Into The Light
Berkshire and Eastern Railroad train B100 emerges from the darkness at East Portal after traveling 4.75 miles and 1000 ft beneath Hoosac Mountain deep in the heart of the Berkshire Range. This is MP 415.7 on B&E's former Pan Am Freight Main, the former Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division. Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company that was newly created to act as a neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a result of the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX.
Train B100 is the symbol B&E uses for the continuation to Ayer of Norfolk Southern eastbound 264 (intermodal 63rd Street Yard in Chicago to Mechanicville) that used to be known as 22K. The train is led by the standard SD60E which is necessary due to it being one of a small fleet of this model equipped with ACSES for operation on the MBTA property east of Westminster. This train is on borrowed time here because another condition of the sale was NS being granted trackage rights for one pair of premium trains (this one and its westbound counterpart) over CSXT's former Boston and Albany route. These trains will then take the old Delaware and Hudson Albany main to Voorheesville, NY and utilize the connection on to Selkirk Branch which has been rebuilt there. From there they will travel east via Selkirk Yard, the Castelton Bridge and the Berkshire and Boston Subs to Worcester and on up to Ayer. Allegedly that routing will commence within the next year of less, so if you want shots of 'the pig train' on the old Boston and Maine the time is now!
Florida, Massachusetts
Friday April 26, 2024
Into The Light
Berkshire and Eastern Railroad train B100 emerges from the darkness at East Portal after traveling 4.75 miles and 1000 ft beneath Hoosac Mountain deep in the heart of the Berkshire Range. This is MP 415.7 on B&E's former Pan Am Freight Main, the former Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division. Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company that was newly created to act as a neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a result of the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX.
Train B100 is the symbol B&E uses for the continuation to Ayer of Norfolk Southern eastbound 264 (intermodal 63rd Street Yard in Chicago to Mechanicville) that used to be known as 22K. The train is led by the standard SD60E which is necessary due to it being one of a small fleet of this model equipped with ACSES for operation on the MBTA property east of Westminster. This train is on borrowed time here because another condition of the sale was NS being granted trackage rights for one pair of premium trains (this one and its westbound counterpart) over CSXT's former Boston and Albany route. These trains will then take the old Delaware and Hudson Albany main to Voorheesville, NY and utilize the connection on to Selkirk Branch which has been rebuilt there. From there they will travel east via Selkirk Yard, the Castelton Bridge and the Berkshire and Boston Subs to Worcester and on up to Ayer. Allegedly that routing will commence within the next year of less, so if you want shots of 'the pig train' on the old Boston and Maine the time is now!
Florida, Massachusetts
Friday April 26, 2024