HO6 on the Corning Secondary

I did sit at High Street until 7:45 PM on Friday, but H06 did not enter the Corning Secondary while I was there. There were severe storms in the area, so it wouldn't surprise me if NS held the train for safety reasons. I do not know that certain, though.

It normally takes H06 about 3 hours and 35 minutes to get from High Street in the Town of Corning to downtown Geneva. It also takes about an hour for the train to get from the Route 14 crossing to downtown Geneva. The train seems to slow a bit north of Dresden... possibly a speed restriction as it passes the cottages and houses by the lake shore. This information is based on the time stamps of my photos.

I have one more shot at H06 this year and I'll report here after it happens.

Sorry to hear that you came up empty. Hope that you have a better experience the next time.

Poppyl

Thanks! I always appreciate your input. Last Friday was just a case of bad luck- which happens to every railfan on occasion. Hopefully, the flooding in the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes doesn't have much effect on NS.

HO6 went through Dundee a little past 8 PM tonight. Consist looked to be at least 25 cars.

Poppyl

Thanx again, poppyl. An 8 PM arrival in Dundee means the train pulled onto the Corning Secondary circa 6 PM. This is really good news. I should be able to catch most of H06's run in daylight... assuming there is not another weather related problem!

Go get'em, Matt.

Poppyl

Missed it again! I subsequently found out the schedule is now nightly Sun-Thu, with the crew reporting for duty at 5 PM in Gang Mills.

Put this under the FWIW category -- Crestwood has decided to scrap any plans for rail or truck propane or LNG shipments from their proposed Reading Center storage facility -- everything will travel in and out by pipeline. They have also eliminated butane storage as part of the facility's scope. Anti's are still opposed to their proposal.

Poppyl

I've read the same thing about the LPG facility and it's really a crying shame. From what I've been told, US Salt already stores a little bit of propane there now.

NS has had a good safety record in NY and I don't recall FGLK ever having a serious derailment. Furthermore, I don't recall any of the other gas hauling shortlines (BSOR, B&H and O&H) in NY having a major accident. The NIMBYs clearly don't know the facts about rail being a generally safe transportation mode.

The LPG facility could have boosted tonnage on the Corning Secondary, although I suspect the traffic would have been dedicated unit tank trains instead of extra cars on H06.

No point in bringing facts and logic into the matter - they are against anything and everything except rainbows and unicorn farts. As fewer and fewer employers are left in the state, the burden on those remaining increases. Eventually it will all fall apart and maybe they will wish a few smoke-belching job-providing tax-paying revenue-generating industries had been preserved. By then it will be too late.

It is already way too late !!! But never too late to turn around. Twenty years ago when I graduated the state university with an engineering degree, I looked around and applied for jobs, and all I found were 5 engineering jobs open at the time, but 12 employment agencies were all posting for the same 5 jobs. With close to 3 dozen listings, it appeared to a young college grad that Buffalo was a happening city. But all the steel mills had been closed, the Niagara Falls chemical coast was razed, and so many other large employers had lost reason to be in NY. I ended up eventually 2 yrs later finding a job with Columbus-McKinnon in Tonawanda designing large one-of-a-kind crane & steel coil rigging accessories for almost 4 years. When C-M had a nationwide reorganization, my job was cut, and I found myself having to work for United/Allied moving company or 84 Lumber. I held out for 2 years, but eventually decided to accept a lucrative job offer in the deep South, which doubled my salary, paid my relocation, and gave me my own room with a desk. How could I not accept ?

Problem is the South was not immune to the recession 2008-09, and my job got the boot, only 2 months after I bought my first home. I had started a 22 x 26 ft HO scale layout of Conrail 1985-1988 and was handlaying track in conspicuous areas, and scratchbuilding cars for a bit. But I soon realized it was probably a lost cause as well. GE employed me on the Turbine design team for a year in Houston, but otherwise, it's been tough finding decent work here in the South, but not nearly as tough as in Western NY !

Getting back to the subject of H06, it entered the Corning Secondary around sunset on Sunday night.

Meant to post this sooner but last Sunday night, came upon what was probably HO6 around 9:15 or so crossing NY-14 above Himrod. I say probably because they cleared the crossing before we got to it, and in the dark all I could see was a fairly short train where one unit had some LED step lights installed. Not even sure if it had one or two engines, but no more than 25 cars.

Didn't hear a thing when he passed Dundee, the stock cars were too loud.

I didn't see that run, but H06 did have two engines pulling just 12-15 cars northbound when I chased the train on June 30th. The 1% grade both northbound and southbound on the Corning Secondary may dictate the need for two locos, even with shorter trains. That was a Thursday trip. By contrast, H06 on Sunday June 5th had 50+ cars.

lvrr325 wrote: Didn't hear a thing when he passed Dundee, the stock cars were too loud.

Damn, they run late there! Didn't realize any tracks were still running.