New York Railroads©

Edited by Tom Trencansky, Dryden, NY
publicity@newyorkrailroads.com
www.newyorkrailroads.com
   E-News38    January 23, 2012  

      D&H Alco C-628 on the Binghamton turntable, April 29, 1972  Photo by Tom Trencansky

Hello Friends and Railfans:

Winter is upon us and as we organize this information and list, we're looking forward to spring and the beginning of another season for most railroad excursions.  But, don't forget that there is plenty of winter rail activity too, everything from mainline train watching and Amtrak, to winter ski trains on the Saratoga & North Creek.  Check out the model railroad activities, model clubs and winter train shows too.  All aboard!!

Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds, 1305 Memorial Avenue, West Springfield, MA - This is the largest show if its kind in the northeast and features building after building of model railroad displays, operating layouts, vendors, railroad art, excursion railroads and much, much more!  Info: www.railroadhobbyshow.com Show runs over the weekend of January 28-29, with over 300,000 square feet of display space and draws over 25,000 in attendance.

Amtrak Photo Contest - Amtrak’s New York By Rail magazine is looking for Amtrak views across NY State [only] for the 2012 edition which will be released this spring.  Photographs can depict Amtrak trains, passenger travel, scenes along the tracks, etc.  While preference is given to current operations, in light of Amtrak’s 40^th anniversary, historic train views are acceptable.  Digital photographs should be sent to: publisher@newyorkbyrail.com [deadline February 10, 2012].  NOTE, pdf of the 2011 magazine is available to download at the magazine’s website:  www.newyorkbyrail.com   Check it out.  [Let's see your shots in print!!]

NEW   New York State websites associated with rail organizations, these will be added to the New York Railroad link pages within the next couple weeks:

Thanks to readers that sent notes and suggestions.  The New York Railroads website continues to grow with more new links.  We still need to know about restored stations, hobby shops, local train shows & more.  This is a “participation” website, let us know what is missing!

Featured TRAIN SHOW – All Aboard for the Western New York Railway Historical Society’s 21st Annual Winter TRAIN & TOY SHOW at the Agri-Center on the Fairgrounds in Hamburg, New York. Saturday February 18^th and Sunday, February 19th, 2012.  Hours: 10am to 5pm - Saturday, 10am to 4pm – Sunday.  Dads, Moms and Kids of all ages will love the operating train layouts.  Over 350 Tables filled with great deals! See - NOME's HO & N gauge Layouts, WNY Model Engineer's O Gauge Layout, WNY Garden Railway G scale Layout, the Niagara Frontier Live Steamers and more!  Admission is only $7 , KIDS 12 and under are FREE!  Plenty of FREE parking available! Proceeds benefit the preservation and restoration projects of the Western New York Railway Historical Society. www.trainweb.org/wnyrhs

Rail Marketing meeting will be held at the Hotel Utica in Utica, NY on Thursday, February 16^th, from 9:30am to 1:30 pm.  Meeting will focus on promoting railroad and rail-oriented excursion trains, museums, shows, events and other related organizations.  Amtrak allows many NY city portals as destinations.  Discussions will include travel by Amtrak to destinations, co-promoting regional travel, travelogues, internet visibility & more.  Representative from Amtrak’s annual magazine New York By Rail will be on hand.  Open to any organization interested in the rail and travel industry.  Registration cost is $20/person and includes meeting, hotel coffee/Danish, juice, etc.  For more information, contact Tom Trencansky, publicity@newyorkrailroads.com

Vintage Railroad Audio www.vintagerailroadaudio.com - New York railroading at its best!  Organizing rail information on New York State can have some pleasant surprises.  Searching for “all things rail” in the state led me to this website and some communication with its owner, Jay Winn from New Hartford, NY [Utica area].  Believe it or not, I had met Jay back in the early ‘70’s, nearly 40 years ago.  He has a fantastic collection of rail audio recordings and offers them for sale – check out his website.  I received one called ALCO Potpourri and was amazed by the quality and variety of the recordings.  You have to hear the first track as a D&H mechanic fires up a C-628 at the Binghamton enginehouse, amazing.  CD has D&H, CP, Adirondack Scenic, even a New York Central RS-1.  Sounds I recall from a time that I “wore a younger man’s clothes”.  Even better, in emailing, he offered to make a special New York Railroads Special Edition CD and offer it for a special price of $10/postpaid.  I checked out a sample – very nice!  Recordings include: PRR steam, D&H steam & diesel, NYC, Erie Limited, etc.  78 minutes of New York rail sounds! 

New Lehigh Valley book available on the Black Diamond Express - The Sayre Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of a new book by railroad historian Richard F. Palmer on the early years of the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s famous passenger train, the Black Diamond Express. The book is titled The Handsomest Train in the World: The First Twenty-Five Years of the Black Diamond Express. “Although the train existed for nearly 63 years, the book covers the period between 1896 and 1920,” said Palmer, a Syracuse, NY resident who has had a life-long interest in regional railroad history.  “These first 25 years may be considered the train’s true glory days when it was a highly fashionable and fast-moving intercity express.”  Palmer has written nearly a dozen short histories of various local railroads as well as many articles for journals and magazines. He was the author of Rails North, a pictorial history of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, published by the Central New York Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.  “This was my first venture in writing the story of the glory days of the “Black Diamond Express,” one of the most famous name trains in American railroad history,” said Palmer.  “This book is the result of several years of research into obscure sources.”  Order from Sayre Historical Society, PO Box 311, Sayre, PA 18840, price $12 includes shipping.  www.sayrehistoricalsociety.org  [photo caption is a painting of the train alongside the Susquehanna River near Ulster, PA]  [OK, I know that Sayre, PA is not in New York but it is an interesting railroad town straddling the border with true rail heritage.  Check out the new Lehigh Railway that interchanges with Norfolk Southern near the restored depot.  Check out the Sayre Hobby Shop, 809 North Lehigh Avenue, Sayre, PA 18840 570-731-4555, call first. www.newyorkrailroads.com/sayrehobby ]

New NYS trespassing law on railroad property!  “Railroad property is supposed to be used for one thing; railroad operations. It is not a place of recreation for people to ride vehicles, animals, or play around. Strengthening the state’s railroad trespassing laws will help save lives and prevent injuries by keeping individuals who don’t belong on railroad property off of it,” said Senator Fuschillo, Chairman of the Senate’s Transportation Committee. The law prohibits individuals from trespassing on foot on all railroad property throughout the state. Violators of the law will face class B misdemeanor charges, punishable by up to three months in jail and a $500 fine. In addition, the law prohibits individuals from trespassing on railroad property while riding on any motor vehicles, recreational and all-terrain vehicles, or animals. Violators face a fine of up to $250 for a first offense and up to $500 for subsequent offenses. Prior to the new law, railroad trespassing laws were extremely limited. Only snowmobilers and horseback riders faced fines for trespassing on railroad property ($100 fine and $10 fine, respectively). Trespassing on railroad property on foot was only prohibited on Long Island, New York City, and Monroe County. Railroads of New York (RONY), a not-for-profit statewide association which represents the freight railroad industry in New York State, noted in a letter that the new law is needed because “when it comes to enforcing railroad trespass offenses in New York, law enforcement officials are forced to do so with an outdated law that has only seen a few updates since the mid nineteenth century.” RONY also noted that “trespassing is the most significant cause of death attributable to railroad operations in New York State.” “This legislation will greatly assist police officers in protecting the public while they are using mass transportation. Trespassing in these particular areas can be extremely dangerous to both the individual and the public and this law will be a useful tool in dealing with this issue,” said Peter Paterson, Legislative Chairman of the New York State Association of PBAs.   According to the Federal Railroad Administration, railroad trespassing accounted for 576 fatalities and 633 injuries in the U.S. last year. The new law took effect on January 16, 2012.

Ride With Me Henry! – Once in a while you come across something that is really unique and interesting.  All of us always seem too busy to get to all those places we might like to visit, take a ride down that commuter line, experience the “tubes”, or ride the Staten Island Ferry.  Growing up in Binghamton, I met Henry Summers over 40 years ago.  He is a devoted historian, past officer of the Susquehanna Valley Chapter, NRHS and he continues to follow rail travel throughout New York State.  He enjoys riding trains and regularly organizes trips to New York City, Long Island, northern NJ to visit branchlines, check out stations, connect from one line to another, etc.  What is unique is that he maintains an email list of interested railfans and emails before each trip, allowing others to ride along by splitting the costs.  He has sent me invitations to ride along for years and while I have not taken advantage of the opportunity, other friends have and they have enjoyed visiting these rail lines.  Trips begin and end in the Binghamton area and besides sharing car expenses, Henry organizes costs for riding the trains.  AND, it’s amazing at how inexpensive some of the fares are when you get to be a senior rider!  For more information, feel free to drop Henry a note at ridewithmehenry@hotmail.com.  He keeps his emails to a minimum and only occasionally sends a note about his next adventure.  Ride With Me Henry! operates year-round and sounds like fun.   To check out a few photographs from recent trips, visit www.newyorkrailroads.com/henry. [photo of Long Island RR and car ferry at Greenport NY]

Susquehanna Valley Chapter, NRHS is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary in 2012 and will host a special event on Saturday, April 14^th in Endwell, NY.  For more information, check out the schedule below.

New York Railroad Shorts – the Arizona Eastern E-8 departed the Saratoga & North Creek Railway in January, headed back west but the bigger news is that the railroad has purchased the DL&W painted E-8’s that have been on display at the New York State Fairgrounds for the past decade.  At the time of this is written, the units are under repair in Syracuse and getting prepped for shipment to the S&NC.  Check out the advance schedule for 2012, the S&NC is planning to run TWO trains [www.sncrr.com].  The town of Corinth has received funding and will be building a shelter similar to the new one at 1000 Acres to board passengers on the S&NC.

Arcade & Attica RR has their 2012 schedule listed on a PDF file, click here to open or download it: A&A schedule [right click to download to your computer] 

SEND information.  This e-newsletter is generally only sent once per month..  Feel free to send dates for all train shows, future, even summer events across the state and we will get them listed early.  Remember, this information goes to more than 10,000 addresses.   Remember, the brand-new New York Railroads is up and running, offering connections to over 200 NYS rail-oriented organizations, hobby shops, railroads, museums and much more.  Maybe the site should be should be called "Rail New York".  Go get a cup of coffee, sit down and begin to surf through all the web addresses.  You'll find plenty of "rails" you did not know about.  And, keep this in mind, we have another 50+ organizations in which to pursue more information and tie them into the "spiderweb" of New York Railroads in the site.  Check it out.  [Always, . . open to new suggestions, sites, and corrections.]  Next E-News will be sent to everyone on February 23, please send news and events for the listing to this editor before February 15 to be included.  As always, looking for your input, suggestions and comments.  Tom Trencansky