CP locos on River Line, then on Hudson?

[CPSK]

Hi;
Today I went on a rail trip from GCT NYC to Poughkeepsie, NY on Metro North.
On my way up the Hudson line on MNCR, I thought I saw two CP Rail locos (back to back) on the River Line.I think, but not sure that where I saw the locos on the River Line was Newburgh.
They were not moving, and I don't believe were pulling any cars.

I wasn't even sure when I saw them that what I was seeing was really CP locos. I mean, it could have been a building next to the track with the same colors as CP, but the colors were right for the CP. Thing is, they were in the shadows, so it's hard to make out details from so far away.

I pretty much forgot about the locos for the rest of the trip... that is, until I was headed home on the Hudson line about 4-1/2 hours later, passing through what I think was the Bronx.
I almost jumped out of my seat when I saw two CP locos, back to back, there, in the Bronx.
There was a string (I think pretty short) of gondola or coal cars behind the locos, and the train was facing north.

What are the chances that I saw two different sets of CP locos on opposite sides of the Hudson in about 4-1/2 hours?
The thing is, I was in view of the River Line for much of the time heading to Poughkeepsie, and then again while I was on the bridge, and I didn't see those locos moving on the River Line.

Could these locos have run up with a short train, or maybe lite to SK, then headed east across the Hudson, and down the Hudson line in 4-1/2 hours?
Is there a coal fired power plant in Newburgh? I know of the one in Thompkins Cove, but that's pretty far south, so the time
But then, if it was the same train, why was it facing north on the Hudson line after having come south from Albany?

I'm doing the math, and figuring that if they were the same locos, they would have had to move pretty fast up the River Line, then down the Hudson line to get to the Bronx from say Newburgh in 4-1/2 hours.

So, what do you think?
Could I have seen two different sets of CP locos in the same afternoon / evening?

FW

[Ironman]

Different sets of engines. Run thru power is not that unusal on the river line, and CP has trackage rights on the hudson line.

[sd80mac]

and CP has trackage rights on the hudson line.

I thought that they gave up the business in NYC few years ago...

[roadster]

CSX will use whatever power is available, on their system to run their trains. Wether UP, CP,CN, NS, KCS, BNSF or whatever RR's power is available at a time when a train is set to depart, and they pass CSX and FRA inspections. That being said, Alco's and older power (ie: 576 powered EMD's, older GE's) would doughtfully be excepted for service. There are always exceptions, as in '01, when I did have a BN SD7/9 as part of my power consist on a through freight at Rochester, NY. But it is not unusual to see any RR's power leading on CSX as most all have standardized appliances.

[Ironman]

and CP has trackage rights on the hudson line.

I thought that they gave up the business in NYC few years ago...

I may be wrong, but I thought they still run "as needed".

[dwil89]

As a side reply....The coal fired powerplant no longer exists at Tompkins Cove...It closed downa couple of years ago before being torn down....

[sd80mac]

As a side reply....The coal fired powerplant no longer exists at Tompkins Cove...It closed downa couple of years ago before being torn down....

Oh that explain why I dont see TOM coal from NS anymore. I knew that NS moved it to their own line up to albany and hand out to CSX for final delivery. But I didn't realize that they nolonger deliver coal to there.

There's not many coal trains for Northeast now... Russel's gone. Only 2 I could think of - Kodak (less volume now) and Solvay Plant. Johnstown (Binghanton) on NS southern tier. I haven't seen coke train for Ft Drum in long time....

[CPSK]

I'm not surprised to hear that the power plant in Thompkins doesn't use coal anymore, but I am surprised to hear that it was torn down.
Was that one of the coal fired plants where the coal cars would be brought in, flipped upside-down to empty? I recall seeing that process somewhere, but not sure whether I actually saw it myself, or watched on video.

After my post, I was figuring the timing, and realized that those CP locos could not have been the same ones.
It would be even more strange if what I saw weren't locomotives at all, but something else along the track, and then seeing the CP locos in the Bronx.

Maybe in spring I'll do some exploring up along the River line, see what has changed (what I can see from public property).

Thanks for the info

FW

[sd80mac]

Was that one of the coal fired plants where the coal cars would be brought in, flipped upside-down to empty? info

FW

NS used "TOP-GON" cars.... Now that had disappeared. I haven't seen that cars anymore in long time, not in Ohio and NY...

[CPSK]

Was that one of the coal fired plants where the coal cars would be brought in, flipped upside-down to empty? info

FW

NS used "TOP-GON" cars.... Now that had disappeared. I haven't seen that cars anymore in long time, not in Ohio and NY...

So I probably saw it on a trains video, or maybe another program.
I had been to the plant in Thompkins Cove though. Conrail never used to give me any trouble being on the property (except up at SK), but forget about doing that on CSX.

As for the CP locos, probably just a good day to see them.
I probably should have had my radio with me.

FW

[dwil89]

Yes, the Tomkins Cove plant was torn down.....I just dug out an old issue of Railpace dated July 2008...which featured an article on the shutdown of the Mirant-Lovett Generating Station at Tomkins Cove, NY...The generators were shut down on April 19th, 2008.

The last coal train , a CSX V806 was delivered on the night of April 15th as an insurance load in case the power planr ran out of coal before the shutdown date.....The unneeded coal loads were hauled back out on May 5th of '08.

The article went on to mention that the plant would be demolished so that Mirant would receive a substantial tax reduction.

I do recall newspaper stories prior to that time about Mirant seeking property tax reductions....When that reduction was refused, Mirant decided to shut down operations there.

[roadster]

Don't look now, V782 Ft Drum Coal train is called on duty at Buffalo at 0001 11/21. Should be at Syracuse around 5am and headed up to Watertown after that.

[poppyl]

A little off topic, perhaps, but NS still runs a unit train of Somerset rotaries up through Van Etten Junction to the power station on Cayuga Lake.

[CPSK]

Well, while I always enjoyed the "feel" of a fully loaded coal train rumbling by, I cannot say that I miss coal fired power plants.
IMO, coal is an obsolete fuel, and so is oil. We should be running electric power plants on renewable energy, like wind and solar, and yes; garbage. Even natural gas is a more viable solution than coal or oil, but eventually we will run out of that too.

Unfortunately for the railroads, the new fuels (renewable and natural gas) don't require delivery by rail, so they lose out there.
That is, unless more of the plants start burning garbage. Then, we'll have more of those stinky garbage trains running the rails.
We'll never run out of garbage!<g>

And on the subject of garbage, how are those garbage trains routed from NYC to Kentucky or wherever they end up after traversing the CSX River Line?
I would expect they go into Selkirk Yard from the B&A (after reaching there from the Hudson line; Not directly from the B&A westbound onto the River Line (is that leg of the wye still in use?)

FW

[Puter-Geek]

And on the subject of garbage, how are those garbage trains routed from NYC to Kentucky or wherever they end up after traversing the CSX River Line?
I would expect they go into Selkirk Yard from the B&A (after reaching there from the Hudson line; Not directly from the B&A westbound onto the River Line (is that leg of the wye still in use?)

FW

The Hudson train pulls the garbage into the yard. Then later on, the river line train will tie onto the opposite end and bring it down.