Pan Am In The Street
Here is another 2019 favorite just now getting added to Flickr:
So you know I love street running trackage (who doesn't?!) and Pan Am has one tiny piece in Massachusetts that I've long known about but didn't know how to shoot.
In South Lawrence Pan Am still runs on a mile or so of the long gone Lowell and Lawrence railroad to reach an industrial track. Near the end they run down the side of and through one lane of Glenn St. which they then swing across sharply to reach into the park. Now only one customer remains there, the Whitemore Company.
Whittemore receives a switch only about once a week from Pan Am who brings in loads of perlite. These carloads originate on the old Rio Grande in Antonito, Colorado which I think is a pretty cool personal connection.
Anyway, catching this move is exceedingly difficult because it only runs once a week on no particular schedule, and Lawrence is a to far in the wrong direction go to in a morning after work and most of the Pan Am locals based there are Sun-Thu jobs. But one job, LA-1 works on Fridays so I knew it was theoretically possible.
So after getting off work and doing my turnover Fri morning I still had no plan what I was going to do and the weather was awful not planning to clear up until noontime. Many mornings I chat with the friendly BO-1 crew that goes on duty in the front office at BET (Keolis let's Pan Am share our office space and fax machine, etc). Those boys know I'm a foamer and I always ask if there is anything cool going on. They told that LA-1 was showing cars for the perlite as they called it and suggested I give it a try.
So off I went! I ended up sitting in the rain until nearly 10 AM till they started switching and it was about 1145 till they finally called for the light to cross over and head to the branch. So by this time the rain had stopped and things were looking up. And to make things interesting they took two units this time...one on each end so they didn't have to ride the shove over a mile and that resulted in the two being back to back when they came out with the empties.
I took over 400 shots just (and got some Amtrak, MBTA, and one road freight) while in the area. So naturally it was hard to narrow it down to a favorite...and frankly I've not even gone through all of them yet.
But here are four I really like and wanted to share right off for your consideration. Hope you like them.
Another Friday...another ultra rare bucket list shot. I still don't actually believe I got this move. It's just soo cool! 2019 sure is doing well so far to compete with 2018 when it comes to foam opportunities!
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Friday February 8, 2019
Pan Am In The Street
Here is another 2019 favorite just now getting added to Flickr:
So you know I love street running trackage (who doesn't?!) and Pan Am has one tiny piece in Massachusetts that I've long known about but didn't know how to shoot.
In South Lawrence Pan Am still runs on a mile or so of the long gone Lowell and Lawrence railroad to reach an industrial track. Near the end they run down the side of and through one lane of Glenn St. which they then swing across sharply to reach into the park. Now only one customer remains there, the Whitemore Company.
Whittemore receives a switch only about once a week from Pan Am who brings in loads of perlite. These carloads originate on the old Rio Grande in Antonito, Colorado which I think is a pretty cool personal connection.
Anyway, catching this move is exceedingly difficult because it only runs once a week on no particular schedule, and Lawrence is a to far in the wrong direction go to in a morning after work and most of the Pan Am locals based there are Sun-Thu jobs. But one job, LA-1 works on Fridays so I knew it was theoretically possible.
So after getting off work and doing my turnover Fri morning I still had no plan what I was going to do and the weather was awful not planning to clear up until noontime. Many mornings I chat with the friendly BO-1 crew that goes on duty in the front office at BET (Keolis let's Pan Am share our office space and fax machine, etc). Those boys know I'm a foamer and I always ask if there is anything cool going on. They told that LA-1 was showing cars for the perlite as they called it and suggested I give it a try.
So off I went! I ended up sitting in the rain until nearly 10 AM till they started switching and it was about 1145 till they finally called for the light to cross over and head to the branch. So by this time the rain had stopped and things were looking up. And to make things interesting they took two units this time...one on each end so they didn't have to ride the shove over a mile and that resulted in the two being back to back when they came out with the empties.
I took over 400 shots just (and got some Amtrak, MBTA, and one road freight) while in the area. So naturally it was hard to narrow it down to a favorite...and frankly I've not even gone through all of them yet.
But here are four I really like and wanted to share right off for your consideration. Hope you like them.
Another Friday...another ultra rare bucket list shot. I still don't actually believe I got this move. It's just soo cool! 2019 sure is doing well so far to compete with 2018 when it comes to foam opportunities!
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Friday February 8, 2019