Mass. Railfanning

Skull calls Gary to report the action.  Worcester Union Station.

The DT&I Fan and I decided that it was a good time to go to Mass. on Sept. 22nd.  It might be the last free Saturday for either of us for a while and days are still long enough to cover some ground.  Our primary mission was to cash in my Christmas gift certificate at Ken's Trains in Sudbury.  The railfanning was a given.  Unfortunately we found out that Ken's will be closing next June.

After Ken's we worked our way towards Worcester.  We were going to meet "Skull" at the old Amtrak station.  When we arrived we looked around and saw familiar cars but didn't see our friends.  So, we headed over to the main station building.  We assumed they had good reason to be over there since an intermodal was backing down into the P&W yard as we arrived.  We did see the intermodal's power return later and another set of power was on the scene (CP-45) awaiting a recrew. 

Q427 emerges from the tunnels.

A P&W autorack train emerges from the tunnel.

Sure enough Billy and Josh were over by the old NH/B&M line.  Q427 was coming down from Rigby on its way to Selkirk.  Behind it was a P&W autorack train (GRWO) traveling from the PAS interchange in Gardner and headed for the Seaview RR in Davisville, RI.  Josh was hoping they'd be in sight of each other.  They were not that close but they were only minutes apart.

The new intermodal yard in Worcester.

We began to leave a while after Q437 had apparently signaled the end of the action.  We all took shots of the construction surrounding the new intermodal yard.  The new cranes were already in place and being tested as we watched.  Another crew was welding rails together and gravel strips were being compacted. But nothing was moving on the rails.

Purple Trains!  This same set went to Providence later.  See below.

Intermodal power waits around.  Left power came from P&W.

CSX returning east.  T readying to go east as well.

A very small Q437 with plenty of power.

Boston bound "regional" using an Acela set. 

We said our goodbyes and headed over to Sharon.  The station is on the old New Haven "Shoreline" to Providence.  The latest NH station still stands, complete with old platform roofs.  We stayed around for an MBTA train in each direction and a pair of Boston bound Amtraks. 

T set headed to Providence.

The station was a good change of pace from the usual haunts nearer the city.  Rural, suburban and accessible.  The first MBTA train we saw was the exact same set we saw in Worcester a couple of hours earlier.  The odd combination of single and double level cars gave it away.  1050 on the point sealed it. 

 My last shot before we left to visit Ikea was a "Regional".  This one was led by a "toaster" and I attempted to catch it beyond the center fence.  All was well until the train arrived and I could not get the focus to work despite clear test shots earlier.  Oh well.  This one is close enough.

Boston bound "toaster" at Sharon, MA.

BC

Annual Catch

For a third year in a row I've managed to have a camera on hand for something moving on the Rumford branch of the old MEC.  This time, owing to construction near my usual spot in Peru, I pass over the branch in Canton on the way to work each morning.  This spot is near the old wye that used to take the line down to Rumford Jct. in Auburn.  Yesterday the crossing lights lit up as I neared the crossing so I pulled out the mini-camera.  The train was a good distance away and putting along so I sped ahead (like everyone else) and turned to the crossing in the center of the wye where I caught this guy.  There's little traffic on the road so I just sat there with the camera pointed out the window short of the crossing.

This year, like the last two, a blue high hood GP40 was on the point.  The difference this year is that I got the other end of the number class.  I got 370 the last two times.  Now I have the recently acquired oddball 382 at the other end of the class.  I don't recall precisely, but isn't that a unit from NS to make up for one wrecked by them somewhere?

Here is my last encounter, and the first encounter, with something on the Rumford line. 

For me it's a minor victory. 

BC