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CSXT's overnight Worcester local L002 has returned from Framingham with traffic from CSXT's eastern Mass carload hub which will be added to train M437 for departure west to Selkirk later in the day. The pair of locally assigned ACSES equipped 24 yr old GE AC4400CWs still dressed in their as delivered YN2 'bright future' livery are crossing over Gardner Street at about MP 45.6 on CSXT's Boston Sub as they trundle west on the storage track which is south of the two mains. This is one of the many concrete arches built when the New York Central modernized and grade separated the Boston and Albany through the city around 1911 in conjunction with the Union Station project.
Worcester, Massachusetts
Friday June 28, 2024
Canadian National C40-8 #2110 and Norfolk Southern SD70ACu #7283 lay over at the Worcester engine facility along side P&W B39-8E #3905 and a handful of other Providence and Worcester power. Oddly enough, these two locomotives were used later in the day to rescue a loaded limestone train that stalled in Northbridge.
During the short period of time where the Providence and Worcester had a run-through power agreement with Norfolk Southern on the unit ethanol trains, a ton of wild power made its way to New England and places you'd never in a million years expect to see it. Some trains ran all the way to Cumberland with foreign leaders before being capped by a P&W unit with Cabs and ACSES for the NEC, or being set out entirely. For some reason, this pair of 6 axles were set out in Worcester and waited for the empty train to return from Providence before being sent back to their respective owners. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and with the sale of the P&W to Genesee and Wyoming, the run-through power agreement and NS contract went in the trash.
August 2016
Worcester, MA.
After making its regular overnight turn trip to Attleboro, CSXT Framingham based local L005 is back home. After yarding as much of their train as they could in Nevins Yard (ex Boston and Albany) the yard master instructed them to shove the balance here into the ex New Haven North Yard side.
Here the three EMD SD40-2s shove back on the Northbound track while a brace of five GE widecabs wait tied down on the south end of Track 1 hanging back up the ladder of the busy dozen track yard that serves as the hub for all of CSXT's pre Pan Am purchase eastern Massachusetts carload traffic network.
The motive power based here is all captive and varies little thanks to the requirement that they all be equipped with cab signals and ACSES for operation over MBTA property. SD40-2 CSXT 8840 is on home rails here having been blt. Oct. 1978 as CR 6465. Meanwhile AC440CW CSXT 486 was blt. Sep. 2000 and still wears its as delivered YN2 'bright future' livery.
Framingham, Massachusetts
Friday December 2, 2022
Berkshire and Eastern train EDMO (East Deerfield to Mohawk splits the vintage US&S searchlights guarding CPF415 at the west end of a 9286 ft stretch of remaining two main track on B&E's former Pan Am Freight Main, the former Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division. This train originated in Ayer as train SAED and will turn into Norfolk Southern train 11R at Mechanicville for continuation down the old Delaware and Hudson to East Binghamton Yard. They just meet train B100 at the east end of this stretch at CPF 414 and are about to cross the bridge over the Deerfield River and then head into 4.74 miles of darkness through the Hoosac Tunnel. The flat area to the left of the locomotives was once the site of a depot and small yard where the B&M interchanged with the Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad. The 25 mile long pike opened as 11 miles of three foot narrow narrow gauge rails to Readsboro, VT in 1885 then was extended north to its namesake Vermont town in 1892 and ultimately standard gauged in 1913. In 1937 it retrenched to Readsboro but the southern half soldered on until it was finally abandoned in 1971.
Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company which was created to serve as the neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a condition of the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX in 2022. 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.
Rowe, Massachusetts
Saturday April 12, 2025
Since PTC/ACSES is necessary and these are virtually the only NS units that lead out here now, I'd ignored the pig the past couple years until this particular morning on November 22, 2022. PAS/NS 264 lights the lamp at Otter River with a ubiquitous SD60E leading the charge, and a pair of Uncle Petes trailing. This would be my final shot with my 70-200 F4, as less than an hour later at Wachusett, I'd experience the most awkward trip I've ever had and snap my lens not quite in half. The day would get worse before it got better, as I would go on to back into a Mercedes in Ayer while experiencing car issues... At any rate, I am happy to report that I've since replaced my lens, and my car experienced no real damage.
This one is kind of cool because the CSXT unit is almost completely blocked so it looks like an MBTA train with classic old school 'heritage' cars for a consist.
But of course this is just another frame of this rare catch as the Keolis work train crew has cleared Andover Street and is shoving down into Lawrence yard to set out the CSXT geometry train on the scale track before cutting off light with their locomotive and scooting back to BET.
The three car train consists of CSXT 994366 (Geometry/theater car TGC3), 994365 (support car Hocking Valley), and 994369 (crew car Grand Rapids) with its assigned one of a kind unit, CSXT 9969, an ex MARC GP40WH-2. Double headed on the east end is MBTA GP40MC1129 in the 'cranberry' heritage scheme and on the west end is MBTA F40PH-3C 1033. The train had to be capped with MBTA locomotives due to the fact that 9969 is not equipped with ACSES PTC equipment necessary to lead on the MBTA lines.
The T measures and tests its lines quarterly, but with no equipment of its own has always relied on Amtrak's Corridor Clipper car for this work. For whatever reason Amtrak is no longer able to support this so other arrangements were made. An Ensco truck tested all South Side lines except the Worcester Mainline and the MBTA/Keolis contracted with CSXT to borrow their train which was handed off in Worcester. It was used to test east from Worcester, the Grand Junction Branch, and the eastern route on Wednesday then later this morning will head out and test the New Hampshire and Fitchburg Routes. Finally on this morning it tested the Western Route to as far as this point before wrapping up. With the T in the process of building two GEO cars of its own it seems unlikely that this will ever happen again but around here you just never know!
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Friday May 23, 2025
Just another frame of this train on borrowed time.
Berkshire and Eastern train B100 exits the East Portal of the famed Hoosac Tunnel after traveling 4.75 miles and 1000 ft beneath its namesake mountain deep in the heart of the Berkshire Range. A light coating of spring snow brightens this gray afternoon here at 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 which was created to serve as the neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a condition of the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX in 2022. B100 is the symbol B&E uses for the continuation to Ayer of Norfolk Southern train 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 on the west end because another condition of the sale of Pan Am was the granting of trakage rights to NS for the operation of one daily pair of premium trains (this one and its westbound counterpart) over CSXT's former Boston and Albany route. These trains will leave their current routing at Delanson, NY and take the old Delaware and Hudson Albany main to Voorheesville, where they will utilize the rebuilt connection on to the Selkirk Branch. From there they will travel east via Selkirk Yard, the Castleton Bridge and the Berkshire and Boston Subs to Worcester and on up to Ayer. Allegedly, that routing will commence sometime later this spring or summer, so if you want shots of 'the pig train' on the old Boston and Maine the time is now.
Florida, Massachusetts
Saturday April 12, 2025
Having been tied down only a dozen miles to the west for hours, Pan Am Southern train 22K (NS 47th Street Yard Chicago to PAS Ayer Yard) has finally reached its destination as a recrew leads the train east down main 2 passing the T passenger platforms approaching CPF AY on Pan Am's Freight Mainline at Pan Am milepost 315.75 (measured from Mattawamkeag, ME) and milepost 35.75 (measured from Boston North Station on the Keolis/MBTA Fitchburg Line). They will clear the east leg of the wye then back their train south into the yard to start cutting it up to spot the intermodal ramp. At right stands the surviving former B&M interlocking tower dating from 1928 that closed in 1980. And poking skyward to the right of the brick tower can be seen the wooden steeple of Saint Mary's Catholic Church whose parish was founded in 1858, thirteen years after the Fitchburg Railroad first reached town.
Cab signal and ACSES equipped NS SD60E 6953 has led BNSF ET44C4 3842 and UP C44ACM 7211 over the length of the former Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division from Mechanicville. Once the CSXT acquisition is consummated and NS begins to exercise its trackage rights from Voorheesville over the Berkshire and Boston Subs (ex Boston and Albany) this intermodal traffic will arrive in Ayer via the Worcester main instead of the Freight main meaning scenes like this will soon be a thing of the past.
Ayer, Massachusetts
Friday April 15, 2022
With the recent approval of the CSX acquisition of Pan Am's east end, looking back at old photos that otherwise would be "ehhh..." made me realize how good we had it without even knowing. For starters, in recent years, the MBTA requiring ACSES on the eastern portion of Pan Am between Ayer and Gardner has forced Norfolk Southern's homely looking SD60E's to lead every 22K and 23K in and out of Ayer. In 2016, this SD70M-2 wouldn't have gotten me to drive two hours from home (not sure why I made the drive this day to begin with) but looking back I'm glad I did. I always liked the big M-2's and their ACe brethren, but back then it wasn't uncommon to see them and you could almost guarantee one of the big EMD's to lead this train at least a few times a month depending on where they were in the pool. Not to mention any other power that might be in the power pool, and I mean any.
Secondly, the power in the background is mostly all gone from the property. I counted eight of the twenty 600 series SD40 variants they purchased in 2010. They've since been sold off and scrapped (for the most part). Three ex. VRS/Green Mountain GP40's also sit on the service tracks, just to the right of the old Guilford sand towers, destination unknown. To the far left is MEC GP40 #306 and an unknown high-hood GP40. The high-hoods are also all gone, although the #306 is still out there roaming the rails on the Maine portion of the railroad. And in the middle, bracketing two NS GE's is MEC #3403 and #3404. Two of five ex. QNSL SD40-2's with extended capacity fuel tanks. They, along with the other three, still remain on the property on the New York end of the property assigned to Rotterdam Junction last I knew.
Once CSX takes over the east end, one can only assume what we'll see leading trains. Same goes for the Berkshire Eastern, once the G&W begins operations on the west end.
C'est la vie!
June 2016
East Deerfield, MA.
For Monochrome Monday Berkshire and Eastern Railroad train EDMO rumbles west passing the old granite marker at 410 on the B&E operated Pan Am Southern Freight Mainline, the one time Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division. They are tucked betwee Zoar Road and the Deerfield River which they've just crossed and will do so twice more before leaving its banks to cut through the mountains via the Hoosac Tunnel a half dozen miles ahead.
The mileage is measured from Mattawamkeag, ME which was once the eastern most point on the Freight Main after then Guilford Transportation renumbered the mileposts upon combining the Maine Central, Boston and Maine, and Delaware and Hudson Railroads into a short lived contiguous route from that obscure eastern point to the equally obscure western end of the line in Sunbury, PA.
This train originated in Ayer as train SAED and will turn into Norfolk Southern train 11R at Mechanicville for continuation down the old Delaware and Hudson to East Binghamton Yard. Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company which was created to serve as the neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a condition of the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX in 2022. The train is led by a rebuilt GE AC44C6M which is a bit unusual as most thru trains feature homely EMD rebuilt SD60Es due to the fact they are equipped with ACSES for operation on the MBTA property east of Westminster to the end of B&E's territory in Ayer.
Charlemont, Massachusetts
August 31, 2025
Another from this ongoing series.
CSXT local L020 has 17 cars trailing two ACSES equipped ex Chessie GP40-2s as they pull up to MP QC1 on Troy Industrial Track after a four mile run down from their namesake city. In the foreground is a signature New York Central era concrete 'tombstone' style milepost marked R1.
They will pause here holding off crossing for a bit before awaiting permission from Amtrak's Hudson North dispatcher to head out onto the Hudson Line and cross the Livingston Avenue Bridge so they can make the climb up West Albany hill enroute back west to their home base in South Schenectady via the Amtrak main and CSXT's Carmen Branch. Refer to my earlier posts for a long form caption with the history of this line.
Rensselaer, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
This view off the famed 'railfan bridge' finds Berkshire and Eastern train B100 holding the main as it crosses the Deerfield River and the abandoned Turners Falls branch and curls past CPF384 at the west end of the big former Boston and Maine Railroad East Deerfield Yard.
Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company which is 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 out 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 in March, so if you want shots of 'the pig train' on the old Boston and Maine the time is now!
Deerfield, Massachusetts
Sunday January 28, 2024
CSXT's geometry train is seen crossing the Mystic River at MP 2.6 on the Keolis/MBTA Western Route mainline as it leaves the city of Somerville and enters Medford. The three car train has its standard one of a kind unit, CSXT 9969, an ex MARC GP40WH-2, double headed with MBTA 1129, a rebuilt GP40MC (rebuilt from an original CN GP40-2W like those beside her) dressed in the 'cranberry' heritage scheme. The train had to be capped with an MBTA locomotive due to the fact that 9969 is not equipped with ACSES PTC equipment necessary to lead on the MBTA lines.
The Keolis north side work train crew is in charge and will take the CSXT GEO train east testing to Lawrence then returned the train to CSXT at the former Pan Am Railways yard there. The T measures and tests its lines quarterly, but with no equipment of its own has always relied on Amtrak's Corridor Clipper car for this work. For whatever reason Amtrak is no longer able to support this so other arrangements were made. An Ensco truck tested all South Side lines except the Worcester Mainline and the MBTA/Keolis made arrangements with CSXT to borrow their train which was used to test east from Worcester, and the Grand Junction Branch, and all the former B&M North Side lines over the course of two and a half days. With the T in the process of building two GEO cars of its own it is unsure if this will ever happen again or if this was a strictly one off occurrence.
This four track, 11 span bridge is 965 feet long and 64 feet wide, with a 30 foot clearance. It has three rapid transit lines of the Orange Line's Haymarket-North Extension and the single commuter rail line. It was dedicated June 15, 1973 replacing the ancient four track wide Boston and Maine Draw 8. It is named the Edward Dana Bridge in honor of America's dean of mass transit, who retired from the MTA in 1959 after a 52 year career in transit having served as president of the Boston Elevated Company during its years as a private enterprise prior to the 1947 creation of the MTA.
Medford, Massachusetts
Friday May 23, 2025
For many years the Rhode Island Air Show was a very popular and free event sponsored by the Rhode Island National Guard that saw 60 to 80,000 people attend! Canceled due to deployments in 2019 and then covid in 2020 and 2021 it was supposed to be back in 2022 as a paid event on Quonset State Airport property billed as the Ocean State Air Show. But then yet again the National Guard canceled it for multiple reasons.
But what does any of that have to do with trains? Well one cool thing as a railfan was that RIDOT sponsored their 'Trains to Planes' service where they contracted the MBTA to run a free shuttle with two train sets operating from Providence and from the large parking garage at the Wickford Jct. station. This provided the rare opportunity to see 10 revenue passenger movements over about four miles of the otherwise freight only trackage of the Seaview Railroad operating on the vast Quonset Business Park.
So here is a look back to the last air show in 2018 and one of the two train sets operated by Keolis. Here is an eight car train of all bilevels being shoved by an HSP46 passing the Seaview's Yard and small shop headed back to the connection with Amtrak's Northeast Corridor a half mile ahead. Sharp eyes will note MBTA 904 an ancient GP18 that was at the Seaview for ACSES equipment upgrades.
To learn more about the Seaview Railroad check out the caption with this shot: flic.kr/p/2ndaWTG
North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Sunday June 10, 2018
I ended 2020 with an SD60 on the CP and for my first train of 2021 it was this trio of SD60Es. This is Norfolk Southern / Pan Am Southern train 22K from Chicago backing in to its final terminal in the Hill Yard in Ayer on the old Boston and Maine Railroad Fitchburg Route mainline, now owned by the MBTA, maintained by Keolis and dispatched by Pan Am.
This is CPF AY on Pan Am's Freight Mainline at Pan Am milepost 315.75 (measured from Mattawamkeag, ME) and milepost 35.75 (measured from Boston North Station on the Keolis/MBTA Fitchburg Line). The train is backing around the east leg of the wye into the yard and in the background can be seen the surviving former B&M interlocking tower dating from 1929.
A trio of rebuilt SD60Es are in charge of the intermodal train and have become the standard power since they are equipped with ACSES for operation over MBTA Routes. Leader 6971 was built as a standard cabbed SD60 in Jan. 1985 as NS 6568.
Ayer, Massachusetts
Friday January 1, 2021
Aftet a 1 hr 39 minute and 54 mile run from North Station outbound Keolis/MBTA train 425 has reached the end of its trip at Wachusett Station. Battle worn GP40MC 1121 has pulled the train on to the elevated station track which diverged from Main 2 of the Fitchburg Route mainline at CPF 333 just out of sight around the corner. Opened in 2016, this station is the longest distance run in the commonwealth and the second longest on the entire MBTA network with only the Wickford Jct., RI trip from South Station being further.
Moments later right on their heals came Berkshire and Eastern train B1010. B101 is the symbol B&E uses for this to Ayer to Park Manor Yard in Chicago intermodal which turns into Norfolk Southern train 263 at Mechanicville and used to be known as 23K. 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 between Ayer and Westminster. Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company which was created to serve as the neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a condition of the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX in 2022.
This train is on borrowed time here because another condition of the sale of Pan Am was the granting of trakage rights to NS for the operation of one daily pair of premium trains (this one and its eastbound counterpart) over CSXT's former Boston and Albany route. These trains will leave their current routing via the Boston and Maine Fitchburg Route and instead depart Ayer south on the Worcester Main then utilize CSXT's, Boston, Berkshire and Castleton Subs to Selkirk then west to Voorheesville where they will hop onto NS's old Delaware and Hudson Albany main to Delanson where they will rejoin their current route to Binghamton and points west. Allegedly, that routing will commence anytime, so if you want shots of 'the pig train' on the old B&M the time is now
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Friday September 26, 2025
After being trapped on PTC/ACSES test/training trains since its debut in October of 2019, NJ Transit ALP-45DP 4519 has finally escaped into passenger service and is seen leading Pascack Valley Line train #9623 wearing its Erie Lackawanna heritage wrap. The wrap was applied in October as part of NJ Transit paying homage to its predecessor railroads while celebrating its 40th anniversary of being a commuter operation last year. The 4519 is one of three locomotives NJ Transit decked out in heritage schemes; the others being ALP-46A wrapped in PRR tuscan red and GP40PH-2 4109 in CNJ blue.
I buoi
Andate a dire ai buoi che vadano via
che il loro lavoro non ci serve più
che oggi si fa prima ad arare col trattore.
E poi commoviamoci pure a pensare
alla fatica che hanno fatto per migliaia d'anni
mentre eccoli lì che se ne vanno a testa bassa
dietro la corda lunga del macello.
I bu
Andè a di acsè mi bu ch' i vaga véa,
che quèl chi à fat i à fat,
che adèss u s'èra préima se tratòur.
E' pianz e' cór ma tótt, ènca mu mè,
avdà i ch'i à lavurè dal mièri d'an
e adès i à d'andè véa a tèsta basa
dri ma la córda lònga de mazèl.
Tonino Guerra
Rimini 25 luglio 2012
postata 11 agosto 2012 alle ore 22.09
Berkshire & Eastern B100 heads east at Green Road in Petersburgh on a sunny mid-October evening in 2024. Leading the way to Massachusetts would be NS 6965, an EMD SD60E equipped with ACSES PTC to lead over MBTA territory near Ayer.
ST POAY is westbound for Ayer, MA at Cross Rd in Bradford (Haverhill), MA. This was not long before the implementation of Cab Signals and ACSES PTC on this section of track, and since the MEC 3400's are not equipped with either, this scene is no longer possible.
A mere 48 hours after the CSX officially took over Pan Am Railways, we see the Geometry Train testing up the Worcester Mainline at Harvard. The Worcester Main is expected to be the first big infrastructure project that will be performed over Pan Am. When the train got to ayer it was capped with an ACSES equipped leader for the trip to Maine.
Thanks to a stop and protect order for all the crossings it was a slow slog east for Berkshire and Eastern Railroad train B100. This shot isn't much to look at but since I was here anyway I grabbed this after Pownal Curve as slow as they were going. After flagging the Orchard St. crossing they are accelerating here at MP 431.4 on the B&E operated Pan Am Southern Freight Mainline, the one time Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division. Rising some 2500 ft in the background is the Taconic Range forming the border between Vermont and New York.
B100 is the symbol B&E uses for the continuation to Ayer of Norfolk Southern train 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 one condition of the sale of Pan Am to CSXT in 2022 was the granting of trakage rights to NS for the operation of one daily 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 June 1, so if you want shots of 'the pig train' on the old Boston and Maine the time is now.
Pownal, Vermont
Friday January 17, 2025
On a gorgeous Friday afternoon in the waning days of summer Berkshire and Eastern train EDMO (East Deerfield to Mohawk) is getting on the move on Main 1 of Pan Am Southern's Freight Mainline at MP 377.1 in this view looking down off the Bridge Street overpass. This train originated in Ayer as train SAED and will turn into Norfolk Southern train 11R at Mechanicville for continuation down the old Delaware and Hudson to East Binghamton Yard.
Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company which was created to serve as the neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a condition of the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX in 2022. 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.
The two tracks at right are the one time Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division while the track curling in at left is modern day New England Central Railroad's Palmer Sub the former Central Vermont Railway mainline. It will parallel the Freight Main west just over a mile before hopping over to swing south on its route to the Long Island Sound shore in New London.
Village of Miller's Falls,
Montague, Massachusetts
Friday September 19, 2025
P&W FPCH heads east through Southport, Ct., on Metro North's New Haven Line with empty hoppers from the Long Island market via the New York and Atlantic. A trio of C40-8's along with a B39-8 lead the train toward Cedar Hill yard where the cars will be reloaded for another trip to New York. Two of the four C40-8's that Genesee and Wyoming purchased for the P&W for this service over a year ago have recently been cleared as leaders on Metro North, having upgraded ATC and Acses packages installed.
Another shot of one of the weirder things I photographed in 2021. If you ran this lashup on your model railroad you'd get laughed at for it not being prototypical!
Having been serviced overnight at BET the 0500 work train crew is on board and has just arrived here at Hill Crossing at MP 5.6 on the MBTA Fitchburg Line. They just cleared up off Main 1 and are backing down to the partially loaded rail train parked on the West Cambridge Yard lead. Keolis borrowed the Pan Am unit due to a shortage of ACSES equipped work engines to assist with the unloading of this train for several days creating the opportunity to capture this truly weird scene of MBTA MPI HSP46 2027 (blt. 2014) MUed to MEC GE B40-8 5933 (blt. Apr. 1988 as NYSW 4016) working together temporarily on this special duty.
Until 1980 this was the the place where heavy duty east-west freight traffic left the Fitchburg Line to take the three mile Freight Cut Off through Davis Square to Somerville Junction on the New Hampshire Route main to access Mystic Junction and the Yard 8 hump and Somerville freight yard complex. East Cambridge itself maintained a bustling little local yard well into the Guilford era but now not a trace of either remain. You can ride your bike on the cut off but you won't ever again see scenes like these in the two links below taken in basically this same spot but looking the opposite direction as both of these show eastbound freights while the rail train power faces west:
photos.nerail.org/showpic/?201903260839098851.jpg
photos.nerail.org/showpic/?2019040607243528047.jpg
Belmont, Massachusetts
Monday August 9, 2021
This isn't the first time this beauty has been here, but to the best of my knowledge this is the first time it has been here alone sans its sister unit and train. And it is certainly likely that this is the last time PAR1 will ever be here. With Pan Am expected to disappear in the coming months assuming it is purchased as expected by CSXT the fate of the pair of FP9s and four car OCS is a point of much speculation. However, even in the absence of that pending change these units can not lead trains on MBTA territory any longer since PTC became active on the north side lines and Pan Am chose not to install ACSES in these units. Consequently, since the end of 2020 they have been restricted to leading only in New Hampshire and Maine, and anytime the OCS ventured west since the start of 2021 it has been led by properly equipped freight power. Given all that this may very well be the last time a Pan Am F unit graces the iron of Boston Engine Terminal, the strange modern incarnation of what was once the beating heart of PAR's predecessor the once mighty Boston and Maine.
Anyway, PAR1 was shipped down cold and dead from Waterville to Lawrence, and the Keolis/MBTA north side work train picked it up on Tuesday and brought it here to BET. It was parked overnight about 100 ft from my office in a very rare instance of something interesting happening on my otherwise decidedly unexciting railroad! On Wednesday morning the work train crew used F40PH-2C 1055 and wyed PAR1 so she'd be facing west for a trip out the old Boston and Albany to Worcester. She will be on display at the MBTA Worcester layover yard with some MBTA and Providence and Worcester equipment for a few hours on Thursday as part of the events associated with the New England Railroad Club's annual Railtech Conference: www.nerailroadclub.com/about-us/
So here is a shot of the crew coming in to the shop spur with 1055 to couple up to PAR1 so they can take her for a spin around the teminal.
PAR1 is a GMDD FP9A blt. Sep. 1954 as CN 6505 and passed from CN to VIA Rail in 1978 before being picked up by the Conway Scenic in 1995 along with sister unit 6515 when they expanded into Crawford Notch. After 15 years spent hauling tourists in the White Mountains the pair would become PAR 1 and 2 when traded to Pan Am Railways in March 2010 for GP38 252 and GP35 216.
Amazingly 1055 (EMD blt. Aug. 1987) could also now be considered noteworthy as one of only eight F40PH-2Cs remaining on the property, and one of only six in service. This particular unit is relegated to non revenue service only account its HEP doesn't work and eventually it too will head to Erie to be rebuilt into an F40PH-3C by Wabtec like its 36 siblings.
Somerville, Massachusetts
Wednesday March 30, 2022
CSXT's M426/M427 trains to and from Portland always offer the best chance to see older units still dressed in the classy YN2 'bright future' livery which was phased out in 2002. The reason these are the best chance to see this scheme is that these trains require lead locomotives equipped with ACSES PTC for operation over the MBTA commuter rail territory in eastern Mass. It just so happens that a group of older AC400CWs are so equipped and among these many have yet to be rebuilt or repainted making them regulars on these trains, often in multiples.
I caught both trains here only 10 minutes apart each led by a 24 yr old unit built by GE in late summer 2000. First up was westbound Portland to Selkirk manifest 427 led by CSXT 478 seeing crossing the West Branch of the Westfield River on Main 1 of
CSXT's Berkshire Sub at about MP QB124.5
This is the legendary former Boston and Albany Railroad mainline, the world's first mountain railroad which opened in 1841. In short order they will start digging into the 1.65% grade for the dozen mile and nearly 900 ft climb to the crest of the Berkshires at the 1459 ft top of Washington Hill.
Chester, Massachusetts
Sunday November 10, 2024
Another 'Monochrome Monday' offering, old school EMD edition.
After making its regular overnight turn trip to Attleboro, CSXT Framingham based local L005 is back home. After yarding as much of their train as they could in Nevins Yard (ex Boston and Albany) the yard master instructed them to shove the balance into the ex New Haven North Yard side. Here the brace of three EMD SD40-2s shove back through Track 1, the last remaining clear track, toward CP22 and the east leg of the wye connecting to North Yard as they parallel the Keolis/MBTA Worcester mainline.
This motive power set is based here and is captive thanks to the requirement that the locomotives all be equipped with cab signals and ACSES for operation over MBTA property. SD40-2 CSXT 8840 on the point is very much on home rails here having been blt. Oct. 1978 as Conrail 6465.
Framingham, Massachusetts
Friday December 2, 2022
Norfolk Southern intermodal train 265 cruises along Schenevus Creek as it passes through Cooperstown Junction, New York on the NS Freight Line. In the lead is an ACSES equipped SD60E, used to traverse MBTA trackage on the Pan Am Southern east of the handoff point in Mechanicville. This location is the junction where the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad connects to the NS main.
====Info====
NS Freight Line
Cooperstown Junction, NY
NS 265 (Intermodal; PAS - Mechanicville, NY to 47th Street Yard - Chicago, IL)
NS 6958 SD60E Ex. NS 6594 SD60 Blt. 1985
NS 1227 SD70ACe Blt. 2019
NS 4122 AC44C6M Ex. NS 8829 C40-9 Blt. 1995
Pan Am train AYMO is seen in East Gardner from the Rt.140 overpass on a cold February 2010 morning. The pair of GE Evolution Series units were a first from BNSF to lead on Pan Am property.
From 2010 to about late 2019, BNSF and other foreign railroads power could be seen leading on the old Guilford trackage due to run through power agreements with Norfolk Southern and their counterparts, until 2020 when PTC started to be introduced. And now with the PTC/ACSES combo in place on the line, only Norfolk Southern applicable units and Pan Am's own can lead. It was fun while it lasted. And soon, with CSX potentially taking over operations, who knows what will be seen out here.
February 2010
In a timeless summer tableau some young adults enjoy a carefree day drinking and swinging on the rope dangling beneath the railroad bridge which carries them out to splash in the cool waters of the Deerfield River.
Rumbling overhead is Berkshire and Eastern Railroad train EDMO rolling thru CPF415 and high over the river on the B&E operated Pan Am Southern Freight Mainline, the one time Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division behind a Juniata rebuilt SD60E and a pair of Gevos. Immediately over the bridge they will cross River Road then curl to their left and plunge into the east portal of the 4.75 mile long Hoosac Tunnel that will take them through the spine of the Berkshire Hills over 1000 ft below the top of Hoosac Mountain.
This train originated in Ayer as train SAED and will turn into Norfolk Southern train 11R at Mechanicville for continuation down the old Delaware and Hudson to East Binghamton Yard. Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company which was created to serve as the neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a condition of the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX in 2022. 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.
Florida, Massachusetts
Sunday July 6, 2025
I was thinking that my first shot of CSX power on M426/427 would be of one the YN2-painted AC4400s, but ACSES-equipped SD40-2R 8872 snuck up to Rigby last week and is seen here leading M427 down Track 2 at Wells before meeting Amtrak 685... or do we say P685 now?
It's golden hour as M427 notches up to speed at MP-204 in Scarborough, Maine with CSXT 8014 - CSXT 486 - CSXT 3286 - MEC 516 and 131 cars.
CSXT 8014 was originally built as L&N 8014 and was included in a small number of non-Conrail CSX SD40-2's to get ACSES allowing it to lead trains in Keolis and Metro North territory.
They would take the siding at Surf to meet Amtrak 697 and LW05 then continue west.
May 6, 2023
Two UP GEs power a AYMO through CPF-335 in Westminster, MA. Everything here is now gone; the interlocking was reconfigured and the searchlights removed with the coming of the MBTA layover facility, and only ACSES-equipped locomotives can lead in MBTA territory to comply with PTC requirements.
Pan Am LA-3 rolls through Andover, hauling two DIT NS SD60E's. The two units had been performing PTC/ACSES testing over the district 2 weeks prior and ended up sitting in Lawrence yard till now.
Supposedly there has been a shortage of ACSES units on CSX thus throwing some SD40-2s into the mix on the 426/427 power sets. I'm not sure if that's fact or not, but I'll also not complain to have an SD40-2 leader.
Seen here at Winnocks, a few of us gathered to watch them out for the afternoon departure of M427 in early May 2023
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
A long telephoto view on a hot humid summer morning finds CSXT L007 (Middleboro based daylight local) at the north end of the MassDOT owned, Mass Coastal maintained, and CSXT served Middleboro Sub switching out their train at the east (timetable south) end of the 3200 ft siding and recently rebuilt track in Croft Yard at MP 0.7 on the wide elevated former New Haven right of way above Forest St. Power is the standard trio of ex Chessie GP40-2s in the small pool equipped with ACSES for operation on CSXT's freight rights over the Amtrak and MBTA passenger territories in New England.
Attleboro, Massachusetts
Wednesday July 23, 2025
File this under things you have to see to believe! Perhaps you have a child that loves their purple MBTA train set on their HO layout but then saw the cool green engine with the wreath and just had to have it....or maybe this is you?! But you couldn't put the green and yellow engine on the T train cause that just makes no sense and would NEVER happen in real life. Until it did that is...and here is living proof.
This was taken just a few hours ago at work as New Hampshire Northcoast Railroad GP38-2 3823 (EMD blt. Sept. 1978 as CR 8242) sits at the head of an MBTA train set all tripped inspected and ready to go inside BET on track PM1! The NHN geep had been dropped off early in the morning by Pan Am train DOBO and a Keolis crew capped control car 1628 on the 1061 set. While it is fun to imagine this in revenue service the purpose is to test the newly installed ACSES on the 3823 along the Eastern Route mainline.
In 2020 I've come to expect the unexpected and despite only two days left in the year this is just yet another example!
Somerville, Massachusetts
Tuesday December 29, 2020
SD40-2s have begun to accumulate in large numbers around the Philly area as many have been upgraded with the ACSES system used on the NEC. This has made them popular power on local jobs, witness several sets of SD40-2s basking in the sunrise at the old B&O Eastside Yard.
Continuing with the little Friday morning chase this was the next spot after catching them in Tewksbury. CSXT Selkirk to Rigby manifest M426 (formerly Pan Am Railways AYPO) with three old school AC4400CWs comes has paused for a moment with some ACSES issues at CPF LJ. This is Lowell Junction where the old Boston and Maine Lowell Branch joins the Western Route mainline, the historic original Boston and Maine route. LJ is at about MP 291.4 as measured from Mattawamkeag Maine on the former Pan Am Freight Main and MP 19.6 from North Station via the Keolis/MBTA Western Route.
Andover, Massachusetts
Friday June 10, 2022
CSXT's Troy Industrial Track is a six mile long branch line that connects with the Amtrak controlled Hudson Line just north of the Albany-Rensselaer station at the east end of the Livingston Avenue bridge. The former New York Central route is the last active rail line into the Collar City which at one point in the early 20th century was the fourth wealthiest city in the nation. The city once had lines radiating in four directions serving a grand Union Station downtown.
The four railroads that originally formed the Troy Union Railroad were the Rensselaer and Saratoga (D&H), Troy and Boston (B&M), Troy and Greenbush (NYC) and Schenectady and Troy (NYC). That's how the NYC ended up with half ownership of the TURR, and the others each had one quarter.
This surviving spur began as the Troy and Greenbush Railroad which was chartered in 1845 and opened later that year, connecting Troy south to East Albany (now Rensselaer) on the east side of the Hudson River. It was the last link in an all-rail line between Boston and Buffalo and until bridges were built between Albany and Rensselaer, passengers crossed on ferries while the train went up to Troy, crossed the Hudson River, and came back down to Albany.
The Hudson River Railroad was chartered in 1846 to extend this line south to New York City and the full line opened in 1851. Prior to completion, the Hudson River leased the Troy and Greenbush and all would come into the hands of Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1864 who then three years later combined it with his New York Central Railroad to have the entire New York City to Buffalo route under his control. A decade after that Vanderbilt would gain control over the lines to Chicago uniting the famed 'water level route' under one banner that would grow to be one of the worlds greatest rail systems in the first half of the 20th Century.
The above information is courtesy of this site where you can learn more:
penneyvanderbilt.wordpress.com/2017/04/14/troy-greenbush-...
CSXT is the direct corporate successor of the New York Central by way of Penn Central in 1968, then Conrail in 1976, and CSXT in 1999. Despite occasional fear of the line's demise they continue to serve it three days a week with a local out of South Schenectady that travels via the Carmen Branch and the Hudson Line via West Albany hill and LAB to get to this branch.
CSXT local L020 has 17 cars trailing two ACSES equipped ex Chessie GP40-2s seen paused in South Troy just north of the Main Street crossing at MP 4.8 while the conductor walks over to Troy Pizza and Gyro to pick up a pie for the ride back home. I just love this scene with the tracks hugging the edge of South River Street along a block lined with ivy bedecked brick buildings...it's truly a throwback to railroading of another era and so vastly different than the sterility of modern class 1 mainlines.
Troy, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
How about another frame of this awesome scene just as they start pulling south out of town.
CSXT's Troy Industrial Track is a six mile long branch line that connects with the Amtrak controlled Hudson Line just north of the Albany-Rensselaer station at the east end of the Livingston Avenue bridge. The former New York Central route is the last active rail line into the Collar City which at one point in the early 20th century was the fourth wealthiest city in the nation. The city once had lines radiating in four directions serving a grand Union Station downtown.
The four railroads that originally formed the Troy Union Railroad were the Rensselaer and Saratoga (D&H), Troy and Boston (B&M), Troy and Greenbush (NYC) and Schenectady and Troy (NYC). That's how the NYC ended up with half ownership of the TURR, and the others each had one quarter.
This surviving spur began as the Troy and Greenbush Railroad which was chartered in 1845 and opened later that year, connecting Troy south to East Albany (now Rensselaer) on the east side of the Hudson River. It was the last link in an all-rail line between Boston and Buffalo and until bridges were built between Albany and Rensselaer, passengers crossed on ferries while the train went up to Troy, crossed the Hudson River, and came back down to Albany.
The Hudson River Railroad was chartered in 1846 to extend this line south to New York City and the full line opened in 1851. Prior to completion, the Hudson River leased the Troy and Greenbush and all would come into the hands of Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1864 who then three years later combined it with his New York Central Railroad to have the entire New York City to Buffalo route under his control. A decade after that Vanderbilt would gain control over the lines to Chicago uniting the famed 'water level route' under one banner that would grow to be one of the worlds greatest rail systems in the first half of the 20th Century.
The above information is courtesy of this site where you can learn more:
penneyvanderbilt.wordpress.com/2017/04/14/troy-greenbush-...
CSXT is the direct corporate successor of the New York Central by way of Penn Central in 1968, then Conrail in 1976, and CSXT in 1999. Despite occasional fear of the line's demise they continue to serve it three days a week with a local out of South Schenectady that travels via the Carmen Branch and the Hudson Line via West Albany hill and LAB to get to this branch.
CSXT local L020 has 17 cars trailing two ACSES equipped ex Chessie GP40-2s as they air test their train near MP 5 on the branch. Rising at right is the building known locally as The Fortress. Dating from 1902 the original name of the building is the United Waste Manufacturing Company Building, and it was built as a storage facility for wool and cotton shoddy. Today it is home to a high end antiques dealer and to learn more here is a cool blog post I found that is worth a read.
www.brownstoner.com/history/walkabout-troys-fortress-of-s...
Troy, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
I knew that Pan Am Railway's OCS was going to be running east today, but has absolutely no idea when they would be leaving Mechanicville so set my alarm for 0500 and headed west 2 1/2 hrs toward Florida Mountain. After the requisite stop at Shelburne Falls Coffee I got there around 0815. Nary a soul was around, the signals were dark, the the radio was silent, and it was damp and gloomy. But that was OK, and honestly I was glad about the predicted overcast because I really wanted the east portal shot coming out of the mist. I knew the train had a freshly repainted spit and polished C40-8 leader (the FP9s can no longer be used when the train is running through MBTA territory as they don't have ACSES installed), and having never shot one of those emerging from the tunnel I kind of had my heart set on that.
So after three tries with the soaking wet wood I got a little fire started in the pit out at east portal and enjoyed a most relaxing morning with some good coffee amidst the cool damp Berkshire mountain air. A few random folks came and went but none knew anything about the train. I'd really just gotten the fire going good when a retired railroader and fellow railfan showed up and said they were about 30 min away. So I grabbed the camera to start scoping out my options.
Alas by then the skies had parted and I wasn't going to get my gloomy portal shot and had to 'settle' for this!
Pan Am Railways C40-8 MEC 7542 (GE blt. Aug. 1988 for CSXT with the same number) leads the four car OCS east out of the Hoosac Tunnel, across River Road and over the Deerfield River Bridge as they approach CPF415 on Pan Am Southern's Freight Mainline, the ex Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division.
It is pulling the four car train consisting of sleeper 103, dome car 102, lounge car 101, and observation/business car 100.
ST100 was originally Norfolk and Western business car 102 that was rebuilt and streamlined in 1957 from diner 1011 that was originally built by ACF in 1934. It was purchased by the D&H in 1976 and then passed to Guilford in 1984 and was retained after the 1988 bankruptcy and divestiture of the D&H.
ST101 also came from the D&H but was one of four originally built by Budd for the D&RGW in 1950 for use on the Denver-Salt Lake Prospector and was numbered 1290 named the Castle Gate. After that train was discontinued in 1967 the D&H acquired it and named it Champlain.
ST102 was also built by Budd in 1950 for Wabash's Chicago to St. Louis "Blue Bird" and originally wore #201. It later became N&W 1611 until stored at Roanoke in 1966. In 1971 it went to Amtrak where it stayed for 22 years before ending up in private hands for 20 more years until PAR bought it in 2013.
ST103 is a former Southern Railway sleeper dating from 1917 that was part of CSXT's business car fleet until being sold to Pan Am in 2019. The car had come to CSXT by way of the Conrail split as this car was part of Conrail's OCS and was numbered Conrail 8. Conrail had acquired the car from the SOU in 1983 and was completely remodeled after decades of revenue service. To learn more about this car check out this fabulous history: www.the-boring-the-adoring.com/conrail-blog/conrail-sleep...
ST103 is currently named 'Syd Culliford', after Sydney Culliford, a retired board member and long-time B&M Employee. Sydney was first introduced to railroading by interning at the Boston and Maine Railroad in the Engineering Department. Following college graduation, Sydney began a career with the railroad that would span over 50 years, eventually becoming Vice President of Transportation and serving as a member of the Board of Directors for Pan Am Railways until his retirement in 2014. He passed away in February of 2019 and the 'new' car was subsequently renamed in his honor.
Florida, Massachusetts
Saturday November 13, 2021
Despite autumn being long in the tooth the foliage was still spectacular with the gold leaves and blue sky nicely complementing the train.
CSXT local L020 has 17 cars trailing two ACSES equipped ex Chessie GP40-2s as they cross Main Street at MP 4.8 and begin their trip south down the Troy Industrial Track to Rensselaer. They will pause there for a bit before getting permission from Amtrak Hudson North dispatcher to head out onto the Hudson Line and cross the Livingston Avenue Bridge and climb the West Albany hill grade on their trip back west to South Schenectady via the Amtrak main and CSXT's Carmen Branch. See my earlier posts for a long form caption with the history of this line.
Troy, New York
Friday October 25, 2024