Deadline #14107

The Story

This old red, white, and blue Metro North train engine has been staying just one step ahead of the scrapyard torch parked here in rural New York, sitting beside a flat-roofed house of even older vintage. There are two of these EMD FL-9 diesel locomotives here, hooked together elephant style nose to tail, and they date from the late 1950s. Both locomotives are missing their number boards which are probably in some collector’s house by now. Usually, if you see a train engine without numbers it’s sitting on the scrap line or headed that way.

These two diesel train engines are part of a railroad museum whose forward progress is best described as glacial. The restored flat-roofed house serves as headquarters. You might want to read further to see why I say this is a haunted train.

It doesn’t come any colder or more dead than these two retired Metro North train engines. They rest capped with frozen snow like some kind of junkyard Everest. No one else was around at eight o’clock that winter morning, which wasn’t surprising considering the twenty below zero temperature! At least the wind wasn’t blowing which made it tolerable for a little while until I couldn’t feel my feet. I was shooting from the road at a grade crossing to create this one. Moving a little further down the road for a different view, I made a panorama of this place called Spook Junction #14093.

Haunted Train Or Not?

Yes, I’d say it is. There were fourteen inches of recent snow and footprints can be seen going toward the locomotive that aren’t mine. Oddly enough, none were seen coming back out, nor were the same footprints used to walk back out. Further, the footprints simply stop by the locomotive before the ladders…poof, gone, no more! The situation is plainly suspicious and a baffling mystery; better call Shaggy and Scooby to investigate. This is obviously a haunted train, so I christened the place Spook Junction and called this image Deadline.

I’m not bothered by that kind of thing, actually. I had no fear there being too cold to worry about it, and besides, ghosts don’t come around cold photographers to scare them out of their frozen wits anyway. I’ve had run-ins with spooks when it was a lot warmer outside, however.

Nevertheless, it was great to shoot here in this remote frozen landscape with weird trains and peculiar buildings, a perfect place for Lily Munster to enjoy on vacation. Have a look at Snowblind #14111 for a closer look at those footprints for yourself. The full panoramic view of this place can be seen in Spook Junction #14093.

Location: Cooperstown Junction, Ostego County, New York. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks