New England 1978

So! this past week was my last day trip of the season. That was somewhat dramatic. It may best be seen as the last of the regular day trips. The winter will be stunted by cold weather so the day trips will be thus oriented. In these pages I just might dig up past trips. Not all railfan chances oriented around just railfan trips. Remember Boston? It combined the usual tourist sites such as the USS Constitution with a bit of nostalgia of my life at Lynn, MA and a bit of shopping. Than there was what was expected railfanning along with many other chances missed.

This first combining of railfanning with other interest goes back to a vacation more than thirty years ago. I took a two week tour of New England. I began the trip with an excursion on the Chessie Steam Special, leaving Richmond and heading for Balcony Falls (Glasgow) and than return.



I went from there through DC and I 95 past NYC. My first stop in New England was Mystic to see the seaport. But I had to go by to see the station at Mystic and take a picture of at least one train, an Amtrak.



From Mystic I found my way into Providence, where my uncle and aunt lived. From there I took the train into NYC, to visit a sister. No trains except for the ride and one picture while on a boat Ride around the Island, showing some early Amtrak.

Onward to Plymouth, MA. One problem, I missed my exit and ended up in Boston. Later, I learned that I was at the backside of Boston's South Station. I got these pictures of Amtrak (in Delaware and Hudson Paint, common in early Amtrak) and Commuter Rail ready for their runs



Onward to Plymouth for the night an touring non railroad. I than across southern Mass. to Carver, the home of Edaville Scenic Railroad. (for more pictures of Edaville Scenic Railroad click here Edaville Scenic Railroad click here). Thirty years has seen great change but at the time it was a railroad and museum. It was fun to ride as see this two foot gauge line.

More scenic and historic touring including Sturbridge Village and Hancock Shaker Village. My sight turn for home via Strasburg PA.

More thoughts about Richmond

A favorite one and one most used is the Mountain Road crossing. It has a long straight run before which allows time to complete setup for pictures.

(Pardon the Sound in the following, disk lens needed cleaning)

One place I would love to see and get more contemporary pictures, is Main Street Station. This picture was taken in the late 1970"s. Since then, the building burned, it was converted into a downtown mall, and now restored and used as an Amtrak Station. However, only two scheduled trains makes this station.

Finally a place to look at is about an half hour north, Doswell, VA. It was here that the RFP and the CO crossed.

Some Fallen Flags, I Have Seen

Almost thirty-five years of train photography, well, train picture taking, have given me the unexpected collection of fallen flags pictures. Within this collection is two in particular:





These, for some reason have fired a bit of imagination. First of all on a road trip between my home in Williamsburg, Va and  northern Virginia, I took a stop at Doswell. Doswell was the crossing of two railroads, C&O and RF&P. It was 1981 and C&O was wearing the Chessie System colors. I just happened to catch this scene of both awaiting the crossing. They were both waiting for the northbound Amtrak. What makes this picture special is that C&O became Chessie System than Family Lines and finally CSX. RFP was merged with CSX. Both are fallen flags but not one Line.

The early days of Amtrak was fun for a number of reasons. The Amtrak car color had just been developed but the old line cars were still on the road in original colors. It would be some years before Amtrak began to operate their own trains. In this picture, A train making the station stop in Williamsburg, VA, was being pulled by a B&O F unit. However, this was a fallen flag, as the B&O had been absorbed by the C&O. During mergers, as here, you could see off road motive power.

Amtrak Silver Star and Silver Meteor

Although I did not see either the Star or the Meteor while in Selma, They are old trains that predate Amtrak.  I had the occasion to ride one between Baltimore MD and Richmond, VA as a group of my railfan buddies returned from a day trip to the B&O Museum in the early 1980's We got no pictures of the interior, however. The route, at that time was different, than today.

At that time the route for the Star and the Meteor diverged south of the SCL yard in Petersburg. Since than the CSX have removed the tracks from Peterburg to Norlina, along the old Silver Star route. It keep the trains running between Petersburg and Raleigh, route was extended south to Selma before going west. Here is a picture of the Star and Meteor going south out of the Petersburg Yard, in the early 80's

Silver Star, northbound	Silver Meteor, northbound

Note the use of F40's This was just after Amtrak bought out the Southern Crescent so a few cars were old Southern cars, not yet repainted to Amtrak colors.

Selma, NC, part 3

My train chase was not  very hard. I returned to the station to get myself into position for the train 89, the Palmetto southbound.

While waiting on the southbound Carolinian, I had some time and explored to see this Trackmobile.
I had time to bring myself into position for train 79, the Carolinian southbound. In the distance I heard the horn of the approaching train. To my surprise, it was not the Carolinian but a CSX southbound freight.

Finally, the Carolinian southbound.

Greensboro

During a previous trip, I found the Amtrak, former Southern, station in Greensboro, NC. To my surprise, Greensboro has a lovely skyline.



Before I show you the skyline of Greensboro, you might be satisfied with the interior of the station.



It was from the train station that I saw a beautiful skyline. On return to Greensboro, The best view of the skyline was found. Notice that the Amtrak station, now a transportation center, is in the foreground.



Train station, in front, makes this the ideal location to photograph trains, in particular North Southern, formally the Southern. Through here we found many trains passing. The Southerner, the Crescent, Piedmont, and among the last local trains operated by railroads before Amtrak and Government owned commuter rail.

Charlotte, part 1

For most day trips, I have a number of criteria. I have many interest that would take me off on one of my excursions. Trains being one. Another would be skylines. The measure of success of a city is the grace with which it rises up from the sidewalk. As to a pretty skyline is found in the city of Charlotte, NC. Coming into the city that grace can be seen rising before you.

To combine my interest, I was drawn to the Charlotte Amtrak station. There at the end of the platform is one of the prettiest scene of that skyline.

Timing was right to capture this picture of the Carolinian as it winged itself north toward Raleigh.

Day 4, Train Watching from North Point Park

Amtrak Downeaster, front than back.

MBTA Work Train.

MBTA Commuter Rail, leaving or arriving North Station.