Amsterdam, New York: July 22nd, 1999 &
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While in Amsterdam, I trainwatched with some of the coolest railfans I've ever trainwatched with, the 6 of us all had dinner at Russo's Grille, a small restaurant located, conveniently across from the tracks!!! We decided that it had cooled down enough to head back to the Amtrak Station, so here's what we all saw... |
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I guess I just have a thing for photographing sunsets, so I'm trying to teach myself exactly the proper technique, for practice, I took this slide of the setting sun in the Mohawk Valley.
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This would be the last train I would end up photographing for the night, as you can see, it was getting dark very quickly. With the reflection of the setting sun in the window of the lead unit, we see, CSX Train SEPI with C40-8 #7568 on the lead on Track #2 at 8:15pm. This wasn't the last train that would come by though, SECN and Amtrak #49, The Lake Shore Limited also came by but it was too dark to photograph them. The 2 friends that drove me to the station that morning had to work early the next morning, so we all decided to call it quits for the day at about 11:30pm, a couple other railfans had stuck around for a couple more hours and recorded somewhere near 20 trains before 3:00am!!! I wish they would have come by during the day, but we don't all have control over that stuff.
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Friday, July 23rd, 1999: I checked out of my hotel at 11:00am, but had until 3:24pm, when my train back home was to arrive, to get in some more trainwatching. Unfortunately, there were no other railfans there when I arrived on Friday Afternoon at the station, so to all who couldn't make it, here's what came by... |
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This CSX Eastbound ML Train with Conrail C30-7A #6591 passes by the station on track #2 at 11:54am. This unit will soon become Norfolk Southern #8104.
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Amtrak Train #63 arrives in Amsterdam with F40PH #323 on the lead. For some reason, this train had 4 extra coaches in its consist as well as another F40PH on the rear. The train is seen stopping in Amsterdam on Track #1 at 12:02pm.
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2006 UPDATE!!! This photo was lost for nearly 7 years, it is of Amtrak F40 #258 which was deadheading on the back end of Train #63 in the photo above. Amazing the things that get "discovered" when you rebuild a web site!!!
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Next up is this CSX ML Train with C40-8W #7658 leading an HLGX lease unit on Track #2 at 12:08pm.
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With Solid Canadian National power on the lead, we see Train CNSE-2 lead by SD75I #5688 on Track #2 at 12:18pm.
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Flying through Amsterdam, similar to the way it did on Thursday, was Amtrak's Eastbound Train #48, the Lake Shore Limited passing by Amsterdam at 12:28pm on Track #2 with P42DC #15 and an F40PH trailing, for power.
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This Westbound CSX TV Train heads west past the station at 1:09pm on Track #1 with C40-8W #7822 on the lead. A rainstorm would interrupt my trainwatching shortly after this photo was taken.
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And finally, to cap off 3 days of trainwatching in Amsterdam, my train, Amtrak's Mohawk, Train #281 would make its station stop at 4:11pm, shortly after the rainstorm ended. The caretaker is waving to the conductor to stop the train in a particular spot on the platform. I was one of only a handful of people who got on in Amsterdam. This trip proved to be one of the best railfanning trips I've taken since I've been involved with this hobby. If you want a good trainwatching spot with lots of nice scenery, Amsterdam is definitely a good place to try. I want to thank Rich Heise and Bill Ensinger of the Greater Capital District Railfan Association, for driving me around Amsterdam while I was there, as well as Armand, Kurt, and Rob, for telling me the railfanning stories, and to everyone for dinner at Russo's!!! Until next year, should I return to Amsterdam again, Happy Railfanning... |
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