Ride the NYS&W Southern Division 2010 speeder excursion

[FullScale4Me]

Well it is that time of year again where we offer a ride on a railroad speeder to the railfan community at large over the NYS&W Southern Division in return for a little help.

I am the webmaster for the Volunteer Railroaders Association. Among other things, the VRA sets up speeder trips on railroads in NJ, PA and NY and the next one is on the NYSW Southern Division on October 2nd and 3rd.

In the past the VRA has solicited the railfan community to join us and help flag crossings in exchange for a ride on the cars. The deal is if you flag crossing one day, you ride for free on the motorcars the other day. You will need to either drive or have your fellow flagger drive to your assigned crossings and protect the crossings so that automobiles do not occupy the crossing as the motorcars are going by. The day you flag crossings, you will need to take part in a training and safety meeting at 8am before heading out for the days activities. You also need to be at least 18 years old and be able to handle the physical demands of the duties. You will be supplied a radio, flags, safety vest, directions to each crossing you are assigned. As an extra thank you, we will buy your lunch the day you flag. Several fans on this list have helped on these trips in the past and it has always worked out well.

October 2nd and October 3rd we will be running the entire Southern Division of the NYS&W. Saturday we run roundtrip from Riverdale, NJ to Pelton Road (Warwick, NY) and Sunday we will be running roundtrip from Riverdale east to Ridgefield Park and hopefully North Bergen.

This trip have been fully approved by the NYS&W and insured through NARCOA's national insurance policy. If you chose to help us you must sign a release form and you must be over 18 years old (railroad's requirement).

To sign up with your offer to help, you can email the VRA at [email protected]

More information on the trips can be found here: http://www.vratrips.org/

[kether83]

I know from flagging this trip for a few years now that it's really an amazing weekend. Do yourself a favor and drop whatever you're doing for this weekend and come help out. It's honestly one of the best times I've ever had on the railroad. When you take a passenger excursion trip, you're treated like a guest - nice, but not exactly what we really want. These speeder runs are a great way to see the railroad up-close and very personal. You will see parts of the NYS&W that you'd never get to see otherwise - including operating over the only remaining operational diamond in New Jersey at Pompton Junction.

If you want to see what you're in for, have a look at any of the video of NYS&W Speeder Runs that I've shot: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... jpama&aq=f

In my opinion, there is no better way to see the rails than this. Plus, fall in North Jersey is a really nice time to be outdoors and enjoying the scenery. So come on out and help this weekend. The deal is great - flag one day, ride the other.

The VRA is a really great organization, and I'd just like to echo the sentiment of the OP here in saying that your help would be very much appreciated.

[RussNelson]

Dang! I'm going to be in Paris this weekend. DANG!

Yes, this is a great time. These folks have WAY more fun than should be legal. WAY more!

[ut-1]

I was lucky enough to be on the September 11th excursion and here are some photos...
https://picasaweb.google.com/1101271252 ... v4it_J_qDQ#

This was a VRA-sponsored trip and I was very fortunate indeed to be able to join them. I have long been interested in the history of the ex-DL&W Utica line and this was a fine way to view the line from Sherburne to Utica and return. This was my first railcar trip.

The "set-on" occurred in Sherburne during a very foggy September 11th morning. While our group was getting ready for the day's journey, the Sherburne Volunteer Fire Department could be seen preparing for their 9/11 commemoration ceremony. The set-on process took approx 1.5 hours and included a safety briefing by NYS&W officials. The Utica Main north of Sherburne to Sangerfield had been embargoed for several months prior to our trip. Although this portion of the line was not affected by the 2006 flooding which resulted in the closure of the line south of Sherburne, the NYS&W eventually closed this section regardless (there was only one active customer in Sherburne to my knowledge-a pet food company-although a lumber company did tranship wood from this location on occasion). It was an open question almost to the last moment whether we'd be permitted to operate on this section but, happily, permission was granted.

The line from Sherburne to Sangerfield is rural and there were many farm (i.e., unprotected) crossings. When crossing same, I, as passenger, would hold out an orange flag. Most of the crossing protection worked on the other crossings.

We took a nice break once we reached the US 20 overpass in Sangerfield. This is a big customer base for the NYS&W and, but for this business, there would be no need for the Utica Main to be active below the Canal Branch. Heading down to Utica, we travelled down Paris Hill which was the highest grade on the DL&W. Again, for many miles north of Sangerfield the line passes through rural areas. Only when Clayville is reached do you start to see more suburban scenes.

Once we reached South Utica, we transferred over to the "Canal Branch". This line has trackage with NYO&W heritage and West Shore heritage. The Canal Branch begins near the point where the West Shore and DL&W had a diamond and proceeds approx .4 mile to the point where the NYO&W & West Shore had a diamond. Towers protected both locations "back in the day". Near this point, ex-NYO&W trackage takes one over the Sauquoit Creek and eventually to a big New Hartford customer, Smurfit Containers. The ex-West Shore trackage takes one to New York Mills and several customers, including a beverage distributor.

We traveled the entire Canal Branch and, once back on the Main, rode the rails down Schuyler Street to Union Station.

Some highlights: people trackside were all very friendly, lots of waves; setting off a stampede of about 35 dairy cows as we passed by one farm (it started, seemingly, in slow motion, then it looked just like the movies); watching deer, also startled by the putt-putt noise of the railcars' engines, running helter skelter through the woods and, in one case, Bambi ran in front of the lead car for a short while; hearing the cacophony of sounds caused by the cars' engines bouncing off the sides of numerous bridges; the "swaying" of a railcar at "speed"; flagging a few crossings for the group; and the great fun in seeing, close up, a railroad I've been interested in since I was 10.

And the weather was perfect to boot (the fog burned off fairly quickly).

Thanks to member "CVthe CivilEngineer" for having me as his guest!

[alzubal]

Are there any trips planed for this year. Missed last year want to flag and chase again

[cjvrr]

Al,

None for the Utica Branch this year. We had only about a dozen cars last year so we decided to skip it this year. Will probably do it again in 2012.

We are running on the Syracuse Branch July 23rd and 24th, 2011.

[alzubal]

Chris thank you

[GOLDEN-ARM]

there is already an open topic regarding last years speeder trip.