LIGHTNING STRIPES IN CENTRAL NEW YORK Finger Lakes BY BEN MARTIN/PHOTOS AS NOTED N
estled in the heart of upstate New York, the Finger Lakes Railway (FGLK) has built a
strong reputation amongst customers and railfans alike. The new railroad be- gan operations in the summer of 1995 when Conrail shed more than 100 miles of secondary trackage centered around Geneva, New York. I remember picking up the February 1998 issue of RAILFAN & RAILROAD in which Pete Swanson took us on a tour of the “rook- ie” Finger Lakes Railway. Those times seemed exciting and railfans flocked to the Finger Lakes region to photograph hard-working Geeps in a sleek New York Central styled paint scheme. Its territory expanded with the acquisition
of the Ontario Central Railroad in 2007, and today’s FGLK operates 167 miles of track in Cayuga, Onondaga, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, and Yates counties. Now approaching its twentieth year
of service, the Finger Lakes Railway shows no signs of slowing down. While I was aware of the operation for some time, my work schedule made it im- practical to take time off to view FGLK operations first-hand. I started making their operation a “project” of mine in September 2012, and once I started, I haven’t seen a reason to stop following this interesting short line operation. Let’s take a closer look at today’s Fin- ger Lakes Railway.
The Nucleus: Geneva
The FGLK is headquartered in Geneva along the north shore of Seneca Lake. Geneva is home to the railroad’s dis- patching office, customer service cen- ter, locomotive shops, maintainer’s base, and main freight yard. From Geneva lines run west to Canandaigua and Victor, south to Ovid, and east to Auburn and Solvay. Trackage rights on Norfolk Southern’s Corning Secondary are used to access the Watkins Glen Division at Himrod Junction. At the time of this writing, there is speculation of FGLK negotia- tion rights to operate north to Lyons to establish interchange with CSX and serve the Lyons Industrial Park.
ABOVE: The Finger Lakes Railway is probably best known for its fleet of locomotives painted in tribute to the New York Central and its classic “lightning stripe” design. A light snow shower has swept in as Finger Lakes Railway train GS-2 begins the process of yarding its consist at Solvay, N.Y. To the right is CP 293 on the CSX Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. JEFFREY FAHERTY
28 JULY-OCTOBER 2014 •
RAILFAN.COM
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