Monday and Tuesday, March 5-6th, 2001, presented the Capital Region of New York with a blizzard that dumped nearly two feet of snow in the area.  After a relatively slow day of fanning the CSX on Monday, we swung by Kenwood yard on our way down to Selkirk on Tuesday.  As we pulled off of I-787, local SC-1 was getting ready to depart with D&H GP38-2 7312, recently rebuilt and repainted into it's original colors as part of CP Rail's Heritage Fleet.  Since CSX had been slow, we decided to chase up the Colonie Main.

All the pictures on this page were taken on Kodak 200 speed print film with a Nikon N50 and a Nikor AF 75-240mm F4.5-5.6 zoom lens.

Here we are, just off the highway as SC-1 is pulling north onto the west runner.  Just a quick grab shot from Green St, MP A1.06.  We tried to get some shots while he was on the runner  between the lanes of I-787, but were unsuccessful, so we jumped on the highway and headed north.

We decided that 19th St. in Watervliet (Route 2, MP A6.13) would be the location of our next shot, and we got there with little time to spare.  The third shot just shows you how much snow we had on the ground.  From there we jumped north along Route 32, with the run-around at Mohawk Paper in Cohoes in mind.

Here at Main Street in Cohoes, we took a couple of shots.  We quickly turned around and headed north, as the Waterford bridge was in mind as the next location.  However, we couldn't make it, so I took a chance and decided to find an angle of the bridge over the Canal.

So I found Washington Street (MP A10.73) and the bridge was still covered in snow.  Perfect location.  The first three photos with with a 240mm zoom came out excellent, then I pulled out the lens for the fourth.  I was actually on the south side of the street, and my buddy wanted to take a shot from across the street (his camera was broken).  As I turned to talk to him, I saw the snow bank shown in the fourth image on the left hand side.  I quickly readjusted the camera on the tripod and shot, with the above result.*  From here, it was north to GE Waterford up at the old JA interlocking.

So here we are up at old JA interlocking (MP A12.0) with the Rensselaer & Saratoga.  The train is backing on to the remnants of the R&S, then pulling forward onto the run-around (as seen in the second shot - notice the Edward O'Brien script), and coming back to work the train.  At this point we were frozen, and the crew must've been to.  So we headed back to Albany to finish off the roll and get the film developed.

*This photo was published by Trains Magazine Online in an article about the CP Heritage Fleet Locomotives.  It is also for sale, $20 including s&h for an 8x10.  E-mail me if interested.