Strates Circus Train Status in New York

JES at Binghamton 1445. Still there at this time. (Waiting for crew?)

JES by Johnson at 1600. Prepare.

I find it...amusing?...annoying?...that the guy who will be operating the engine that is spotting the cars in Hamburg gets on here and tells us when he is expecting the train. You can't get a more credible report than that. Yet a couple posts later some uninformed yahoo gives us his estimate based on worthless suppositions and is wildly off in his guess.
Please, people. If you don't know a factual answer, please don't post!! This is how mis-information is perpetuated on the internet.

The train is now in Buffalo and is currently parked at Bison yard, right underneath Harlem Rd. bridge.

As I went thru the Village of Hamburg this PM the train was being unloaded and rides etc. being escorted to the Fairgrounds by the EC Sheriffs

Well it seems the Strates Train is already in New Jersey? Can that be the case? After our EF-1 Tornado, I'm still in catch up mode.

Strates GPS locator has been "stuck" in New Jersey since they took equipment to Meadowlands in June. The train is being loaded in Middletown today [Monday]. Most likely it will be on the move Tuesday or Wednesday headed to Hamburg with unloading Thursday or Friday.

The GPS unit was taken off the train while the show moved over the road in eastern NY and to Meadowlands in New Jersey. It is supposed to be back on the train shortly.

Right now the GPS shows it is in McClure, NY just west of Deposit, so who knows what is really going on.

SecaucusJunction wrote:Right now the GPS shows it is in McClure, NY just west of Deposit, so who knows what is really going on.

Maybe NS handed it off to NYSW at Sparrow (as it said would happen sometime today in the other thread) already very early this morning, like 3:00 AM, and now they are already west of Deposit with NYSW. Usually all these things go much slower than I would think - perhaps it went faster for once. JS

From NYSW/CNY - I just learned we have an 8pm crew tonight (Tuesday) to taxi to Port Jervis, NY to retrieve the James Strates Carnival train (7 coaches & 46 loaded flats). This will have NS power (supposedly) The crew will arrive in Port Jervis @ 10:30pm and expectedly sit there until 11:30pm tonight before going west (reason being is SU-100 and NYSW doesn't want to delay the road freight) This train will take 5 hours to reach Binghamton so if NS re-crews it right away, it can't be running in darkness west of Owego...

Last night GPS was in Elmira but this morning at 11AM it was in Middletown so I think it was on route back to the train. They set up trucked in equipment in Elmira yesterday. The map showed it at a parking lot at the Middletown fairgrounds so it was probably in a truck or car. Hopefully they'll get it on the train before it leaves tonight. Sounds like a late evening departure.

pumpers wrote: Maybe NS handed it off to NYSW at Sparrow (as it said would happen sometime today in the other thread) already very early this morning, like 3:00 AM, and now they are already west of Deposit with NYSW. Usually all these things go much slower than I would think - perhaps it went faster for once. JS

Knew that was being too optimistic! JS

Ugh. A good night's sleep and here's your update: It's official. (Yeah, I know. I've written that before. But, hey it is from a professional official.) Last night was annulled.

Crew is called Binghamton at 1500. Taxi to PJ to pick up the rascal. Dusk through the Delaware and probably into Binghamton at 2230. What a nice evening for quiet railfan experience. Good Luck.

In the still of the night it wound its way west into the welcoming arms of the South Buffalo this morning. Maybe next year; and our CSX brethren can snag it on the very busy mainline.

Last time I checked the Strates GPS page it was just a bit North of Lake Ave. in Blasdell.

http://www.strates.com/james-e-strates- ... -page.html

Hopefully by the time I get out of work this afternoon I can head down to Hamburg to catch some of the unloading.