Man today was great..Pretty Darn busy. Got down to Harrisburg at around 5:20pm. Heres my list from when I got there at 5:20pm till around 7:15pm. 5:42pm- Amtrak 74 NB 5:53pm- NS 119 SB 6:03pm- NS ??? SB 6:48pm- NS 66E NB 7:00pm- NS 155 SB Pictures here: http://www.freewebs.com/ncrailroad/91905.htm
Matt, That's a busy time frame.... good catches! I haven't caught much on anything interesting on NS recently,.... I think the last thing I saw was 349 out of Raleigh with 3 Dash9 CW's running elephant style last week. Harold
I hate that Harold. I have been seen more Dash 9 40-Cw's here the last few weeks than I have ever seen. One thing i'd like to know..just how busy is Boylan Jct usually? I know when I took the Amtrak to Raleigh and hung out for the day...only 2 Freights went by. One with like 1 or 2 tank cars and the other was heading south into teh jct..switched over to the right side and then backed down that double track that led away from the Amtrak Station. Is it usually slow through Boylan Jct? I did like the track layout at the Jct though..the diamonds were awesome. Not something you see everyday here.
The track layout is awesome.... It is a junction of three famous (old-time) railroads... SCL, Southern, and (original) Norfolk Southern. It is not extremely busy, when compared to the NS mainline through Charlotte/ etc. In Raleigh, at the junction, we usually get NS trains 349/350, sometimes 351/352 (may be overnite), a local switching move, Amtrak's 73/74 and 79/80, CSX's 741/742 and any other moves.... Harold
Thats not to bad then. That was probably that local switcher that I saw. It was a Dash 9 40-CW engine with a tank car and he first went up track to the north past the Amtrak Station and went across the 2 bridges I remember being there and went around the curve..he was gone for maybe 30 to 45 mins and then came back down the track in reverse and proceeded past the station. They took that single track that splits off to the left(left as if you were looking south at the Jct). Went down there..I walked from the station that way and could hear the engine powering up and down and then he came back...cut across the diamond straight and I never saw him again.
And yes you are right..I loved the track layout there..I took pictures of the layout..VERY neat in my opinion. One other question for you. I know that usually Amtrak 74 uses engine 1797..but I have seen 73 come back in the morning with 1755. Does 73 sit by the station all night? And since 74 is heading north..To get the engine and cars turned around to head south I assume there must be somewhere North of the Station where they can turn the consist?? I have mean't to ask you this before. Other thing that gets me..well I guess it makes sense as Amtrak 79 starts in New York and ends its day in Charlotte..but 79 is ALWAYS atleast 1 hour late getting into Charlotte..and 1 hour is if your lucky..usually its anywhere from 1 hour 50 mins to 3 hours late..I have noticed that 73/74 are alot of times 10 mins early arriving into Charlotte and Raleigh. I am wanting to take a trip back to Raleigh on the Amtrak very soon. Maybe we can get together and I can buy you a Pepsi.
Hard to say what or where exactly he was going... The switch job is usually anything in the yard: sometimes a single Dash 9-40CW or (lately) 2 to 3 SW1500's! The trackwork is really cool as it does form a wye... a lot of times trains coming out of the yard wishing to go to "South Raleigh (Garner) will come around Boylan Jct. and back down there if they do not have someone to man the switches. Harold
Wise folks would leave nothing by the station at night.... The Amtrak units tie down in the NCDOT yard which is a located in CSX's yard. The yard is goegraphically north of the station; I have never seen the "turning" of the train, but the have two options: run around the wye and back down to the CSXyard, or run into the yard and use the CSX turntable for the power. Harold
I would venture to guess that 79 is getting held up on CSX somewhere North of us... 73/74 are always given priority by NS, so they are not usually held up and can maintain their schedule. Harold
Matt, I usually like Diet Coke, but maybe a Diet Pepsi will do Send me a PM if you are coming up here, as I do travel a lot and need some notice. Harold
Thanks for that welp of information Harold!! Greatly Appreciated. So CSX does not give Amtrak Priority at all like NS does? And yeah I think its best they leave nothing by the station at night..I was sitting in the station in the A/C looking out at the tracks and a guy came by looking at the ground. I felt bad for him but he made me a little un-easy at the sametime. He was walking around picking up used cigarette buts off the ground and lighting them with matches and smoking them for about 2 seconds and would throw them down..he kept looking at me. And I had the little guy with me so it made me a bit more nervous. I can hold my own..just that when you have someone young to look out for at the sametime you have to put up even more defense. I am sure you know what I mean there.
Oh and if you want a Diet Coke...I am sure we can diffently arrange that. I'll let you know when I am coming up..I haven't decided yet and have some things going on here that I gotta get sorted out. My car got stolen out of the Employee parking lot at the Airport Sunday evening. So I am trying to get into the rebuilding process..I lost about everything. It really hit me hard and I am still having a hard time but trying to keep my head up.
