was the second day of excursions, and atten- dants met us at the entrance to the station parking lot. Since we didn’t plan on staying long, we parked at the edge of the lot. The train was parked at the station ready to take passengers, with the two FPA’s idling away at the head end. Sure, their paint was a little faded, but there they were! They do exist! The skies had not yet cleared, and the loco- motives were roped off from the public, so we decided to scout the line for locations. Doing some homework using Google’s satellite views, it quickly became clear that the number of photographic opportunities would be limited due to the “tree tunnel” ef- fect covering most of the line. Still, we iden- tified a few crossings and other locations that we thought would pan out. The excur- sions would be running between Gowanda and South Dayton, following U.S. Route 62 for part of the way. Our first stop was the crossing at Maltbie
Road, where a number of fans had already gathered. By this time, the sun was ducking in and out of clouds, making choosing an ex- posure challenging. Soon we heard the un- mistakable blaa-a-a-at of
the air horn
signaling the approaching train. We lined up our shots with the old Erie milepost indicat- ing 36 miles to Buffalo. Shutters fired in a happy cacophony as the train rumbled past. As the train was moving a little quicker than we expected, we hopped into our cars to give chase and find our next location. The topography of the area can be frus- trating to a railfan, as the railroad takes the high route while the local roads make their own way hither and yon through the valley. It’s very easy to lose sight of the train, but we had good maps to rely on (weak 3G signal out here, so the iPad wasn’t going to be much help). We found a clearing alongside a lawn near
the line’s next crossing of Route 62 where we captured a broadside of the southbound ex- cursion. We decided the next stop for us
would be South Dayton, so that we could set up for our shot ahead of the train’s arrival. We arrived in South Dayton and were sur- prised to find a nicely restored wood frame passenger station alongside a large grain milling complex near the small town square. It felt like this scene could have been lifted from the Erie main line somewhere in Indi- ana or Ohio instead of New York. Fans and locals alike began to congregate, and we all did our best to maintain a semblance of a photo line as we prepared for the train’s ar- rival. We soon heard the FPA’s “lost cow” chime off in the distance, and the townsfolk began to gather. A small carnival celebration had been set up alongside the depot, com- plete with period 1930s vehicles to mark the anniversary of the filming of the movie. To say the whole town turned out for the event would be an understatement. Soon a headlight was in view and we all
took our positions. The lead unit was liter- ally chasing a cloud shadow as it arrived, but the exposure was sunny none the less! Shut- ters fired as we captured a number of angles as the train was spotted to unload passen- gers. It was around this time we ran into our friend Garland McKee, a self-styled Alco hunter of the highest calibre. We traded some greetings (“You’re in my shot.”) and compared notes (“You’re still in my shot.”). The best part of the show was yet to come. The railroad arranged to operate two short round trips between South Dayton and Day- ton while the passengers from Gowanda en- joyed a three-hour layover at the festival. To operate these trains, one locomotive was placed at either end of the train, forming an FPA sandwich. The pull-pull operation meant the trains could be operated safely without time-consuming runaround moves at each stop. First the two FPA’s uncoupled from the train. They ran a few hundred feet south to the end of the runaround track. They uncoupled, and the north-facing unit took the siding. With a hostler in each unit,
PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID SCHEIDERICH
Now Available — 60 pages, softcover
ork, on September 8, 2013. NY&LE 6758 is a rebuilt FPA-2u originally built as Canadian National 6755 in 1955, while trailing unit 6764 is a FPA-4 originally built as CN 6764 in 1958. The paint scheme is reminiscent of the old Erie Railroad.
Just as the sun broke through the clouds,the NY&LE excursion train arrives at South Dayton, New Y
55
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66