Three days in Oneonta

During a  week of project work in the mountains near Oneonta, I managed to score a few scattered opportunities to railfan after hours each day.    Some highlights:

 

On my way toward Oneonta on Tuesday I swung by Cooperstown Jct. which is still home to a pair of forlorn but seemingly intact and un-vandalized GG-1’s, as well as two relatively pristine looking Metro North FL-9s.

Next, I chanced onto a very good overlook along Rt 7 just north of the Emmons exit, where the view is unobstructed across. It’s behind a barn and farmhouse about 1 mile N of the exit on the right, overlooking where I-88 crosses the Susquehanna River and the CP, very good for afternoon photography.  Best of all there is a 40 ft-high fill to work from so the view is unobstructed.  I spoke to the landowner  last name of Oserthaupt (spp).  Very friendly, and while not a railfan was very well informed about the RR having many relatives and family friends who were D&H Oneonta area employees and intrigued enough with the hobby to be supportive of letting me take pictures and telling me his stories of the D&H. He evidently personally once knew Walter Rich of NYSW fame and was aware of their operations as well.  He was totally fine with me coming back whenever conditions were right all week long for more pictures.  It turns out that the debris making up the mountain of fill was the remnants of the Oneonta roundhouse!   On that first occasion the weather was murky and I just waited there almost until dusk for this northbound train to come by, not having a lineup or any other information to make me go anywhere else:

 

Track speed is a comfortable 40 MPH, and trains seemed to fleet S during the morning and N in the afternoon. No idea what they were doing at night, but on average there was a train about every 2 hours all week long during daytime.  Rt 7 is still an easy but brisk chase, and watch out for speed zone in the little towns along the way like Schenevus, Maryland and Colliersville. Even with those I could easily overtake trains but there's not much time to dilly dally after you shoot a location.

Thursday afternoon was the jackpot.  Just as work was wrapping up, a NB whistled through Oneonta.  I grabbed my rental and caught up to it at Osterthaupt’s. That’s part of the roundhouse fill slope at lower right: 

 

I followed this job north taking advantage of the lack of foliage and afternoon lighting, playing a wishful hunch that there could be a potential meet at East Worcester. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out it was a good hunch. Look what was waiting at the south end of the passing siding at roughly 6  PM:

 

 

It was a tightly executed meet and very soon the SB whistled off and was on the move. Judging by internet reports and the freight tonnage makeup this was likely a train from Montreal (the opposing job of 931?).

Needless to say a chase ensued with the trick becoming to fight the hillside shadows in some locations.

 

 

Friday on the way home I cruised Rt 7 from Sidney up to Richmondville.  I scouted some new locations, but no trains until I bagged a SD70m/ES-44/SD-60 combo at Cooperstown Jct as a door prize:

 

Back in Maine Saturday morning, I greeted the morning Brunswick Downeaster 692 coming and going just west of Hillside on my way to the Topsham train show. The brush cutting nicely opens up the inside of the curve