Summer Solstice Road Trip

Carl and I had a full day to roam south of the 'L-A' area and we were going to take advantage of the nice weather and long daylight hours to seek trains. 

Our first stop was at Wells to see what we could see.  A northbound was due shortly at 10:50am but it was running about 15 minutes late.  I'm always trying to catch that nose lettering just as well as possible.  This one seemed to work.



From Wells we proceeded to Exeter.  No particular reason other than we had not been there before.  As we drove we heard scanner chatter about EDPO being stuck at MP261 and 509 going down to rescue it.  We didn't have any info with us so we had no clue where that milepost was.  We figured it was near but, as it turned out, it was just around the bend from the Exeter station.  Carl happened to wander down to the crossing west of the station and saw the train sitting down the line a couple hundred yards.  We had no clue what mile post we were near.  Before this discovery, we noticed that the northbound at 12:52pm was no where to be seen.   We just stood in the shade and waited for developments.

A hi-rail truck got on at the crossing and passed through the station heading east before the time a 2pm southbound was due.  This didn't look good.  We figured things would shake loose long before this so the scanner was sitting in the car, out of ear range.  It was quiet when I tried to listen.  A track car would mean the southbound Downeaster and 509 were not around yet.  Apparently LA-1 was approaching the rear of EDPO.  Carl saw the headlights behind EDPO but didn't know what that meant at the time. 




Around 2:15pm 509 appears from the east and passes through the station.   This is a good sign.  Something is going to happen in the near future.  In 40 minutes it does.  Smoke and sound appears in the distance.  Soon the horn for the grade crossing.  More rumble and smoke as it passes the station. 

We had stopped at the station merely to try a new location.  After all this time the shadows were much longer and at a totally different angle.  I did what I could with the backlighting.  Carl had relocated to a bridge to the east where it was wedgy but less shadowy. 

Bringing up the rear of EDPO were the two units of LA-1.  GMTX 3001 was an ex-SLR unit so the yellow paint was familiar and added some color to the scene.  306 was just a sludge-gray incidental.  A crew was aboard and the units weren't working very had now that they had climbed the grade.  They seemed to be along for the ride at this point. 

 



 With EDPO out of the way of Exeter at around 3:05, it was a guessing game about which Downeaster would be first.  Apparently the southbound (scheduled to arrive at 2pm) won the logistics battle as it was along about 15 minutes later.  Once again, I was trying to get that white lettering to show up on the nose, and get a little of the place into the shot.  He was about even with the original stone depot here.








Another 25 minutes passed - it was now 3:55 pm and the northbound (scheduled to arrive at 12:42pm) appeared.  Here I was trying to get some old industry and a pulled up siding just west of the station into the shot.  Apparently when the camera started shooting I had taken a step to the right of where I lined up this shot.  The ties were more visible when I was setting up.

At this point we thought it was time to change locations and head off.  We got just far enough away, beyond the point of returning quickly, when a detector went off at MP262.  Apparently another eastbound freight was worked into the gap behind that last Downeaster.  Too bad.  We missed it.  We pressed on to better things.

 At some point we decided to drive by Bow just in case a coal train was around.  Nope. No such luck.  But being at the point on the map gave us the idea to go north away from the densely populated areas of the south and see what was in White River Jct. farther north.  An hour up I-89 turned out to be worth the trip.  These two units were parked by the depot and lots of people were milling around.  We had stumbled onto the arrival of the northbound Vermonter, only about 15 minutes away.  Excellent luck.  We didn't have a timetable so we were basically showing up blind. 

 We had seen the Vermonter do it's choreographed ritual at Palmer where it changes over from CSX to the NECR on many occasions.   One time, the Wheelman and I heard via scanner as it arrived at St. Albans one dark and snowy night driving back from Montreal.  But, this is my first time seeing it actually in Vermont.  I kind of like the old PRR/PC Metroliner control cab on the rear.  Nothing like seeing an important link to the past still in use.



From WRJ it was another hour or so north to St. Johnsbury.  It was too late to catch any action but it was still light enough for photos at 8:30pm.  Carl spotted the MDT flats in the yard so I had to photograph something almost as old as me.  Apparently these were built in 1961 for auto racks according to Carl's best guess at the time.  The latest technology of that day.  The NYC jade green is kind of cool too.  It's VTR MOW now. 


Still a long drive home.  It was nearly dark by the time we cleared Lancaster, NH.  The moon was bright as we passed Berlin and Gorham.  Luckily, the moose decided to wait for me to go by on this stretch of road.  This turned out to be a pretty good day which started with zero expectations that we'd see anything significant, let alone end up in Vermont with more cool stuff to see.

BC

Spring Reconnoitering in Maine

The Downeaster awaits a 1755 departure for Boston.

 There's nothing like a spring day to give you the urge to get out of the house and explore, even if it's only over to District 1 on Pan Am Railways.  Never mind the snow.  Today, I did consult a schedule for the Downeaster and found that they would have something departing Brunswick in daylight now that we are in Daylight Savings Time.  I headed there after the usual pass through "the Junctions" in Auburn.

I left the house as PORU was getting a Form D to go up the Rumford Branch.  They had left a couple of units at Danville Jct. for DJ-1 as near as I could tell from the scanner.  I saw the units deep in the yard as I passed through.  With nothing else around and the SLR at Lewiston Jct. quiet, I moved on to Brunswick.

View of "layover" and wye (Lewiston Lower) from platform.

Aside from the annoying town of Brunswick itself with one-way streets and tons of traffic, the new station area was pretty quiet.  I went to the Hammond Lumber by the Spring St. bridge first to get shots of the trainset in layover.  It turned out more interesting than I thought since there was an F40 commemorative unit on the point rather than a standard "cabbage" unit.  I did like the old paint scheme too.  I didn't get too worked up about the "Shamu" style "mud missile" at the other end.

Amtrak "Heritage Unit".  Appears to be a full F40, not cabbage.

Over at the station itself I found plenty of parking and wandered over to the platform.  In the process I figured out where the Visitors Center was located and found helpful people around.  One of them was a local character I've run into before in the area.  Apparently he now counts passengers and otherwise volunteers around the station.  I think his nickname was "Cookie" but I may have heard it wrong. 

New Downeaster facilities in Brunswick.

DJ-1 with 2 more units left by PORU.

I couldn't see how I'd do much better by waiting another hour for the train to depart.  The back-lighting was harsh and I already got the head end from the bridge.  So, I reversed course back to "the Junctions".  This time my luck was a tad better.  RUPO was passing under the turnpike as I arrived so I headed for Danville Jct. from the west end.  There I caught DJ-1 and the other two units all assembled by the crossing.  Good timing.  I got a "two-fer" as RUPO passed.  I'm sure I could have stayed longer and watched a few more moves but it was a bit drafty and cool for such things.  And, I was parked in quite a muddy spot next to a melting snow pile.  No, the "excitement" of Danville Jct. and District 1 could wait for another day when I had the right jacket and more time.

RUPO passing DJ-1 at Danville Jct. 

 BC

Bow, Billerica and Beyond

NS power awaits unloading at Bow.

The DT&I Fan and I made a more or less impromptu trip south on Friday 2/22/13 with little more than some DeLorme and SPV maps, scanners and cameras.  We also took little on "intel" other than a loaded Bow Coal train was in "Bingo" or Rotterdam Jct. on Wednesday night.  We figured it was a good day to wander aimlessly and see stuff we'd never visited on the ground before - after Bow that is.

Concord tower, home of NEGS.

The drive down was quiet railfan-wise.  We pretty much followed US 202 to Concord.  For the archaeologist types, this route follows the old Lewiston-Portland Interurban route to Gray, crosses the "MEC Mountain Division" in South Windham, then parallels the WN&P/B&M/S&E to Rochester, NH.  Plenty of empty roadbeds, bridge abutments and even the odd building.  But, no trains.  The NHN was the first active line we crossed for two hours, and they weren't around.  Neither was NEGS home.  Not even a loco to look at near the tower in Concord.

Steam rises from PSNH Merrimack Station.

Bow was the first "lively" spot we hit after 3 hours, and that's a relative term.  The coal train was in the power plant and the locos were waiting in the usual spot near Johnson Rd.  The Ciment Quebec plant across the road was full of cars, and behind a lot of young trees and bushes.  The last time I was there, the cement plant was new (no vegetation) but empty.  No movement about but this was part of the ritual at going to Bow, and why we hadn't gone there much in this century.  Railfans who live closer catch all kinds of interesting power on this run but they have the luxury of following the train or popping by without burning half of a day in the process.  We drove 3 hours to see 3 "thoroughbreds" on Perinni Siding.  But this was to be a mere starting point and a change of pace from the usual drive down I-495.

The belly of the beast.

With Bow behind us, we headed south on Rt. 3 and 3a to North Chelmsford to see the wye where the "Northern" line to Concord breaks away from the "Freight Main".  We had hoped to take a location shot or two but with snow banks everywhere, crowded tight buildings and no parking, we gave up and kept moving.  The next target we could think of was Haverhill T Station.  But, on the way we noticed that North Billerica wasn't that far from our course.  Why not detour a couple of miles to check out a 'new to us' T station and possibly see "Iron Horse Park" for the first time.

To find the T station we simply had to follow the road signs.   We were barely out of the car and noticed the platform signs telling us that an outbound train was due in a few minutes.  That was plenty of time to scope the place out and yet not delay the day much.  Perfect.  It wasn't long before an MBTA GP40MC showed up towing a Lowell bound "purple train".   This was my first time seeing the "hunter orange" bags over the couplers.  I'll have to look up what that's supposed to accomplish. 

Even closer to the belly of the beast.

The DeLorme Atlas told us how close the town was to our route, and helped vaguely otherwise but was pretty limited on the local streets.  From the station we did a lot of driving to find "Iron Horse Park" by dead-reckoning.  It had to be hemmed in by two lines and near the splitting point.  We missed the correct turn on our first pass through the neighborhood.  But, we found a cross street after establishing that there is a large "wilderness" and water supply area south of town.  We found the correct street "bassackwardly" but we found it.  There wasn't much to see legally and again we were foiled by snow banks.  We settled for a picture of the sign on High St. and a quick look at the sheer size of the former B&M shop complex.

A southbound Downeaster tries to sneak into Haverhill.

Next we did some more dead-reckoning to the Haverhill T Station.  We did eventually find it and the schedule gave us two trains in about half-an-hour.  The first train in was the T.  Since this was the end of the line, I figured well where it would come from but missed which track it would be on.  Anyone one would have guess right-hand running, especially with a Downeaster train due.  Well that was backwards.  The T showed up on the station side and the Downeaster came in soon thereafter on the other side.  While that hurt the shot I was set up for, it set me up for some interesting shots of the Downeaster mixed with the T.  Meanwhile the place is suddenly crawling with people crossing the tracks and looking for the right train or their car in the parking garage across the tracks.  It looked like chaos to me, but it apparently is the daily ritual here at 4:08 or so.

Downeaster departing Haverhill over the Merrimack River.

With the trains gone we got back on the road.  Daylight was fading so we headed to another "new to us" station in Newburyport".  We had no schedules with us so we didn't know what we might see.  As it turned out, we just missed a train by 20 minutes and another wasn't arriving for 45 minutes.  While a train would have been good, daylight would be gone before the arrival, so we settled for some location shots with lots of empty track.  This station was interesting to us because it is the stub end of the old "Eastern" line to Portland.  The bumpers were by the end of the platforms.  The swing bridge over the Merrimac River, while still in place, needs repair and the rails have been removed.  It will be decades, if ever, before that line sees trains to Portsmouth again.  Looked like a potentially interesting summer diversion to return and walk the trail up to the bridge.

That might have been the end of the day but it wasn't.  We drove up to Derry, NH for the Derry Model Railroad Fun Night.  This took us along Rt.28 and a roadbed through Salem.  It was too dark to see the old station though.  The group in Derry is part of the NMRA Seacoast Division and had an interesting presentation on doing "compacted" scenery on your layout.  It was entitled "5 miles in 3/4 inches" and dealt with layered backdrops.  It was getting late when they got to the "hands on" part so we left early and reversed out morning course back home. 

Sunlight gets scarce at Newburyport.

It was a good day to be out of the house and though we didn't see many trains, we found some interesting stuff.   Some things will be worth another visit.

BC

Billy's Adventures 2012 Part1

The complete content, including Bill's reports, follows and will no doubt be revised.  This includes a few select photos of mine from Monday to Wednesday.  This trip is now an annual ritual for Billy and the HAPT.  There are postings going back to the beginnings of this blog, but he's been doing this far longer. 

MONDAY JULY 9TH, 2012

After receiving a call from Billy saying that he'd arrived, I set out for Danville Jct. to meet him and Carl.  This was near 3pm.  On the way I ran into this interesting combination of power in Mechanic Falls.  Apparently the SLR South Paris local had some work on the siding and was waiting to proceed.  I could see it cross the road in my mirrors after I left.  The two switchers are Quebec and Gatineau Ry.  and have been on the local lately.  We'd return to this train later.


I arrived in Danville in the middle of the passing of the Rumford jobs.  RUPO was supposed to pick up a couple of crippled loco's but something just didn't work out and they left without them.  A maintainer truck pulled up and the mechanic got to work soon thereafter.




Seeing that there wasn't going to be much more happening for a long time we decided to go after those switchers I spotted earlier.  We left vehicles at Billy's favorite "Sleepy Time Motel" and headed over to Lewiston Jct. to begin the trip along the SLR towards South Paris.  We took a little time to look at the variety of power sitting around the engine house.  Then we were off toward Mechanic Falls and Oxford just to make sure the train hadn't returned yet.

In Oxford, we were traveling down Rt. 26 when the crossing lights lit up near the MP 46 detector.  We turned around quickly and set off for a place to catch it.  Luckily, traffic was light and we were able to catch it near "Lashins Auto Salvage" near Oxford.  This is along routes 11 and 121 between Mechanic Falls and Oxford.   The sun favored us a bit too there.  We were able to see the train spread out across the line along the road.  The weeds were a bit annoying but tolerable at this point and there was a wide spot to safely pull off the road in front of the salvage yard.  The train was moving at a pretty good pace so we had to move right along.  It got to Mechanic Falls almost the same time we did but it didn't have to slow down like we did. 

Our only option was to catch it beyond the town near the New England Public Warehouse siding east of town.  This was enough to give us a chance to line up some kind of shots in the growing shadows of the evening.  Thank heavens for digital cameras.  This would have been a challenging spot with the old Kodachrome.  We were off again once the train passed and we could sneak in one more shot in Poland where the alcohol cars are set out.  This time the shadows were too much for my camera but we were well ahead of the train and easily beat it to the crossing.   From here it was just a matter of catching at Lewiston Jct.  This was easy.  The set the cars off deep into the yard and then the units came down toward the engine house.

This turned out to be enough.  We headed over to Mario's for supper and called it a day.

TUESDAY:  OFF TO WATERVILLE...

I'll start off by using Billy's posting from the listserv's (with his permission). 

"We Left Danville Junction after a coffee stop at Dunkin Doughnuts we headed up to Waterville Yard. As we arrived in Waterville we saw 52(Maine Central Paint) - 71 - 310 - 374.  We then heard a track forman asking for a Form-D to a "DERAILMENT" on the "East Augusta Running Track" (LOW ROAD). Brad and I found the site in Vasselboro at Station Hill Road where I'm told the passenger station was located. We saw 1 covered hopper off the rail leaning to the right. But the crew was there working hard to rerail it. (Here is the link to Billy's post about the derailment at Vassalboro.)
We then returned to Waterville Yard and found  POWA Arriving at 12:30 pm with 616(E) - 618(W) - 314(W) - 380(W) - 503(E)
with a decent size train.We then chased MD-1 (Madison Branch Local) to Oakland, A M.O.W. Crew was working the area MD-1 arrived at 13:15 with 374*W) - 310(W) 17 cars. ran around train and went up the Madison Branch Long Hood Forward, as both engines were facing west. Then Lunch at The Govenors in Waterville. Both Brad and I had the "Mount Kahtadin Meatloaf Mountain" with Unsweetened Iced Tea. What a meal ! WOW ! We then were stuffed and headed back to Danville Junction via Leeds Junction,The Fair Grounds, Strawberry Ave, to Danville Junction as the scanner came to life. We found RUPO, with 345(W) - 511 - 512 with 70 cars at 16:35, DJ-1 was 312(W). We couldn't see the power so we headed to Danville West.We then chased him to New Gloucester Siding where he passed up westbound at 17:15. PORU then came out of the siding with "FOREIGN POWER" in the 2nd slot. power was 376(E) - 3001(GMTX)(E) - 371(W) at 17:20. PORU passed "Black Cat Road" At 18:00. Tomorrow Brad and I will head south to the Portland area. So we will be in the area, maybe to Saco Amtrak Station.

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The Next Adventure Begins Tomorrow.Thanks To Gary "THE BOSS" Young for posting reports.

Till Next Time Railfans.

Billy Leazer W.F.P.T. / H.A.P.T.
Brad Conant H.A.P.T.

Paul "BEEF CAKE" Apollo H.A.P.T. / W.F.P.T. (By Cell)"

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The passing of the Rumford jobs at New Gloucester was way more interesting than usual, probably because Billy was around.  Each train had one unusual locomotive.

The meet itself was interesting because the PORU was out of sight and did not pull down toward the crossing until RUPO got closer.  Somewhere in the process we noticed that the road stripes were painted since the last train passed so the rails had new paint on them.  The crossing was also malfunctioning a bit so the PORU crew flagged their way over the crossing.  The paint probably had nothing to do with it and it was gone from the railhead after the first few RUPO cars anyway.


After the PORU crew got onto the main and flagged the crossing they were off to Danville Jct.  We had no trouble getting ahead.  For such a short distance, the trains never beat us, unless they are OCS's.  

At Danville Jct. we took a few minutes to get shots of the former SLR "Yellowjacket" passing over the former SLR diamond area.  The shot of it coming into the east end is shot from the former SLR alignment that went over the diamond into the yard.  The realigned SLR joins in a switch to my left nowadays.  The PAR main now takes the far yard track as seen in the photo. 
We couldn't just stop there with so much daylight left.  We headed into town to get the train passing over the Androscoggin River.  We parked at the Veterans Memorial Park on the Lewiston side of the Longley Memorial Bridge.  Billy shot from the park while I stood on the road bridge. 

WEDNESDAY JULY 11, 2012;  DISTRICT 2

Once again we'll start with Billy's listerv posting...

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"We drove down to Saco to start via Rigby Yard in South Portland, Which was dead. In Saco at the Amtrak Station we caught Amtrak "DownEaster" Trains as follows.

Amtk 683 @ 13:05 199 - 4 cars 90220(Cabbage Car) (Portland,ME).

Amtk 684 @ 13:15 Cabbage Car 90213 - 5 cars 21 pushing (Boston/ North Station).

Brad and I then wandered down to Dover,N.H. and caught as follows.

Amtk 686 @ 15:30 Cabbage Car 90220 - 4 cars 199 Pushing (Boston / North Station).

DO-1 @ 16:10 514(MEC) - 9 cars. To Dover Yard.

We then headed back North to Rigby Yard and saw a couple locals switching along with engines parked

515 - 315 - 345 - 511 - 512. Also work going on at CPF-185 (Royal Junction) signal work.

Lots of miles today but not many trains. 

But a FREE SLURPEE Today, Between 11 and 7 a free

11.7 oz Slurpee, At Seven-11.  FREE, my favorite word !

Till Next Time Railfans"

Billy Leazer W.F.P.T. / H.A.P.T.
Brad Conant H.A.P.T.

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We did all this driving in the hopes of catching SEPO with CSX power, or at least catching something trying to sneak through between the Downeasters.  Rigby looked kind of empty with only one set of power so we figured something might sneak through.  At least we caught DO-1 in Dover.  I'd never done that before.

As it turns out, the power seen here would be important to the next few days, especially the early PAR paint schemed 511.  We'd already seen it on RUPO on Tuesday.  We'll see it Friday.



Here is a link to Part 2 on this same site.

BC