29
Aug
A Couple of Local Trips
August 22nd.
On August 22nd and August 29 I ventured out on to the CSX Boston Subdivision, or what I like to call the B&A for the old Boston & Albany. (Sorry BAR fans.) On the 22nd, I made it out to Palmer. I got a late start because I stayed up too late the night before. Anyway as I was driving west on the Mass Pike near Worcester, I heard the dispatcher talking to one train I missed. This was not because I was late, but it was because this train was about two hours earlier than I expected.
Anyway I made it to Palmer where I caught a westbound, and the local. I missed an earlier eastbound by just minutes. I met up with my friend Jack and we waited for a bit and then decided to look for better spots east. We found one where we caught an eastbound TOFC train coming through West Warren, Mass. We then decided to head off towards his house. While at his house, we heard the Mass Central local go by. We decided to give chase and caught him doing some switching and then caught him again heading back to Palmer.
August 29th.
I met up with another contributor to the Observation Car Group on Yahoo, Phil. I was late morning but, I decided that Charlton Hill would be a good spot to try, near the curve at mp56. No sooner had we pulled in when we heard the dynamic whine of a downgrade east bound. We got out our cameras and fired a few shots. Unfortunately nothing was fleeted on this single track stretch and we waited almost another 90 minutes before we caught another eastbound. It was Q168 loaded with lots of UPS trailers. Unfortunately, my buddy Phil had to catch a late afternoon flight back to northern California. So we packed up, I showed him a couple what used to be nice photo spots and then we left.
I will add this. I miss Conrail. I don’t ever recall these lines being so overgrown with brush and weeds as they are now with CSX. Some serious weed and brush control needs to be taken. If you have not visited this area in a few years, be advised that you may not get the same unobstructed view that you got in the past.
There are a couple of pictures of my August 22nd shots in the New England Trains page. I hope to be adding more in a couple of days.
21
Aug
August 21, 2007
Well I have good news. My video editing computer seems to be working now. When I get some time I will start going through my video. In the meantime, if the weather holds out, I plan to be trackside on the eastern and middle parts of the CSX Boston Subdivison or whatever the call the old B&A or Conrail’s Boston Line. Hopefully the trains will cooperate along with the weather.
8
Aug
What to Expect
What do I want to do with this website? I have asked that a lot. This is what I plan to do. I plan to post some selected photos from my various railfan trips and categorize them by trip and location. I also plan to have some pages dedicated to my model railroading and what I have learned along the way. I will share it with you. Eventually, I will load up some videos I have taken. This will be down the road though. Enjoy!
3
Aug
Introductory Information
Welcome to my website! I have been a rail-fan and model railroader since the early 90’s. But truth be told I have liked trains since I was a youngster growing up in the 60’s and 70’s in southern Ohio. In the 80’s I moved to eastern Massachusetts and to interested in trains again in the early 90’s. The town I lived in had Conrail’s Boston Line splitting it in half. The rest is history.
I soon discovered railroad photography, and moved on to video. I still do both but presently I favor digital photography with a good digital SLR. I have shot video and made a couple of DVDs that I have I have sold on eBay and at a local hobby shop. I have plenty of video sitting, just waiting to be to be loaded up on the computer, edited and put in final form. Alas, the motherboard on my main editing computer died and I decided to see if I can purchase a new mac sometime after Christmas 2008. When you have a child in college, car insurance, house insurance, dental work and a major car repair bill come due at the same time, they take priority over a hobby. In the meantime, I will upload my stills. I will still shoot video, but for the time being it will be cataloged and archived for future use.
As for model railroading. I have been into model railroading since the early 90’s as well. I belonged to a club for a while, but due to lease arrangements they had to move to a place that made it impractical for me to get to on a regular basis. But this gave me time to work on my own home layout. I plan to share my information and some pictures here as well. I also plan to bring over the information, that I had maintained on my MSN group site to here. MSN was limiting my storage and my comments and photo’s outgrew that site.
Thanks for stopping by.
AJ
