A Memorable Day of Railfanning – Part 1, The Introduction
With the forecast of a pure blue sky, reasonable temperatures and snow on the ground for Saturday, February 22, 1986, I planned a short daytrip to do some railfanning on Guilford in Gardner, Massachusetts and nearby Ashburnham Hill. Sometime during the night there was some rain in my area, but as the elevation was higher where I was going, freezing rain had fallen. Nonetheless, I got started around sunrise and could see that the skies were already 100 percent clear. My journey west via Rte 2 with my wonderful 1974 Dodge Dart started well. As I traveled west I noticed a glaze of ice was covering everything, but the road had been treated and was not a concern. About ten miles from Gardner, a construction zone restricted traffic to the left lane and required a reduced speed for a few miles. Finally, as the end of the road work came into view and the right lane was available, I accelerated. Bad idea. My Dart hit a patch of icy road that the salt/sand truck missed, and suddenly I found myself facing east. Not good, as I was traveling west! Within several seconds I had come to a stop in the median strip (fortunately). “Well, this day turned to crap pretty quick” I thought to myself. After a moment to gain my composure, I figured the least I should do is to see if I could get out of this on my own. Despite snow on the ground, the median at this spot was level. I don’t know how, but the Dart dug in, and with little effort, I first turned the car in the direction it was supposed to be going and then worked my way back to the pavement. Fortunately, there was little traffic on this winter morning and once I was sure it was clear, I eased into the left travel lane and then crossed to the right lane where I carefully accelerated and continued. That’s the story that introduces a day of railfanning, that I will remember well almost 40 years later. Since there was no damage, the driving mishap was a small price to pay for the following photos of several trains sporting a good variety of paint and locomotive models.
We start shortly after my arrival with perhaps BOBU (because of the piggyback/intermodal). A “stolen” D&H U23B (note the pine tree patch over the D&H shield) and a B&M GP9 are in charge.
A Memorable Day of Railfanning – Part 1, The Introduction
With the forecast of a pure blue sky, reasonable temperatures and snow on the ground for Saturday, February 22, 1986, I planned a short daytrip to do some railfanning on Guilford in Gardner, Massachusetts and nearby Ashburnham Hill. Sometime during the night there was some rain in my area, but as the elevation was higher where I was going, freezing rain had fallen. Nonetheless, I got started around sunrise and could see that the skies were already 100 percent clear. My journey west via Rte 2 with my wonderful 1974 Dodge Dart started well. As I traveled west I noticed a glaze of ice was covering everything, but the road had been treated and was not a concern. About ten miles from Gardner, a construction zone restricted traffic to the left lane and required a reduced speed for a few miles. Finally, as the end of the road work came into view and the right lane was available, I accelerated. Bad idea. My Dart hit a patch of icy road that the salt/sand truck missed, and suddenly I found myself facing east. Not good, as I was traveling west! Within several seconds I had come to a stop in the median strip (fortunately). “Well, this day turned to crap pretty quick” I thought to myself. After a moment to gain my composure, I figured the least I should do is to see if I could get out of this on my own. Despite snow on the ground, the median at this spot was level. I don’t know how, but the Dart dug in, and with little effort, I first turned the car in the direction it was supposed to be going and then worked my way back to the pavement. Fortunately, there was little traffic on this winter morning and once I was sure it was clear, I eased into the left travel lane and then crossed to the right lane where I carefully accelerated and continued. That’s the story that introduces a day of railfanning, that I will remember well almost 40 years later. Since there was no damage, the driving mishap was a small price to pay for the following photos of several trains sporting a good variety of paint and locomotive models.
We start shortly after my arrival with perhaps BOBU (because of the piggyback/intermodal). A “stolen” D&H U23B (note the pine tree patch over the D&H shield) and a B&M GP9 are in charge.