Willimantic to Amherst – Three trains

On the 19th as you probably saw here I was presenting a slideshow up at the Amherst Railway Society’s October meeting.  I decided to take the entire day off instead of rushing out of work and heading north.  So I took that opportunity to do a little work around the house, and then head out at lunchtime.  I figured my best bet would be to head into Willimantic, and go up the NECR and hope to catch something between Willi and Palmer.  Then later on I’d be meeting up with another railfan up in Amherst to hopefully catch at least the Vermonter.  Well, things worked out rather well – not only did I catch the Vermonter, but two other trains as well.

Once I left the house, I stuck to my plan of heading into Willimantic and taking the scenic route up to Amherst – up Route 32 into Palmer, then on a few back roads to Amherst, instead of the quickest way up I-91.  When I got into Willimantic I was happy to hear activity on the scanner – NECR 602 out of Palmer was finishing up in town, and 608 was just coming into the yard limits.  I figured that since 602 was getting ready to head out, I’d head north and bag him at a few spots heading for Palmer.

After a bit, they finally made their way north, and I got them in Merrow, Willington, Stafford Springs (including an almost meet with the DirecTV blimp) and finally in Monson, MA.  With the time getting close, I then headed straight up to Amherst, still sticking to the back roads – I had a set time I was going to be meeting up with a railfan – Matt – who is going to college up there.  On the way up I heard something about NECR 611 working around that area – and as it turned out he was clearing up in the Amherst siding for the northbound Vermonter.

I got up there in time to meet up with Matt, talk a bit, then shoot the Vermonter making a station stop in Amherst.  Then after that, got a bunch of shots of 611 pulling out of the siding, then backing up to pick up his conductor before heading south to Palmer.  By the time that was all done, the light was fading, and it was getting close to the time I had to meet up with the ARS guys for dinner.  So we bid farewell, and went our separate ways – Matt back to the dorms, and me off to dinner, and later to the slideshow (which went very well!)

Thanks for looking!
Tom