Rail Fanning Worcester Today The Circus Train.

PART 1 Westboro, Mass CSX Boston Sub.
11:53 Westbound CSX Work train thru CP-33 6209 - 8856 10 cars.
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Part 2 Worcester Area.

P&W WX-1 @ 12:59 4003 Lower Greenwood Yard.
P&W Power at the Worcester Engine House = the MIGHTY # 150 , 4004,2011,2010,2007.
CSX East Worcester Yard.
Y - 120 = 6218
P-513 @ 13:49 1063 - 7 cars cabcar ?
Amtrak Trains 448 & 449 "Lakeshore Limited" are being bused due to trackwork on CSX Berkshire Sub.
P&W WX-3 @ 14:00 3909 (LHF) 10 cars to PanAm In Gardner,Mass.
P-915-27 @ 14:35 RBBB Circus Train "RED UNIT" arrived at CP-45 lead by CSX 920 - 8779 61 cars.
At 16:00 the Providence & Worcester sent up 2008 - 4003 to pull the circus train down to Worcester Yard to be Y'd.They pulled the circus train (P-915-27 on CSX) down the Norwich branch to add 2011,2010,2007
to power the long train down to Providence,R.I. the train passed "BOREA LANE" in Millbury @ 17:40.
P-517 @ 16:19 1028 - 5 cars cabcar 1532.
P-526 @ 16:30 Cabcar 1532 - 5 cars 1028 pushing (Boston).
P-527 @ 19:15 1033 - 7 cars cabcar 1714.
Q-427 @ 19:20 984 - 932 from PanAm in Ayer,Mass.
P-529 @ 19:35 1053 - 6 cars cabcar 1711.
P-536 @ 19:46 Cabcar 1711 - 6 cars 1053 pushing (Boston).
Q-115 @ 20:00 5284 - 5479
P&W PRWO @ 20:15 at Union Station headed to PanAm Railways interchange in Gardner. Lead by Five Units,2006-2009-3901-3907-2216-2215 with 30 loaded coal cars for MT. Tom. Elton & Gary Fisher ,Mike Delage and myself went up to the double grade crossing on the P&W's Gardner Branch , Brattle Street.
With 5 units the train roared thru. This ended a great day of railfanning with my friend Dave Jodoin.
Special Thanks to Gary "THE BOSS" Young for posting all the reports.
Till Next Time Railfans.
Billy Leazer W.F.P.T. / H.A.P.T.
Dave Jodoin W.F.P.T.
Gary "Mr.Foreign Power" Young W.F.P.T. (by cell)
Paul Apollo H.A.P.T. / W.F.P.T. (by cell)
Conrail Ken and Donna.
Dave Carlson
Nick Palazini W.F.P.T.
Elton Fisher W.F.P.T.
Gary Fisher W.F.P.T.
Mike Delage
Pic of Me in 1989 in Montreal,QC. at the old fort.
W.F.P.T. / H.A.P.T. Worcester Foreign Power Team.Hebron Any Power Team.

Monday Update From Roseville

No pictures are available today, but the film camera was busy nonetheless. That picture I posted below, with the Genset & the 844 - the old and the new? It's a good thing I'm a strict follower of HAPT photo-taking protocol, which states "Take what you can, when you can. It may be gone when you come back" Alas, the Genset was gone, tapped for local weekday duty....

... to be replaced by the Western Pacific Heritage unit. Apparently the Heritage unit will accompany the 844 this week up to Oroville and the world of the Western Pacific.



Steam and GPS - isn't change wonderful!


Here's the Spring 844 schedule


...and here's more!

The gears are also starting to turn for the 2009 HAPTapalooza, tentatively scheduled for August 6-12.

Wheelman ... out.

Roseville CA Today

Here is today's EB AMTRAK Zephyr leaving Roseville CA. This picture was taken from the Hilton Garden Inn.

On a random trip to see what was going on in the Roseville Yard, I came across this sight. UP 844 is on a tour of the Bay Area, and will be in Roseville through Thursday morning. Thursday it will head north up to Oroville CA.

Altoona Recreation Dept.

On Monday April 20, 2009 Train Time's own Paul Lodge, his wife and I headed out for a short trip to The Tunnel Inn in Gallitzin, PA. There we would meet The Fiddler for a Tuesday with the "master guide" Phil Faudi. Spring provided a hint of color as a backdrop but the leaves were still hiding on the trees, which allowed good visibility.

On Tuesday, we headed out at a reasonable 8am having already seen a bunch of rail action from our rooms at the Inn. That's normal there. When I was awake and counting we caught 18N, 21Q and 25Z. A couple of others went by before I rolled out or while I was in the shower and I missed their symbols.

Our first stop of the day was at Works and then the new 7th St. Bridge. The Fiddler & I kept busy at these spots while Paul was down near Alto tower around the museum area bridges. A local, a couple of helper sets and a coal train kept us busy at Works. Up on the bridge we caught this glorious trash train -65J - as it received "helpers ahead" and proceeded west. We also headed west, detouring to the "sportsman club" area around MG Tower and then on to Cresson.

As we watched 20G pass through the lights at Cresson, Phil checked on a new perch on the other side of the tracks. He obtained permission to use a platform sitting right where the Fallen Timbers branch ties in. It is behind what used to be a bar and no doubt provided entertainment for patrons (as well as passing crews). This batch of recently painted SD80MAC's was photographed from that perch.


From the beginning of the day I noticed some newly painted SD50's being used as helpers. Number 6300 was a common sight on this day. The cab designation said SD40-E. I'm a little rusty on the details but it seems the SD50 and SD60 types fell into a bad zone where they weren't worth rebuilding because of newer and expensive emission standards. I suspect the same thing would make them nearly worthless for resale too. Maybe the de-rating gives them a new lease on life? Anyway, they are much quieter and less smokey than their older counterparts in helper service. Juniata shops seemed to have plenty of fodder for more on hand. They look sharp, but time is running out if you like to hear the roar of helpers on the back of a heavy train as they dig in.

The Fiddler had to leave around 3pm so we dropped him at the Tunnel Inn and continued our adventure. Too bad he had to leave. Phil correctly predicted a confluence of trains so we headed west and got as far as Carney's Crossing just west of Cresson. However, even he did not predict 3 meets in 35 minutes! Here is coal train 84R from the Powder River Basin approaching just as 21J clears out of the way. We then saw similar meets between 20R & 23W, then 615 & 10A. Somehow Phil and I managed to be on the correct side of the tracks for each meet too, so we had the ideal view.

Don't you just hate it when there are too many trains and you can't leave!

Before we could go too far from Carney's Phil again predicted an approaching batch of trains. This time we went to Lily to hide under the bridge, out of the rain. It turned into a good stay. We caught 6 more trains there! This time we caught the eastbound trash train 64J, PPLX #411, Coal # 536, Roadrailer #242, the westbound Amtrak and finally 18G. This time we were in one place for a bit under an hour, through a variety of rain showers and spotty sun. I like the view of the curve from under the bridge, especially when I can hide out of the wind. The show was winding down and it was time for supper, so we called it a day.

The next day we met Phil for breakfast and then headed downtown again. For all my visits to Altoona I really ignore the place, so we made an effort this time. First, we stopped by the turntable at Juniata. For Paul this was a good chance to see the rig in operation as they moved a few units around. Train Time fans will like that in a future episode. From the turntable we ventured a couple of blocks to the newish Juniata 8th St. bridge. This spot is right over Rose Yard. From here you can see about anything at this end of town. There were helpers poking around; locals coming and going; a switcher or two; crew changes; MOW workers; trains getting helpers. We were there quite a while and had plenty to see the whole time. This is a must-see spot. I have always liked those SD60I's in Conrail blue. Seeing them on coal trains, still in blue is really nice. Here we have an unknown PPLX empty pulling into the holding tracks along the bypass at Rose.

A few degrees to the left of where the PPLX train passed is the mainline. Here we see Rose interlocking. Down behind 21G is Antis where a helper set is tying on for the trip over the hill. This helper ritual goes on constantly 24-7 from this spot. They might tie on at Works, Antis or Rose and they might disconnect anywhere. Helpers seem to roam all over Altoona at any given time. Train 21G is interesting because it is "guaranteed" to be on-time. I suspect that causes heartburn all over the place when it runs a bit off the mark, then gets helpers.


We had a good second day with Phil. It was a bonus because we didn't know he'd be able to join us much on Wednesday when we left Maine. This final shot is from a new location we scouted. It is where the old Portage RR roadbed crosses the PRR main. It is situated on the tangent right between Cassandra and the bridge at Jamestown Rd. For us that stretch was always an "unknown". Now we have a new afternoon spot.


Another great adventure in Altoona. There's way too many photos to show here, but this is a representative batch. The idea was to forget work, get away from Maine, see some friends and photograph some trains. Something in the neighborhood of 75 trains and numerous other things was our catch this time. Thanks to Phil and the folks at the Tunnel Inn; Mission accomplished!

BC

Think California, Think ... Potatoes??

This morning's travels brought me to Shafter CA, via Tehachapi. I left Ontario at 4:30AM, and did see a double stacks train headed toward Mojave just west of Tehachapi Summit. This wasn't my main purpose for the trip, so I ignored the shot and kept driving. Destination: Tulare & Kings Counties.

This wasn't intended to be a train adventure. I hadn't done any research. So as I wandered aimlessly west of Bakersfield, looking for Rte 43 north, it was a happy coincidence that the Santa Fe main out of Bakersfield hugs Rte 43 for over 50 miles, into both Tulare and Kings Counties. It's also the CalTrans San Joaquins route from Fresno to Bakersfield, so the track is in tip top shape.

On my way north I ambled through Shafter, and noticed a museum in the Santa Fe depot. It wasn't open yet, so I kept going up to Corcoran, padded the town's coffers to the tune of a large coffee, and headed back south. Along the way I caught a 100+ car SB freight (Warbonnets front and rear, of course - you'll have to wait for the slides) and on the way back to Shafter a 6 car San Joaquin.

Here are some photo highlights from this whale of a museum. Aside from all the train paraphenalia (which included a Santa Fe ice car that had been used for potato service from Shafter long, long ago), there was a modest and incredibly interesting set of old maps, captured as best I could by my instant note-taker that doubles as a digital Brownie.

I'd been asked by the HAPT Dean Of Styrene to capture car details in my travels. I did my best with the tools I had available.



One other display item: a wooden box made by a German prisoner at the local POW camp. I'll have to find some obscure German beer tonight to honor this find.



Counties Collected: 2 ... The Wheelman, out

History Outside My Window, and Good Beer Inside

This week I'm writing from Rocklin CA, a neighbor to Roseville CA and a stop on one of the most famous & historically significant rail lines in the world. This part of the world owns the line across Donner Summit, the Central Pacific route that met with the Union Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah to complete the first US transcontinental route. Here's a book I recommend to anyone wanting the story of how the line was built. If ever you visit, this book provides excellent context, and affords an appreciation for all that handwork needed to slice through the Sierra. A lot of men, mostly Chinese coolie labor, died building this route. I have some slides of the Chinese Coolie monument erected in their memory, located in Auburn CA at the Track 1 depot. BTW, Track 1 (the original track) skirts the east side of town, and Track 2 skirts the west side. AMTRAK (the California Zephyr) and Sacramento commuter rail use Track 2.

I get to snap a few pictures in & around Rocklin and Roseville, either before work or (at this time of year) after I leave the office. I've noticed traffic on the Donner Pass line (officially the Roseville Subdivision) is more frequent than it was when I first arrived here last November. It's no racetrack, but the chances are if you arrive trackside, you'll see something moving if you're patient enough to wait. I've spent a few lunch hours in Rocklin, at the point where Tracks 1 & 2 diverge - the tracks meet up briefly in Newcastle, and diverge again until around Colfax - and have been skunked, only to hear train horns sounding within an hour of my leaving.

Last night I left work and followed the tracks east, "up the hill" from Rocklin to past Newcastle on old US 40. I stopped for my weekly brew, and while making my selection I was rewarded with a WB autoracks. The engines were ... big, and painted Armour Yellow with "UNION PACIFIC" prominently displayed. There were 3 late-model GEs. Sorry diesel fans, that's all I recorded in my brain. The train was about 50 cars long. For the record, I spotted it just west of the center of bustling Loomis CA.

As for this week's beer: it's a selection from the Anderson Valley Brewing Company, conveniently located in a valley north of Ukiah CA and south of Fort Bragg CA. You hafta wanna get there - and get there I did, this past February. There are lots of places that call themselves God's Country, and I consider this location one of them. It's where I found the 11% Grade roadsign, on my way to the dramatic northern California coast. I wish I'd taken more pictures; next time I will.

The beer: AVBC's IPA. There will be a bottle or two present at the next HAPTening in The Center Of The Universe, Hebron ME

Wheelman ... out

I Found Some Great Beer - In The South!!

Here's what I hope will be the beginning of an series of eclectic posts from your US traveler, The Wheelman. I may mention trains, I may not. That's OK - Debate Coach said so!!

Work has brought me to Atlanta this week, arguably the home of the saying "wrong side of the tracks". Tracks - busy ones - slice through Atlanta as subtly as do its famously clogged Interstates. I happen to be working in a location within earshot of where CSX and NS essentially merge in the shadow of the downtown skyscrapers. My day is punctuated by frequent toot-toot-ti-toots; alas, I can't tear myself away to have a look. That's just as well; some of these neighborhoods define "rough".

Since I can't chase trains during the week, I adapt by pursuing a noble goal - find the Local Brew. Many blog posters/readers have been know to tip a few, so here's my first Local Find:

Sweetwater Brewery

I found this brew in a supermarket east of Birmingham AL. Normally in the south, I'm disappointed to find the most exotic brew on the shelves to be a guaranteed-to-be-skunked Heinekin, or the ubiquitous Modelo or Tecata. Well imagine my surprise when I read the following on the Sweetwater carton: "Sweetwater Georgia Brown Ale - Smoother than a Bill Clinton apology". This had to be worth a taste! It was pretty good, as was their Sweetwater Blue, purchased at one of Smyrna GA's finer liquor stores.

Someday there'll be a slide show at HAPT headquarters, and with any luck the bottles I sneak into my checked baggage won't break (again...) so they'll be available to sample.

Until the next beer .. Wheelman out

April Picture Worth A Thousand Words

This spring has been awfully quiet on the blog. A few too many things - mostly good though - going on with work and not much noteworthy railfanning to post here in my case. So, when I spotted that our favorite boxcar and paint scheme combo is 5 years old now (apparently shopped in 1-04), I had to use this close up.

The photo above is of the famous MM&A "State Of Maine" car #1. Many people have seen it and I won't go into the one-of-a-kind paint scheme itself. My first real photo op was last October on the "County Tour", which you can refer to if you aren't familiar with the car. At that time I took a few detail shots, the photo above being one of them.

What caught my attention wasn't something new, it was something from the past - a railroad owned car shop. Most railroads have thinned out or contracted out their car shop business. Mega-mergers have consolidated company facilities to a fraction of before and shortlines often don't have the volume for their own elaborate shop, unless that's part of their business. Derby Shops next to Milo, ME is a holdover from a past that has disappeared in most places. Places like Erie's Meadville shops, B&O's DuBois shops, Lehigh Valley's Sayre shops and dozens more across the country have all gone over to rail car contractors or simply been erased. The Wisconsin Central, which was run by the same folks that run the MM&A, kept a shop at North Fon du Lac, WI too. It was still run by CN when I saw it a year ago. I don't know about WC's habits, but I know that outside work is often part of the revenue stream that keeps these shops alive. Having a locomotive shop in the complex helps too. MM&A probably has just enough of it's own business and just enough contracted business to justify the shop.

I'll let others do a detailed analysis of why the shop exists and if it will continue. I just like the little shop stencil. It's doubly cool because it is a derivation of the old Bangor and Aroostook shield like the current MM&A shield. That MM&A shop logo on the car is something that shows up on many MM&A as well as SLC cars that travel from coast to coast. One has to wonder if someone in a far off state sees it and wonders if Derby, or Maine for that matter, is in the mystical place known as Canada. I would hope that on this one car that's not an issue.


BC