Jim and Brad's Excellent Adventures Part 1

Back on August 8, 2014 my long-time friend, college buddy and fellow railfan, Jim Grimwood arrived at Brunswick, Maine using Amtrak.  He had trekked across the US from Kansas to Brunswick using Amtrak, or, at least he attempted that.  His first leg turned into a plane ride, but I digress.  He did arrive on the Downeaster on-time at 8:20pm and the Maine Eastern graced him with the presence of the last two EMD FL-9's in revenue service anywhere.  We "assumed" that the train was the special for the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland, so we expected to see it again in the morning.   Carl was along for the ride because, despite going to the same college, Jim and Carl did not quite know each other.  Much of (but not all of) the HAPT gang would be introduced to Jim in the next 24 hours in the Maine "Tour de Farce" that followed the next day. 

Our first task of the day (Sunday 8/9/14) was to pick up "The Wheelman" down the street and proceed to Augusta to collect "The Fiddler".  Paul "The Wheelman" Apollo was a new face for Jim, but the two had heard of each other because of prior railfan adventures.  Charles "The Fiddler" Kadyk is familiar to Jim because Charles and I stayed with him long enough to chase UP 844 a couple of years back.  We knew that the Maine Eastern was running "Lobster Specials" for the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland so we headed straight to Wiscasset to intercept one.  I expected to see the MERy's Geep and a couple of cars parked for normal Sunday runs down by the waterfront.  But, it wasn't to be seen.  At least, not until the run we expected came along.  Jim's smartphone confirmed the train schedule for the 'Lobster Special'  but I was a bit disappointed that we didn't see FL9's.  As a group we pieced together the misguided logic that led to the bad assumption. Oh well.

Once the Lobster Special passed we headed to Alna to visit the WW&F.   This little "two-footer" group theoretically ran steam on Sundays, but of course, not this particular Sunday.  They have enough going on with restorations, rebuilding and operations that we didn't miss the steam.  We could wander around, visit the projects and go for a ride down the length of the place for a mere $5.  It was a fun place to visit, and Jim's first exposure to Maine two-foot gauge.

One of the volunteers told us about the Model-T.  Given that the car was as common as dirt and easily maintained, it was the ideal base for the inspection car.  The great morning sun made it a good place for a mug shot.   The other hand-pump inspection car looked pretty cool too.  Both are a combination of real parts and some construction based on actual plans.  That sort of thing makes the work here remarkable.  So much lives on.

The ride was reasonably lengthy.  The photo is from the Alna Center flagstop.  From this point, the power "runs around" to the back and pushes to the end of the line, still quite a ways off.  The group has equipment swamping out the roadbed, ditching and pushing the line down the original ROW.  They have plans and built up supplies to get to the next grade crossing, where FRA jurisdiction comes into play if they cross, the same quandary they have in Alna.  My guess is that they are preparing for the increased scrutiny and liability. 

We left the WW&F behind and headed to PAR District 1 at Waterville.  Heritage unit MEC 52 was in the neighborhood but we sure couldn't figure out where.  My luck was batting a thousand.  In fact, there was almost nothing to see other than 501 drilling near the yard office.  We kept north to Pittsfield and Northern Maine Jct.  Dysart's got in the way so it was time to eat.  After the usual fine dining experience we headed over to nearby NMJ.  The CM&Q had their new sign up so we stopped for a photo on the way back to the coaling towers.  Jim was a bit taken by all the infrastructure that was still around.  We'd seen it many times before.

We decided to wander north through Bangor and see what was left of Old Town, hoping that maybe something would be on the move in this part of the world.  Nothing moving but we did wander around the yard at Old Town.  It may become the northern terminus of Pan Am in the future at the rate things are changing with eastern traffic, if the local mills could rebound a bit. NMJ is becoming the last regular stop on the mainline with Bucksport closing.  Meanwhile CM&Q will haul New Brunswick traffic via NMJ over the old BAR to Brownville Jct. and Irving's roads (Maine Northern, Eastern Maine and New Brunswick Southern) will continue on from there via the former CP, bypassing the first 40 or so miles of PAR out of Mattawamkeag.  Three roads in a short span but probably still faster and more reliable than Pan Am's irregular service over some very old track. 

We wandered back home from this point, listening to the scanner and sticking to the interstate.  Pan Am did provide us with passing Rumford jobs at the old Rumford Jct. West so we did hang around Danville in the dark watching the action.  A night paving crew on Route 100 probably thought we were nuts.  That was the end of a great day with a car full of good friends. 




DAY 2 - MONDAY
 On this day, Jim and I went over to West Minot to buy breakfast and procure some local maple syrup.  This was step one of a meandering trek to Altoona.  We intended to go via St. Johnsbury, White River Jct., and Rutland.  Now and then something interesting appears along that route.  We intended to spend the night in Binghamton, NY.  Gorham, NH is the first rail stop along the SLR.  We wandered among the old cars by the depot for a while before taking a quick tour of Berlin.  Then it was west on Route 2, over numerous now silent MEC and B&M routes to St. Johnsbury. 


St. Johnsbury is the first real operating location, but also a longshot.  We saw nothing moving of course but we could get a feel for the operation based on what is left in the area.  The classic scene with the grain elevator is still intact and the track hasn't changed too much.  Lately it is much cleaner and nearly weed free now that Washington County Ry. is in charge.  With little to see, we moved down the river to White River Jct. 



  We did get this NECRy geep still in the old colors at White River Jct. depot.  But it was the only real find.  The rest of the route across Vermont produced the usual relics and empty track.  By the time we got to Rutland, my mind was pretty much distracted by the full menu Taco Bell by the big turn to New York.  The radio was no help.  A "stalker mode" function on the scanner got started and I had no idea how to shut it off.  This had been going on a while but it was really pronounced in the civilized parts of the world.  This made the radio a low yield pain in the butt.  It was fixed later but it sure was a distraction for the trip. 

Whitehall, NY included some relics that I finally took the time to photograph.  In 1980 I actually photographed D&H Alco's sitting around by the old engine house that is now falling down in disrepair.  The other buildings seemed to be just as forlorn.  A freight house nearby on the highway seemed to be restored by a business, complete with the D&H logo on the brickwork. 

Down at Saratoga the usual disappointment set in, but only temporarily.  The S&NC BL2 was no where to be seen.  I get the feeling I have to drive to North Creek to see it (at which time it will be in Saratoga).  While we wandered out to the platform the signals lit up.  Our luck was changing.  We couldn't figure out exactly how at first.  Then a signal changed to green and the opposing lights also lit up.  South of the Amtrak depot an NS freight came into view then stopped.  People also began to show up as if a train was due.  Sure enough the Adirondack pulled around the freight and into the depot.  The sequence below shows the signals and trains as they passed us.

 At this point we made a bee-line for Binghamton.  We didn't have much luck along the old D&H.  Nothing was moving and the radio was quiet.  The light was pretty much gone beyond Delanson anyway.  The idea was to see bridges in the morning, but the D&H would have been nice.

DAY 3 - TUESDAY
Today's Mission:  Scranton Metro.  We start with Bingo, Starrucca, Susquehanna and Nicholson.  Then Steamtown, Electric City Trolley, and spend the night at Lackawanna Station after dollar tacos and Yinglings in the bar.  Here are the highlights:

We started with a quick tour of Bingo to see if any trains were moving.  Seeing none, we told Tom-Tom to take us to Starrucca.  We had a good drive over and the town proved to be easy to navigate and friendly to bridge fans.  The bridge was cleared for a ways so one could view it from public land.  The light was fairly neat too.   Jim needed his mug shot for posterity. 

En route to Scranton, we again pointed the Tom-Tom at new targets; Susquehanna and Nicholson.  Susquehanna was a vast and important Erie shop town in the steam era.  Not much left now except the main tracks and a siding or two.  This vast station complex was an empty shell in 1980 when my brother and I found it by accident after finding Starrucca.  Apparently a restaurant is among the businesses inside now. 

Nicholson viaduct was next, a few miles distant.  I remembered a farm road for just such a light angle.  Thankfully the farmer planted hay instead of tall corn.   Again another mug shot was called for.  You will note in this photo that Jim's shirt is print of an old ACI tag.   He had it made so don't try to find one in stores. 

One of the cool parts about Steamtown is that you can park in the mall, eat in the food court and then take a leisurely stroll across the pedestrian bridgework to the museums. There are a lot of interesting relics parked where you can get a good look from the bridge. 

 

The former BAR F3's were trying to hide among the relics behind the roundhouse...

For some reason,  I just like Nickel Plate whenever I see it, even when it doesn't make sense.  Here the Steamtown Flyer is working to shuttle visitors out to Bridge 60 and back.  I later noted that there are some really good archeological views of the Scranton area from this train, but I hadn't studied up prior to the trip for all of the potential present. 

Given that both of us have history chasing UP steam out west, a pose with Jim in front of the Big Boy is pretty much required.  Our first railfan adventure was chasing UP 8444 out of Salina, KS in the 1980's.  Jim's been following 844 and 3985 ever since, plus some ATSF steam out of Abilene.

I have since seen photos of this same set of locomotives all over the internet, mostly noting how rare it is to see matching GVT corporate colors.  I guess we got lucky on the Delaware-Lackawanna, though I suspect that's not entirely true.  There is still a rolling museum of Alco's to be seen but I think these are mostly former Canadians, with little relevance locally, and probably newer or better maintained mechanically. 

This grain run was the end of our day, except to stay the night at the Lackawanna Station hotel.  Now that was cool.  But, given that we had been railfanning for days, we needed to take it easy for a bit.  Dollar tacos and cheap Yuengling kept us in the bar and close to base for the rest of the evening.  Jim took many photos of the Lackawanna Station, now Radisson Hotel.  I'll have to get him to post something on that.

Continued another day...

BC