Capital Region Railfanning Photos

One of the main parts of this trip involves railfanning of course. Once I arrived back in Albany on my "trip within a trip", I was able to get some photos of select Amtrak trains. The following day, I would take a drive first out to Schenectady to have breakfast at one of the best diners in the Capital Region, and that would be none other than Mike's Hot Dogs! The food there is absolutely delicious and you won't break the bank eating there either! After breakfast, I picked up another railfan friend of mine in nearby Guilderland and took a driver out to Amsterdam, NY and would spend some time there. Included here are photos from Rensselaer as well as Amsterdam. Enjoy...

Amtrak's "Santa Special" train arrives with GE P42DC #42 which has a paint scheme that is a salute to America's Veterans.
The wreath on the nose is a nice touch also!

Amtrak Heritage Sleeping Car #10020, a car that was built by Budd in 1950 for the Union Pacific Railroad and named "Pacific Bend".
This car is part of the Amtrak Exhibit Train and was borrowed from that train for use on these trips, likely as a car for the crew.

Empire Service Train #284 is seen arriving at Albany-Rensselaer with GE P42DC #703 for power. This train originated this morning in Niagara Falls
and is bound for New York. It's seen passing the Santa Special train.

P32AC-DM #716 was on the other end of the "Santa Special" decked out with its own wreath too! Train #284 is next to this train to the right of the photo.

Amtrak Train #292 - The Ethan Allen Express arrives at Albany-Rensselaer with P32AC-DM #707 on the head end.

Empire Service Train #233 arrives in Rensselaer with the same train set that brought me to New York this morning lead by P32AC-DM #715.

The "Santa Special" departs Rensselaer for another run to Rhinecliff.

On December 14th, I headed over to Amsterdam, NY and here we see eastbound CSX crude oil Train K-010 lead by BNSF GE C44-9W #4569.

My rental car while I was on this trip, a 2014 Ford Fusion Titanium, that for unknown reasons had Massachusetts plates!

Amtrak's station in Amsterdam, NY which now features an ADA-compliant ramp into the station building.

Now arriving is Amtrak Empire Service Train #281, bound for Niagara Falls with P32AC-DM #703 for power.

Amtrak Train #48 - The Lake Shore Limited comes flying through Amsterdam as this station is not a stop for this train.
Today's train had P42DC #194 on the head-end.

Next up would be this westbound CSX garbage train with GE AC4400CW #556 leading a 4-unit consist.

The last freight train I would see here was CSX Train Q-386 with GE C40-8 #7524 on the head-end.

Once I completed my railfanning at Amsterdam, I drove one of my friends back to his home in Saratoga County then would drive back to Albany and have a quick dinner at Taco Bell before going back to the hotel to color-correct photos taken so far in this trip so as to get that work out of the way and only have one day's worth of photos to work on once I get back home. This has been a very productive and excellent trip, and with one more train ride left, so as to get back home to Buffalo, I decided to call it a day. Click the link below for the trip home...