Pure Rhode Island Railroading
Another frame of this spot which is one of the prettiest rail photo locations in this smallest of states.
This spot is such a great location for photo run bys and a highlight of any trip along the line so here's another angle for the album of my day out with the Mass Bay RRE's Narragansett Bay Special which made a round trip over the entire thirteen mile length of the Newport Secondary.
The train consisted of two GE centercabs, Newport and Narragansett Bay Railroad numbers 14 and 66 and the five car regular dinner train consist.
The latter is freshly repainted into the very attractive paint scheme featuring colors that pay homage to the state of Rhode Island and the omnipresent sea. It wears a newly applied logo for the Grand Bellevue Dinner Train for which it is the regular power. A GE 65-tonner, it was built in 1943 and was most recently numbered USN 65-00566 where it served with a sister unit at the Portsmouth Navy Yard until being replaced with a trackmobile several years ago. In 2024 she and sister unit USN 65-00308, two years her junior, were purchased by Eric Moffett and turcked to Rhode Island with the the 65-00308 being assigned to the Seaview Railroad freight operations at Quonset Business Park.
She is coupled to diner lounge BC-30 which a Budd RDC-3 built in 1956 for the Pacific Great East Railway. The self propelled car was one of seven the railroad bought which passed to BC Rail and remained in daily scheduled passenger service until discontinued by the province of British Columbia in 2002. It and sister BC-15 spent a couple years on the short lived Wilton Scenic Railroad in New Hampshire before coming to the island in 2007. The car is in the process of being remodeled into a dining car and bar with the headlights and horn operational and used as a shoving platform from the cab.
The train is performing a photo run by in the backyards of some pretty waterfront homes just south of the Bristol Ferry Road crossing at about MP 10.8, which would have been MP 19.2 as measured from Myricks and the junction with the New Bedford mainline back in PC and early CR days.
Rising beyond is the Mount Hope Bridge which opened in 1929 spanning Mount Hope Bay at one of the narrowest gaps in all of Narragansett Bay. The two-lane suspension bridge bridge connects the towns of Portsmouth and Bristol and is part of Route 114. Its towers are 285 feet tall, the length of the main span is 1,200 feet, and it provides 135 feet of clearance over high water with a total length of 6,130 feet.
This village is named Bristol Ferry because from 1640 in the early colonial days until the opening of the bridge a ferry was operated here. In the 19th century the ferry landing had both rail and trolley connections, and it remained in continuous service almost three centuries until finally becoming obsolete when this span opened to traffic. To learn more here's a neat blog with stories and photos and a history of the ferry: portsmouthhistorynotes.com/tag/bristol-ferry-area/
Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Saturday May 17, 2025
Pure Rhode Island Railroading
Another frame of this spot which is one of the prettiest rail photo locations in this smallest of states.
This spot is such a great location for photo run bys and a highlight of any trip along the line so here's another angle for the album of my day out with the Mass Bay RRE's Narragansett Bay Special which made a round trip over the entire thirteen mile length of the Newport Secondary.
The train consisted of two GE centercabs, Newport and Narragansett Bay Railroad numbers 14 and 66 and the five car regular dinner train consist.
The latter is freshly repainted into the very attractive paint scheme featuring colors that pay homage to the state of Rhode Island and the omnipresent sea. It wears a newly applied logo for the Grand Bellevue Dinner Train for which it is the regular power. A GE 65-tonner, it was built in 1943 and was most recently numbered USN 65-00566 where it served with a sister unit at the Portsmouth Navy Yard until being replaced with a trackmobile several years ago. In 2024 she and sister unit USN 65-00308, two years her junior, were purchased by Eric Moffett and turcked to Rhode Island with the the 65-00308 being assigned to the Seaview Railroad freight operations at Quonset Business Park.
She is coupled to diner lounge BC-30 which a Budd RDC-3 built in 1956 for the Pacific Great East Railway. The self propelled car was one of seven the railroad bought which passed to BC Rail and remained in daily scheduled passenger service until discontinued by the province of British Columbia in 2002. It and sister BC-15 spent a couple years on the short lived Wilton Scenic Railroad in New Hampshire before coming to the island in 2007. The car is in the process of being remodeled into a dining car and bar with the headlights and horn operational and used as a shoving platform from the cab.
The train is performing a photo run by in the backyards of some pretty waterfront homes just south of the Bristol Ferry Road crossing at about MP 10.8, which would have been MP 19.2 as measured from Myricks and the junction with the New Bedford mainline back in PC and early CR days.
Rising beyond is the Mount Hope Bridge which opened in 1929 spanning Mount Hope Bay at one of the narrowest gaps in all of Narragansett Bay. The two-lane suspension bridge bridge connects the towns of Portsmouth and Bristol and is part of Route 114. Its towers are 285 feet tall, the length of the main span is 1,200 feet, and it provides 135 feet of clearance over high water with a total length of 6,130 feet.
This village is named Bristol Ferry because from 1640 in the early colonial days until the opening of the bridge a ferry was operated here. In the 19th century the ferry landing had both rail and trolley connections, and it remained in continuous service almost three centuries until finally becoming obsolete when this span opened to traffic. To learn more here's a neat blog with stories and photos and a history of the ferry: portsmouthhistorynotes.com/tag/bristol-ferry-area/
Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Saturday May 17, 2025