25-03-23 PHOTOS: Shirley (You Can't Be Serious)

The last time I went to Lowell, MA was during the height of COVID and I only had enough time to walk the length of BY interlocking where the MBTA Lowell line briefly merges with the old Guilford Rail System Freight Main Line. With all of the re-signaling that is currently taking place along that route, I returned with a friend for a day of craft beer appreciation and searchlight signal photos. This post will detail the more interesting parts of the trip along with my return to the Mid-Atlantic via Acela express.

On weekends service to Lowell is pretty awful with trains running on a 1-2 hour headway. Today was no different and the only thing I was able to catch at Lowell's transportation was an empty high-low island platform. Lowell has an interesting layout as the two tracks on the left are used for MBTA service to Boston, while the three on the right are part of the former Guilford Rail System "Freight Main Line" that at one point stretched 714 miles from central Maine to Sunbury, PA.

A few years ago what remained of the Guilford was purchased by CSX which has wasted no time assimilating the line with new chaining, signals and, in this case, bridge art.

Due to the presence of hydro power, Lowell had become an early industrial hub, mostly specializing in textile production. The advent of electricity and modern logistics allowed this industry to move to more suitable locations turning Lowell into the stereotypical "gritty old mill town". In 1978 Federal money was obtained to create the Lowell National Historic Park as an urban renewal. One component of this was a heritage streetcar operation coined the "National Streetcar Museum", which I was able to visit and ride back in 2006. On this march day 20 years later the vintage streetcars weren't running, so I made do with a photo of Boston and Main 0-6-0 switcher #410, which is displayed on the streetcar platform.

Since 2006 Lowell has undergone an impressive recovery as the cost of housing in the core Boston area has exploded. Helped by the presence of UMass Lowell and MBTA service, the city is full of new development with many of the old mill buildings converted into artist lofts or new housing. This vintage service station sign was located across the street from the National Streetcar Museum.

Heading out of town my host suggested seeing the old B&M station at North Chelmsford. The trackside structure is being relocated for preservation with the wooden building already gone and the foundation marked up for disassembly. This project is likely one of CSX's "good will" gestures after taking control of neglected Guilford assets.

The MBTA Fitchburg Line station Shirley might look like something out of the 19th century, but it was actually constructed in 1993 after the station itself was reactivated in 1981 after over a decade of Fitchburg Line extensions and retrenchments. Although the minimal infrastructure gives the station a vibe similar to some of MARC's least used stations, Shirley currently serves a respectable 100+ passengers a day.

Because I had been out all day getting photos of 1940's and 50's vintage railroad signaling I hadn't really noticed that it was almost sunset when I had encountered an actual train movement in the form of a Norfolk Southern run-through freight with a former Guilford C40-8 leading a trio of NS units including SC70ACC #1807, AC44C6M #4857 and C44-9W #9928. In the 2010's NS had invested in a joint venture with the Guilford to run freight from Harrisburg to Ayer in conjunction with NS's of the former Delaware and Hudson route between Sunbury and Schenectady.

25-03-22 PHOTOS: Guilford Autos

With the Vermonter route now completely re-signaled the next chapter in my big New Englande adventure is pivoting to the former Boston and Main Western Route Main Line which is currently under assimilation by CSX. Having made friends with a local signal enthusiast who also happens to have a car I was able to round trip myself up on the Acela for a weekend of signal shenanigans. The first half of the trip involved seeing what could be documented on Amtrak's Downeaster route between the Massachusetts border and Saco, Maine.  The photos will cover the trip up and a couple of Downeaster catches on the WRML. 

Like so many of my recent journeys my trip started off at the BWI Airport Rail Station where I managed to catch an uncommon MARC diesel doubleheader with MP36PH-3C #34 and GP39H-2 #75 with a northbound Penn Line train. 

Because BWI only twos 2-3 Acela departures each weekday I was having to first backtrack to Washington Union Station. Arriving near the start of the evening peak I caught the lineup of MARC cab cars at the Union Station buffer stops before waiting for my 6pm Acela departure. My train that day would be Acela set #11 with power car #2017 on the south end.

The 6pm Acela out of Washington is a Friday only run to Boston that completes its journey at 110am. Here is ACS-86 #639 at Penn Station and ACS-86 #618 across the platform from Acela power car #2036 at Boston South Station.

The new hotel that sacrificed about 2 car lengths of South Station platform length was nearing completion with the arched pedestal forming a somewhat open air concourse in front of the existing South Station train hall. Because the last Red Line had already departed shortly before 1am, I was forced to take a much more expensive Uber to my friend's house. 

Heading out the next day my first catch was Downeaster Train #694 with Amtrak Phase III Heritage painted F40PH cabbage car #90406 with P42DC #95 pushing on the rear passing under the B&M signal bridge at CPF-241 near Rollinsford. The new CSX signals are waiting to be put in service.

 

25-03-09 PHOTOS: CAPITOL

Like the last Saturday in October, the Harrisburg NRHS Chapter's annual train show now motivates me to make the drive up I-83 as it is perhaps the one reliable date when the old PRR Power Dispatch office is open to the public and I have a lot of tech oriented friends that are eager to view the whole setup. Since the PDO is reaching a steady state I assigned myself a side quest of checking on the former Reading Railroad CAPITOL tower that stands just a short distance from the Pennsylvania Railroad complex. You can find those photos in addition to Amtrak and NS freight action here.  In the parking area adjacent to HARRIS tower a large group of railfans had accumulated at the viewing wall.  It turned out that the occasion was Amtrak 50th Anniversary P42DC #108 leading the eastbound Pennsylvanian.  

Since parking is limited at the Harrisburg Amtrak station where the power office is located, I park by HARRIS tower and walk over. This has the benefit of providing views of whatever Keystone service equipment is hanging out at the station. On this trip Metroliner Cab Car #9641 was hanging out next to the plastic wrapped GG1 #4859 while ACS-86 #613 was standing on an adjacent track. 

On the NS side of things a westbound manifest freight rolled past with C40-10W #7676 and AC44C6M #4122 leading. This was followed by westbound train of largely empty autoracks hauled by a single SD70ACC #1804.

As I said the 1939 Harrisburg Power Office has reached a steady state of restoration with both the Westinghouse and GE SCADA panels attached to their back end relay logic that used to interface with the field substations via the code line. PRR electrification project farmed out work to both Westinghouse and GE as a condition of its government backed loans to help industry recover from the Great Depression. Although inefficient from a strictly business sense, the end result was preserving examples of each technology such that their differences can be compared.  For example Westinghouse stored digit information in relays, while GE used stepper switches.

 

The Reading's CAPITOL tower is the largely forgotten member of the troika of Harrisburg Station area towers. Built in the late 1920's when the Reading was replacing wooden towers with mechanical interlocking machines, CAPITOL managed traffic into the Reading's small Harrisburg station complex as well as transfer movements from the PRR.  CAPITOL shared a design common to many towers built across the Reading system before the shift to CTC with similar examples still standing at Wayne Jct and Newtown Jct and demolished examples having existed at Birdsboro, Norristown, Belle Meade and Perkiomen Jct (amoung others). The extended ground floor housed an air compressor plant to work the pneumatic point machines controlled by a US&S Model 14 interlocking machine similar to those at the nearby HARRIS and STATE. CAPITOL closed in the 1950's with control passed to the CTC panel at R TOWER in Rutherford Yard, however the structure was used as a relay room and radio base up into the early NS era.

The visit to CAPITOL put me in a position to catch the arrival of westbound Pennsylvanian Train #43 at the eastern end of the revised STATE interlocking. Power was P42DC #103.

That's all for now. See you next time as I head up to New Englande to get some photos on the old Guilford Rail System Downeaster Route before it was sanitized by CSX.