FRA Car
Here's the going away view looking the opposite direction from this shot: flic.kr/p/2ri6PAp so you can have a clean look at this one of a kind car.
CSXT AC4400CW is 479 headed to Portland, Maine with the Departent of Transportation/FRA's High Speed Research and Test Car T-16 as they roll east having just come off the two mile stretch of double track at Westford interlocking, MP PLD122.3 on modern day CSXT's Portland Sub mainline at what used to be known as CPF307 in Guilford/Pan Am parlance prior to CSXT's redisgnation and renumbering of the mileposts on the old Freight Mainline here, which in days of old was the Boston and Maine Railroad's Stony Brook branch.
T-16 was built in 1968 as Penn Central no. 803, one of the original self-propelled Metroliner cars, which entered service between Washington and New York in January 1969. During 1987-88, Amtrak removed the propulsion equipment and rebuilt it as cab car coach 9642. It remained in this configuration until withdrawn from service in 1996. FRA obtained the car from Amtrak in June 1999.
In September 1999, the FRA contracted with ENSCO, Inc. to convert 9642 into a high speed research car, subcontracting the structural, mechanical, and electrical work to the Delaware Car Company, with KLD Laboratories, Inc. suppling part of the instrumentation. The car emerged from the shop as T-16 (officially DOTX 216) and began research service in November, 2000.
You can learn more about this one of a kind car here: railroads.dot.gov/program-areas/testing-facilities-equipm...
Westford, Massachusetts
Friday May 23, 2025
FRA Car
Here's the going away view looking the opposite direction from this shot: flic.kr/p/2ri6PAp so you can have a clean look at this one of a kind car.
CSXT AC4400CW is 479 headed to Portland, Maine with the Departent of Transportation/FRA's High Speed Research and Test Car T-16 as they roll east having just come off the two mile stretch of double track at Westford interlocking, MP PLD122.3 on modern day CSXT's Portland Sub mainline at what used to be known as CPF307 in Guilford/Pan Am parlance prior to CSXT's redisgnation and renumbering of the mileposts on the old Freight Mainline here, which in days of old was the Boston and Maine Railroad's Stony Brook branch.
T-16 was built in 1968 as Penn Central no. 803, one of the original self-propelled Metroliner cars, which entered service between Washington and New York in January 1969. During 1987-88, Amtrak removed the propulsion equipment and rebuilt it as cab car coach 9642. It remained in this configuration until withdrawn from service in 1996. FRA obtained the car from Amtrak in June 1999.
In September 1999, the FRA contracted with ENSCO, Inc. to convert 9642 into a high speed research car, subcontracting the structural, mechanical, and electrical work to the Delaware Car Company, with KLD Laboratories, Inc. suppling part of the instrumentation. The car emerged from the shop as T-16 (officially DOTX 216) and began research service in November, 2000.
You can learn more about this one of a kind car here: railroads.dot.gov/program-areas/testing-facilities-equipm...
Westford, Massachusetts
Friday May 23, 2025