Southern Tier - West of Binghamton

Why would they transload to barge or ship for NJ that train could take load to NJ in few hours? it's like putting container on train in syracuse and send to Rochester to unload the container off train for local delivery

From what I have read on-line, several reasons.
1. Most importantly, some refineries are all set up already for barge unloading. So they don't have to build storage and unloading tracks, have a crew to move the cars as they are unloaded, the piping itself for unloading, ... They save these costs, and are good to go with very little delay
2. You don't fight train congestion in the NJ area
3. You don't have to invest in new railcars (maybe barges are already available cheap...)
So they might start in the short term with barges, and then to hedge their bets or keep competition, add direct rail service as the infrastructure can be added.
JS
PS Barge transport is incredibly cheap per ton-mile. I don't have numbers, but some east coast electric utilities with ocean water access bring in coal by barge all the way from south america, in part because it is cheaper than rail from Appalachian(?) US coal fields. The steel mills in Bethlehem ran on ore from South America in large part for the same reason.

Basically it is either that they want to have multiple forms of transportation for their product or this is a temporary solution until the rail unloading facility is completed.

Brand new signal system going in CP-Horseheads from 275.5 to 270 and CP-Elmira. New masts and down comes the one of last Erie signal bridges at VO. That's progress though. There's a lot of money being spent on a "branchline"

K4Pacific wrote:Brand new signal system going in CP-Horseheads from 275.5 to 270 and CP-Elmira. New masts and down comes the one of last Erie signal bridges at VO. That's progress though. There's a lot of money being spent on a "branchline"

Any signs of antennas on those new signal masts?

what happened to the sayre, buff trains ? or the cp fuel trains? railfan & railroad mag. said , that C.P. was moving outa pillyy (march 12) ?

Sayre - Buffalo trains are still handled in 310/309 terminating in Elmira with H12 handling many times rather large trains. The plans have been delayed with the Nat Gas industry glut in the market. However, oil will soon be coming forth in 2013 from what BP has said "will rival Bakken in output."

NS will be handling oil trains on the STL as crew were told earlier this month. Harrisburg Division crews are getting train in DPU service. That still must be done here on the STL "branchline". These oil trains on the STL will specifically handle the DELTA Airlines refinery.

And finally, the last Philly CP train was one week ago this very day (Monday).

Also, nothing crazy is going to happen yet of huge note or importance until Letchworth Bridge gets built, beginning August.

I'm putting this tidbit here rather than create a separate thread that probably isn't warranted.

Looks like there is a strong push getting underway to convert the Lansing power station (Cayuga Lake) on the Ithaca Secondary from coal to nat gas. You can read more at this link http://fingerlakesdailynews.com/news/de ... 6&id=71812.

Poppyl

Is NS running an auto rack train on the Tier now? I saw an eastbound freight near Darien Center yesterday afternoon that was mostly auto racks.

205/206 are running with mostly racks. 205 is all racks as far as Binghamton (normally) and makes a pickup of intermodal most days out of CP East Binghamton (cars originate from Taylor, PA). The intermodal is normally head out. 206 normally has racks on the head end with a block of Ayer intermodal on the rear.

No telling how long this will last as NS keeps changing things between the 22k/23k and 206/205.

Thanx for the info. I saw 22K in Dale that same evening.

Good to see traffic in the "new" Baker Street yard. Looked to be at least 25% full with tankers and sand hoppers.

Poppyl

Might be one of the last 524 going up the Ithaca Secondary to the Cayuga Power Plant today. FYI. Anyone going to try to get pix of it?

Susquehanna Chapter NRHS Special June meeting June 13
Location: NYS&W, Northern Division HQ, 212 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY 13902
Special Time: 7pm (arrival can start at 6pm)
Program: Hosted by Joe White, Northern Division GM, Tour of facility of former D&H Freighthouse, overview of current operations and future plans, open slide and power point program with displays. Bring a friend or two. Be respectful like mama taught.

On my way out to Marilla this morning, I chased at what is usually a quiet RR line. From Erie St in the center of Lancaster, NY east to Two Rod Rd. At around 945am I saw a train westbound passing through Lancaster from a distance and was disappointed that I missed it. If I had left my house just 2 minutes earlier, would have been a good time. As I came upon MP 410 the road is closed. Looked like they were ripping up the crossing. I was running late so no pics at that point. But further along, I see another set of locomotive light coming at me [westbound train] so I pulled over and whipped out the camera phone. I was surprised to see another train being almost back to back. It was CN. Never caught a CN train on the line before.

This is a poor picture of the CN train. It just stopped raining and wished I had pushed the "button" 2 seconds earlier. At this point, all or most of the asphalt had been torn up but the track was still in place. About 500 feet ahead of the CN loco. The MOW equipment had not arrived yet except a few trucks.



I returned about 1.5hrs later and the MOW equipment was on the track. The crossing section had been removed. This must have been the second repair to this crossing as the new pre-fab section is sitting on the row while 2 cut-out sections are now sitting on the side.


MOW equipment about 500 feet east of the crossing replacement. This picture was taken long after the CN train passed through.


Today was a lucky day for chasing. This line is usually quiet when I run along side it.

n.s had side dump cars in the pit track (ex no 2 w.b.) at hornell , plus about 15 loaded gons of ties in the wnyp/ ns m.o.w team ,interchange track. side dumps came back empty to hornell today --is there track work going on ? are the tie gons for the wnyp? the interchange has been SLOWWW in the last month P.S. -It was neat to see & hear the sd-40-2 s run again , thought I was still home in painted post fishing the river !!!