"Blizzard Railroading" NYS&W Utica Branch

[@jaywinn3558]

Great video.. I admire your perseverance.. After 50 years railfanning.. no more standing in a snowstorm for me.. The old bones can't take it anymore...Thanks for sharing a great video..

[@richarddrum9970]

God bless that conductor out in the cold turning switches and fixing brake lines. Not a glamorous job in those conditions but necessary. That was the most unusual switch stand I've ever seen, buried in the street. Might try to make one of those in HO scale. Thanks.

[@Mercatoyd]

Hat's off to you for filming this when it would have been much easier to sit in a warm home near the fire..accompanied by a faithful dog and a cup of coffee and watch this sort of winter day through a window. Really great stuff you share. My hands no longer fit a snow shovel but, in my younger days I worked out in this stuff walking steel and climbing pipe racks.. how quickly we forget until we are brought back to these type of conditions..Thank you again for sharing.

[@dannygillingham7904]

Wow, you definitely had balls to be out in that kind of weather, God bless you 🙏

[@tedjackson7274]

One has to appreciate the difficult conditions of working on such cold, windy days and I admire you for braving the elements voluntarily.

[@CarolYannes]

Railfan warrior! You went out in the snow and high winds to get the train. Thank you.

[@StephenCarlBaldwin]

Kudos to the videographer for highlighting these heroes of the Upstate Economy! Thanks for sharing this great (brr...) video!

[@tucobenedicto109]

Now that's a frosty beer wagon! Drank Utica Club Pilsner in Lake Placid. From one frosty mug to another. I also know what it is to work on a railroad in a snowstorm. :) Great video.

[@jimdep6542]

In the 1880's, Old Herman Crause, the peg-legged flagman would have been freezing his tail off standing at the New York, Ontario & Western and Schuyler St crossing ! Thanks for being out there and getting these great shots.

[@tombell108]

WOW! What a blizzard!! My heart goes out to you and the conductor for braving the elements!! AND GP40 2040 still looks and sounds great!!

[@vincentgramuglia6684]

More power to you for braving the elements for this video.Reminds me of the nights working Oak Island hump with the wind blowing under the Turnpike or working the east end with the wind coming off the bay.Brrrrrrrr!!!! Makes me happy to be an engineer when i see images like this.

[@PlanetMojo]

At about 1 minute in when the train looks like it's a couple feet away from that building -- it brings back memories of the Milwaukee Road down in the viaduct in Milwaukee. There were train tracks everywhere and some were very close to buildings like that. Great video -- the storm adds a lot of drama!

[@wcate8301]

I lived at 1119 Schuyler for a couple years back in Conrail days. Always a tight squeeze between snow banks, parked cars and locomotives. Conrail wasn't as gentlemanly as NYS&W. They would put a push stick into the the loco's corner socket, put it against a car or truck and push it into the snowbank. Buried my room mate's car one night and did $800 damage. But it was fun living just down the street from FX Matt. Used to go down and eat lunch with the brewhouse workers at their outdoor picnic tables. Great bunch of guys. Times were different then.

[@MLampner]

As I sit here in the last weeks of summer, looking at this I remind myself why we don't live in Utica any more. My wife and I right after we were married lived on Schuyler St. About a block South of the Brewery and the trains were a part of our daily life. Both hard to imagine and great to see the street line is still in use.

[@peterschnell622]

Weathered and Graffiti wagons.and snow..... top video👍👍👍

[@SonnyMcDonald]

I really enjoy the switching action videos

[@b747guy9]

I forgot. MANY high fives to whomever took this video. You deserve a few medals

[@bikemess77]

This gave me a flash back to working outside at the airport in Syracuse..eouch!!! I can only imagine the words that Gandydancer at the switch is saying..

[@viewfromthehillswift6979]

In my youth I was a brakeman/switchman on the then-Northern Pacific, Rocky Mountain Division, out of Missoula, Montana. Been there, done that.

[@rolpfeiffermuller935]

Thanks sharing the outstanding vid.Endeavors are unmatched.Bliss

[@rj4590]

Loved watching this from my cozy home office.

[@marytherese6921]

This is what poor Utica is like about one half of the year long. Cold..Cold...Cold!!!!

[@tfs4499]

Great video! Makes me cold just watching this!

[@scottporter1108]

Very nice video from the comfort of Fort Myers Florida.

[@25mfd]

yeah 11 floridians dislike this vid

[@Lynchfan88]

Again, GREAT video Railroad Rambler.

[@szlakowiec]

Awesome video. All the best from Poland, +

[@JohnR.1968]

Loved the boxcars ,good modeling ideas.

[@nightrider6769]

Yep doesn't matter what the weather the railroad never stops.

[@kenkramer6529]

Really nice video. Thanks!

[@donnebes9421]

You pay your dues in the winter to work outside spring, summer and fall. I’ve done it all my life, I’m 60, no regrets.

[@25mfd]

or just move to texas… decent weather year round

[@rafaelfernandez8311]

Excelente trabajo con el mal tiempo. Os felicito.

[@eeclass20]

I've watched every clip of yours switching here, I still can't get my head round just how tight the space is in that brewery and yet a GP40 gets in .

[@garyzehr4445]

Looks like today is a good day to be the engineer. Thanks for freezing for me that's taking one for the team!!!!!!!!

[@jenniferjackson9375]

Wind gusts were horrific!!! My dad worked for conrail/csx for over 30 years! Many a nights he would have to be out in this kind of weather...and the heat in the summer time working on the tracks is brutal as well

[@cehayes74]

Totally Understand, work for Amtrak here in Chicago (celebrating my 25 year next year but 31 years on the RR altogether) so I know the hell he faced !!!

[@BVERailer]

Nice video! 3040 has a quite interesting horn, but it sounds very nice.

[@mickfunny4185]

BVERailer sounds like a typical horn to me

[@BVERailer]

Mick Funny I don’t know, there’s just something about it that sounds unique

[@Steve-xf4uv]

Great shots; I was shivering while watching. Been there, done that haven't we all ? Guess nobody ever gets inside FX Matt right ?

[@daveyboy_]

they musta been grateful for the few mins that they were inside. I need to watch this video in July

[@shortliner68]

I'll bet the brewery workers were also glad when the train crew finished, so they could close the delivery door to keep those icy winds out! My mother worked in a factory in Baltimore when I was a kid and when the shipping door was open in the Winter the cold air would blow in across her lower legs and feet. She ended up getting arthritis in her ankles from it.

[@Juan_A_Garcia]

Excelente video!!

[@robertbowman3406]

That some close clearance at 1:10 between car and corner of building. Someone should post a sign stating that on the corner of said building. This would be fatal if the brakeman was not aware of the danger.

[@truckstrains9745]

good video!

[@paulquick8806]

Excellent video..esp.today 7. 20. 90dgr in Pocano🍻

[@camsmith7651]

Love the weather

[@Craig2760]

At my age, If I had it to do all over again, I would have gone to work for a railroad right out of high school.

[@cehayes74]

Started with my first RR in 1994, a year after graduating from high school.

[@heinzbreuer2674]

Keine leichte Arbeit Hut ab 🥇🌾🌾🍁😷

[@lescobrandon3047]

Here in downstate NY, I suddenly have a craving for hot coffee.

[@rickkilimun5430]

Do you think the NYSW trackage will ever be open below Sherburne?

[@jayburgh]

Train Crew: Do these damned railfanners ever take a day off? Hahaa . Thank you, brave footage from a passionate fan.

[@truckstrains9745]

what's the use of this hatch, 0:18

[@jacquesblaque7728]

Seeing how 2 tracks diverge there from one, sure looks like a means of control of a switch. (Notice how at one time the train is switched into the building; it emerges past the switch, then moves parallel the bldg.?) Obvious, no?

[@Retired88M]

I used to be a petroleum transport driver and did a lot of outside work in all the nasty snow storms loading and unloading at gas terminals and mini markets because God forbid a hose we’re to rupture and you’re trying to stay warm in the cab and that gas is flowing at or near 450 gallons per minute

[@johnnybellamy6094]

is that switch under street level

[@RM.....]

Very cool.

[@bluesharp59]

Thumbs Up liked for you.

[@tracyb8193]

Those men need a big thick coat! The camera man too!

[@CraftAero]

Flurry = Blizzard now ? I guess, by today's standard, the Blizzard of '77 would be Nuclear Winter ?

[@railroadingrambler218]

I remember '77 and '66 too! Still, the National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for this storm, "Blizzard warning remains in effect until 4AM Tuesday [Feb 26th]. Blizzard conditions. Additional accumulations of 5 to 9 inches. Significant drifting snow expected. Winds gusting as high as 65 mph today, then 35 to 45 mph."

[@CraftAero]

@@railroadingrambler218 High winds around the Lakes can certainly dump on you in a hurry. I was rural, on the north shore of Erie in '77, missed 5 days of school. Power line poles were the only indication of where the roads were. Hope it goes easy on you !

[@jstoli996c4s]

Railroading Rambler is that amount of snow typical for the Utica area? I’m originally from Buffalo, which gets a LOT of lake effect snow.

[@JohnnysTrainVideos]

Nice

[@christopherdibble5872]

The engineers don't wave from the trains, anymore, not like they did back in 1954 must be the weather.

[@tamarforest5472]

it's look very strange and sad.....this train !!

[@100016]

Conductors are pretty much long haul truckers, just on rails

[@railroad9000]

Those are certainly miserable working conditions!

[@b747guy9]

I used to live around there. Used to is the operative phrase! God's country in the summer. Should be deserted in the winter! lol

[@Rickster5176]

Looks like a pain in the a--. I'll stick to model trains, thank you.

[@TheIronweed-vx5lg]

Shame to see the nice yellow boxcar defaced with graffiti.