By Chris Healy/photo by the author
January 15, 2022, found CSX train I010-14 with CSX’s Honoring First Responders unit 911 leading, departing south off the siding at CP-22 in Blauvelt, N.Y., after holding to meet a pair of northbound UPS trains. Adjacent to the River Subdivision is posed Piermont Fire Department 2004 Pierce Sabre 1000-gallon-per-minute pumper 13-1001.
The photographer, who is also a railroad employee, train enthusiast, and volunteer of the Piermont Fire Department, had been tipped off earlier in the morning about the approaching train, and wanted to share the pride and respect the railroads have shown First Responders; who alike operate 24/7 across the country.
During the past few years, several Class-1s have decorated locomotives to honor the fire and EMS service. The officers and chiefs of the Piermont Fire Department–Empire Hose Co No. 1 obligated and assigned a small crew with the photographer to salute the train as it passed through a neighboring department’s area. The last active railroad in Piermont was a portion of the Erie-Lackawanna (former Erie Railroad) Piermont Branch, which was abandoned in the 1960s.