A friend of mine who is a WWII Veteran used to watch the trains in Oneonta and Cobleskill NY when he was a kid and has a blast watching them. He mentioned that he wanted to go back some weekend soon (before it gets too cold out) to watch the trains once again since he hasn't in many years. Instead of having him stand around for hours waiting for a train that might not come for hours, does anybody know how I could obtain a schedule for when trains might pass by within a reasonable window?
Thank you,
Steve
Check out this forum page. At the top, there are a couple of topics for that line, one called "Southern Tier - East of Binghamton. Oneonta and Cobleskill are east of Binghamton, so check that out or post there and someone should have the information you are looking for.
https://railroad.net/viewforum.php?f=128
Harrison may be able to help. He's a regular here. It's a little out of his normal range, but he may be able to provide some insight.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Hello Steve, I can provide some insight.
There are 6 trains that run on the NS Freight Line in a given day. Sometimes more, sometimes less, as they are extremely short on crews right now and often outlaw, in Oneonta or elsewhere.
Times will be given for Oneonta.
31T (Northbound) passes around midnight, and is usually on time.
16R (Also northbound) passes anywhere from 7 PM to the early morning.
22K (Northbound Intermodal) has been around the clock lately, but usually passes sometime during the day.
23K (Southbound Intermodal) Is also pretty varied, but has been morning-mid afternoon lately, but often runs as late as 10 PM.
11R (Southbound) Is usually mid to late afternoon, but can be anytime.
30T (Southbound) is mid afternoon-late night (unless they were recrewed from the previous day).
So as you see, not the best schedule, but there's something that should pass during the day. Does your friend have a cell phone, and is he on Facebook? There is a Facebook group for the line that is quite active with updates on nearly every train. Otherwise, if he just has a cell phone, I could text him updates from the group on a given day. I'm assuming he does not have a scanner, which would help some, but not much.
A couple of years ago, we also had 205, 206, and autorack trains regularly- sadly those days are over for the time being. Once NS starts running 22K/23K on the CSX, 205/206 should return over the Freight Line into Mechanicville.
Hope this helps a bit.
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
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Harrison,
**THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!** This is very helpful. We are tentatively (his health so-so) set to go on the 13th of November (Saturday) and my cell phone is 518-339-5857 as I will be with him.
THANK YOU AGAIN!
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