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  • train number question

  • Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.
Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.

Moderators: GOLDEN-ARM, NJ Vike

 #276553  by amoreho1
 
how do you tell what train is what?
(example sy1 ,q156,ut1)

 #276564  by Steve F45
 
WS-1,2, etc are ridgefield park jobs or southern division jobs.
BH are binghamton jobs
UT are utica jobs
SY are syracuse jobs

SU-99 are westbounds
SU-100 are eastbounds.

what each individual ones are doing i have no idea. If im down near RP, i'll see WS-4 shoving what the 100 brought in, ws-2 could be down in the swamps somewhere. If i dont see them, i have no idea what they are doing.

 #276569  by amoreho1
 
im saying how do you tell what train it is

 #276690  by GOLDEN-ARM
 
Watch when, and where it goes on duty, and at what time. Ask the crew, if they are friendly. Listen to the radio/scanner, for communications. Ask a fellow "buff". UT-1 is not running through Butler..........

 #276709  by rcbsd45
 
Since you live in Homer, then you have the Syracuse Main through your town. I believe you may be asking how, by sight, can you identify the specific trains. Having a scanner is a big assist to this, but the following may give you some insight. On the Northjern division, in your area, there is an SY-1 crew, based out of Syracuse(hence the SY designation) that works 5 days a week. On their rest days, there will usually, but not always be an SY-X(X = Extra Crew). This symbol may also be used for crews that do other than customer work, such as running the through traffic to/from CSX. these trains can usually be identified by the numbers of garbage cars. They are usually loaded going to Syracuse and empty going south to Binghamton(and eventually NJ)
For a while last year, they had a crew based out of Cortland, and referred to them as the CL-1. The local crew that travels the main in your area will usually have the same locomotive on several days. Also, they will have several tank cars for Suit Kote in Cortland, as well as lumber cars for Gutchess and Bestway in the Cortland area and the Roundhouse Mill as well.
There is significant and solid customer work on this line, and if you are able to get to Cortland, or trackside at all, then you should be able to witness the SY-1 and their work. But if you are referring to train identity by commodities carried, the SY-1 in your back yard is a good place to start. There will be days when the traffic from Binghamton to Syracuse will come north with a BH(Binghamton crew and symbol), and this will most oftern be the SU-99 traffic from NJ that is destined to CSX. Again, as i noted above, the loaded debris cars are a tip off. I hope this helkps answer your question somewhat. if not, let us know in the forum.

 #276797  by High Iron Photography
 
Are you saying that the number is based on the crew, and not what the job does? For example, any locals/yard jobs out of Little Ferry or Ridgefield Park will be "WS-", with the crew determining the number? And one crew would be a WS-3, another a WS-4 and so on? And, one day a WS-3 could be doing the same thing WS-4 would do on another day? To me this makes sense, I've noticed no order in what each of the "WS-" trains do.

 #276801  by rcbsd45
 
That is correct. The crew number is a sequential number based on the sign up time of the day. for example, WS-1 goes on duty at 2 AM. This crew is assigned to the CSX Intermodal yard in Lttle Ferry and is specifically assigned to(and paid for) by CSX. They have used the crew outside of the Intermodal yard on occasion, but only with CSX Intermodal's approval(or thats the way its supposed to be, in theory, at least). thenm ther are the WS-2, and WS-3 which go to work in the morning. WS-4 goes on at 2 PM and is the relief for WS-1 and is thus "assigned" to the Intermodal facility. WS-5 and WS-6 report in the afternoon, and fionally, WS-7 reports at 8 PM. The WS-7 normally travels to Sparta for the work up there and is thus an all night affair. The management can(and has on occasion) shuffle the assignemnets arround as needed, but for the most part, the crew numbers are a simple sequential number and do not indicate a specific assignment/custome, at least to the best of my knowledge.

 #276815  by High Iron Photography
 
thanks for clearing that up.

by the way, what happened to the LF locals?

 #276939  by washingtonsecondary
 
LF locals were what WS-1 is now. They dropped those a few years ago.