County Road Crossing
Nothing too exciting here, but this was my first time ever seeing a train here. The Friday Cape Cod Central dinner train which normally originates from Buzzards Bay has traveled to the very south end of what remains of the Falmouth branch to board passengers, one of a few times a year they originate the train down here. This allows for photos on the lower three miles of the line that is normally freight only. Here the train is pulled up to County Road at MP 6.8 awaiting passengers for their 5 PM departure north to Canal Junction and then a run south down the Cape Main to the great marshes in Barnstable before returning back to Canal Junction just ahead of the 7:10 PM arrival of the southbound CapeFLYER from Boston.
Leading the five car train on the north end is FL9 2026 (blt. Sept. 1957 as NH 2007) and bringing up the rear here is MC 2014. It is an EMD GP59 blt. Dec. 1989 as NS 4628 and retired and sold to Progress Rail in May 2020 before being rebuilt at MEI in St. Louis and ultimately arriving here this past March.
The 17 mile long Woods Hole Branch traces back to 1872 when opened by the Old Colonly Railroad shortly after its purchase of the original Cape Cod Central Railroad. The last regular passenger train ran in 1959 though for five more years the NH ran a summer only service from New York to Woods Hole that passed this way. After it's demise in 1964 the bankrupt NH lifted the lower 3 1/2 miles of rails from Falmouth station to Woods Hole. In the 1980s Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad trains briefly returned service to Falmouth but the railroad went defunct in 1989. The rails remained fallow until 2008 when they were removed and replaced with a bike trail extending to present end of track just behind where I'm standing here at MP 6.8 in North Falmouth.
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Friday July 21, 2023
County Road Crossing
Nothing too exciting here, but this was my first time ever seeing a train here. The Friday Cape Cod Central dinner train which normally originates from Buzzards Bay has traveled to the very south end of what remains of the Falmouth branch to board passengers, one of a few times a year they originate the train down here. This allows for photos on the lower three miles of the line that is normally freight only. Here the train is pulled up to County Road at MP 6.8 awaiting passengers for their 5 PM departure north to Canal Junction and then a run south down the Cape Main to the great marshes in Barnstable before returning back to Canal Junction just ahead of the 7:10 PM arrival of the southbound CapeFLYER from Boston.
Leading the five car train on the north end is FL9 2026 (blt. Sept. 1957 as NH 2007) and bringing up the rear here is MC 2014. It is an EMD GP59 blt. Dec. 1989 as NS 4628 and retired and sold to Progress Rail in May 2020 before being rebuilt at MEI in St. Louis and ultimately arriving here this past March.
The 17 mile long Woods Hole Branch traces back to 1872 when opened by the Old Colonly Railroad shortly after its purchase of the original Cape Cod Central Railroad. The last regular passenger train ran in 1959 though for five more years the NH ran a summer only service from New York to Woods Hole that passed this way. After it's demise in 1964 the bankrupt NH lifted the lower 3 1/2 miles of rails from Falmouth station to Woods Hole. In the 1980s Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad trains briefly returned service to Falmouth but the railroad went defunct in 1989. The rails remained fallow until 2008 when they were removed and replaced with a bike trail extending to present end of track just behind where I'm standing here at MP 6.8 in North Falmouth.
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Friday July 21, 2023