Variety On CSX's Mohawk Sub 2005

In December of 2005, the Wheelman and I traveled to the west of Albany, NY to visit the Mohawk Subdivision of CSX and Broken Knuckle Video's Ken Buckman. Being the old NYC "water level route" helped lure us there too. While we both took tons of photos, I chose a few of the more unusual sights while we had the local guidance of Ken.

You might say this post was all "locked up" since we spent a good deal of time along the Mohawk River, route of the Erie Canal lock system. Most railfans are familiar with Lock 10 near Amsterdam or Guy Park in town. Above and below we are at Lock 13, which is west of our base at Canajoharie/Palatine Bridge. It is public but only accessible from the New York State Thruway. The locks themselves are closed for maintenance and repair during the winter. We bunked down the previous night at the Rodeway Inn Motel at Palatine Bridge (also the base for a prior post) which features a fabulous, though less than ideal for stills, view of the tracks.


The photos aren't spectactular but it might be useful to see what the lock area looks like from a railfanning perspective. If you like broadside views, this place, like some of the other locks, is pretty decent.




We actually started the chilly morning at Fort Plain, just up the road after meeting Ken for breakfast. Here we had a very handy detector that would give us an audible warning most of the day. With the Wheelman and his famous luck along on this trip we naturally caught this nearly original Santa Fe Warbonnet on the point of the first eastbound we saw through the detector equipment. Looking the other way we see the old freight house (owned by a New Jersey railfan) as a westbound double stack approaches. We caught a good sampling here but decided to push on to the locks. It was also tough to stand around in the snowy cold with little warning of what was near. Radio signals were scarce in this spot and the car too distant to rely on the rumble only. Access to Ken's scanner feed would have been awesome if it was around then.


We moved around quite a bit between these places and Fonda. This is a line known for it's parade of trains. Mornings here can be very busy. On the way east we caught an eastbound from the since replaced old bridge at Palatine Bridge. In the photo you see Lock 12 which was closed for the season and under repair. The Fort Plain detector is around the bend and the tail of this train has just been given the blessing to proceed with no defects. The shot isn't that spectacular but shows important detail. One of these days Lock 12 might be a good place to just relax and watch the action roll by. Over on the Canajoharie side out of view is a small downtown with some restored remnants of the old West Side line and a great diner across the street from the Beech Nut Foods plant.

Well, we couldn't sit still and expect to get a good feel for the area. Moving further east we went by some interesting railfanning spots as we approached Fonda. Fonda itself was good spot since there is a courthouse park and a Subway right at a crossing where one can sit and watch the action. However, the place where we spent a lot of time, on this trip and subsequent trips, was a mile or so west of town at a fairly open stretch featuring crossovers. I couldn't help but find this ex-BN SD40-2 on the point interesting enough to include. My previous posts might help explain the facination with these once common units.

As the day wound down and the light started to go, Ken determined that as work was being done and trains were avoiding a work zone, we should hang out at the other set of crossovers further west. He correctly figured that we might see the CN train in the mix. Boy did he nail that. We saw several trains stack up waiting their turn through and sure enough the CN west/northbound was one of them. Having our lucky charm helped too. The leader was a BC Rail unit. That turned out to be a bit of a news scoop for Ken. The remaining trains seemed to be a let-down after that, but were not ignored. Back at Ken's he copied my photos for his listservs and we bid him farewell.

This did not end the adventure. The Wheelman and I decided to extend the trip another day so the next morning we were in Canaan, CT at the MEC Caboose for a trip following the Housatonic RR. Maybe I'll get to that adventure next. We then ended with my first trip to the museum in Danbury and a chance meet of more New Haven heritage in Ansonia which I posted already.

BC