Railfanning - Expo 2013 Trip

Lakeville NY has the shop for the Lavonia, Avon & Lakeville Ry. We found one engine idling in the yard. This is an all Alco railroad.

 November 2013 - Railfanning along the way

Don and I got some railfanning in while travelling to and from this years Expo in Pittsfield, Mass. We actually got lucky at a few spots. These views are just a few highlight of what we saw along the way. On the drive to Pittsfield we stopped at Lakeville, NY. near Rochester. We checked out the only Alco in the yard at the time. It was later in the day and their work was just finishing. There is a good size engine house in town. The next day we spent most of the morning in Utica, NY. There is a great looking station in town. The Adirondack Ry. has most of its engines and equipment currently stored here. Don and I had a chance to board two of the Adirondack Alco's as the gentleman that was to move the power was not sure how they started...he was a volunteer that works for another shortline and a really nice guy. Between the three of us we only got one engine going but that was enough to move the equipment. It appears the other Alco had a electric governor that none of us knew how to reset...it has been years since I have been on an Alco and never on a ex-CPR. Some of the tech stuff has changed since Don and I worked on this type of engine. The crew offered us a ride out about 12 miles to the next town where the equipment was to be stored for an upcoming run. We decided it would be best if we got a few shots of the power leaving town since the sun was now out and the meet between the two Amtrak Maple Leaf's at the station was in less than an hour.

Ex-CPR Alco's are nicely painted in Adirondack Ry. colours. The short train is departing Utica so it would be out of the way...a broken rail needs to be fixed near town.

The two Maple Leaf's, the New York-Toronto trains meet at Utica, Ny. prior to noon. On this day they both arrived at the same time. Engine 703 is on the eastbound train.

 I had yet to ever see a train come out of the Hoosac tunnel and on our visit I finally saw one, and to make it better the train stopped just short of the crossing so the lead engine could be restarted. This gave us a chance to get a shot on the crossing and again on the big bridge. Three different views for one visit, not bad at all. We chased the train for awhile till the light faded. November afternoons seem really short when railfanning. On another day we checked out the B&A helper station in Chester, Mass a short drive from the Expo site. The coal tower and roundhouse still stand in town. A bonus was the arrival of a train while at the tower. We also checked out the station and historic railway display east of the tower. From Chester we went to Palmer and caught the NECR coming up to the diamond with a colourful consist. We also stopped by the compound to see the Mass Central GP38's, newly painted in B&M bluebird colouring. Saturday must have been a down day for the Mass Central. On our way home we stopped by Amsterdam, NY since an Amtrak eastbound was due and there was a little sun. The only sun we saw on the way home...it was snowing by the time we got to London....George Dutka

Pan Am exits the Hossac Tunnel's east portal. It is moving really slow as it will stop at the crossing shortly. Being an overcast day well after 3pm the light is getting weak...a slow moving train is working well for us.

Pan Am EB arrives at Charlemont, Mass. as we wait for the last photo of the day. The light is now almost gone and getting a good shot will be tough.

Don got his shot at Charlemont, Mass.

A CSX EB approaches the old coaling tower at the Chester, Mass. helper's station. The roundhouse also remains to the left of this photo.

The crew on the SB NECR has to stop short of the signal and manually push a button to get a light to cross.

SB NECR crosses the diamond in Palmer, Mass. with a colourful consist.

Mass Central GP38 in B&M bluebird liverly at Palmer Mass.

On the way home we caught the EB Amtrak at Amsterdam, NY.