611 North
On a soggy, gray and unseasonably warm winter afternoon a trio of rebuilt SD40M-2s (only the rear of which was online) lead New England Central Railroad train 611 (Brattleboro to Palmer turn that forwards the connecting 323/324 road freight traffic) north past the old Central Vermont era station sign at Belchertown. This is MP 74.6 on the NECR's Palmer Sub, and the small yard here that was once a busy location is now empty and seemingly little used.
In the lead is NECR 3476 a rebuilt SD40M-2 that began life as an SD45 (and still wears the classic flared car body) blt. Mar. 1969 as SSW 9058. The old CV never rostered anything like this and the swampland of central Mass sure is a long way from this old girl's days of whipping thru Texarkana on the head of the Memphis Blue Streak...but at least she's still earning her keep.
Belchertown, Massachusetts
Thursday January 26, 2023
611 North
On a soggy, gray and unseasonably warm winter afternoon a trio of rebuilt SD40M-2s (only the rear of which was online) lead New England Central Railroad train 611 (Brattleboro to Palmer turn that forwards the connecting 323/324 road freight traffic) north past the old Central Vermont era station sign at Belchertown. This is MP 74.6 on the NECR's Palmer Sub, and the small yard here that was once a busy location is now empty and seemingly little used.
In the lead is NECR 3476 a rebuilt SD40M-2 that began life as an SD45 (and still wears the classic flared car body) blt. Mar. 1969 as SSW 9058. The old CV never rostered anything like this and the swampland of central Mass sure is a long way from this old girl's days of whipping thru Texarkana on the head of the Memphis Blue Streak...but at least she's still earning her keep.
Belchertown, Massachusetts
Thursday January 26, 2023