Finger Lakes Railway (FGLK) Discussion

lvrr325 wrote:I don't know, a crew made it in and out of the Army Depot around 1994? (not long before Finger Lakes) with a CSX SD60-C408W set, at least per the WAGY-12 crew in the morning who were supposed to have brought the train in with their 4-axle unit. They were amazed the crew on what was a military train made it in and out without derailing.

Twenty years have passed since that trip. How much maintenance has FGLK done on the tracks? I'm not sure they'd risk heavy six axle power on the rails now.


P.S. The units were CSX, but the crew was Conrail's IIRC.

Matt Langworthy wrote: Twenty years have passed since that trip. How much maintenance has FGLK done on the tracks? I'm not sure they'd risk heavy six axle power on the rails now.


P.S. The units were CSX, but the crew was Conrail's IIRC.

I'll just repeat myself, I guess.

Not that that track's seen much maintenance in that time, but it doesn't see much traffic either, so... and Finger Lakes completely redid the connection to the lead. If you could get to Route 5 without rolling or spreading any rails, you might be okay

.


Given that in 1994 the closest CSX got to Geneva was what was left of their Canada ops west of Niagara Falls, yeah, I didn't think I had to explain it was run-through power.

lvrr325 wrote:Given that in 1994 the closest CSX got to Geneva was what was left of their Canada ops west of Niagara Falls, yeah, I didn't think I had to explain it was run-through power.

Oi! I was referring to BR&P's statement, not yours:

BR&P wrote:The CSX crew would have only gone to the yard in the above pic, outside the gate. I was referring to the track inside the base itself. Not all of it was bad but some places were not for the faint of heart.

lvrr325 wrote: I'll just repeat myself, I guess.

Not that that track's seen much maintenance in that time, but it doesn't see much traffic either, so... and Finger Lakes completely redid the connection to the lead. If you could get to Route 5 without rolling or spreading any rails, you might be okay

.

My question was rhetorical. You stated that it would be possible for heavy six axle units to get down the line to the former base, and I responded with my doubt on the subject owing to poor track conditions. Do you understand what I'm saying now?

Leaving aside the technicality that it would have been a CR crew rather than CSX (I did not stop to consider the CR split date)the point made is valid.

The connection right at GY has very sharp curvature. I don't know whether that was changed in CR time or by FGLK but I think FGLK did it. So today that would probably not be a good place to take 6-axle power. The track was - the last I knew - not good to Rt 5 as LVRR325 says. Once beyond that approximate location, the condition is better. I can't recall if the existing track - which used to lead down into the yard - is 136 lb rail or not, but at VJ it crosses over to the old Eastbound and from there down to Kendaia it's the same rail the C628's used to tread. As for tie condition, it depends on what time frame you want to say. In recent years FGLK did install a decent number of ties on that line.

So since this talk of where 6-axle power could be used started with discussion of the mythical new GEVO units (yes, a joke) between Rt 5 and the outside yard at the base, 6-axle power would not be a problem. Inside the gate is much lighter rail, much worse timber conditions, and some sharp curves in places. There were many places where even 4-axle power had to tip-toe, especially in some of the countless little spurs and sidings which were in bad shape, especially the turnout timbers.

It's too bad the diesel shop could not somehow be picked up and transported somewhere else, it was a nice little facility which would be handy in the right location. Or maybe some day traffic will pick up enough FGLK will assign a unit down there, who knows?

What was the base power in the later yeas? I know there was a Baldwin there until 1993, #1842 which is now at the RGV Museum. There was talk of a train coming out with a pair of red engines in one of the last moves off the base in the 90's though, I am assuming those would be Geeps?

CPSD40-2 wrote:What was the base power in the later yeas? I know there was a Baldwin there until 1993, #1842 which is now at the RGV Museum. There was talk of a train coming out with a pair of red engines in one of the last moves off the base in the 90's though, I am assuming those would be Geeps?

Not to nit pick, but that would be #1843 and it's a Fairbanks Morse....follow the link:

http://www.rgvrrm.org/about/railroad/usa1843/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I know of at least one red geep that went down to the base, but upon closing they were pulled and two small GE centercabs were brought in, on flat cars IIRC.

There were 2 U.S. Army GE Center cabs that went into the Base in the Fall of 1995 on DODX Flat cars I had photos of them in Geneva on the Flat Cars. The Flats hung around for about 6 months before they left empty.

Scharnhorst, I just joined this forum and immediately noticed your handle, did you get it from the WWII German battleship of the same name? the 31,000 ton Scharnhorst was armed with nine 11 inch guns and was sunk by the British at the Battle of North Cape in 1943, her sister ship was the Gneisenau.

Interested in the NY State Forum, grew up in Brighton, NY near Auburn branch, remember passenger service, each morning between 9 and 10 an RS3 pulling 3 cars including a sleeper would come westbound. The Pullman came off either the Iroquois or the Tuscarora in Syracuse and then traveled the Auburn branch to Rochester supposedly to let passengers arrive at a more civilized hour.

I see on the news Penn Yan got 3-5 inches of rain last night and there's a lot of damage, washouts, a building partial collapse, etc. Anyone heard if Finger Lakes suffered damage over there?

Everything between Himrod and Watkins Glen is ok -- HW ran its normal schedule today. For obvious reasons, I haven't ventured towards PY but the ROW is significantly further up Elm Street from the flooded area. The NYC corkscrew line from Dresden to PY might have been severely damaged if it were in existence today.

Poppyl

Time for my somewhat annual Penn Yan FGLK report. I was in the area on Monday, after having dropped by daughter at Camp Cory for a week.

Here is a pic in the "yard" Of note is that the cars are lettered for the Lakeview Grain Corporation. Also interesting is that they have a box car, in addition to the regular covered hoppers.
The series of buildings that were once identified as Yates Blodgett have now been signed as belonging or affiliated to the Birkett Mills.
I then drove to check out the Birkett Mills transload building near North Street. There was evidence of work at the crossing, as well as another box car spotted on the siding.

Continued....

Here is a picture of the boxcar spotted at the Birkett Transload Building.
I then drove north to check out the ROW towards Bellona. As many probably remember, the FGLK cleared this ROW at the behest of many locals and stored Centerbeam railcars on the line to make some storage $$$$. Those cars were moved out a few years ago I believe. ROW is still somewhat clear.

ROW looking south towards Penn Yan from Havens Corners Rd.
Looking North towards Bellona from the same location.
So to summarize, it would seem there are at least two current customers in Penn Yan. Birkett Mills and the Lakeview Grain Corp. Also, there had been a plastics manufacturer, Silgan, receiving inbound cars of plastic pellets. Not sure if they are still a customer or if they are still even in business. Hope you enjoyed the report.

BR&P wrote:Leaving aside the technicality that it would have been a CR crew rather than CSX (I did not stop to consider the CR split date)the point made is valid.

The connection right at GY has very sharp curvature. I don't know whether that was changed in CR time or by FGLK but I think FGLK did it. So today that would probably not be a good place to take 6-axle power. The track was - the last I knew - not good to Rt 5 as LVRR325 says. Once beyond that approximate location, the condition is better. I can't recall if the existing track - which used to lead down into the yard - is 136 lb rail or not, but at VJ it crosses over to the old Eastbound and from there down to Kendaia it's the same rail the C628's used to tread. As for tie condition, it depends on what time frame you want to say. In recent years FGLK did install a decent number of ties on that line.

So since this talk of where 6-axle power could be used started with discussion of the mythical new GEVO units (yes, a joke) between Rt 5 and the outside yard at the base, 6-axle power would not be a problem. Inside the gate is much lighter rail, much worse timber conditions, and some sharp curves in places. There were many places where even 4-axle power had to tip-toe, especially in some of the countless little spurs and sidings which were in bad shape, especially the turnout timbers.

It's too bad the diesel shop could not somehow be picked up and transported somewhere else, it was a nice little facility which would be handy in the right location. Or maybe some day traffic will pick up enough FGLK will assign a unit down there, who knows?

In 1994 when this happened the connection to the Kendaia Industrial Track was via the former LV lead right down into the south side of the yard, which today is a disconnected storage track, for whatever reason Finger Lakes built a new connection off the main track that S-curves back through the former mainline embankment to join this track maybe halfway between the yard and the Rt. 5 overpass.

This track was crap, probably barely maintained for 30 years or more before that, just a slow-speed connection for some LV interchange and access to their freight house or whatever other business they had down there. Unless it was beefed up and used for Agnes detours it may never have seen a six-axle diesel. The LV only used switchers and RS2/3's on the locals that ran down in here. Conrail locals also only used 4-axle units, first Alcos and first gen EMDs, later B23-7's and GP38s.

So when I swung in to see what the GY-12 crew was up to and saw the CSX power sitting there, the guy I talked to told me the MIL crew apparently didn't know they were only supposed to yard the train in Geneva, that they came in during the night and ran around and took it down to the base. He was surprised they hadn't put it all on the ground running the SD50/60 and other unit down that crappy track and onto the old LV main - which while also seeing minimal maintenance the previous 25 odd years wasn't nearly as bad. He had expected they would be bringing the train in with their power. I think he might have been upset at them losing the work, too.

At the time there still existed a passing siding between Kendaia and Ordinance, but I believe it was out of service and trains had to be brought in either in short sections or they had to be yarded at the Depot to get the locomotives back out around the train. Conrail pulled that up just before selling the cluster to use the rail elsewhere. Caught a hirail crew, probably the last move on that siding, who told me about it.

It stuck with me because I was never able to catch a moving Conrail train on that line. Had the crew done what they were supposed to, I'd have got one that day.

Things were so informal down here back then that when a Conrail cop came by during one of my visits on a report of a car parked on the tracks, he cracked a joke about me being a trainee - that flew right over my head at the time. I'd put the camera back in the car for some reason. In a lot of ways it was almost like a step back in time back to what things must have been like 10, 20, 30 years before.

I went by the fglk Monday july 7th the big sds were parked out back of the shop as was 1989 which use to be parked over on the dead line.