Over and Under in North Albany (2005)

One of my first spots to railfan when I moved to Albany in 2004 was where the CSX tracks crossed over the Canadian Pacific tracks in North Albany. The CP (formerly D&H) ran North/South along the west side of the Hudson River, and the CSX (formerly NYC) tracks ran East/West across it. I would park in an abandoned lot in the shadow of the old Central Warehouse and watch the occasional train pass by. Not knowing anything about the local scene, I had no idea of when a train might appear of what railroad it would be. 

As time went on, I found better (and safer!) places to watch trains. Nowadays, the lot is secured with a fence and few trains go by. But, these two shots taken April 20, 2005 show local jobs from both railroads. 

The first up was a CSX train heading west on the upper bridge. I would learn years later that this was the "Troy Local" returning from dropping off covered hoppers at Interstate Commodities. It took me ten years before I spent a day railfanning that local train. I blogged about it here.

The other picture shows a C.P. local heading south towards Kenwood Yard. I don't know where exactly it had been switching but I would guess the G.E. plant in Waterford based on the covered hoppers. Boxcars would usually indicate Mohawk Paper, tank cars would mean Surpass, and some covered hoppers went to Bulk Handlers. Sadly, I wish it had been heading north because then I would have chased it all afternoon. But, it sort of snuck up on my on its way back to Kenwood.

Here is a satellite map facing Southeast. The yellow star is where I would watch for trains. The Livingston Avenue swing bridge is on the left of the map. Someday, it will need to be replaced. The large building in the center is the old Central Warehouse.