In September 2020 I seized upon an opportunity to reach the summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. Because I wanted to get my T-Shirt and my friend was adamantly opposed to either the expensive/steam free cog railway or the auto road, I went up the old fashioned way. Unlike my auto-road journey in 2017, this time I got a taste of the World's Worst Weather and therefore I saw no need to hang out on the summit for some additional hours with zero visibility and 60-75 mph winds just to get some bad photos of The Cog. Therefore I shifted my rail activities to the following days where I would be recovering from my 8-mile/12 hour hike. The majority of my activities involved covering potentially endangered Boston and Maine signaling in the Lowell, MA area, although I also stopped by Meriden, CT to see the new Amtrak / CT Rail station there and finished my road trip with an Acela Express journey between Philly and Baltimore. You can find the entire set of photos here ( mirror ).
My previous trip in 2017 was done in clear weather with almost unlimited visibility. Well, Mt. Washington only sees about 12 of those days a year where as it registers sustained hurricane force winds on 180 days a year, so while the weather at the base of the Mountain in Pinkham Notch was warm and clear, 4000 feet up on the summit was distinctly less so. As the highest point east of the Black Hills in South Dakota, air flowing unobstructed for over 1000 miles is abruptly forced upwards resulting in adiabatic cooling that creates a standing cloud around the summit.
The summit itself was distinctly less photogenic with almost zero visibility and sustained winds between 65 and 75mph. It was still quite a bit more exciting than the clear day!
Returning from Mt Washington we decided to take the back way through Conway and while pulling into town our vehicle was number one at the crossing as a Conway Scenic Railroad excursion train pulled in with ex-B&M GP7 #573 leading a mix of former DL&W and LIRR commuter cars. As I had already toured the Conway Scenic back in 2017 and was pressed for time I chose not to re-visit the station complex.
The next day I checked out the New Hampshire statehouse in Concord and returned to Portsmouth for another walk around the harbour area where I captured video of the Memorial Bridge going up and down. This bridge was rebuilt around 2017, replacing the original span from the 1920's.
US Coast Guard medium endurance cutter WMEC-908 Tahoma counts as a rail related photo as the ship is powered by two V18 Alco 251F engines.
On the way back from Portsmouth I stopped by the BY interlocking complex in LOWELL where the MBTA Lowell line terminates. The section of track between BY and NC interlockings on the old Boston and Maine New Hampshire Route Main Line is owned and operated by the MBTA, but is logically part of the Guilford Rail System's Freight Main Line that once stretched from around Bangor, Maine to Binghamton, NY. While the interlocking is under the control of the MBTA dispatcher, the old BY tower still stands for the benefit of signal crews.
In the 4-track interlocking plant, the two rightmost tracks in this photo are used by MBTA commuter trains while the leftmost tracks are used by Guilford freight trains. ACSES PTC transponders are in place and a Rule 562 cab signal project is slowly advancing from Boston.
A signal crew was actually in the process of installing brand new GRS model SA searchlight signals and just happened to leave one wide open during the process of testing.
The westbound Guilford entrance into the interlocking was still produced by a vintage B&M signal gantry.
The general decline in industry and coal fired power plants in particular has forced downgrades on the old New Hampshire Route Main Line. Just before my trip the signaling was removed between Nashua and Manchester. At Hooksett, the construction of this truss bridge over the Merrimack river hints to a past with far heavier rail traffic than the jointed rail from the 1930's might indicate.
Skipping ahead to the state of Connecticut I find that the old Amtrak Springfield Line Meridan train station with its low level holdout platform and Amshack style building, has been replaced by two high level platforms and the dreaded up and down passenger crossover to support the new CT Rail Hartford commuter rail line.
I timed my visit to catch the arrival of Amtrak Springfield Shuttle train #409 led by Metroliner Cab Car #9651 and propelled by P42DC #99.
Running early due to COVID, Train 409 sat around for a few minutes before finally departing south towards New Haven.
I also discovered that the defunct shopping mall across the street had been replaced by a flood control park.
My ride dropped me in South Jersey where I would later catch Amtrak back
to Maryland after dealing with some things at my parent's house.
Starting that part of my journey I discovered that an ADA elevator had
been installed at the Haddonfield PATCO station.
My train was led by rebuilt PATCO car #1063.
At 30th St the setting sun was shining in through the west end of the train hall.
My AX trainset was led by #2019.
My journey complete I caught this MARC Penn Line trainset at BWI as the sun set.
Thanks for tuning in. Next week I'll be headed down to Virginia to scope out parts of the former N&W H-Line south of Front Royal.
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