What's new on the Batten Kill?

I assume things are picking up on the Batten Kill Railroad with spring and summer increases in traffic.... is it possible to photograph their operations on a weekend, or are they strictly weekday? Also, are the passenger excursions running this year?

-otto-

Try this Otto...

http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/BKRR

Eh... couldnt someone just *tell* me? :)

I don't want to join *another* Yahoo group!

-otto-

Otto,
Spent last Tue. & Wed. on the BK shooting a little video. They run on an as needed basis and I was just lucky to catch them on a run. Try the Batten Kill forum, they were very helpful before I planned my trip. Just enter the RR name in your search engine to bring up their forum.
Don't believe they are running passenger excursions at the present time...Jerry. :D

I figured the BKRR was an as-needed operation (figured I would just call the office and see if they were running or not)... was hoping to get lucky and catch them during the grain rush. Too bad about the excursions, does anyone know what happened to the equipment? I assume it was leased...

-otto-

The (some) passenger equipment is at the station in Salem, a mile or so North of Greenwich Junction. If I was to guess when the best time to catch them, I would say on a Tue. or Wed. D&H delivers to Eagle Bridge Jct. on Tue and I think Sat. The section from Greenwich Jct to Eagle Bridge is the most active, with the route from Greenwich Jct to Tompson used only as needed. (Read, not often). Easy chase, nice people and good photo locations - bridges, stations, etc. They were using #605, painted in the attractive Batten Kill scheme when I visted them....Jerry.

Otto,heres some pictures for you of the Battenkill railroad.http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail:1:battenkillAlso,does the railroad have it`s own website?

Nice pictures! I dont think the BK has its own site...

-otto-

Are BK employees full or part time people,since they run on an as needed basis?

What are the eastern and western ends of the Batten Kill, and who do they interchange with? I'm guessing either CP Rail or Guilford, but I'm not sure.

The Batten Kill connects with D&H/CP Rail at Eagle Bridge, NY.

The Batten Kill was originally the Greenwich & Johnsonville RR, a subsidiary of D&H.

-otto-

The August issue of Railpace has a pic of a 17-car train at the end of track near Thomson. This part of the railroad hasn't seen a train since 1984! The train was assembled to show the EPA that the track is in service. The EPA might load some sludge from the Hudson River into railcars at Thomson.

Chris

To be more exact, the CPRS/D&H has trackage rights over Guilford from Mechanicville to Eagle Bridge in order to interchange with the BKRR.

There is a local out of Saratoga Springs, SC-11, that usually runs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (reporting at around 7PM) that runs from Saratoga to Eagle Bridge and back with a stop at Mohawk Yard.

Guilford does not currently interchange cars with the BKRR since most of the traffic runs to and from the west of Eagle Bridge so it doesn't make sense to handle a car from Eagle Bridge to Mohawk Yard and then hand it over to the CPRS.