24-03-23 PHOTOS: East Deerfield

In part two of my trip to Greenfield, Mass I check out the Boston and Maine's former East Deerfield yard, which has become a significant railfan hotspot in the Guilford era and beyond. I then work my way up the Connecticut River valley to catch some New Englande Central action at the town of Putney, VT before catching Amtrak back to Philadelphia. You can catch part 1 of this two part trip here and see the full set of photos for part 2 of the trip here ( mirror ).

After a morning spent getting photos of searchlight signals, but no trains at CPR-33, I made the short hop to East Deerfield yard, which was a major hub on the old Boston and Maine with extensive shop facilities and connections to both the Connecticut Valley and east-west main line between Boston and Mechanicville, NY. After parking I saw crews warming up a familiar face, Ottawa Valley Railway GP40-2LW #3029 and ex-CN GP40-2 #6409 that I had caught the previous day in downtown Greenfield. They were sitting next to former CSX C40-8W #7875, which was part of a bevy of power purchased by Guilford from CSX in the 2010's that then found itself back in CSX ownership when Guilford decided to sell out in 2022.

With the western end of the Guilford system spun off into a G&W owned regional railroad, most of the Guilford's bargin bin fleet seemed to be sitting idle while G&W brought in units from across its empire to handle the remaining tasks. OVR #3029 and CN #6409 seemed to be on local freight duty for customers on the Boston and Maine's Connecticut Valley Main Line and I got photos of the pair rolling past WX tower and then under the railfan bridge to begin the day's flat switching. While taking these photos I got a notification that my reservation on the following day's southbound Vermonter was being cancelled due to a freak snow storm that was about to drop a foot of snow across Vermont, but little to the south. Fortunately I was able to book a seat on an earlier Valley Flier out of Greenfield, which was actually the more expensive option when I had first planned the trip.

That morning the East Deerfield engine terminal help a mix of former Guilford equipment (nee Maine Central, Boston and Main and Springfield Terminal), former CSX -8 units and Bay Line Geeps brought in by G&W. Those with a sharp eye might also notice some old B&M MoW snow ploughs.

WX tower at East Deerfield was closed as an interlocking station many years ago and now sits adjacent to the present day CPF-384.

Bay Line units included GP40-2's #3018 and #3019, which might be a commentary on the condition of the former Guilford power.

Former CSX C40-8W #7875. #7655 and #7898 were still in a hastily overpainted YN scheme while #7797 was in Dark Future. Note Guilford #350 is a former B&M GP39-2.

Standard cab CSX C40-8 #7535 was also wearing patchwork paint as it sat next to BAYL #3018 at the East Deerfield fuel pad.

Bay Line #3018 would then move up between former Main Central GP40-2 #381 and CSX #7875. The previous day I had caught #381 and BAYL #3019 heading a manifest move westward behind the daily NS intermodal.

Former Boston and Maine caboose #491 was also on site. Apparently used as a clubhouse for a local rail group, the caboose has fallen into disrepair.

A sister caboose, #490, it located in a park at the site of the old B&M station, which is across the tracks from the shiny new transportation centre.

I happened to be in the area when southbound Amtrak Vermonter Train #57 rolled through with P42DC #98 leading.

After lunch I headed north, stopping by the quirky Brattleboro Amtrak station. Unfortunately it is going to get a lot less quirky as the pink flags along side the new signaled CTC siding are for a high level platform and new station building that will end use of the 1915 station building, which is now largely an arts center with Amtrak working out of a space on the ground floor.

Moving up to the searchlights at the north end of the PUTNEY siding, I figured that the clear signal indication was for the northbound Amtrak Vermonter Train 56, however instead some fearless Newe Englande Centrale dispatcher had chosen to run a road freight about 20 minutes ahead of the passenger train. Power was a pair of ex-Conrail C40-8W units, #4063 and #4064, in fresh NECR paint that had been recently obtained from CSX for road freight duty and leased Florida East Coast GP40-2 #721. The C40-8W's are the NECR's first GE power.

After its passage I decided to catch Vermonter Train 56 at the southern end of the siding. Although it had been re-signaled a few years back, the job had included a unique low cost bracket mast. To my complete surprise the lead unit was Amtrak Phase II heritage P42DC #130, which I had happened to spot two days before in New Haven.

The next day my Valley Flier set featured P42DC #129 and Metroliner cab car #9641. The set deadheads to and from Springfield due to a lack of servicing facilities at Greenfield.

At New Haven my shuttle train pulled up along side a CTRail Hrtford Line train with P40DC #6701, which CDoT had purchased from Amtrak some years prior.

My connecting NEC Regional was running behind a late running, double headed Regional with ACS-86 #669 leading #620, which may have suffered some sort of fault.

My Regional was powered by #613 seen here first at New Haven, the NY Penn.

Since our departure was slightly delayed by the first Regional we left at the same time as a Metro-North local and I found my train pacing M8 #9244. Of course the MNRR dispatcher routed their own local train ahead of the the competition and #9244 pulled away.



Due to the earlier departure I managed to arrive in Philly in daylight, catching the daily CSX move to Camden Pavonia Yard on the North Philly Connecting Railroad with ET44AC #3343 leading.

After that it was all a matter of taking transit back to South Jersey.

That's all for my first dedicated trip to the CT River Valley. Little did I know that due to the vagaries of weather I would be returning to the exact same area in just two weeks time in order to catch the 2024 eclipse. However between those events I would be able to get some Easter photos in South Jersey, which will be coming up next time.