Railfanning On The Amtrak Hudson Line At Stuyvesant, NY

Located about 20 miles south of Albany, Stuyvesant, NY is located along the eastern shore of the Hudson River and features a historic (but not in use) train station along with a small park area known as Riverview Park next to the river with plenty of space to safely park your car and get in some good railfanning on the Hudson Line as well as see an occasional freighter running up the river! Included here are photos taken during my visit to this excellent spot along the Water Level Route!

The first train I would see today is Train #292 - The Ethan Allen Express en route to New York from Rutland, VT with GE P32AC-DM #714 leading.

Riding down the mighty Hudson River is this freighter, riding on water that's almost as smooth as glass today! The weather here was unseasonably
mild for mid-December and as you can see, the river was wide-open with no ice chunks anywhere!

Next up is a train only Amtrak employees could ride! This was the Amtrak Santa Special that ran between Albany-Rensselaer and Rhinecliff, NY stations.
The train was a Christmas-themed special that was running for Amtrak employees and their families with a locomotive on each end as there's no facility
in Rhinecliff to turn the train around. Today's leader was Phase III-painted GE P40DC #822 complete with Christmas lights and a wreath on the nose!

On the other end of the "Santa Special" is GP40TC #520 which is a rather rare unit on Amtrak, having begun its career with GO Transit in Toronto, Ontario
Canada. This unit was built by General Motors Diesel (GMD) in October 1966. It was purchased by Amtrak along with seven others in 1988 and was
numbered 192. To make way for eventual delivery of P42DC's (Amtrak currently operates one under the number 192), it was renumbered 520 and
today was also decked out with a wreath on the front. This unit generally does switching duties at the Rensselaer shops.

A closer view of the old New York Central Stuyvesant station. Built in 1881, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The station building was in the middle of restoration at the time I visited this area.

Freight on the Hudson Line? You bet! On paper, CSX still owns this line, however it is on long-term lease to Amtrak who is responsible for its maintenance
and dispatching. CSX does still run freight trains on it, though mostly overnight. This train however did pass by on its way to a yard in Hudson, south of
here. Today's train was lead by CSX EMD SD60M #8761 which is a former Conrail unit.

Another freighter heading north up the Hudson River.

Next up is Niagara Falls-bound Amtrak Empire Service Train #283 with GE P32AC-DM #711 leading. Due to these units featuring "Dual-Mode" functionality
meaning that they can operate as a regular diesel unit or by third-rail electric in the tunnels leading to New York's Penn Station, these units rarely venture
out of New York, outside of maybe Rutland, VT or on rare occasion to Toronto on the Maple Leaf.

The 20th Century Limited flies through Stuyvesant, well, it's distant relative anyway! Here we have Amtrak Train #48 - The Lake Shore Limited on its way to
New York's Penn Station from Chicago riding on the Water Level Route! After an engine change in Albany, today's train has GE P42DC #712 leading.

And finally, my ride for this trip, a 2015 Toyota Camry SE. This was an awesome car that reminds me quite a bit of my Honda Accord back home.
For some reason, this particular car had Rhode Island plates on it. Now let's go back to Rensselaer for some more great Amtrak railfanning!