HO6 on the Corning Secondary

Matt Langworthy wrote: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.

Good reason for two locos. Additional reasons --even though northbound consist may be a little slim, have to also consider what's coming back southbound in setting the power. Two units gives some backup if a unit goes down along the way and it keeps the cab forward in both directions which probably shortens the turnaround time in Geneva.

Time northbound through Dundee has varied from 8PM to 10:30PM over the last month or so.

I believe that Sunday's racing at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee was it for the season. Racing began at 1PM and concluded a little after 11PM.

Poppyl

Five Mile Point actually postponed a show to the 29th that had been scheduled for the 23rd, as Outlaw had to delay to Sunday because of the weather - but they also have races scheduled for the next weekend, too.

Is it intentional NS sends that train up at night past all the camps and stuff on the water at the north end of the lake? Or is it just to avoid needing to work around Finger Lakes running down to Himrod and back.

Re race tracks - The track we used to run at closes the end of September, and years ago when I ran at Spencer a few times they were done at Labor Day.

Re railroad tracks - As for NS schedule, I don't know the answer but it COULD be they run at night because FGLK handles their customers days and then assembles the outbounds. NS in daytime would not only encounter possible delay by FGLK crews and/or NS trackwork, but it would in some cases add a day to the transit time of cars which were pulled by FGLK but missed the connection. As it is now, FGLK can pull cars from a customer in later afternoon, and when the sun comes up they are already in Gang Mills.

The crew for H06 reported around 5:15 PM on Thursday 6/22 but the train didn't enter the Corning Secondary until sunset. They were delayed because NS had 36T, 37T and 309 in the Gang Mills yard simultaneously. Train length for H06 was roughly 25 cars.

BR&P wrote:Re railroad tracks - As for NS schedule, I don't know the answer but it COULD be they run at night because FGLK handles their customers days and then assembles the outbounds. NS in daytime would not only encounter possible delay by FGLK crews and/or NS trackwork, but it would in some cases add a day to the transit time of cars which were pulled by FGLK but missed the connection. As it is now, FGLK can pull cars from a customer in later afternoon, and when the sun comes up they are already in Gang Mills.

All of your points are valid. The current schedule for H06 is especially important for steel traffic, which FGLK picks up at Nucor in Auburn and is then delivered by NS to Vulcraft in Chemung. Reliable delivery is part of the reason this business no longer moves by truck (even though the highway mileage is shorter).

Furthermore, running H06 at night ensures that it can receive traffic from 36T, which usually gets to Gang Mills during the afternoon. H06 also shares power with local H85, which has alot of work: Gang Mills yard power, B&H interchange, WCOR interchange and even the occasional run to Elmira. Although I'd love to see H06 running northbound on the west side of Seneca Lake in the early afternoon, it's not gonna happen.

A pair of NS engines were facing south today in Geneva tied to a pretty decent train (maybe 30+ cars?) stretched up through FGLK yard. I passed through there between 11:00[am]-12:00. I had stops in Ithaca and then Branchport but didn’t catch any action passing the line again later in the Watkins Glen area. My gut told me this train was ready to head south in daylight, which I spotted once before a year or two ago. Anyone got any details?