CHQ Rails

17/07/2025

The crews named them Mary Kate and Ashley. The railfans called them the Red Dragons.

Of WNYP’s roster of ALCOs, 431 and 432 were my stand out favorites of the bunch. Especially when paired up, as both units have kept their patched Morristown & Erie appearance through their entire career on the WNYP.

While it is unfortunate to see the last two operable C430s on the WNYP leave, it’s good to know they’ll be joining sister unit 430 on home rails in upstate New York. Maybe they’ll be painted, we’ll see. But I look forward to shooting them in their new home soon.

16/07/2025

Finally got around to seeing the WNYP GP15-1s in service, seen on OL-2 on Tuesday as they brought 51 cars to interchange to the B&P at Salamanca.

15/07/2025

Sunday we chased PO74 up to Pocono Summit, and had the bonus of a Steamtown qualifying move at Moscow. We stopped in Olean on the way home to get some shots of the power sitting outside.

15/07/2025

Saturday we would watch DL-40 leave Scranton, but opted to stay in Scranton to watch DL-3 run to Taylor and back. We returned in the evening to do some night shots of the power around Bridge 60.

14/07/2025

Had to reupload the premiere for tomorrow, I have also pushed it back an hour to 8PM EST.

Follow me on Instagram! me on Flickr! Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/chqrailsOn the weekend of July 11-13, myself, ‪...

14/07/2025

Friday would see the operational debut of NKP 190, as the 21-year effort by Doyle McCormick came to fruition as the ALCO PA chugged up the D-L’s Pocono Main. Newly painted RS-3 4068, in the stunning Delaware & Hudson silver and blue, accompanied the 190 for the trip to Pocono Summit and return.

11/07/2025

Our weekend trip kicked off late Thursday into early Friday as we took the time to shoot the tied down DL PO75 at Ridge Row.

07/07/2025

A few shots from Saturday

05/07/2025

30/06/2025

Video of Saturday’s action

Follow me on Instagram! me on Flickr! Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/chqrailsA few trains from the last Saturday in June...

29/06/2025

A successful Saturday afternoon in northeast Ohio.

24/06/2025

BREAKING NEWS: It's a big day for Alco fans.

On June 23, Genesee Valley Transportation Co., Inc. subdidiary Delaware-Lackawanna announced that it had restored one of its Alco RS-3s to the iconic lighting stripe livery of the Delaware & Hudson and that it had completed the operational restoration of Alco PA-4 190, which will make its public debut next month.

RS-3 4068 was painted last week at DL’s Scranton, Pa., shop, and the engine made its public debut on Monday morning. The locomotive was built in March 1952 for the D&H. In the 1970s, it was sold to the Lamoille Valley Railroad in Vermont, where it became that railroad’s 7801. In the 1990s, the locomotive was briefly used by the New Hampshire Central before being sold to the York-Durham Heritage Railway in Canada. Eventually, the locomotive made its way to the DL, one of the last Alco strongholds in North America. For years, it sported D&H’s original black and yellow livery, alongside two other RS-3s, numbers 4103 and 4118. Those units were sold in 2024 to the Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railway.

The DL operates on several county-owned rail lines in Northeastern Pennsylvania, including the former D&H line to Carbondale, Pa.

Posed alongside 4068 on Monday morning was “Nickel Plate Road” PA-4 190, which the DL had acquired from preservationist Doyle McCormack back in 2023. The engine was originally built for the Santa Fe and gained notoriety on the D&H in the 1970s, before being sold to Mexico. In the 2000s, McCormack brought the engine back north and restored it as a Nickel Plate Road locomotive (his favorite railroad growing up). Since acquiring it, the DL has been completing the operational restoration that McCormack began.

On Monday morning, DL officials said the engine would make its public debut in passenger service on July 11 and 12, with McCormack at the throttle. Additional public excursions are planned for later in the year.