I woke up overnight much later than I had planned due to my setting the alarm clock incorrectly and it never actually going off, so I stayed up for 3 hours and wrote some more of the travelogue before heading back to bed around 4:30am and finally getting up around 9:30am. I decided that since I would be doing things solo all day that I would explore new photo opportunities in the Amsterdam Area. I found a sidewalk on the NY State Rte. 30 Overpass that provided some nice overhead views along with the Greater Amsterdam Riverlink Park. The park has a small restaurant attached to it and has a long pier for pleasure boaters to dock their boat there. There is also a children’s playground and the entire park is handicap accessible. It’s only possible drawback is that you need to meander your way through the Riverfront Shopping Center in Amsterdam in order to get to the overpass that takes you to the park. On that overpass is another great place to take overhead views of the trains. I decided to make today be the day I would try to photograph all 8 Amtrak Trains that pass through here. The next set of photos were taken throughout the day in various locations in Amsterdam...
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 The first train of the day is Amtrak Train #63 - The "Maple Leaf" with P42DC #101 for power passing by NY State Rte. 5 at 10:44am. This was one of the last trains that Amtrak ever regularly assigned F40's to until some time in late 2001 when P40's and P42's took over.  Here is the rear end of a short CSX Ballast Train being pulled by a GP40-2 headed to a work site somewhere West of Amsterdam.  Taken from the overhead walkway at the Greater Amsterdam Riverlink Park, is Amtrak Empire Service Train #284 with P32AC-DM #715 for power at 11:27am. This overpass is by far one of the best places in town to get overhead views of trains on the CSX main.  Here is a nice late Amtrak Train #48 - The Eastbound "Lake Shore Limited" with P42DC #130 on the lead for power at 1:43pm.  CSX C40-8 #7644 leads this Eastbound Manifest through Amsterdam at 2:13pm.  Looking East towards Albany is the Westbound Amtrak Empire Service Train #287 with Phase V painted P32AC-DM #702 for power at 2:17pm. To photograph Westbounds on this bridge, you have to do some interesting camera positioning between the chain links in the fence around the walkway.  With newly repainted P32AC-DM #708 for power, Amtrak Train #286 passes through Amsterdam at 3:25pm.  With CSX SD40-2 #8060 for power, this Westbound Autorack Train passes through Amsterdam at 3:21pm.  Still in Phase III Paint is P32AC-DM #706 leading Train #283 Westbound on its way to Niagara Falls at 5:05pm.  Over near Guy Park just East of the Amsterdam Amtrak Station is a nice shaded spot next to Rte. 5 where today AC6000CW #652 leads this Eastbound van train at 6:19pm.  At 7:03pm, Amtrak Train #64, The New York-Bound "Maple Leaf" runs past Guy Park with 2 P40DC's for power with 837 leading 821.  Union Pacific GE AC44CCTE #5913 leads this Eastbound past Guy Park at 7:15pm. UP Power is fairly common on several CSX Freights along the Chicago Line.  And Finally, to close out a decent day of railfanning is Amtrak Train #49, the Chicago-Bound Lake Shore Limited with P42DC's #66 and 43 for power. The train is seen doing about 70mph through Amsterdam at 7:24pm. |
Well, I had accomplished exactly what I set out to do today, I photographed 8 Amtrak Trains in 8 hours, not bad! This is something that would be next to impossible to do back home and is one of the things I like most about railfanning here. After Train #49 passed by, I headed back to the hotel, ordered some dinner from Domino’s Pizza then spent the rest of the evening at the hotel getting online and writing the travelogue. So ends Day #4. |
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