Grassroots Railroad Sports?

I also tinkered with making some of the photos black and white, and they came out pretty cool.

As I had said a couple weeks ago, I was torn between going to the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville for their big Alcos or the Finger Lakes Railway to chase their Geneva-Solvay road freight, GS-2. LA&L hits the road later (noon versus GS-2's 10am) but LA&L was closer to my hotel, although it's route was not headed in the direction of home (it runs north-south and I live way east). But the LA&L's Alcos are living on borrowed time, and while talking to my railfan friends, the Swansons, who were on the A&A charter, I was told that the LA&L Alco fleet is running a bit bare. C425 #428 had a fire about a year ago and is out of service witht no intent to repair it, RS-36 #418 has been scrapped, and they were told at the recent LA&L-themed event at the R&GV Museum that C420 #420 is only used as yard power since it's so worn out. They're left with C425 #425 and C430 #433 as their own power, and ex-Belt Railway of Chicago C425 WNY&P #426 and ex-D&H C424m Bath & Hammondsport #422 have also been moved to the LA&L to help out.

So, I left my hotel at bout 10:30m, got to Lakeville at about 10:45am and set up by the ramp track up out of the yard and waited. The LA&L is part of the old Erie Rochester Division, which split off the mainline at Painted Post and went north west to Avon before junctioning straight north to Rochester and straight south to Mount Morris. The LA&L purchased the Livonia-Avon segment, but abandoned the portion from Livonia to Lakeville in '81 due to an aging bridge that they couldn't afford to repair, and then bought the Avon-Genesee Junction (Rochester) portion from Conrail in '96. To the left is the line that once went to Livonia (and beyond, as told by the JC 359 milepost, JC being Jersey City), and a portion of it still does exist and serves a feed mill at the end of the stub just off Bronson Hills Road. The right line goes down into a classification yard that also serves several customers and was built by the LA&L in '82.

It got to be around 1:30-1:45 and no train had headed up the hill. While I was waiting, a guy named Matt (I've never gotten his last name) wheeled up and joined me at the crossing. He said he'd been down in the yard earlier and they were working the yard with the #420. I was surprised, since I knew you used to be able to sign a waiver at the office and go out in the yard but that the railroad had discontinued offering that. Apparently there had had been a change in management that had resulted in them discontinuing that, but that that president left a little while back amidst rumors of scandals and the LA&L is back to a bit of their old mentality.

He also had some other insight into operations, including the impending conversion to eco-friendly units. Apparently the FRA/NY grant does not require disabling or scrapping of the units, and he said that at the minimum the #425 seems to be pretty safe. Apparently "some museum in Connecticut" is interested in the #425, since it's the last surviving New Haven C425 and it's in very good shape. He said that back in the late '70s he went out to Collingwood, OH, where all the Conrail Alcos served out their final days, with his brother and they saw the #5086, as it was numbered at the time, getting 4 new traction motors, a complete overhaul of the engine, and fresh Conrail blue paint. Why Conrail gave an Alco such a major overhaul when they were actively replacing them and retired it in '81 is a mystery but it factored into LA&L's purchase of it. I would guess that "some museum in Connecticut" is Railroad Museum of New England, since they operate on New Haven trackage and own quite a few NH pieces already. He also said that he's seen the RFQ for the new Tier 3-compliant units and it was for 6 units. His theory is that they are going to buy them for the LA&L first, since it has the steep grade out of the yard and the biggest and heaviest trains, and then if they pan out there, they'll buy more for the Bath & Hammondsport and the Ontario Midland. The WNY&P, a desicatede corpse of a railroad at this point, seems to be using GP15-1s as their power now. 

He mentioned that while down in the yard, he hadn't seen any road power getting ready, just the #420 working the yard. But he added that if it was just 5-10 cars going to Avon, they would just take the #420 up to Avon and back. Same with if they were just making a shove up to Bronson Hill. That would sadly preclude any hopes of a road train going to Genesee Junction though. As we stood there, we heard the #420 get close to the curve a few times and then back down, which meant they were likely working near the throat of the yard. Then, an LA&L hi-rail truck showed up at the crossing right as the #420 came slogging up the ramp track.

The #420 is actually running forward in this photo. This is one of those weird passenger C420s that Long Island Rail Road bought in '63, actually it's class leader #200, to retire the aging Fairbanks-Morses and RS-3s, and they were built with passenger gearing, a steam generator in the high nose, and long hood forward controls. When the long-term leases expired on the first ten, the #200-#209 went back to the financing company, who stored them on the D&H at Colonie. The D&H briefly leased the #200 and her sisters in the beginning of '77, but the high speed gearing and lack of dynamic brakes made them poorly suited to the D&H. The #200 was sold off and went to the Virginia & Maryland, and then the LA&L purchased it in '95. I'd sure like to see this thing get saved after retirement. Even if it's mechanically tired, it could still be a good display piece, say at one of the two museums dedicated to Long Island railroading.

As the tail of the train came into view, there was still a brakeman riding the grab irons on the car, which made it seem unlikely that they were going up to Avon. We went over to the hi-rail truck and asked, just to make sure, and the employee went, "Nah, this is just the yard train. The road train went north a long time ago." WHAT?! So much for that noon departure. They had to have left early since I was there before 11 and hadn't seen them go by. Matt and I piled inn our cars and began a mad drive north along the line, hoping that maybe they were still working the yard at Avon or the Barilla pasta spur.

During our drive north, we didn't see them at the three-track yard at Avon, or at the Barilla spur, so we pressed on and finally found them grabbing cars at the Howlett Farms feed mill north of Avon. I was kind of hoping to see WNY&P #426, which still wears the gray, black and yellow from original owner Belt Railway of Chicago. But I certainly wouldn't complain about the #433 and the #425. Last time I'd been here, they had used the #428 (RIP) and the #425, they both had run north long hood forward, less than ideal for photos, so I was glad that the #433 was facing north. The #433 is one of those rare C430s, and also came from thee NYC/PC/CR/NYS&W chain of ownership, just like the #430 that Adirondack Railroad recently bought.

The #425 belches black smoke as they get their lengthy train underway and back on the road.

Racing past the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum in Rush, NY, which has the old Industry depot from the Erie days. Why is it called Industry? Well, the Industry Residential Center, formerly know as the Western House of Refuge and State Industrial School, is just across the road. Pretty grim place, if you want to do the research. The R&GV has a pretty healthy collection of small Alcos, which includes an RS-1 and an S-2 that were some of the LA&L's earlier power.

Traffic made it difficult to get out of the R&GVRM, and then there was terrible road construction that slowed me down. I really wanted to get them coming over the Genesee River, and so I ditched a spot that I was going to go to between Rush and this bridge. I get up there, and there's a CSX MoW crew up there (CSX uses the near track) and they're out on the bridge inspecting it. So my first thought is "Oh, LA&L already came through and is down at the Genesee Junction interchange." Genesee Junction is near inaccessible without a hike, so I resigned myself to maybe catching them headed south. As I'm waiting, keeping my distance to not get yelled at, the one CSX guy yells over, "Hey, are they coming through here today?" Weird, I figured the CSX guys would know. I go over and explain that they were headed north, and they had actually left Lakeville hours early, but I had last seen them at Rush. He finished up his work, got yelled at by a lady to fix the rough grade crossing ("Not our job! Talk to the city DPW!"), and then Matt showed up and explained that they had cut off from the train then reversed down a long spur to service a lumber company. He'd caught them at another spot, and that spur, hit the same construction I'd hit, and had time to make it here in advance. Whoops. Here they are crossing the Genesee River, headed towards the interchange with Rochester & Southern.

I was just going to wait on the other side of the bridge originally and wait for them to come back south and get the #425 leading over the bridge. I had done that when I was out here a year and a half ago, but that was in late fall, and it got dark before they returned from the interchange. But Matt explained that a couple cars in the consist would be headed over to the Rochester & Southern's Brooks Avenue Yard, and that you could follow them over there. At Genesee Junction, the crew would unhook a bunch of cars, pull south onto the R&S, and then make a shove move 2 miles north up to the yard. So I followed him up to Beahan Road, where we set up and waited, and while we were standing there BSing, a car wheels up and out hops the Swansons. "We were in the area and figured we'd see if there was any action and then we see you guys here waiting."

A cool patina'd Lake Erie, Franklin & Clarion hopper car. The LEF&C was a 15 mile shortline that's been gone since 1992, and the car has other reporting marks but it still wears LEF&C paint. Funny enough, LA&L's first Alco, RS-1 #20, came from the LEF&C in '72.

Shoving into Brooks Ave Yard.

They then shoved out of the yard about 45-60 minutes later. They used to pull out of the yard, but shoving makes things faster because they can clear the switch at Genesee Junction, throw the switch and pull right up onto their rails, back onto any cars left at the interchange and then head south.

We had seen lights down in the distance at the Junction before LA&L left the yard, and Matt asked the LA&L crew if Rochester & Southern was coming up. They confirmed that BY-1, the weekday job that works the Rochester Belt Line and Brooks Ave Yard. We decided to wait for them to come up into the yard, with a pair of GP38-2s leading a fairly short train. I mentioned that these were my first ever photos of the "Orange Plague" and I got an amazed look. But G&W hasn't bought up any short lines by me, and I'm sure as hell not going and seeking them out. After they went by, the Swansons went home and I considered going back down to get them headed south over the Genesee River, but it was 5:00pm, I had to drive home, I needed to get dinner, and the sky was turning awful dark.

We went to lunch at Braeloch Brewing in Kennett Square, PA. Turns out the building is an old refurb shop from a local short line railroad:

Though they don't use this building any more, immediately behind it is a siding for what I was told was the Delaware Valley railroad.

These pics were difficult due to the foliage, but there wet at least 3 diesels in bright blue and yellow livery:

They looked like they said EASTERN RAILROAD on the side.  One was numbered (I think) 2179 and another was 280_ something.

In reply to Duke :

That would be East Penn Railroad's Octoraro Division, part of the old PRR Octoraro Branch. East Penn owns a bunch of disconnected operations across PA and DE and uses that yellow and blue pain scheme. They do have a #2179, as well as a #2800 and a #2801. Technically they're GATX leasers but they're on long-term lease, so East Penn had them painted in their paint colors and lettering, even thought they retain GATX reporting marks. East Penn's own reporting marks are humorously ESPN. I've always wanted to get over to the East Penn and try and catch their GP18s, #1800, #1802 and #1804, since those were the old Susquehanna GP18s that the Suzie-Q bought brand new in 1962 and held onto until 2010 or so. The story I heard regarding their sale was that the GP20s they had acquired from TP&W were horribly unreliable and NS and CSX, who both own a stake in the NYS&W, told them to sell off all the old stuff, even the reliable GP18s, and buy some ex-Conrail Shared Asset Operations stuff that they were getting ready to sell off.

Doing some digging, the building is actually an old trolley barn from the West Chester, Kennett & Wilmington Electric Railway interurban line

Thank you!  Great info.  And yeah, one of them looked like it had ESPN under the cab window, but everything was partly obscured.