40 years ago today, on May 8, 1974, The Poughkeeepsie Bridge suffered a fire that Penn Central used as an excuse to never use the bridge again.


34 years later, the bridge went under construction as the Walkway Over the Hudson, and opened to the public 8 months after this photo was taken.


Let us revisit an extremely rare event on the Hudson Line; where a road freight train was seen all day long between Beacon and Poughkeepsie.




CSX train Q430-24 heading from Oakpoint Yard, in New York City, to Selkirk Yard, experienced problems at Beacon, New York prior to the morning rush hour. Metro North HTS-3 crew, with the 106, and the CSX crew worked together to shift the train over from Track 2, to Track 3 at Beacon.


In the afternoon, the head 22 cars were taken to Poughkeepsie, then the lite power returned south to Beacon, put a cripple on The Price Brothers siding, and then took the remaining 59 cars north to Poughkeepsie, tied the 22 cars back onto the head end, and headed north to Hyde Park, and points north as the sun was preparing to retire for the day.


While in Poughkeepsie, the train caught the attention of many regular people enjoying the day along the river at Marist College, which is great, because people didn't know that freight trains even ran on "this side" of the river. Go figure.

It was for one day, the way it should be, Hudson Freight operating in daylight, like a normal railroad.

8854, 8841, 8846, 8851, 8836, 8850, 2804, 2717, and 81 cars.
Yes, you read that right.


Tuesday, March 24, 2009. 1736hrs.