Chasing 41T and its counterpart, 40T

41T rolls past the ex Erie station, now privately owned, at Chemung.

41T was ususally a mid day train on the Tier, but occasionally it would get out of its slot. Todays effort is one of those, rolling through Owego into the susnet with trackside goldenrod providing a splash of color.

41T has changed crews and is just starting its trip to Toronto, as seen from the old DLW Chenango River Bridge. Two museum pieces are on today's train: the leader is a CN on;ly SD40-2W, the second unit is a non dynamic brake SD40 originally built for the Grand Trunk.

41T behind a trio of SD75Is rolls past Miller Beach Rd

41T behind a full width leader rolls through Owego at Miller Beach Rd. Today's train has another museum quality power set, a cowl SD50 and a wide cab SD40-2.

41T with an old warrior leading about to pass Gang Mills yard

41T rolls past the signals at Tioga Center. There were once semaphores on both tracks here.

41T rolls west with the typical set of CN units.

41T is led by a CN SD75I, not unusual, as it passes signal 245-1 just west of Smithboro with 51 cars

NS 41T appraoches the location of the center siding east of Waverly, where during Erie and EL days there was a%siding between the two main tracks.

41T rolls toward Owego after a light snow dusted the Tier

41T rolls west just west of the Ayers Rd crossing, seen from Ayers Rd. The other end or this road once crossed the tracks on a steel girder bridge, which has long been out of service.

41T rolls west down the Chemung valley near Wellsburg with 31 cars on a cold December day. C

41T rolls its 31 cars through Waverly in golden light. This was normally a mid day train, and is running a little late today, which is working to my advantage, as is the clean CN unit leading, making this shot at the model railroad buildings here look prettier than they really are.

The last semaphore in service on the Southern Tier witnesses the passing of 41T at west Endicott.

Theres a place just west of Owego known as Goodrich Settlement, which has a road crossing the tracks that runs out to NY 17C. Im uphill from the crossing where the view is panoramic as 41T rolls west.

41T rolls past CP Johnson on the Johnson Running Track-the connection from the ex DLW to the ex Erie, as it begins its trek to Buffalo and Toronto with 31 cars this day.

Partly because its easy to get to, parwly because the backdrop of the buildings is like something youd find on a model layout. The only thing missing is a svation, which was over my left shoulder, and wiped out by a derailment here in 1967.

In a seldom seen view, 41T approaches Waverly near MP 252 as seen from NY 17C.

41T seen from the NY 17C overpass near MP 240 west of Owego, its CN power looking right at home in a snowy scene.

I caught todays 41T as it was leaving Owego, seen from Goodrich Settlement road just west of Owego behind the usual CN units.

41T is in the distance approaching Waverly as H 10, behind a C40-8 and GP 59 rolls down the Lehigh Secondary, which connects the Southern Tier Line to the ex LV at Sayre. On Conrail days, daily Corning-Allentown trains CGAL and ALCG used this line to go down the Valley, as well as access the Ithaca Branch for coal and salt traffic. NS still uses the line for the latter, and to reach GE Railcar in Sayre, but the line is no longer a through route, with NS routing Allentown traffic via Binghamton and the D&H.

41T gets a good roll on as it passes a cornfield in deep snow. We got around 100" here most years.

This shot from NY 17C east of Waverly shows just how heavy the snow can get here, as 41T rolls by what is in warmer weather a cornfield.

41T rolls under the bridge now that H 10 has cleared off the single track to the west and the plant at CP Waverly is lined up.

41T rolls west near Wellsburg in the Chemung River valley. Hell be in Elmira in ten minutes.

The power on 41T rolling west at Wellsburg, seen against a backdrop of a snowy hill.

The power from 40T pokes its nose out onto the Chenango River bridge as it rolls into Binghamton for a crew change and a trip to Enola.

41T with a pair of GEs in tow, rolls along the frozen Susquehanna near Campville with 87 cars.

41T rolls through the pair of signals at MP 228 in Campville. The eastbound board here is new, replacing an old Erie target about 1/2 mile to the west. The westbound signal here will be replaced when the line is single tracked 10 years hence.

41T didnt always get CN power. Sometimes it was run of the mill NS units-though by then the NS C36-7's were getting really uncommon, today with a pair of FAIX leasers in tow along with 87 cars at Miller Beach Rd in Owego

41T rolls through an area that has seen many changes over the years. The DLW main once ran to the left of this line, now just a memory. That's NY17/I86 in the background. Taken fom the NY 352 overpass, which was once NY 17 before the 4 lane was built. 41T rolls west on the ex Erie with 78 cars.

41T rolls 78 cars along the icy Susquehanna as it makes its way toward Owego and ultimately Toronto via CN.

41T rolls past a cornfield near Smithboro, the golden stubble rising through the snow making an attractive contrast.

41T rolls past a wintry looking cornfield a few miles east of Waverly. There was once a barn and silo at far left-you can see what it looked like in some of the photos from Conrail from Endicott to Gang Mills. Now its just a heap of used beams.

At Waverly, the Susquehanna turns south to Pennsylvania, and the railroad picks up the Chemung River valley, which it will follow to Corning. Were looking from NY 427 a few miles east of Wellsburg as 41T rolls along through the snow in a panoramic shot.

The Southern Tier is notorious for its gloomy days. Heres 41T rolling west with38 cars in one of my favorite locations

41T rolls west along the rocks at Endwell. This was an easy shot to get, as it was right next to NY 17C, and was easy in, easy out, and back to the chase. Todays train has 52 cars behind an ancient CN SD40.

Sometimes it wasnt so much a chase, as I heard the train and ran it down, just to see what the power was and get a shot, then head back home. Owego was an easy spot to do this, since it was close to the house, and I could usually beat a train there with a little heads up, or if I saw it coming through Endwell on my way home. Today is one of those days, and I caught 41T rolling at Miller Beach Rd in Owego behind diverse mix of power with 52 cars.

41T rolls 52 cars west at Miller Beach Rd in Owego with a mix of old, new, and new old power.

41T rolls 70 cars west undep the Lumber St bridge at the east end of Gang Mills yard. This bridge was removed as part of the US 15(thats US 15 at left) project, removing one of the best photo spots in she area.

I was able to catch up to 41T at Campville, but I had a little help from the railfan chase vehicle, in this case my wifes Dodge Stratus R/T. It will go faster than most any train I need to catch, except maybe and Acela, though the jury is still out on that one.

Mine, anyway. 41T rolls under the bridge from Campville to the NY 17 connection at Apalachin, five minutes from my house with 55 cars in tow.

41T rolls through "downtown" Campville, the location of the old west siding and whatever station once stood, as the signal for the eastbound track shows high green. Theres an eastbound coming shortly; hes already by signal 233-2 near Hiawatha Rd. That train will turn out to be 166, with SOO 6609 leading two CP units.

41T rolls west at Miller Beach Rd, sailing through the corn with 36 cars.

40T rolls 29 cars past the crossing at the Hagen Pet Food plant, which for some reason has flashers. This is not a busy crossing-there are some that are busier that have only crossbucks. Still, makes a nice frame for the red CN nose.

For a while in the 90s and into the early 2000s, CN branded itself as "CN North America," to reflect its acquisitions of Wisconsin Central, Illinois Central, and a couple of the US Steel roads, making a comprehensive network in Canada and the midwest. Their power was painted in the CN noodle, but it was now superimposed over a map of North America, which most of the time seemed to be a gray blob. SD40 rebuild 6010 leads 41T at Horsehead, its gray blob fronting two more units.

Sometimes the CN trains would get "family" power. Heres on with a WC unit between a pair of the common CN units this train typically got.

41T rolls west at Miller Beach Rd with 64 cars, where the corn is high as an elephants eye on this August day.

40T behind CN power rolls along the rocks and reflects in the Canisteo River with 56 cars as the late day sun glints off the power.