nice place to sit nearby with parking available. The Amtrak "station" is also nearby. Check it out on Google Maps. Not a bad place!

That area around Guy Park has been closed since Irene/Lee due to reconstruction work. The Amtrak station (the building only reopened within the last year I'd say) is still the best choice.

There is a senior citizen lady "custodian" that shows up occasionally at Amsterdam.
I have only seen her once, but she loves to talk railfanning with the fans there.
I am not sure if the station is open 24/7 or not, but it has always been open
during the daylight hours I have been there. Rest room available.

Dick H wrote:There is a senior citizen lady "custodian" that shows up occasionally at Amsterdam.
I have only seen her once, but she loves to talk railfanning with the fans there.
I am not sure if the station is open 24/7 or not, but it has always been open
during the daylight hours I have been there. Rest room available.

I don't know just what the set up at Amsterdam is today but in the past it would be open for the first EB passenger train in the AM and remain open until the last train in the PM. They have a carw taker there

Noel Weaver

Demolition is well underway, working from northeast side to southwest side: sad to see a great railfanning spot disappearing.

Visited this past Saturday: the ramps on either end have been retained and are graded & covered with hay. It loks like a fine view. There is stillmplenty of panel track/turnouts to be installed sitting behind the region building, so it looks like there's still building to take place.

It's gone -- EVERYTHING! Despite the nice grading that had been done on both sides, it's all gone: ramps, grade, everything gone.

Selkirk yard is now officially an awful railfan site.

What a shame.

I work directly under where the bridge stood and can tell you it was long overdue for removal. It was basically just rust. If you could see it from underneath I don't think you would ever stood on it.

Mtl1104 wrote:I work directly under where the bridge stood and can tell you it was long overdue for removal. It was basically just rust. If you could see it from underneath I don't think you would ever stood on it.

y

While I agree that the bridge was in bad shape, (in this state it has to be really over its life span to come down), do you have any locations you can suggest for us railfans. I assume the parking lot of the division office are out and the nice picnic area on the north side of the yard by the car dept / local yard is no good. As docsteve stated it's to bad the bridge is down. I would enjoy driving up there several times a year to spend time and see great train action...

While I agree that the bridge was in bad shape, (in this state it has to be really over its life span to come down), do you have any locations you can suggest for us railfans. I assume the parking lot of the division office are out and the nice picnic area on the north side of the yard by the car dept / local yard is no good. As docsteve stated it's to bad the bridge is down. I would enjoy driving up there several times a year to spend time and see great train action...[/quote]

You could probably get away with the division office at night and go unnoticed but if you are you risk a trespassing charge. You're right about the picnic area. It's pretty much reserved for company events and someone being there will get noticed. Avoid the area around the new car lot as its heavily patrolled. The only thing I can think of is the bridges over the top end (by the Stewart's gas station) or the bottom end which is by the picnic area you mentioned.

If I get a chance I'll drive around the yard and see if there's anything else that I haven't thought of.

State Route 32 is at the northwest end of the yard (Top End, Stewarts, CP-FB to the northwest).

The pull-down side (Material Yard, Hump and South Departure to the northwest) is State Route 396.

Neither of this is very congenial: there is a lot of traffic over the NY-32 bridge, nowhere safe to stand, and nowhere to sit in a parked car. NY-396 has a bit of parking along the side of the road but again nowhere safe to stand, and the traffic -- while less than at 32, is farily steady.

The last option (bridge-wise) is US-9W directly over CP-SK. The bridge is four lanes, while 9W to the north and south is only two lanes, and has wide shoulders, so the situation is well mitigated. Of course, you are directly over the trains, so if you are into looking at the roofs of box cars this is your spot.

With the ramps to Ben's Bridge gone there are no places where one can really look into the yard from the sides. There is still the option of parking along the side of the road by the region building where Ben's Bridge used to be: the hump is visable from there, but that is about it.

NOT HAPPY!