Ontario Central is often the forgotten sibling in the LAL family, but the line is an interesting remnant of LV. Yesterday was a rewarding trip to railfan ONCT, and I'd recommend it for any shortline or LV fan.
First, make sure you call ahead. I did, and the crew was glad to let me know the schedule. I got leave to work in Henrietta a little early, so I was able to catch up to the train in Farmington at about 2:15PM. At this point, it was the SW-9 #708 (back-up power) and 5 cars. ONCT serves Ryan Homes near the Hook Road crossing. The spur is actual faces on westbound runs so the crew had to sdwitch the cars on the fly. The bassically split the train up and let tqwo boxcars roll from the mainliner to the beginning of the siding. Then #708 backed up and pushed them. It was pretty interesting to watch, and it took less than 15 minutes. BTW, this switcher can really smoke when the engineer opens up the throttle!
With that job done, the crew recouple the remaining 3 cars and continued west.
I went ahead to the Maple Ave. crossing in Victor. The crew paused to let a few cars pass- some drivers don't respect the bulk of an apporaching train or the laws which dictate that they must stop at a flashing crossing signal. While the train waited, the conductor lubed the switch points with vegetable oil so the train could to the end of the line in West Victor. Apparently, they don't use section very often! The train stopped at a shrt siding just east of Rt. 251 where the engine ran around the train. After #708 backed two cars loaded with phone poles (one flat, one Rail Gon) into the Monroe Contractors facility, they headed east again.
By now the train was just #708 and one covered hopper. They stopped at Maple Ave, realigned the switch so the train could back into the Victor Insulators facility. My last glimpse of the train was watching them disappear amongst the trees.
The weather was great so I got some nice pics. I'll post them here (or on my own site) when I get scanner capability. In the meantime, give ONCT a call. They're nice people who are very friendly to railfans who are courteous and respectful. Good luck!
P.S. ONCT has two regular customers- Ryan Homes and Victor Insulators. They serve about other customers more occasionally or seasonally, including Monroe Contractors and Thompson Feed. Also, RS-36 #418 will be in action as soon as a new air compressor is installed, hopefully in a few weeks so I can take more pics.
First, make sure you call ahead. I did, and the crew was glad to let me know the schedule. I got leave to work in Henrietta a little early, so I was able to catch up to the train in Farmington at about 2:15PM. At this point, it was the SW-9 #708 (back-up power) and 5 cars. ONCT serves Ryan Homes near the Hook Road crossing. The spur is actual faces on westbound runs so the crew had to sdwitch the cars on the fly. The bassically split the train up and let tqwo boxcars roll from the mainliner to the beginning of the siding. Then #708 backed up and pushed them. It was pretty interesting to watch, and it took less than 15 minutes. BTW, this switcher can really smoke when the engineer opens up the throttle!
With that job done, the crew recouple the remaining 3 cars and continued west.
I went ahead to the Maple Ave. crossing in Victor. The crew paused to let a few cars pass- some drivers don't respect the bulk of an apporaching train or the laws which dictate that they must stop at a flashing crossing signal. While the train waited, the conductor lubed the switch points with vegetable oil so the train could to the end of the line in West Victor. Apparently, they don't use section very often! The train stopped at a shrt siding just east of Rt. 251 where the engine ran around the train. After #708 backed two cars loaded with phone poles (one flat, one Rail Gon) into the Monroe Contractors facility, they headed east again.
By now the train was just #708 and one covered hopper. They stopped at Maple Ave, realigned the switch so the train could back into the Victor Insulators facility. My last glimpse of the train was watching them disappear amongst the trees.
The weather was great so I got some nice pics. I'll post them here (or on my own site) when I get scanner capability. In the meantime, give ONCT a call. They're nice people who are very friendly to railfans who are courteous and respectful. Good luck!
P.S. ONCT has two regular customers- Ryan Homes and Victor Insulators. They serve about other customers more occasionally or seasonally, including Monroe Contractors and Thompson Feed. Also, RS-36 #418 will be in action as soon as a new air compressor is installed, hopefully in a few weeks so I can take more pics.
Last edited by Matt Langworthy on Fri Jun 10, 2005 1:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Matt Langworthy
"It is highly likely that the 1990s were an overrated decade."
"It is highly likely that the 1990s were an overrated decade."
