Saratoga & North Creek (S&NC) Discussion

[lvrr325]

Usually a single car system has enough redundancy to power one or two additional cars; the dome must have capacity enough for a unit large enough for their entire consist, or more than one smaller unit.

[Old Muley]

The Saratoga bound consist was 4 cars, 2 domes and 2 ex-LIRR bi-levels. Not sure about the where the domes started their life, I do believe they spent some time in Alaska.
I did notice HEP jumpers between all 4 cars, but no jumpers between locomotive and head car.

[tree68]

A Diesel HEP under car genset will handle at least a half dozen cars, unless there is an unusually heavy load for some reason. The Adirondack Scenic routinely powers 7 car fall colors trains on one genset.

[griffs20soccer]

I've attached links to two pictures of the F40s moving freight. A point of interest is the box car is a load for Barton's. Enjoy hopefully the links work.

A heads up to S&NC fans. There is an article in the coming September issue of Rail Pace on the movement of freight from Tahawus.

Don

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 4&nseq=117" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 87&nseq=89" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[newpylong]

Doesn't Barton ship loads out not in?

[griffs20soccer]

Yes Barton's ships out. That was poor phrasing on my part. I just wanted to point out that Barton's was using S&NC again.
Don

[SlackControl]

They could ship in or out if they want or need. Seems like they primarily ship out, but if the need arises for something, they can certainly have it shipped in.

[sd80mac]

What method did they obtain the stone? inside mine or quarry?

Google earth shows that 2 ponds quarries used to be.

I can see several huge stockpile of varies of gravels. are they just selling whatever in these stockpile? or drained water out of quarry?

To me, it looks like that they got more stockpile than what they could had got out of quarries. Where did they get them from?

I dont see machines that crushes the rocks into gravels. When did the quarry closed?

[griffs20soccer]

The mine at Tahawus was a titanium and iron ore mine. The mine was owned by NL Industries. It was closed in the 80's and all the building razed. The stone that is being shipped out is the overburden or tailings that were removed to get to the ore. The mine has since filled with water. The piles, more like hills, you see are the overburden that is being sold as aggregate. The trains are loaded at the mine using dump trucks and front end loaders. It has been said there is 100 million tons contained in those "piles".
Don

[NaugyRR]

Well, I took my trip north this past weekend and rode the S&NC up to North Creek on Sunday the 23rd. I had an awesome time and I'm very happy with spending the extra for the dome car. I had never rode in a dome before and my father and I had a blast. The F40's were the motive power for the day, and I think the D&H-esque paint scheme fits them handsomely. I was surprised how much speed the train reached in some spots. It wasn't always apparent up in the dome, but the times I visited the dutch doors in the vestibule I certainly noticed. The girls attending our dome were very friendly and pleasant, and the conductor was kind and energetic. Dad and I only had drinks on the way up (water for him, coffee and a mimosa for me), but on the way back I had the maple glazed salmon and he had the sirloin tips. The food was extremely fair priced considering the quality and portion. With drinks our meal on the ride back was only $30. Once in North Creek we took the shuttle to Gore Mountain and rode the cable car to the peak. On the way back to the station we stopped and got some Moose Mud fudge for the ride back. After we returned to Saratoga I spoke with the engineer for a few minutes who was very friendly and told me he enjoyed running the F40's much better than their GE (which was in the yard outside the engine house in North Creek on that day). I'm definitely looking forward to a visit in the Fall; Dad and I are planning on doing a foliage cruise on Lake George and then a foliage North Creek train one weekend.

[sd80mac]

The mine at Tahawus was a titanium and iron ore mine. The mine was owned by NL Industries. It was closed in the 80's and all the building razed. The stone that is being shipped out is the overburden or tailings that were removed to get to the ore. The mine has since filled with water. The piles, more like hills, you see are the overburden that is being sold as aggregate. The trains are loaded at the mine using dump trucks and front end loaders. It has been said there is 100 million tons contained in those "piles".
Don

Thanks for explanation. Where would the entry to mine be?

[RussNelson]

At North Creek, believe it or not! The Sanford Lakes branch starts on the north side of the village, and continues as a private spur all the way up to Tahawus. MP0 is about halfway north on Main Street past the station. Might not be able to see it from the road.

My pictures from the speeder run last year are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/russnelso ... 4585489407" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Sir Ray]

My pictures from the speeder run last year

Off topic question - do most owners transport their speeders via modified utility trailer like this? (basically a small flatbed utility with wood studs fastened down track gauge distance apart, and a modified ramp-gate).

[RussNelson]

Often, yes. They're always homebrew because of course the railroads never had them more than a few feet off the tracks, and never on a trailer. I'll bet that Fairmont shipped them by rail.

[Jeff Smith]

I didn't put this in the Saratoga & North Creek Railway thread as it really doesn't involve the tourist line operations.

It seems there's been some controversy about storing rail cars. If there's an existing topic, please let me or the moderator know and we can combine.

Adirondack Almanack

Railroad Warns Bauer To Keep Out Of Corridor

A rail company that wants to store used oil-tanker cars on tracks in the Adirondack Park is threatening to press charges against the executive director of Protect the Adirondacks if he returns to the rail corridor — even though the corridor runs through publicly owned Forest Preserve.

Iowa Pacific Holdings, which is based in Chicago, sent a letter to Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, warning him to stay out of the corridor after Bauer and Brian Mann, a reporter for North Country Public Radio, hiked a section of the tracks and posted photos of old railcars.
...
In an interview with Adirondack Almanack, Caffry said Iowa Pacific owns an easement in the corridor, but the public owns the Forest Preserve it crosses.

“If you hold an easement, that does not give you the right to exclude the owner of the property,” Caffry said. “You get to use the property; you don’t get exclusive use of it.”