One has to be careful when describing Pan Am's District 1 as an "exciting place" because that term is exceedingly relative. Excitement here can be a big yawn elsewhere. 6 trains a day plus a local switcher out of Danville Jct. can be the equivalent of an hour's drama at Horseshoe Curve or Sherman Hill. Here railfanning is like fishing a "pickerel pond". There it's like shopping at the seafood counter at Hannaford's.
So, when fan's of the "sludge gray" encounter some mildly unusual power leading among those few trains, it's relatively exciting. The ho-hum of a normal move now has something worthy of a photograph. These two photos were taken on Saturday Sept. 20 and Sunday Sept. 21 when the weather was too nice to ignore, even if the subject might have been unimaginative.
The top photo is of 517 and 516 leading a westbound out of Waterville (WAED?) at New Gloucester East on the 20th. No big deal except that these units are commonly used for the OCS train so they are cleaner than normal units. They met EDRU(?) at Leeds Jct. and took the siding, which is where the DT&I Fan and I began our chase. A recent OCS run provides a possible explanation for their appearance.
Above we see an eastbound that just passed through Danville Jct. and is approaching Rumford Jct. West. The view is from Sunday the 21st at the overpass by Channel 8 and the Sleepy Time Motel (W.F.P.T.'s Billy Leazer's Maine HQ). This unit has been painted blue for a couple of years now but to catch it in the lead when the front door is closed is a big deal around here. This was a grab shot with my spare camera since the DT&I Fan and I were actually headed to Neal's NGauging Trains down near Portsmouth. "The Junctions" are always part of any southbound trip. It didn't hurt that the last SD39 #690 was in the mix either.
With this weekend's hurricane weather and fall approaching, it may be a while before we see this kind of "excitement" again. After all, it's been a while (July) since Pan Am graced these pages, and that's with good weather.
BC
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