by SST
Last Saturday night I stopped at Old Broadway for some evening train spotting. I came from Harlem Rd and headed west along the yard. I didn't notice anything at first but then I start seeing "things" in the yard that I've never seen before. All kinds of buildings and structures. For a few momens, I lost my perspective on where I was. Never saw any of this stuff. At first I thought it was due to driving my pick up. My Focus sits pretty low and I don't see much over the tracks. But the truck sits pretty high compared to the Focus so I thought that's what caused the change in view.
I stopped at the Pizza Express across the street from Old Broadway near the signal and as I'm waiting for my slices, I look across the street. Even from that perspective, I had no clue what all the stuff was. After getting my pizza, I drive over to Old Broadway and get into position. I get out my binoculars. As I'm scanning the yard, its becoming clear why I'm seeing all the stuff. There are no rail cars in the yard.
I am starting to realize that I can look clear across the yard without obstruction. I can see the TOPS grocery store and its logo that's sitting on the other side of Harlem Rd. I guess the stuff I was looking at were the repair shops? A few hundred feet west of the buildings was a lot of "plumbing" with two green lights above it. Then a couple of hundred feet west of that was the fuel dock. Two CP locomotives were parked there. They weren't running. No lights at all.
One train came in and stopped at Old Broadway for a crew change and some maintenance work. They put the blue light [stop] sign out in front of it. While that train was being tinkered with, another train must have come in. Then they broke it in half. It must have been a very long consist as half the train stretched almost the entire yard. Once they split that train, the view of the entire yard was blocked.
Amtrak came through also while they repaired the train. Never new he was coming. He just popped into view going full tilt.
Eventually the crew change train was repaired and headed west bound. A very long tank train with a box car on the end. I think I saw stenciling that said Buffer.
An interesting evening for sure.
Is train traffic dropping off or is this just a random occurrence?
I stopped at the Pizza Express across the street from Old Broadway near the signal and as I'm waiting for my slices, I look across the street. Even from that perspective, I had no clue what all the stuff was. After getting my pizza, I drive over to Old Broadway and get into position. I get out my binoculars. As I'm scanning the yard, its becoming clear why I'm seeing all the stuff. There are no rail cars in the yard.
I am starting to realize that I can look clear across the yard without obstruction. I can see the TOPS grocery store and its logo that's sitting on the other side of Harlem Rd. I guess the stuff I was looking at were the repair shops? A few hundred feet west of the buildings was a lot of "plumbing" with two green lights above it. Then a couple of hundred feet west of that was the fuel dock. Two CP locomotives were parked there. They weren't running. No lights at all.
One train came in and stopped at Old Broadway for a crew change and some maintenance work. They put the blue light [stop] sign out in front of it. While that train was being tinkered with, another train must have come in. Then they broke it in half. It must have been a very long consist as half the train stretched almost the entire yard. Once they split that train, the view of the entire yard was blocked.
Amtrak came through also while they repaired the train. Never new he was coming. He just popped into view going full tilt.
Eventually the crew change train was repaired and headed west bound. A very long tank train with a box car on the end. I think I saw stenciling that said Buffer.
An interesting evening for sure.
Is train traffic dropping off or is this just a random occurrence?
