Well, I found myself in the area of Westfield and West Springfield, MA this evening. Of course I had to stop off and do a little railfanning along the way. Ended up catching all of two trains, and some shut down power. But it’s better than nothing!
As we were leaving our appointment in Westfield (my wife & daughters were with me), I decided to check out the signals at the old diamond at the south end of the Pioneer Valley Railroad. As we were pulling into the station, an eastbound Amtrak went rolling past us. OK, not a bad start – and the kids were excited to see a train, and wanted to see more. So I got out and checked the signals – the other track was showing a limited clear signal – something should be on the way. I figured we’d get a better view for the kids over at Salt City, so we headed a bit further east.
Just as we were pulling into the road by Salt City, the signals activated and gates fell down into position. Seconds later a westbound freight went speeding fast. My youngest (she’ll be 3 in October) exclaimed “that’s the longest train I’ve ever seen in my life!” Then her older sister followed up with “I see gas cars in the train” referring to the tank cars in the consist. Got a couple budding railfans with me!
As soon as the westbound’s marker cleared the block, the signals went dark. Nothing was coming anytime soon. So we headed for West Springfield to see what’s going on there.
When we got to the west end of the yard, not much was going on at all – I could only see one marker hung on a train further down the yard, but it didn’t sound like anything was moving in or out anytime soon. So I set up and grabbed a couple shots of the CSOR power sitting on Upper 18.
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By the time I finished up there, a thunderstorm was rolling in, so it was time to head out. Plus it was past the girl’s bedtime, and we needed to get back home. So I loaded up the gear, and brought the family back to the homestead.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
