CSX River Line Status Updates

Monitored scanner chatter on the CSX River Sub between CP22 and Automatic 38 from 11PM Tuesday through 10:30AM Wednesday

First up was a Northbound Q438.
A Southbound Q196 was told to hold at CP33 at Haverstraw to await a NB Q109.

Once the 109 cleared Haverstraw, the Q196 was told to head 'straight to one' and talk to Shared Assets'..

Northbound Q159 was heard next, followed by a SB Q112 and a SB Q156.
A Northbound Q157 was calling signals with UP 4490 on the point.

A Southbound Q268 held at Haverstraw until the 157 cleared.

The Q268 was cleared down to CP-FIVE. He would then go to Yard 1 and talk to the Yardmaster.

Northbound Q271 was heard next. By now it was approaching 6AM. Foreman Dolan was preparing to set up his stop boards at MP31-32 near Short Clove Rd, so the Q271 was cleared through at normal speed.

From this point onward, all trains were contacting Foreman Dolan for permission past his stop boards....The Q165 was heard next, rolling Northbound with CSX 4755 on the point.

A Southbound Q164 rolled through next, with Engine 675 on the point.

A Southbound Q108, with Engine 4519 in the lead, got permission through Dolan's worksite at 6:59AM.

Northbound Q111 rolled past Automatic 31 at 7:31AM with Engine 7522 in charge.

NJ was heard reporting to Dolan that a Southbound Q703 was stopped at Newburgh to be inspected after it reportedly broke rail in three separate locations North of Newburgh.
NJ also reported that the Q110 was extremely late out of Selkirk this morning.

A Northbound Q169 rolled through Foreman Dolan's worksite at 8:29AM with CSX 5454 on the point.

A Northbound Q410 rolled through shortly aterwards with Engine 5296 in charge...and last up on the listening session was a Southbound Q110 which got permission through the worksite at 09:58AM.

Since we have a couple of Riverline topics and since we have a B&A mainline activity topic, we will start a Riverline mainline topic

post activity, train symbol questions, scanner chat, etc...

1/10/09. 0900 hrs.
Caught snow covered Q108 in Ridgefield Park, NJ. The train picked up the WS-1 crew near the NYSW engine facility and proceeded south on NYSW rails. After dropping the train in the yard, the engines ran light back onto CSX rails at CP-3. On a side note, there were (2) bald eagles perched atop utility poles on the banks of Overpeck Creek near the northbound CSX CP-5 signal gantry.

I know this post hasn't been active in over a year so I figured I'd throw something out there to try to start it back up... Was out railfanning the River line today 2/15 near Newburgh, N.Y. Caught a southbound Q-417 with a surprising trio lead by CSX 6241 (GP40-2), CSX 8662 (SD50-3), & CSX 2811 (GP38-2). First time I've been railfanning the River line in over three years that I got an all standard cab EMD trio! Was a nice change from the usual parade of wide cab GE's. Hopefully if anyone has any other interesting info regarding the river line feel free to post.

AMK0123 wrote:I know this post hasn't been active in over a year so I figured I'd throw something out there to try to start it back up... Was out railfanning the River line today 2/15 near Newburgh, N.Y. Caught a southbound Q-417 with a surprising trio lead by CSX 6241 (GP40-2), CSX 8662 (SD50-3), & CSX 2811 (GP38-2). First time I've been railfanning the River line in over three years that I got an all standard cab EMD trio! Was a nice change from the usual parade of wide cab GE's. Hopefully if anyone has any other interesting info regarding the river line feel free to post.

Q-417/418 is one of the best trains to catch unusual consists in motive power. It tends to also get a lot of CP or CN engines, as well as Oak Point SD40-2s (8800s)

Also, keep your eyes on northbound Q-438, for which MNR M-8s are brought up to NH from the Port Of Baltimore (picked up from Bayview Yard in Baltimore) on this train, and it is usually tied on at the end of the train. There are still 2 pairs yet to arrive here, so keep your eyes open on Q-438 in the coming weeks.

Had alittle bit of time today so I head out to Newburgh, NY around 1300 hours. Observed S/B Q-409 with CSX 5433 and CSX 226. Q-409 held on the siding at CP52 for S-438 with CSX 4787, CSX 5238 and CSX 4601 to head north. Was a nice surprise to see 4601 (SD80AC). During that time C-712 (CSX 2731) was picking up a tank car and two gondolas out of the New York Central yard which it bought out to CP55 and then ran down to CP52 to the main and back up to get in front of the three cars for it journey north, back to Kingston. After that I went up to Esopus and caught a southbound Q-417 with CSX 5344 and CSX 4544 at CP80. All in all, not bad for an early afternoon on the River Line.

AMK0123 wrote:Had alittle bit of time today so I head out to Newburgh, NY around 1300 hours. Observed S/B Q-409 with CSX 5433 and CSX 226. Q-409 held on the siding at CP52 for S-438 with CSX 4787, CSX 5238 and CSX 4601 to head north. Was a nice surprise to see 4601 (SD80AC). During that time C-712 (CSX 2731) was picking up a tank car and two gondolas out of the New York Central yard which it bought out to CP55 and then ran down to CP52 to the main and back up to get in front of the three cars for it journey north, back to Kingston. After that I went up to Esopus and caught a southbound Q-417 with CSX 5344 and CSX 4544 at CP80. All in all, not bad for an early afternoon on the River Line.

Yeah, the River Line can have some amazing bursts of traffic. Whenever I work the Hudson Line right across the river from the River Line, often when done a fare sweep, I stand in the vestibule making my observations of the River Line. But sometimes, the River Line can have some real long dead periods too, especially on Sundays.

Sundays, and Mondays too are usually pretty dead on the River Line. I listen to the radio from Teaneck (MP 9.0) using a roof mounted vertical antenna, so I pick up a pretty good range. There is a lot of regularly scheduled trackwork and other ROW maintenance on Mondays.

I'm curious as to where you are observing activity from. Are there good areas on public property in the Newburgh area?
I've never been there, but have been just below at CP52. There is a park at Cornwall on the Hudson. You need a permit to park there, but can get free parking up the (steep) hill in town of you've willing to walk the nearly 1 mile down.
Knowing how strict CSX is about trespassing, I don't go onto RR property.

And while talking about interesting power; I saw two CP locos on the River Line near Newburgh while riding up the MNCR line to Poughkeepsie. Funny thing that I saw another two CP locos in the yard at Croton on my return trip.
I have also seen interesting power on the River Line in Teaneck while running on the bike path at Votee Park. But as was said, it's mostly the same old same old CSX GE power.

Has anyone seen an "engines special" recently? Conrail used to call them ENS, and they usually ran north to Selkirk on Sundays. There was always some interesting power in those.

CPSK

CPSK, there are a bunch of places that I go to. First you can try Washington street in Newburgh. There's a parking lot there and a grassy area to pull off about 15 feet from the tracks. Or you can go just north of there on the other side of the old Newburgh train station. That parking lot is a little better for picking up the Roseton detector near mile post 60. You can also go south to the park near Cornwall at CP52. There is several parking spots right near the grade crossing. As you go north you can go up to the old Milton train station near mile post 68 between were the river line is double tracked from CP66 to CP69. There is a bell that still goes off at the old grade crossing there that gives you a heads up on when the trains are coming through. Lastly I'd head up near Mariner's restaurant near automatic 78, just below the new Walkway over the Hudson. From there you can catch the action from both sides of the river including Metro North into Poughkeepsie, CSX switching the CNE yard during the weekdays and Amtrak going north of Poughkeepsie and calling the NC dispatcher when entering CSX rails. I would just drive around and try to follow the rails and see were you end up. Remember just to use your head and don't trespass!

I once saw an old sw1001 in a consist on the river line. CSX 1128. Saw it in harrington park, NJ. Someone said it's not the first time 1128 has traversed the river line. Headed to be yard power somewhere I heard.

Come to think of it, #1128 must be there do-all little switch engine, because it sure seems to get around.

At least 3 videos of it seen on river line.

Caught the Q-702 waiting on the siding at the north end of Fort Montgomery around 0810 this morning. To my surprise instead of the usual SD40-2 or GE wide cab units it was lead by a lone CW60AC unit 616

Crane car spotted in Kingston near CP90. Any one know where it's from, where it's going?

Crane might have been just one part of numerous MoW equipment that has been working on the River line as of late. Had a chance to get over to Newburgh yesterday and caught the Q-271 northbound around 1100 hrs. After that around 20-30 pieces of track equipment took off north out of the Newburgh industrial track and about 10 pieces of equipment went south out of the New York Central yard. Seems they have been working throught the River sub division for the past week or two and most trains have have not been running during the day. I left there due to the NI desk advising that MoW would have the rails through 2000 hours and I came back to Newburgh around 1930. Just in time to see several trains going through. To list, southbound, Q-433, Q-162 and L-156. The highlight of the evening was the first northbound, Q-434 which came around 2145 hours and was worth the wait! Train was lead by CSX 7390 (CW40-8), 8550 (SD50), 7501 (C40-8), 7621 (C40-8), 8128 (SD40-2), 6129 (GP40-2) and 4425 (GP38-2S). As per the Roseton detector the train had a 642 axle count!