| The XCL train starts west, having gotten the board now that CP has cleared. It will be a gloomy trip to Gang Mills, as the typical Southern Tier gloom is hanging low. That lumpy track at right is the Vestal Spur. When NS got the line in the 1999 split, it started running C40-9's on that line-like it did everywhere else. By 2002, it bit the bullet and spent a bunch of money on ties and resurfacing, which it sorely needed after years of Conrail running heavy coal trains on it to the NYSEG power plant several times a week, but doing virtually no maintenance. The light building at far right is the NY State office building, affectionately known as the "SOB". It had a fire in the basement in 1981, and was unoccupied for 15 years while the PCB's released from electrical equipment were cleaned up. It was the poster child for government efficiency in NY. |