Over the past couple years, ACSES equipped SD40-2s have been infiltrating the CSX Massachusetts-based locals due to a shortage of the usual GP40-2s. In the past few weeks, the six axles have been making appearances here and there on Readville - Framingham turn job L010, and today was no exception. CSXT 8365 (ex C&O) and CSXT 8181 (ex SBD) took the call for the L010 today as they are seen emerging from the Walpole Tunnel, about to diverge north on to the Framingham Secondary from the Franklin Branch.

CSX L01029

Walpole Tunnel, Walpole, MA

CSXT 8365

CSXT 8181

Dual mode in Massachusetts. Amtrak P32ACDM 702 leads 449 west past the former Boston & Albany Railroad freight house in West Springfield converted to a church. Due to a shortage of ACSES equipped P42DC's, Amtrak was forced to "pinch hit" with a P32 on the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited on July 21 and 22. These dual modes rarely stray from the Hudson Line in New York.

Just another frame of what will be hard to top as one of the weirdest trains of the year. I don't think I'd have believed it if I'd not seen it myself!

In a strange and one time occurrence New Hampshire Northcoast Railroad GP38-2 3823 (EMD blt. Sept. 1978 as CR 8242) leads an MBTA train set all tripped eastbound on Main 2 at about MP 3.8 on the MBTA's ex Boston and Maine Eastern Route mainline. They have just passed the intermediate signals at East Everett and are about to cross Second Avenue and then enter the town of Chelsea. 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!

Note: for those interested in history the trackage at left was once the eastern end of the Conrail system as that was once part of the Boston and Albany Ralroad's Grand Junction Branch to East Boston. Cut back here by Conrail it continued in use by CSXT local B721 until a couple years ago when Pan Am assumed their Boston area work and this trackage is still used regularly by local BO1 as a runaround when switching cars into the Coke Works. Off to the left is the vast New England Produce Market once a hugely important railroad customer that now only gets a handful of reefers a week.

Everett, Massachusetts

Tuesday December 29, 2020

Tuo figlio Andrea ieri ha lasciato, in silenzio, per tutti noi, tre cartoncini con tre cose che tu hai scritto.

Uno dice che " in ogni partenza è nascosto anche un ritorno. "

Noi crediamo che il tuo ritorno sarà da oggi in poi.

Buon ritorno.

(sindaco di Sant'Arcangelo)

La Tòsa

La mi chèsa la i è acsè d'in èlt

ch'us sint a tòs è Signòur.

La Tosse

La mia csa sta così in alto

che si sente la tosse di Dio.

(Tonino Guerra)

Fuori dal palazzo del Comune il giornalista riminese e grande amico di Guerra e Fellini, Sergio Zavoli, ha tenuto in Piazza Ganganelli, l'orazione funebre. Come desiderava Guerra, il monumento al centro della piazza è stato contornato da un soffice prato verde, su cui è stato adagiato il feretro. Ai lati due mandorli in fiore, alberi particolarmente amati da Guerra, la cui abitazione a Pennabilli si chiama proprio ‘La Casa dei Mandorli’. Tonino Guerra '' era tutt'uno con questo piccolo mondo, trasformato nell'universo delle sue poesie, ognuna con infallibile precisione - cioè l'inevitabile alleanza degli occhi e del cuore - di un poeta che porta i pensieri e le cose a un'altezza sorprendente'', queste le parole commosse pronunciate da Zavoli. "Tonino - ha spiegato - non amava gli abbandoni crepuscolari, gli ingannevoli riti del consenso, sapeva fare l'uso appropriato di un'ironia mille miglia lontana dalle tentazioni melodrammatiche, le tonalità foscoliane, le piogge sui pini dannunziani"

CHI VUOLE PUO LASCIARE UNA RIFLESSIONE , una FRASE

PNLX 9616 is seen leading GU-1 up to Maple Ave in West Upton as they prepare to set off 5 tank cars at West Upton Yard. After their set off, PNLX 9616 and 2107 would continue lite on to Hopedale and eventually Bellingham. These 2 units have since been shipped south to the Metro North for work train and switcher duties after getting ACSES installed at the Grafton and Upton’s shops in North Grafton. Seen to the left is privately ex RBBX coach #42016.

I feel like there is a good shot to be had here, but this isn't it. I need to try this again with an eastbound and more time to set up my angle to compose my shot to capture the rural small Vermont village feel.

Berkshire and Eastern Railroad train EDMO (East Deerfield to Mohawk) is westbound crossing Main Street in Powal at MP 431.6 on the B&E operated Pan Am Southern Freight Mainline, the one time Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division. The old B&M main is only in the Green Mountain state for a scant six miles as it cuts through the extreme southwest corner near the meeting point of Massachusetts and New York.

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.

Pownal, Vermont

Saturday April 12, 2025

Another look from down in the pit at this most unusual visitor earlier this week.

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

An OHP-S7b prepares to lock onto a Multi-Purpose Inflatable Module at the ACSE Geo3 Shipyards. This particular module will be mounted as one of four habitable modules on an IPMG NS35-t Light Cruiser set to patrol the shipping lanes between Earth and Mars.

Berkshire & Eastern MOED storms east at the famous curve along the Hoosic River in Pownal on a hot late-July evening in 2025. Leading the way towards East Deerfield was NS 6952, an EMD SD60E equipped with ACSES PTC to lead over MBTA territory in Massachusetts.

In strange and one time occurrence New Hampshire Northcoast Railroad GP38-2 3823 (EMD blt. Sept. 1978 as CR 8242) leads an MBTA train set all tripped eastbound on Main 2 at about MP 3.8 on the MBTA's ex Boston and Maine Eastern Route mainline. They have just passed the intermediate signals at East Everett and are about to cross Second Avenue and then enter the town of Chelsea. 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!

Note: for those interested in history the trackage at left was once the eastern end of the Conrail system as that was once part of the Boston and Albany Ralroad's Grand Junction Branch to East Boston. Cut back here by Conrail it continued in use by CSXT local B721 until a couple years ago when Pan Am assumed their Boston area work and this trackage is still used regularly by local BO1 as a runaround when switching cars into the Coke Works. Off to the left is the vast New England Produce Market once a hugely important railroad customer that now only gets a handful of reefers a week.

Everett, Massachusetts

Tuesday December 29, 2020

Back to the Future...….with the recent return of the GATX and CEFX six axle power to their respective lessors scenes such as this from 2010 are going to become somewhat regular for awhile,although there will be orange and black in the consists. At least until the C40-8's are approved on the Mets and have all the appropriate Acses and cab signals installed.

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 in March, so if you want shots of 'the pig train' on the old Boston and Maine the time is now!

Florida, Massachusetts

Friday January 26, 2024

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 pulling PAR1 out of the shop spur so they can take her for a spin around the teminal. At left is the more typical mundane HSP46 on a set parked on L1W and in the background are the new overpasses for the Green Line extension and ramp track down to the new shop. These bridges cross in the general vicinity (though much higher than) where the old Yard 8 bridges crossed the Fitchburg Route mainline above original Tower H.

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.

Somerville, Massachusetts

Wednesday March 30, 2022

I just love this scene so here's another angle.

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

Grafton & Upton Railroad GU-1x bounces along through North Grafton, Massachusetts, on nothing short of a perfect summer Saturday morning.

The crew has been testing a pair of Precision Locomotive Leasing units that have had PTC/ACSES installed at the shop in North Grafton. The G&U's line does not actually have PTC or ACSES so for now they are just testing the less stringent parts of the new system to make sure electronics function properly. Seen here at Carrol Ave in North Grafton, the crew has GP40-2LW #9619 leading south with G&U MP15AC's #1160 and #1158 on the rear.

July 2021

Who Is Uglier

Man that's a contest isn't it? MBTA MPI HSP46 2027 blt. 2014 is less shabby the MEC GE B40-8 5933 blt. Apr. 1988 but the latter sure looked classier back then when she rolled out of Erie in sharp yellow jacket paint as Susquehanna 4016.

But given the exceeding oddity of this consist I just had to go out for one photo. 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.

And one other reason I wanted to come out was because this would be about my only chance to photograph a 'freight' train at this historically significant rail location. 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

B&E extra train, XOED emerges from the Hoosac tunnel this afternoon with an uncommon trio of C40-8’s. Anywhere east of Gardner this would be pretty typical, although the standard cabs don’t see service leading much west of Deerfield due to their ACSES II capabilities, making it quite nice to see a trio of them out here, nonetheless with a fully unpatched blue leader.

M427 with CSXT 8365 - CSXT 485 - CSXT 11 and 73 cars knocks down CPF-273 past the classic B&M searchlight and dwarf signal.

Time will tell how long these signals will remain but with new signal equipment being dropped near some of the inerlockings (at least Westford) and an automatic signal east of here I'd say get them in action while you can.

CSXT 8365 is one of at least seven CSX SD40-2's that are not former Conrail but still have ACSES based PTC installed to run in Metro North and now Keolis territory. It certainly makes for a nice mix up from the now (again) common widecab GE's in District 2.

January 11, 2023

Grafton & Upton Railroad GU-1x rolls down the hill at Freedom Street in Hopedale, Massachusetts, on nothing short of a perfect summer Saturday morning.

The crew has been testing a pair of Precision Locomotive Leasing units that have had PTC/ACSES installed at the shop in North Grafton. The G&U's line does not actually have PTC or ACSES so for now they are just testing the less stringent parts of the new system to make sure electronics function properly. Seen here in Hopedale, the crew has GP40-2LW #9619 leading south with G&U MP15AC's #1160 and #1158 on the rear.

July 2021

Harkening back to the days when diesel-powered trains got an electric locomotive in Harrisburg, Amtrak train 42, the Pennsylvanian, picked up an ACS-64 leader in the Capital City before continuing the trans-Pennsylvania trip to Philadelphia.

Amtrak's Positive Train Control (PTC) upgrades on the Philadelphia-Harrisburg Main Line have led to them activating their Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) across the entire line. With most of the P42 fleet not equipped with the technology, electrics have been running as leaders between the two cities with the diesel in tow. Amtrak has been adding ACSES equipment to some of the P42's, so this will likely be a short-lived practice but it was a nice change up from the normal Amtrak scene.

On this day the electric leader was AMTK 642, the military veterans tribute unit. The train is seen picking up speed after clearing the work limits outside Harrisburg.

POED at MP-238 on the Freight Main Berwick, ME. After decades of EMD power hustling road trains up and down the old Boston & Maine, Dash-8s equipped with ACSES for Keolis territory now power the freights on much of Pan Am.

Normally the bastion of original Providence and Worcester GP38-2s wearing the old school red/orange and brown colors it is a bit unusual to see two big 4000 hp GE B40-8s assigned to Valley Falls. But allegedly due to ACSES upgrades to Amtrak's PTC system the geeps can't operate on the corridor so 4003 and 4001 (blt. Jun. 1988 as NYSW 4006 and 4004 respectively) were assigned to local PR3.

Here is a going away view as they head toward Metals USA in Seekonk on the former East Junction line now all part of the continuous East Providence Running Track here at about MP 6.9 just past Ferris Ave. in the Rumford section of town.

This stretch of track is particularly interesting to me because it was the original Boston & Providence Mainline opened in 1835 and despite it's rickety modern appearance there are clues to its status a century and a half ago. The most obvious is that this is about 3/4ths of mile into a nearly 16 mile long arrow straight strestch of tangent that extends to East Jct and continues along the modern day Amtrak Northeast Corridor Mainline thru Attleboro and Mansfield. This line has a fascinating history that I wrote about earlier. You can read it with the caption that goes with this photo of CSXT working further up the line by East Jct.: flic.kr/p/2j6Liod

East Providence, Rhode Island

Wednesday January 14, 2021

ricordare le donne che sulle banchine del porto aspettavano i loro uomini tornare dal lavoro e dal mare.

Per non dimenticare quelli che non sono tornati !!!

Reallizzata su idea di Giancarlo Cevoli presidente della cooperativa lavoratori del mare .

scultura di U.Corsucci

La mi ma

Cun una cariola un po' ad pes i sti a brandèl par cal strèdi ad campagna pini ad giarùl la s'invièva par dè da magnè a i fiul. U n' gn'era sol u n' gn'era umbrèla ma la strèda l'era quèla.

Mia madre

Con una carriola un po' di pesce i vestiti a brandelli per quelle strade di campagna piene di ghiaia si avviava per dare da mangiare ai figli. Non c'era sole non c'era ombrello ma la strada era quella.

LA ZAINA

L'era acsè quand t'avnìti a ca da e' mèr dop a tènt tribulè finì ad armizè e batel pràima d'andè a ca la zàina a prua de' batèl in sdai in tla banda a guardè che int una mocia u gni fos nè un zanchèt nè un paganèl ad piò de tu cunpèr. A ca u i era i burdèl che i stasèva da stè. I cunt i s' fasèva ogni queng dè.

LA CENA

Era così quando venivi a casa dal mare dopo tanto lavoro dopo aver ormeggiato la barca prima di andare a casa la cena a prua del battello seduto sulla banda a guardare che nella mucchia

non ci fosse nè una linguattola nè un paganello di più del tuo compagno. A casa c'erano i bambini che stavano ad aspettare. I conti si facevano ogni quindici giorni.

poesie di Mino Casali

Alle donne dei pescatori

Ma si guardiamola in ________View large________direi una bella scultura !!!

Rimini 12 maggio 2011

postata il 18 maggio 2011 alle ore 10.58

Another frame from this fabulous morning. Here is a vertical take that I may like even more than the horizontal I originally posted.

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

One of every type of ASC & ACSES-equipped unit on the NYA roster heads up RS71 on a particularly mild fall day, rolling down the Mainline heading for Pine Aire.

After dropping a cut of stone hoppers at Posillico East (Prima), the usual drop-off and pickup was made at Brookhaven Rail Terminal.

ACSES equipped General Electric P-42DC AMTK 112 idles away on the head end of Train 59(01), The City Of New Orleans in the 14th Street coach yard in Chicago. Soon a yard crew will climb on board and wye the Labor Day edition of Train 59 to Chicago Union Station where the Carbondale based road crew will board and take the train south toward New Orleans.

TAKEN ON RAILROAD PROPERTY WITH PROPER PERMISSION

This is another place long on my bucket list that finally came together in spectacular fashion. 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

Things that won't happen again - foreign power leaders on 22K due to the MBTA's recent ACSES PTC installation. Photo taken 3/30/2018

An OHP-S6e enacts repairs as it floats above a strut at ACSE platform Geo2. The EVA Shell is controlled by an operator-specialist while the pilot maintains a safe Translation-Rotation lock on the segment node.

I finally got around to make a quality render. It seems Mecabricks has updated render quality too because the colors and reflections are even more realistic than they used to be.

Normally the bastion of original Providence and Worcester GP38-2s wearing the old school red/orange and brown colors it is a bit unusual to see two big 4000 hp GE B40-8s assigned to Valley Falls. But reportedly due to changes with Amtrak's ACSES PTC system 4003 and 4001 (blt. Jun. 1988 as NYSW 4006 and 4004 respectively) were assigned to local PR3 due to the geeps having out dated equipment.

Here they are wrapping up their work at Teknor Apex in the Darlington section of town and about to head on their way Metals USA in Seekonk on the former East Junction line now all part of the continuous East Providence Running Track here at about MP 1.9. A pair of postal trucks go about their runs on the parallel George Bennett Industrial Highway that was once laced with so many industries that the New Haven had a yard to support just this area with an assigned switch engine. Alas in 2021 only two active customers remain along the highway.

Dominating the background is the smokestack and brick towers that were built by the Phillips Insulated Wire Company between about 1898 and 1927. The company, established in 1888, was one of the most successful manufacturers of coated wire products, in an industry that ranked as the third-largest in Pawtucket. The complex was used by a variety of owners for the manufacture of such products until 2003.

The Mill Complex originally consisted of one four-story brick, heavy timber structure built in 1898. Thirteen more buildings were built over time, making it one of the largest historic mill complexes in the region.

It has since been repurposed into luxury lofts and condos and alas another rail served industry is gone forever and only the shell remains as a photo prop.

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Wednesday January 14, 2021

A P32ACDM leads a single Cab car east over the Walk movable bridge from South Norwalk to East Norwalk on the evening of July 6, 2020. This was one of the moves I shot that evening along with P&W's two freights here. The PTC test train was heading east to test newly installed PTC / Acses on the east end of the New Haven Line before commencing with the "Enhanced Service Demonstration" between CP255 and Division Post. As I was awaiting the arrival of CT-2 I briefly heard the sound of a HEP producing GE locomotive as it crossed the bridge over Washington Street in SoNo.....what it was was anyone's guess, until it rolled into view over the Norwalk River.

Being the first time CSX has sent one of their "special interest" units up to the New England Division; CSXT 911 is seen laying over at the east end of Rigby Yard waiting to go west on M427-29 several hours later.

Of course due to Keolis and their ACSES based PTC system, this unit must "trail fail" on the former Pan Am lines west of Rigby, but it was still cool to see something different up this way and it was parked in a great spot for photos.

Also of note is the hard work CSX has put into improvements at the yard in the past year and a half., with fresh ballast, some new rails, a few changes in track layout, etc.

September 29, 2023

An Ex-CSX Dash-840C, now Pan Am Railways MEC 7528, with Pan Am's 3405 in tow, one of Pan Am's final SD45-2's remaining in their active roster.

Seen glistening in the crisp late-August evening, the two engines were tasked with taking this string of grain hoppers back to the BNSF railway who originates and terminates the rotation of this service. This train serves Ardent Mills with loaded grain, and then is taken back, as seen here.

On Pan Am territory, the BNSF power from the grain train is swapped with PAR power due to PTC compliances on certain parts of the Pan Am system where they share trackage with MBTA/Keolis, as the commuter service operates under a unique type of PTC/ACSES system. Long gone are the days of foreign, or quite frankly at all, interesting power to the Pan Am system...

OK-NEN 2-ACSE Eurowings A319 Kemble Airport

Just a nice vertical I like of this scene

CSX1 and CSX2, two of the roads three F40PH-2s dressed in Baltimore and Ohio inspired paint for their office car train bracket Technical and Research Car sitting in Support 3 with a string of road power. The special units had been in town testing overnight on the Keolis Worcester Mainline alellegedly to confirm the functionality of the ACSES PTC system in advance of a supposed May OCS tour across CSXT's former Pan Am property acquired last year.

CSX1 and CSX2 were built as Amtrak 280 and 395 in Apr. 1978 and Aug. 1985 respectively. CSX1 was originally numbered CSXT 9998 was acquired in trade from the Ohio Central in 2005 along with CSXT 9999 (ex AMTK 280) in trade for five units. CSX2 was originally numbered CSXT 9993 and was leased from Amtrak in 1999 and outright acquired in trade for several switch engines in 2002. Interestingly this unit was one of the group built as trade in and with components from Amtrak's SDP40Fs that were retired early due to myriad issues, and this particular locomotive was built was with parts from Amtrak 621.

I like this scene as it really gives it a sense of place with the MBTA commuter train on spot and the spires of Union Station rising beyond on the far side of Interstate 290. The stunning circa 1911 Union Station built by the Boston and Albany but also serving the New Haven and Boston and Maine Railroads serves as a backdrop. The flags of the US and the Commonwealth fly proudly from the decorative towers which were part of the original station but came down in 1926 after only 15 years. However they rose again some 73 years later as part of the station's Phoenix-like restoration which was completed in 2000 after having been completely abandoned for a quarter century.

Worcester, Massachusetts

Friday April 7, 2023

1712 (formerly 8130) is one of only 13 SD40E3 ECO motors currently part of the CSX roster, and the only one equipped with PTC/ACSES compatible with Boston area commuter rail territory. Thus, it made several trips leading M426 and M427 between Selkirk NY and Rigby Yard in South Portland ME during the spring of 2023. As odd as it may look, it sounds even odder - best described as an EMD with a muffler. So while I generally am not a big fan of shooting CSX road trains, an interesting leader in a good location with nice light is always welcome. Here, train M427 is rolling through the swamps of Massachusetts on a fine afternoon. Taken May 21,2023.

Here's another spot from this short but very high yield chase for my first time photographing this line. 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 south down the Troy Industrial Track at about MP QCT3.3. They are parallelling River Road in the town of East Greenbush which dead ends up ahead at the Rensselaer County water treatment plant where I'll have to turn around and backtrack up to troy. The train is headed toward Rensselaer where they will pause for a bit before getting permission from Amtrak's Hudson North dispatcher to head out onto the Hudson Line and cross the Livingston Avenue Bridge and make the climb up West Albany hill enroute back west to they're home bass in 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.

East Greenbush, New York

Friday October 25, 2024

M426 dropped their train at Cook's and took the power up the bypass with instructions to turn on the wye, but the crossover was frozen at CPF-196 so they had to head up to the single track and clear CPF-195 then back down to the wye.

The power has now been turned so that an ACSES equipped locomotive can lead M427 west later in the night, and is seen backing across Congress St. one more time to clear CPF-195 then will take Track 1 back toward Rigby.

CSXT 486 - CSXT 474 - CSXT 443 - CSXT 5461 is the power.

Note a bit of debris from tree branches on the cab window of 486. Winds were quite strong around Wells and southern New Hampshire during the snowstorm the night before.

January 24, 2023

Alot of us in former Pan Am country really wish the recently rebuilt SD70MAC's were ACSES equipped to add a bit more variety to the M426/M427 runs which are almost always led by CW44AC's in the high 400's, but I figure even when trailing they are cool so why not go for a broadside, especially since daylight freights on this part of the line have recently become hard to come by.

Recently repainted into the "YN3C" (I guess they call it?) CSXT 473 leads almost identical SD70MAC's; CSXT 4566 and CSXT 4589 across the Salmon Falls river separating South Berwick, Maine and Rollinsford, NH on a mild February morning.

February 6, 2023

On a humid mid June morning at just after 9:00am M426 gets underway out of Hill Yard in Ayer, MA with CSXT 464 - CSXT 316 - CSXT 471 and a good sized train.

CSX power in Ayer is nothing new but seeing them east of Hill Yard resumed June 1 once the sale closed and since the last time CSX power went to Rigby five years ago ACSES has been installed on all of the Keolis lines, limiting what can lead the freights. This has meant CW44AC's in the high 400 series have become the norm as they are usually the assigned power on the Metro North Hudson line. At least now and then you can get a YN2 leader, as this day M427 had one leading.

June 15, 2022

That's what I thought when I shot this. Sure, CSXT power is nothing new here as for nearly two decades it was normal to see CSXT run thru power between Ayer and Rigby. But while this may LOOK the same, and while it may appear that what was old is new again, the truth is entirely different. This is no longer run thru foreign power, no this is very much now on home rails. This is no longer Pan Am train AYPO and now it is CSXT train M426 a Selkirk to Rigby manifest.

In reality very little has changed, and it's the same traffic on the same schedule with the same hand off between the same employees dispatched from the same desks in Billerica. But since June 1 the Selkirk and Jacksonville gang have been calling the shots when CSXT closed on its purchase of Pan Am Railways.

I didn't get out on the first day or any day until 10 days in. But with the weather looking perfect I decided to make the trek up to Ayer after work where I found the crew building their train right on schedule. Thankfully the crap shoot of whether you'd get a nice painted blue PAR leader or an ugly patch job 'blob' on this train is no more. In one of the first visible changes executed only a couple days after the closing CSXT began assigning IETMS, ACSES and cab signal equipped older GE AC4400CWs at Selkirk so that they could run straight thru over the Berkshire and Boston Lines and up the Worcester main and then across MBTA territory and on to Maine without a wasteful locomotive change at Ayer as has been the norm for the last few years.

Matched and relatively clean power is a sight for sore eyes in these parts, and while many fans are sad to see Pan Am go I'm decidedly not one one them!

It was truly a joy to see this for the first time and chase it east to Lawrence, and I look forward to the influx of more CSXT power across the system in the coming months. Whether there will be any meaningful changes to service, customer relations, employee morale, and a whole host of other ailments this property suffers remains to be seen but I remain cautiously optimistic. For now though, at least it's nice that this flagship manifest already shows a semblance of improvement, if only superficially.

M426 has pulled out the east leg of the wye at CPF AY on CSXT's former Pan Am's Freight Mainline at PAR milepost 315.75 (measured from Mattawamkeag, ME) and milepost 35.75 (measured from Boston North Station on the Keolis/MBTA Fitchburg Line). They are in the process of doubling up their train in the Hill Yard in this view looking west off the Main Street overpass. Above and behind the power can be seen 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.

Ayer, Massachusetts

Friday June 10, 2022

Berkshire & Eastern B100 rolls east past the ancient searchlights guarding the interlocking at CPF-421 in North Adams on a snowy late-December afternoon in 2024. Leading the way around the curve towards the west portal of the Hoosac Tunnel was NS 6965, an EMD SD60E equipped with ACSES PTC to lead over MBTA territory around Ayer.

After shooting this train at east portal I chased them back to East Deerfield. Here again is Berkshire and Eastern Railroad train B100 seen crossing MA Route 8A and passing the former Boston & Maine freight house standing between West Hawley Road and the Deerfield River. This is right about MP 407.4 on B&E's former Pan Am Railways Freight Mainline, the one time Boston and Maine Fitchburg Division. Berkshire and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming owned company that was newly created to act as the neutral third party operator of the former Pan Am Southern property as a condition of the sale of Pan Am 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!

Charlemont, Massachusetts

Friday April 26, 2024