I suppose this is a good a place as any, though I'll also be posting something similar in the appropriate forum later, but:
Last night, whilst waiting for a very late westbound LSL (it was about 1.5 hours late), I sat in the van with my wife, who had driven me there. At one point, she looked past me, out the window, and asked "Wait.. isn't that your train right there?"
I looked over and saw a string of passenger cars, but they weren't Amfleets. Everything was all wrong - the color, the shape, etc.
I said "..the hell?" and hopped out of the van to have a better look. Attached to a westbound freight train were 4 or 5 cars from the Metro North, with a round, blue Connecticut logo on them. I didn't have time to jot down car numbers and such, though I did take note of the names: the three that were closest to me were the "Govener El Grasso" (I think), the "Noah Webster", and the "Bethel". The were stainless with a thick red stripe running down their length. (Again, it was dark at this end of the platform, so I could have many of these details wrong.) They were all dark and were obviously being pulled somewhere, but it instantly struck me - Where? What the heck were 5 Metro cars doing in Buffalo-Depew, so far from home?
I tried to get some quick pictures of them, but they were out on the third track, and I wasn't about to cross the ROW to get closer, especially in an area with so much freight traffic. After a few minutes, I began hearing the tell-tale banging from down the line as they started to roll and took up the slack in the consist, and off they went into the night.
I returned to my vehicle to find my wife, looking relieved.
"I saw the train start to move and I got worried!" she said.
"Why?"
"Well.. I could just picture you, climbing aboard to get a better look and not able to get off." She knows of my goofy other hobby, Urban Exploration.
"Hun, I'm certainly not going to cross a right of way, and especially never to board a train I don't belong on! That's nuts."
She nodded quietly and then said "Right.. that's why I was worried."
And then I gave her a soft punch on the arm.
Anyway - I'm sure somebody here knows what's up with this? They seemed completely intact, were rolling on their own wheels, not in need of any cosmetic repair that I could see... so.. where were they going, and why?
Thanks,
Gare_NY
'In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer'