Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: utica

I took this one in 1993 (Note that the copyright date on the photo is wrong. I fixed it on my own website but on Flickr it's too much trouble.), waiting in Utica, New York for Amtrak's (actually Swedish Railways') X2000 tilt train to visit. It was hours late, and didn't arrive until after dark, so all of my best shots were taken during the day waiting for it, while I still had light. This locomotive, an EMD SD40-2 diesel, was leading a lashup of other locomotives pulling a garbage train. In those days, New York State had so much garbage that it was being shipped west by rail! I mainly like the impression of speed that this photo gives, with the blurred handrails and headlight, even if the train was only going about 50 m.p.h.!!!

This was when we finally got back to Utica, as the sun was setting. ADCX trains no longer come into Utica Union Station this way, as these are the MA&N freight tracks. There is now a dedicated track into the station platforms accessible by a new pedestrian bridge.

I took this on the same day as the 6399 shot, scanned it in 1994, and uploaded it on Oct. 26, 2006, without a rescan!!! That's when I discovered the date on the 6399 shot was wrong. I've corrected it at least on the caption, although the photo remains wrong. In any case, I didn't used to like this photo so much, but looking at the other stuff on Flickr, this one holds up surprisingly well. It's not only, I think, a decent black and white scan, but a very old one. It's only a year newer than the original negative and print!!! I had an Omniscan black and white scanner then, and I haven't gotten around to rescanning this shot. It was originally color, shot with Kodacolor Gold 400, I think, but it's now, for obvious reasons, black and white, and it might be a better shot because of it. It was my first truly successful pan shot, so it's significant to me for that reason, too.

This is my oldest photo on Flickr!! I scanned it with my black and white Caere Omniscan, but it was originally in color, and I have every intention of eventually getting a color scan. I think I already one somewhere, if the drive it was on hasn't been wiped by one thing or another. This was my first National Railway Historical Society excursion while actually a member, and it was sometime in the summer of 1990. We went from Utica, NY to Sherburne, and had a really good time. Notice the dome cars on the train! The locomotive was at that time the last operating ALCO C430, but in reality a few have been bouncing in and out of service, including this one, and they're heavily rebuilt by now, especially this one!!

I'm sure that many of you will recognize this photo from a previous post. As you'll recall, I had always intended to rescan this, so I had a photo lab do it, and here's the result. I hope you all like it. :-)

Back in 2000, mixed power was still rare enough so that you could get other railfans' attention by photographing it. It is, after all, a bit odd to see a CSX freight in Utica, NY being pulled by locomotives from the Canadian National and the Kansas City Southern. The trailing locomotive is a bit old already by modern standards as the lead locomotive, an SD75I, is trailed by an SD40-3.

I took this shot during the aftermath and cleanup of a major wreck in Utica, NY involving a loaded stack train headed by G.E. Dash 8s. The Dash 8s are gone by this point, with the smashed well cars and containers bulldozed to the side, and one track has been reopened, letting these GP40-2s through, rare even by 1993 standards. The wreck, according to the news reports, was deliberately caused by a group of teenagers, who were subsequently arrested for the crime, but the results of the case were kept secret because of their ages. One person, perhaps not the smartest person in the world, blamed it on the railroad, saying something along the lines of "I don't know why they put the railroad so close to the housing development." The housing development where the teenagers came from dated to the 1960s, the railroad to the 1830s.

This is the official, as opposed to the unofficial, water of the Boilermaker 15K road race. Right....

The Hotel Utica is one of the best-known buildings in Utica, once being the most popular hotel with visiting celebrities. It's since done its time as a lower-end hotel and as public housing, but now it's a hotel again. The skyscraper on the rear left is the State Office Building, the tallest building in town.