Conrail's Southern Tier was the scenic ex-EL line that ran through New Jersey and New York State. It provided CR with a valuable extra route west, but never saw the same amount of traffic that the former PC (NYC and PRR) routes did.
Semaphore 318.1 on the westward main at Brown's Crossing, NY. displays a "clear" indication, but not for long.
One of the good things about automatic block signals, of any kind, was that they gave warning about oncoming traffic running against the current. Semaphore 318.1 has "dropped" to caution for just that reason. And now you know where the expression "signal dropped" comes from, if you didn't already.
And here it is! BUOI, led by SD60 6850, rolls past the signal at Brown's Crossing, NY. The photo was purposely composed this way to show the "umbilical" between the semaphore and the code line.
A Guilford train snakes thru the curves just East of Browns Crossing on Conrails Southern Tier Line..
The operators desk inside of BD Tower in Binghamton.
The operator at BD Tower ties train orders to the arms on the train order pole.
The West end of the Southern Tier was at Bison Yard, a joint facility with N&W. It did not take long for this yard to be abandoned, since Frontier Yard was only a little over a mile away. Here is a mix of power at the engine facilities as seen from the old LV main.
An Eastbound Guilford stacker with a 3 builder lashup.
A pair of GATX leaser SD40's take CP/D&H train BUME across the new Portage Viaduct near Portageville, NY. on May 7, 1993.
BUOI-2 with SD50's 6760 and 6758 east on one @ the Hillburn X-overs Hillburn, NY
DHT9 at Chemung, NY. on 5/5/93. The old station can be seen near the rear of the train on the curve in the distance.
DHT9 rolling along through East Wellsburg, NY.
DHT9 passing a "replacement" signal in Wellsburg, NY.
DHT9 passing semaphore 308-2 in West Rathbone, NY.
DHT9 by eastward semaphore 312.2 in Cameron, NY.
DHT9 passing semaphore 318.1 at Brown's Crossing, NY.
DHT9 passing the, now extinct, station in Canisteo, NY.
A leased CN GP-38 leads an Eastbound into Hornell. Those widecabs were a novelty back then!
IHB-7 with leased CN power swings off the Graham Line @ Howells Jct., Howells, NY
IHB-7 rolls by the Honesdale Branch @ Lackawaxen, Pa
CNJ exB&O SD40 3067 "the Red Baron" idles across for the former EL Work Equipment Shop @ Binghamton, NY
On the way back to the motel, we ran into this guy in Canaseraga. The shadows had already overtaken the area, so I thought if the train and I both hurried back up to Dalton, we might catch the last rays. JUST made it!
D&H/CP train 259 at MP 361.
D&H/CP train 557 with a pair of CP SD-40-2s at Nichols.
An Eastbound CP/D&H train crosses the Portage Bridge with a mix of CP & CR power.
BICR-8 has just resumed its eastward trek toward Croxton Yard after making a NYS&W setoff. Note: The shatterd window in the door!!!
A new B23-7 already has a broken window as it rolls a Westbound across the Portage Bridge.
It's dawn in the Canisteo River Valley and a Westbound CR freight is splitting the double semaphores just East of Adrian, NY.
It didn't take long for ex E-L N3A 19654 to find the paint booth, October, 1976.
BUOI splits the double semaphores at 308. The train was running "wrong main" on track 2.
