Yorkrail / NS weekly coal 510, 511

Update: 05/14/11

Let's start with the big news first: this weekend's 510 has 1/93rd of the remaining BLUE ex-Conrail units on it And it is one of only FOUR remaining BLUE SD60I's This particular unit, 6718, is one of two BLUEs I caught in an SD60I trio back in February while on a 'West Slope' railfan weekend.

The 510 was first publicly spotted/announced on the Station Inn's webcam on Friday am in Cresson PA. It pulled up to CP MO and stopped to get front-end helpers for the last leg over the mountain AND for added braking on the eastern descent into Pom Wonderful... I mean Altoona.

D9-40CW 9519 (in stripes) led SD70M 2629 (horsehead) back-to-back, with the 6718 also facing rearward. The 9519 is working crew one solo, with crew 2 operating the pair. Unless there is something wrong and the pair needs to be split, the 511 will have a BLUE leader- at least up to Enola.

The 6718 will be out in the open , shoving empties and fetching more loads, around 11am today and again sometime after 4pm.

Weather in Spring Grove: mild temps, completely overcast, hazy, misty, damp/humid, muddy. Showers expected in the afternoon, eventually becoming a steady rain through the weekend... It figures !

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

UPDATE: Sunday May 15
6718 and her mates did not run up the York Secondary to the Port Road Branch, then into Enola until the evening. Beautiful scenery in that area, but the rainy overcast morning degraded into late afternoon thunderstorms. Luckily, there were small breaks in the clouds that allowed for brief sunbeams. I caught one at the right time at the right place with a small patch of blue sky in the background. Look for this shot (hopefully) in the July issue of Railpace

From reports from various Yahoo groups and the railfan community, I've learned that the 6718 led all the way to Shire Oaks! From there, she trailed on a 556 to Huff, PA., then got on a 650 coal to Baltimore. These units must rack up hundreds of thousands of miles in a very short time. Lets hope the remaining CR-painted units don't need any mechanical work anytime soon, lest they be painted black while in the shop... Per Chris R. Toth's NSdash9.com website, as of Thursday 05/19 , there are still 93 units in blue. Wow- a whole week without any repaints!

UPDATE: May/21-22/2011
This weekend's train has a trio of D-9s. 9875 (horsehead paint) led the 9407 and 9093- both in 'stripes' and facing rearward. Unless something odd happens, the 9093 will lead the 511 outbound empties.

There will be no train next weekend, in honor of our brave troops, as it is Memorial Day weekend.

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

After a pleasant Memorial Day weekend off, there is indeed a train today.

Arriving in York sometime after 5:30pm on Friday, the Yorkrailway crew brought the 510 to Spring Grove in beautiful morning 'sweetlight' today. They were minutes behind my expected time, coming through Nashville at 6:12am. The leader was D9 #9754, elephant style with SD70M 2720, and D9 9076 facing rearward.

Now, one would expect 9076 to be the natural leader for the 511 outbound, but not so on this weekend! It seems that the second crew (operating the pair with 2720 and 9076) ran the pair out to Porters wye. While this has happened at least twice this year already, it was because all three units had arrived facing forward and one had to be 'spun' on the wye so it could lead the 511. Not so, this time. And, in the past, the trailing unit would be dropped on the first leg of the wye while the 'lead' unit would run around the wye solo -only changing the orientation of this one unit while swapping the order of both. Today, both units remained coupled for the entire trip around the wye - changing the orientation and order of both units. Personally, this is a new movement for me ! Since I didn't use my scanner at all this morning (batteries weak after chasing the NS F-units all day yesterday ), I therefore don't know the reasoning for this move. Pure speculation would come up with a few options, be they realistic or not. Perhaps the original would-be 511 leader 9076 was having mechanical issues. Perhaps the a/c in that unit isn't working. Perhaps it's just crew preference for the 70M over the D9. Realistically, of these options, it's probably mechanical issues of some nature.

Operationally, thirty cars were brought into the mill first thing. While the previous runs to Porters would have 15 of the 30 cars left between the FFL bridge and the Rt. 116 crossing while crew #1 dumps their 15, today, crew #2 left their 15 out at PLANK and then waited there upon return from the 'spin'.

Of the 100 loads today, there were about 8 red Conrails. 9754 and 2720 are in 'horsehead' paint, with 9076 in stripes with the dotted walkway striping.

In past years, the next weekend in June saw no train due to the "June shutdown", so I'm not expecting one next week. The weekend after is Father's Day, and there should not be one then either, although a few years ago there indeed was one. I remember because, as a Father's Day gift, I was 'allowed' to skip a cookout and chase the 511 with two SD80MACs !

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

After two weekends without a 510/511, as noted in the previous post, there was one the weekend of June 24-26. The 511 empties had 9487 leading and 9689, with 9690 facing rearward. Of interest to the D9 fans was that all three were in the older stripes paint, and two were consecutively numbered. After chasing Bennett Levin's Pennsy E8's on Sunday, I again found the 511: this time sitting along Rt 11/15 at the Enola Yard entrance

I was on vacation all last week in Hedgesville, WV.,(returned home Saturday afternoon) and was able to get out daily to catch the eastbound Capitol Limited come through Cherry Run. This is an interesting interlocking on CSX, in that tracks 1 and 2 split to add a track '4' (painted on the grade-crossing pavement), plus the connecting line that crosses the Potomac River into Hagerstown. This was once the interchange between the WM and the B&O. Track 4 is the original winding water level route that follows the river. Tracks 1 (westbound) and 2 (to Washington), are a high-grade shortcut bypassing a panhandle along the river. Loads generally take the low route. It figures that the one day I did not get out for the P030-20 eastbound, it had an Amtrak Heritage unit trailing in the consist. I did catch one train, however, lined to take the bridge into Hagerstown The lack of internet where I was staying, coupled with absolutely NO web hotspots within ten miles, really made this vacation a railfanning challenge.

Besides Cherry Run, I took a full day to investigate the signal upgrading as far west as Paw Paw. This included Carother's Tunnel (only the mast bases and cut wires remain at the east portal with no new signals found), Magnolia Cutoff (new signals and lots of regrading in progress), Hansrote (no signals were found), Doe Gully and Orleans (new signals in operation and one old CPL twin-mast laying beside the tracks at Doe Gully). The signal bridge west of Great Cacapon was the only CPL I found still in use. It has two targets facing each direction, over double tracks. Hard to get close to without help, of which I had some on that day

This weekend(July 1-3) there is no 510/511 due to the 4th of July patriotic festival holiday : Hooray for the Red White and Blue !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please remember why we celebrate this day, and the intentions of the brave people who gained for us the freedoms we enjoy in the USA. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: Liberties, once lost, cannot be regained !!!

Next week there shouldn't be a train either. Past records show that weekend as part of the Coal Miner's Vacation.

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

Well, I hope everyone has enjoyed their weeks away from the 510/511 and perhaps filled this time with other worthy trains !

After several weeks without our trains -and faced with a forecast of yet another beautiful morning - I headed out well before the 5:51am sunrise to catch the coal train west of York. The train arrived at the S. Salem Church Rd. crossing at 6:11am, with ES40DC #7600 leading D9 9680 (elephant style) and D9 8947 facing rearward. The sun had just peaked over the tops of nearby trees, casting a nice sweetlight on the scene. Unfortunately, this location is not very scenic-with a wide-open grassy drainage area north of the tracks and a line of landscaping evergreens to the south. These trees are now high enough to seriously block any shot of the train, and in a few years the tracks should be hidden altogether I shot from the north side, and was able to get the waning full moon into the going-away shots.

On to Beiseker Rd. to check out the view from the top of the hill overlooking the quarry. There is no view this time of year due to the height of the corn on both sides of the hill. A three-step ladder or standing through the sunroof of a big SUV does not give enough height at this time, although the sunlight would have been excellent with a quarry backdrop.

On to the Rt. 116 crossing by the Little Creek Golf Course, where the train arrived at 6:28am. With sweetlight still in effect, this was the best location on this chase. The only shot with the moon in it would be a side shot of just the cab of the lead unit, as the moon was now quite low and could only be seen in a gap between the trees. Sprenkle Rd. crossing would have also been excellent, but I tend to shoot there too often... After this, I decided to go home and continue sleeping!

About 9:25 or so, I was jolted from a deep sleep by the sound of air horns at the MP2.2 crossing of Rt. 116. Knowing what was happening, I mobilized instantly and ran like a banshee (and drove like Richard Petty) to Porters. I was pleasantly surprised to find the ES40DC along with it's cut of 15 empties! I watched as they threw the switch and pulled onto the east leg of the wye. 7600 cut off and took a spin around the other legs of the wye. She then backed onto the cut of cars and proceeded east with them. Even standing on the roof of a Durango was barely enough height to get a decent shot over the corn along Thoman Dr., but that's what I did.

Off to the Rt. 116 crossing at MP2.2 ! Arriving just as the crossing signals lit up (can you say Richard Petty ?), a tight shot with the MP2.2 signal box was the best to be had. One more location- the crossing at Colonial Valley- would complete the "engine 7600 turn-around" sequence.

In light of an apparent need to spin this unit, perhaps it will also lead the 511 outbound on Sunday. 7600 is wearing relatively clean 'horsehead' paint, with the D9's both in dirty 'stripes'.

All for now,
Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

Updates: July 23 2011 : No train.

July 30 2011: ES40DC 7521 led D9 8994 across the Middle Division (both facing forward) and picked up standard cab SD60 2511 at Enola. 2511 should have led the 511 outbound, but I can't confirm that at this time.

This weekend's train, 08/06/2011: The same leader as last week (7521) led UP leaser C40-8 #9164 (facing rearward) across the NS Middle Division, and picked up another ES40DC #7716 in Enola. Unfortunately, 7716 is also facing rearward and was tucked in behind the 9164. If the power cut is as usual with the 2nd and 3rd units working together, the 9164 will never be 'facing' a camera for a clean picture She will always be a trailing unit, including on the outbound 511.

The train arrived at the Rt.116 crossing at Little Creek Golf Course at 5:29am , just as I was almost to the crossing. Good thing I got up 20 minutes earlier than usual for this train, as I otherwise would have missed it and been waiting forever for a train that had already passed ! Needless to say: no picture here in the complete dark. On to the RR Street x-ing where she would sit for a half hour- allowing for some time exposure shots in the pre-dawn glow. The train pulled it's first cut of 30 cars into the mill at 6:22am.

I can't spend much time with the train today, so good luck catching the UP out in the open (perhaps around 11:30-12:00 ?).

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

Thanks to Jim Fickel, out in the field, who reports that the 511 rolled west through CANNON on the Pittsburgh Line at 10:50am today (Monday 08/08). The power was the same as had arrived in Spring Grove, but in the reverse order as expected. All 3 units went west with the UP leaser second in line.

Yesterday as I returned home from the Cassandra All-Nighter and a weekend of both rain and sunny blue skies on the "Slopes", the 511 was NOT visible in Enola yard. Of note on the trip to the slopes, I found the signal bridges at Fostoria, PA., and Tipton, caught the WB 13G with 4 passenger cars trailing -not once, but three times- on the journey west, and shot ALTO tower before it gets torn down this winter... Met lots of great railfans on the trip too!

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

UPDATE: 08/12-15/2011 No train scheduled. I believe (without checking past notes), this is a "Co-Gen" shutdown week.

This weekend's train (08/19-22) was reported by Corey Z. as passing CP-PORT (Newport) eastbound at 1:40pm yesterday. Thanks Corey. Leading was D9 9676, with 2664 and 9400 trailing. All are in black, although I havent yet seen the latter two units so I don't know their orientation, and I'm not a trivia buff so I can't say what paint scheme they're in until I see them.


This morning (Saturday) was supposed to be very foggy(and it was), and with the great possibility that the three aforementioned units were still on the train, I slept in. Enjoying the chilly morning, I was slow getting moving and did not arrive at the soccer fields early enough to get back to the lake for the switcheroo Instead, I just waited at the Colonial Valley x-ing before heading home for a nice breakfast. After 11:00am I'll drop by CV again to verify that the other two units are the same as on the PITL yesterday. A bonus today is that I'll shoot 9400 (if it's here): besides Conrail, Circus / Carnival trains, OCS's, and OLS's, I go after units with two zeros together.

The first crew finished their first cut at 11:57 and headed to PLANK where they pulled completely past the west switch, backed the cut in and cut off, then pulled the power forward, threw the switch and ran around to the east end. About 9:22 they shoved out to the usual drop-off point west of town.

Until Later,
Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

UPDATE: If you're in town checking out the 9676 when it comes out in the open around 1:30 or so, come early and watch the Fire Equipment parade. Not sure of the whole route, but traffic police are already setting up around the traffic circle. I overheard the number '99' in context of how many items will be on parade...

The 9676 led SD70M-2 2664 and D9 9400 into town, both facing rearward. 9400 should lead the 511 outbound, but if anything gets out of order, the 2664 could have the honors.

UPDATE: The parade route was from Sprenkle Rd. east to Beiseker Rd., then on to the 4-H Fairgrounds for a show. Mystery about the route, though, as it passed maybe 30 or 40 houses, a few businesses and a golf course, and miles of farmland with no shade... I guess the fire Companies, owners of historic equipment and autos (an AMC Rebel convertible and two Javelins), and the one Politician plus the Spring Grove marching band 'Blue Crue' all needed an afternoon with nature. Nice stuff, at any rate

UPDATE: The 511, as many of the faithful know, generally gets left at FLOUR on the NS York Secondary immediately after York Railway is done unloading it as the 510. There the 511 will sit until such a time as NS sends a crew from Enola, generally Sunday afternoon around 2-ish. Then off to Enola, where she'll sit until perhaps Monday morning or as late as sometime on Wednesday!

Well, this weekend was unusual in that the train was delivered late Saturday night at FLOUR (usual...), but went quickly to Enola (time unknown) and was westbound on the Pittsburgh Line Sunday morning- passing MP116 at 9:32am! Thanks to Andy Gipe Sr., via ns_pitl Yahoo group. A later report from Sean Gulden (also ns_pitl group), placed the 511 at MG (Mid-Grade) on the east slope, at 12:28pm.

As originally predicted, NS 9400 led 2664 and 9676 up the York Secondary and the Port Road Branch, where they made it through Enola unchanged. No word yet if the 511 terminated at Southfork or went on to Shire Oaks.

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

First, let me apologise for this very 'timely' posting:only a couple of weeks late... What with my 'day job', family obligations, and a VERY busy freelance photography season -including severe weather events, earthquakes, floods and lots of railroad news- you can see that other important things can sometimes get burried in the shuffle. At any rate, there hasn't been anything of urgency to report, at least not concerning our 510/511 trains; otherwise it would have surely been posted!

UPDATE: 08/26-28/11 This weekend there was a train. A report from an anonymous friend was that the 510 was rolling downgrade near Horseshoe Curve, about 4P.M. on Friday, 08/26/11. However, he did not note the power, and couldn't even say for sure if there were two or three units; he only indicated that he didn't think there was any color up front. Lots of help THAT heads-up was Saturday morning arrived and I found myself -as usual- waiting somewhere along the Yorkrailway right-of-way; this time in town by the Railroad Rd. crossing. WOW! What a surprise it was to see this: three, count 'em THREE D9-40's!!! WOW. Not something one would ever expect in today's world. The highlight was that the middle unit was only a "C", not a "CW" like the other two. Of course, this means it was a standard cab rather than a wide cab, and had a white A/C unit on its cab roof. 9198 led the 8843 and 9683, with the latter two both facing rearward. I went home and stayed there. One of the Yahoo groups (I forget which one...) later reported the 9683 leading the 511, as one would have expected.

UPDATE: 09/02-04/11 No train due to the Labor Day holiday.

UPDATE: 09/09-11/11 No train this weekend, unless they snuck one in after 10:30A.M. on Saturday and operated in stealth mode all weekend with no radio transmissions

UPDATE: 09/16-18/11 After getting up early for non-train-related reasons, I took a chance on a train. While not expecting a 510, and despite no sightings being reported through the grapevine, it had, nonetheless, been two weeks without one and I knew that it was remotely possible that one could arrive. You can just never be too sure of anything! Getting trackside later than I would generally like(about 6:10A.M.), I went to Railroad Rd. and sat in the dark for a while. After it began to get light, and seeing that the sky was a beautiful blue with the underbellies of the few clouds glowing in shades of pink and orange, I thought I'd make a quick dash up to Sprenkle Rd. as that is a much more scenic location to begin with. After waiting along Hershey Rd., in the shadow of a small hill, I took a nap and finally awoke when the sun hit the car and warmed it up. 7:45 and no train. Time to head home and continue the nap, but only after stopping by three yard sales along the way. And no, unless you go into town to see the 510 arrive at this time of the year, you will have to settle on it passing in the dark. That is, unless they encountered some sort of unusual delay that allows for the sun to wakeup. Anything can happen!

Later that day found me in Lancaster, so I scoped out the engine terminal along Harrisburg Ave. The only item of interest to me was the blue Conrail caboose 24532, used by NS as a shoving platform. This has been around for quite some time, as I have also shot it here in years past.

As for next weekend, 09/23-25/11, I fully expect there to be a 510 as the mill should begin ramping-up its stockpile as cold weather draws near. The next couple of months should see perhaps three trains per, as electricity generation demands pick up.

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

UPDATE: 09/23-25/2011- There was no train today! That's four weekends without a coal delivery. Wondering if it is partly a reflection on the economy and perhaps demand for paper goods. At least one weekend accounted for the Co-Gen maintenance shutdown, I've been told. I'd bet the farm there'll be a 510 next weekend, but we'll just have to wait and see. After checking the records from last year, September had two trains: off for Labor day, train, off for Co-Gen, train. October had five weekends, with trains arriving on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

When a train does come to town, catching the arrival in daylight is over for the season. One must now venture back to the lake shore around 9A.M. to see all three units together, or catch crew 1 at Colonial Valley around 11:30 and then crew 2 around 2P.M.

With only 44 Conrail or LMS units still wearing blue paint on the NS system, we now have a better chance of getting another UP leaser (or one of the former UPs that have been purchased by NS)in the consist. 44 units may sound like a decent-sized pool, but over half of them are four-axel or otherwise under-powered units that won't ever be sent to Spring Grove. They like to have about 12,000 hp in the lashup on the east-end operations, so we're pretty much limited to combinations of D-8, D-9, SD60, SD60I and SD60M, SD70, 70M and 70M-2, the larger ES40DC, ES44AC and SD70AC or the mamoth 80MACs. Of these, my records don't show any ES44ACs or SD70ACs having come to town. But, the bottom line for BLUE power in Spring Grove is only 13 possible units: eight D-8s in LMS solid blue, three Conrial blue D-8s, and the remaining two 'Blues Brothers' SD60Is.

Lets cross our fingers for next weekend!

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

Ted- sad news about the # of blues left. Great news on your picture being published. Just got my October copy of Railpace in mail today and I see the coal train on page 19. Neat effect with the corn-looks like the train is photoshopped into it! They should've made the image larger to see it better. I've shot Yorkrail before but never at that spot. Keep up the reports!
Mikey

Thanks Mikey! I take what they give me, but the shot does look kind of neat in a larger format. I haven't been along Thoman Rd. in the last month, so I can't say if the corn has been cut or not. If not, it should be brown by now. If it ever stops raining, I'll shoot an RJ2 local and check out the spot again.

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

09/29-10/02/2011: Preliminary info has our 510 sitting in Enola Yard as of Friday morning around lunchtime. The power from out west is 9618 and 9039, which are both D9s I believe, and are both facing forward. No word yet on what will be/has been added as the third unit for Spring Grove. Thanks to RK for the heads-up!

Ted G
WM York Sub MP 2.2

UPDATE: 10/02/2011: Since I was out of town all day yesterday chasing the Pennsy E8-powered Susquehannock (Harrisburg>Tyrone>Altoona>Gallitzin>Altoona>Tyrone>LocK Haven>Sunbury>Harrisburg>Altoona), I was unable to see the 510 at all. A friend reports that as of Saturday around 8:30P.M., there were still loads on the main east of Railroad Rd., and there was only one cut of 15 empties visible anywhere around Colonial Valley x-ing - and that was over by the warehouse!

Expecting a Sunday morning departure, and having Church and some family responsibilities to take care of, I never expected to see the train at all this weekend. That is, until I ran an errand around 2P.M. and saw the conductor walking his train near Colonial Valley. The EOTD was in place so I figured I could catch the departure and check out what the third unit was (see original post for this weekend). As I drove through the mill at route 116, I glanced up the tracks to the west and was shocked to see the rear of a locomotive! OK. They're running long-hood-forward, I said to myself...Hmmmm...Usual practice when all three units are facing forward has been to turn a unit at Porters. OK. Don't remember the last time they ran long-hood-forward, but I kind of recall seeing it in the distant past.

After running the erand, I sat near the Little Creek Golf Course at the 116 x-ing west of Nashville. Of course I had my camera with me: that's what freelance photographers do! Thanks to favorable wind directions, I was able to hear the horns as the train left the paper mill- and at every crossing along the way. The train arrived at 2:25P.M., with a trio of.... you guessed it: black D9-40CWs! 9039 led the 9618 and 9652, all elephant-style walking backwards

What the heck: sure it was crappy weather, but I still had some "chase mode" energy left over from Saturday and it wasn't raining, so off I went! A quick run (without any traffic, thanks to the train now blocking the route 116 x-ing) to Beisecker Rd. and I found that the southern hillside of corn had been harvested making a clear shot from the top of the hill. Of note is that the corn to the east (north side of the hill) has also been cut, opening up shots for the morning YRC local with the quarry as a backdrop. Also of note is that the curve to the west (south)is getting overgrown with brush and weed-trees, cutting down on the open view of the curve

A quick dash up Beisecker to Rt.30- even sitting through a complete traffic light cycle- and I was still able to get east of the Rt. 30 crossing and get in position for a shot near the quaint old freight-station style buildings on both sides of the track! From here it was up to the traffic light at Rt. 116 (on the right) and a left turn onto S.Salem Church Rd. With the trackside line of evergreens growing rapidly on the south side of the rails, I tried a different shot peeking through two of the trees. Not a shot I'll likely bother with again; this entire crossing is kind of a waste of time as far as scenery is concerned, although it's good for a wide-open view in both directions if you don't have the sun to worry about. However, from the north side of the tracks, you are stuck until the train clears. If you catch good lights, you can still make it to the the quarry (via 116) or to the Lincoln yard leads as needed.

Desiring to stay on the correct side of the train at all times for a quick getaway for the next shot, I opted to go straight up Market Street at the 30 split, and past the crossing at the lead into Lincoln Yard. From here it was over to Hokes Mill Rd., and maybe a shot as the D9 passed old MPA #84, which I had just seen near the road about a week prior. No suck luck, as 84 has been moved (I don't know where... yet). From there, it was up to the east crossing of Market Street. A nice shot was lined up from the middle of the trafficless road, but an old man with a carload of old people decided they would pull around me and get right up to the crossing gates. Figures. At least he didn't run me over, or run the gates...

Next- and last- on the agenda, was a shot near (and on) the bridge over Codorus Creek at the site of the now-gone Ohio Blenders compound. A parting shot was in order: going away with the stadium in the background. Now my memory card was full, and it was time to go home and warm up as it was a damp day in the low 50's.

I await sightings and updates from the network, as the 511 ventures through Enola and westward. I wonder If Enola will let the leader remain long hood forward; after all, they put it in place.

Ted G
WM York Sub MP2.2