Selkirk Yard

[videobruce]

I have just gotten the point, if the site doesn't work properly with the browser I have been using for the past 6 years (that has always been W3C complaiant), unless it is something I need to do, I don't bother checking with Firefox. Those sites ALWAYS fail validation anyway.

[dlwfan]

Any good places to railfan train coming in or out of the yard? How about some good trackside locations? I assume security is tight.

[atsf sp]

Any way to see close up to where they keep most of the engines?

[photorailfan]

Bens bridge is the main place i go up there. Basically park at the one end on the side of the road. It spans the center part of the whole yard. The bowl part is in the distance on the other side of the hump. Seeing anything from the bridge can be difficult if your short. All the railfans i've seen up there climb the wall of the bridge to watch or photograph. There's an area where all the engines sit and that's right by the bridge. Security up there is not so tight. In fact there's a guy who patrols the place who is very friendly. He drives a white bronco and sais so long as you stay on the road your ok. I never had a problem up there. As for trains leaving the yard. Go to 9w in selkirk which is on the east end of the yard. Also CPSK. Tha'ts outside of the yard. Technically at CPSK your tresspassing but the locals say csx wont bother you. I never had a problem there either. By the way, selkirk yard is in Bethlehem, NY. It's like a hamlet within a villiage. Go figure. I'm posting two images on here. One is of bens bridge.

[ConductorJ]

You may try the New State Geographic Clearinghouse for LandSat images or GeoSat images. May need to download viewer software for it.

[Noel Weaver]

Bens bridge is the main place i go up there. Basically park at the one end on the side of the road. It spans the center part of the whole yard. The bowl part is in the distance on the other side of the hump. Seeing anything from the bridge can be difficult if your short. All the railfans i've seen up there climb the wall of the bridge to watch or photograph. There's an area where all the engines sit and that's right by the bridge. Security up there is not so tight. In fact there's a guy who patrols the place who is very friendly. He drives a white bronco and sais so long as you stay on the road your ok. I never had a problem up there. As for trains leaving the yard. Go to 9w in selkirk which is on the east end of the yard. Also CPSK. Tha'ts outside of the yard. Technically at CPSK your tresspassing but the locals say csx wont bother you. I never had a problem there either. By the way, selkirk yard is in Bethlehem, NY. It's like a hamlet within a villiage. Go figure. I'm posting two images on here. One is of bens bridge.

Actually Selkirk is in South Bethlehem which is a part of the town of Bethlehem. The town of Bethlehem is pretty large and spread out and includes a number of areas, hamlets
and villages. The Village of Selkirk is some distance to the east of the yard.
By the way, when driving around the area, be careful of posted speed limits especially in the Town of Bethlehem. The local police are pretty active in this area and they are well
supplied with tickets. Routes 9W and 32 are heavily patrolled and many of the county roads are too.
Noel Weaver

[Dispatcher35]

Actually Selkirk is in South Bethlehem which is a part of the town of Bethlehem. The town of Bethlehem is pretty large and spread out and includes a number of areas, hamlets
and villages. The Village of Selkirk is some distance to the east of the yard.
By the way, when driving around the area, be careful of posted speed limits especially in the Town of Bethlehem. The local police are pretty active in this area and they are well
supplied with tickets. Routes 9W and 32 are heavily patrolled and many of the county roads are too.
Noel Weaver

Cops in the area love to get you both on 396 and also Thatcher Road (Road leading to CPSK). the speed limit in the area is 30 and they do enforce it!

Even tho Ben's Bridge is closed you will still hear a car knocker or foreman call the Hump and tell them there are trespassers on the bridge. From what I've been told, there is one RR PO to cover the entire Mohawk and B&A section so chances are slim that you'll see him at the yard.

[CSXMoose]

Bens bridge is planned to be destroyed, there is a town meeting in the near future to "save the bridge" but the cheapest way was declared to bring er down. I wonder if csx will take the easiest way out? Plenty of places besides that to take pics, just gotta talk to the right people for a tour of the yard...

[CSX Conductor]

CP SK at the east end of the yard is usually not a problem for railfanning, as long as you stay off the tracks.

[dirtydave]

what do they use the hump for anyway?

[AMK0123]

Just came back from Selkirk yard about an hour ago. Ben's bridge is still closed and since I was last up there about two weeks ago there is now piles of gravel on both sides of the concrete barriers, I guess in an attempt to stop pedestrians from walking onto the bridge. (looks like many people have been walking over it though)! Bridge just says closed, there are no, no trespassing signs on it so I myself did walk up to the bridge and stayed for awhile on both ends, (didn't walk across). Noticed that most of the CSX employees have not bothered with me, in fact most have just looked and waved. I've even parked in there adminstrative building on the south side of the yard and nobody's bothered with me. My only advise is to use your heads and stay away from the tracks and don't go past any of the visible no trespass signs. Otherwise it's an incredible facility with so much going on at once. Also FYI, in the past few weeks have noticed numberous engines being placed into storage on the north side of the yard. Many AC6000CW's along with some SD40-2's, C-408W's and assorted other units, some of which have had there stacks capped. Some units I was able to see were 1127, 7579, 666, 635, 7375 and Conrail 7301. Hopefully when traffic increases we'll see these units back on the rails !

[CSX Conductor]

what do they use the hump for anyway?

To classify (sort) the inbound trains according to there destination.

[goodnightjohnwayne]

what do they use the hump for anyway?

The "hump" allows gravity to do the work of a switching locomotive.

[dirtydave]

thats what i thought but its better to ask a dumb question than to be dumb. thanks

[AMK0123]

It has been amost a year since I was last up to Selkirk and figured I'd let you fellow railfans know since my last post in 9/09 that the yard loooks very similar, (observations from a railfan of course). I went up this past monday 7/5/10. It was pretty slow till about 1500 hours or so when on of the yard jobs, an SD38-2S 2445 and 1018 started through the yard. Most of the units that I last posted like 1127, 7579, 7301 and 666 are still on the north side of the yard with there stacks capped. Ben's bridge is still standing and still makes for a great vantage point. Along with the numerous CSX engines I got to see several BNSF and one DME and one ICE unit. Also saw a string of "csx hudson line units", had there plows cut and I assume they'd probably be making there way down toward NYC that night. Units were 8767, 8850, 8760, 8833, 2718 and 2724.