How To Fill A New Year's Eve" 2014-15

The recipe for a good day among some Maine railfans is to load a car with people and head to Massachusetts.  There are things to see and do down there that simply aren't available in Maine.  While we didn't see a vast quantity of trains, we did get to see our friend Billy in Worcester and Paul "The Wheelman" was able to tag along.  Carl had given me a gift certificate to Hobby Emporium of Tyngsboro, MA so that was what gave us an excuse to hit the road.

 Ayer is always a mixed bag depending on what we have in mind.  Coming down from Maine usually means that we miss the morning rush hours on the commuter system.  As we passed through 'Willows' we stopped to look over a NS powered autorack train parked by the Ford facility.  Next to us were the old and new signal masts for the junction a few yards to the west (left).  We got out of the car and walked over to the crossing.  Behind us was the Fitchburg line crossing as well so all the gates had to go down for any train on either line.  One T train passed while we were there.  It was probably the outbound version of the inbound we saw. 












I had only heard of the car facility in this area so it was a neat to see the empties preparing to depart.  We did not venture down into the property but we were parked along the driveway to see the signals. 









This trip we didn't have to wait too long for an inbound T train at the platform.  We probably saw this same train a Willows and it simply reversed direction at Fitchburg.  The sun angles weren't bad but there were some annoying shadows.  However, all this is better than our usual skunking here when we are just passing through.  Given all the new cars and locomotives that are being delivered, some of this gear is going to disappear in the near future.  All of the teething problems with the Rotem cars and MPI units will go away eventually. 

I had to shoot this photo of the Keolis truck simply to have some representation of the MBTA's operator.   They picked up a system in transition to new but temperamental equipment and then February's snow put them over the edge.  They will either come out strong or go down in flames and disappear.  I will have this one photo if it is the latter. 





Once we left Ayer we followed the Fitchburg line toward Leominister where we turned south for Palmer.  Along the way we stopped at Shirley to photograph the small but distinctive shelter.  After the photo we all noticed that it still had a telephone stand.  That fit the theme at Palmer later.  "The Wheelman" is into geo-caching and located one in a park across the street while we were there. 


 Palmer is always interesting.  Today was slightly less so.  Within the previous week the "Vermonter" was rerouted around Palmer to the Connecticut River line which was recently rehabilitated.  The tedious reverse move from CSX to NECR and vise-versa at the depot will no longer be seen.  So we ordered some take-out food at the Steaming Tender and waited for something to go by.  The only action turned out to be a NECR switcher.  But, it had NECR's paint scheme, so all was not bad.  The waiting room inside the station wasn't bad either.  The old accoutrements like shoe shine and phone were still around in some form.  The phone was converted to push button but the booth was cool.

Palmer is also the new home of the former Bob Buck's Hobby Shop.  We had to stop in and spend some money.  It's a decent shop, worth the stop.  And, if you know the antics of Bob Buck in the world of the big Amherst Train Show in Springfield, there's no sign of Bob's ghost anywhere. 

On the way home we passed this diner in Spencer.  We were stopped right there in the road in traffic so I dug out my camera to get the Moxie sign. 

From here it got dark.  We dropped in at the Worcester depot to visit with Billy Leazer for a while.  Then, off to Tyngsboro to find out that Hobby Emporium had closed early for New Years.  Oh well.  We'll have to do it again.

BC