Where can I catch freight rail operations on Metro north

Housatonic never worked Harlem line, they only made one run with MNCR pilot and MNCR engine to retrieve a few cars left by Conrail.
The Housatonic never had engine equiped with ATC and could therefore not operate on Harlem.

Didn't they service King Lumber in Golden's Bridge until like sometime in the early 90's???

no only Conrail did, me and one other Engineer(WR) and crew took the empties out of Mount kisco, King lumber and Triwall in Wassaic.
HRRC served King Lumber by truck out of transload facility on rt 25 in newtown (chepauqe)

Is Marval still pretty regular on Tuesday nights?

https://foursquare.com/v/csx-marval-sid ... 8e4c91ef17

There is no real regularity. Much like all the other locations B750 does work at, it is as needed when needed. It could come by 2 days straight, or stop by once every 2 or more weeks. And with the weather effects on the region, especially the NH Line, no telling what the local freight schedules will be like.

Hi all,

I have heard that CSX often passes through the Hudson Line near stations such as Marble Hill and Spuytin Duyvil. Is there any degree of regularity to when CSX or anything else goes by? I have been trying to see a CSX train for months and haven't had much luck...do I need to go out very late?

Usually anytime after 8pm you can catch some kind of freight movement on the lower Hudson line. Depending on how busy you may have to wait an hour or two. If so CSX trains usually wait at CP 8 or CP 10 going north. There is no strict schedule that CSX goes by on MNR.

On Friday nights I used to see the garbage train following Hudson Line 793 north. Train 793 departs GCT at 10 51 PM and passes Spuyten Duyvil at 11 11 PM. That gave CSX a good window to get from Highbridge to Track 1 at Riverdale.

I haven't ridden that train in about a year so I don't know if that still happens. I also don't live in Sleepy Hollow anymore but when I did many nights I would hear a freight(s) coming through between 9 00 PM and 12 00 AM.

GothySpotterBx wrote:Hi all,

I have heard that CSX often passes through the Hudson Line near stations such as Marble Hill and Spuytin Duyvil. Is there any degree of regularity to when CSX or anything else goes by? I have been trying to see a CSX train for months and haven't had much luck...do I need to go out very late?

As others have said, CSX passes through Marble Hill/Spuyten Duyvil pretty often, mostly at night. Sometimes several trains in one night. I used to live in the area and had a great view of the tracks. And of course I could hear the freight trains VERY well. Commuting on MNCR between GCT and Spuyten Duyvil during the AM and late PM peaks, I hardly ever saw freights. And not being home during the day on weekdays, I can't really say what happens then. But at night, after say 8pm as noted by others, there is freight action. And as others have noted, there's no set schedule, so if you want to see a freight, you have to be prepared to set up camp at 8pm and sit there until a freight comes. It could be hours. And since the freights are at night, in all those years of living there, I got very few photos. Even if I waited down at the station, photographing a moving freight at night is not really a winning idea. Sometimes the northbound freights paused at or near the Marble Hill station. So if you wait there, you might be rewarded with the opportunity to photograph a stationary freight at night.

Daytime freight is rare on the Hudson but you will on occasion find a lite engine move or a small mixed freight. Saw one today!

I saw a Shoreliner-equipped train passing through Marble Hill on the way to GCT yesterday afternoon around 5pm, using, oddly enough, the outside track (the 3rd one, next to the river and not next to a platform). Never seen that before; I assume that's the track that freight trains would use?

its used by any train not making local stops.

Good point. I do see Shoreliner-equipped trains traveling through Marble Hill without stopping on the tracks next to the platform. I'd just never seen one on the outside track.

SouthernRailway wrote:I saw a Shoreliner-equipped train passing through Marble Hill on the way to GCT yesterday afternoon around 5pm, using, oddly enough, the outside track (the 3rd one, next to the river and not next to a platform). Never seen that before; I assume that's the track that freight trains would use?

Any train could use any track at any time. There is no one track for freight or passenger. Trains are routed to what ever track the RTC sees fit for the moment. Additionally track outages must be taken into account. Obviously trains trains that stop at Marble Hill have to be on track 1 or 2. Aside from that, track 4 is fair game for all other movements.

Today for example my northbound train (GCT to Poughkeepsie) was run up track 4 (the one you describe) from CP6 (South of Yankees E153) to CP10 (north of Marble Hill).

I've seen CT2 on the Danbury about 5 days a week
Northbound is usually after 1890 heads up
Southbound is before 1811 or 6813 heads down
Or the FPCH is around 11:15p.m. heading southbound