Railfanning with my daughters in Palmer and Willimantic

With everything going on lately, my wife needed a little time to herself. So I took the girls and did a little daddy-daughters bonding. We started the day by running some trains in the basement on my 3 rail O layout. After about 45 minutes of running, my oldest asked if we could go out and find some real trains. Then the little one piped up that she’d like to do that too. Who am I to argue with a 3 and 5 year old? So we parked the trains downstairs, and geared up for a trip north. We set our sights on Palmer, MA to see what kind of action there was. We weren’t disappointed.

On the way up, there was no activity on the scanner – I guess there was nothing happening on the south end. Maybe there’d be a switcher working the yard, and hopefully we could catch a CSX freight. Time would tell.

As we came through Monson, the scanner started picking up NECR crews – at least there was some activity in Palmer. Not long after that, a crew of a southbound train, led by the CSOR 8530, reported to the St. Albans dispatcher that they were inside the Palmer yard limits, and completed their track warrant. Maybe we could catch a glimpse of that too.

So I aimed for Dublin Street in Palmer to see what things looked like. As we got there, we caught the power from that southbound heading back north through the yard. It was the 8530 on the south end, the GEXR purple unit (AKA Barney), and a NECR blue & gold unit. But they were moving past us as we pulled in, so we just enjoyed the view. But off to the south, the yard switcher job was working with one NECR blue & gold geep. So I grabbed a shot of that to start things off with.

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From there, we headed for the diamond area to see what we would see.

As we pulled in, I noticed the signals were lit – cool someone is in the block. The controlled siding was showing all red, but the main is showing green over red, meaning a westbound is due. So we parked, and climbed out to see the action. But looking down the tracks to the east we saw a CSX freight inching their way west on the siding. Cool, a meet! Before the arrival of the train on the main, I got a shot of the girls waiting patiently for the train’s arrival.

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Then a shot of the waiting freight

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Then the waiting game. We waited, and waited…and waited some more. After a little while, the girls were getting antsy, so we headed back to the car to sit down for a bit. But as everyone was climbing back in, I saw headlights rounding the bend to the east. So we all piled back out of the car, and got into position to witness the meet. The Lakeshore Limited came into view, doing track speed past the waiting CSX freight

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The speed of the train startled the girls, and the toot from the engineer caused Callie (the younger one) to jump a bit. But the loved the high speed runby! All they could talk about was how it lifted their hair up when it went by.

So the waiting game began anew. This time we made it back into the car to warm up a bit while waiting. The signals this time were showing all red on both tracks. Hmm, maybe an eastbound was waiting west of town for the Amtrak to clear.

More waiting, but finally the eastbound called the signal just to the west of the diamond. So the girls stayed in the car, and I hopped out for a quick shot.

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Then headed back to the car to enjoy the rollby with my girls.

Not long after the marker passed by us, I caught sight of headlights on the NECR to the north of the diamond. It was the southbound Vermonter coming onto the interchange.

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Not too bad of a start! Next up should be the westbound freight. A few minutes later brought a couple blasts from the horns of the CSX, and they began inching towards the signal.

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And then passed the waiting Vermonter

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Then rolled onto the main and over the diamond

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After that shot, I again joined the girls in the car to watch the procession of cars past us. Katina kept saying what each car could carry – wood, gas, grain – and she had them all right! That’s my girl!

Once again, soon after the markers passed by us, another train began moving – this time the Vermonter. Well, not the train yet – the crew was doing the moving at this time. Two of the train’s conductors got off to throw the switches and move the train from the NECR to CSX.

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With the switches lined, the train then began to move

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And after clearing the switch, the conductor lined it to head onto the CSX main.

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Then the conductors climbed aboard

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And the train began moving west following the freight

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As the train rolled across the diamond, we climbed back in the car and decided to head back home. We got what we came for – we saw some real trains.

On the way home while driving through Willimantic, a string of boxcars caught my eye at the old CC Lonsbury site – where the NECR now ties down the trains. I asked the girls if they’d like to check it out – an enthusiastic “YES” resounded from the back seat. So we made our way down past the Willimantic Chronicle to see what was up.

What we saw was a tied down NECR train at the office. So I got out and grabbed a few pictures of the train in the setting sunlight.

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As I got back in the car, Katina asked me a question – “Daddy, can we do this more often?” and Callie piped in “Yeah, can we do this again?” I guess I’ve got a standing date with my girls – we’ll be out trackside more often.

Thanks for looking!
Tom