40 years of North American photography

[Johann Marsbar]

28 minutes ago, pH said:

An SD60M, originally Union Pacific:
 

https://www.thedieselshop.us/FWWD.HTML

 

On the subject of named engines, there are some great ones there - for example 2016, 2035, 2002 etc.

 

I did notice they have a "Kid Curry", but they don't appear to have a "Hannibal Heyes" yet  - (for those that remember a certain 1970's Western TV Series......)

[Johann Marsbar]

From Fort Worth I caught the train to Grapevine as there was another brewery to visit there - Hop & Sting Brewing - located about 5 mins walk away from the station.

 

Before heading to the brewery, I walked over to photograph the plinthed Texas & New Orleans 2-8-2 that was being repainted from its normal black livery into the Grapevine Vintage Railroad "house colours" (WTF!)   ...............

 

 

Looks like the sort of thing Danbury Mint/Bradford Exchange or some such firm would bring out for Christmas!

 

That OTT designed building mentioned at the start of this trip thread does have this nice piece of artwork on it though.....

 

 

This GVRR caboose at the station was a bit more photogenic in those colours......

 

 

The next day was the Memorial Day holiday - something I'd completely forgotten about when I booked the holiday, though I have been in the US at that time on previous trips.  Reduced (DART) or no train services (on TRE) messed my plans up a bit, so I headed into Dallas to see what was going on.

The DART train overtook a freight on the way in which had a Ferromex loco on it, so I lept off at Victory station to photograph it. However, going from an air conditioned LRV to the humid air outside meant the camera steamed up, so that was a waste of time, as it took about 5 minutes to lose the condensation off the camera!

 

However, on catching the next DART service, I spotted this pair sitting at JFK junction (by Dealey Plaza), so was able to get some photos - rather appropriately for the CP one given the day.....

 

 

 

The local "gricers telegraph" had obviously been in overdrive as there were several other photographers in position waiting for them to move off - though, in the event, they sat in that location for about 90 mins whilst two other freights passed through Union......

 

 

 

...though it was worth the wait.....

 

 

Shortly afterwards another freight with a CN loco on it passed through...

 

[roundhouse]

My other half loves the KCS livery. She has bought locos in both the Kansas Belle and Stealth Gray in both HO and N scale. On the proviso that I look after and run them.

She's definitely a keeper.

[Johann Marsbar]

From central Dallas I took a run out on the Blue Line to its southern terminus at UNT (not a lot there, and even the University was some distance away) before riding all the way back Downtown but staying on the train though to Garland in order to pay a visit to Intrinsic Brewing.

 

Before finding the brewpub, I wandered from the DART station down to a nearby area where the original Santa Fe station has been preserved as a museum.....

 

 

 

The building had been moved there from its original location, but it was still adjacent to what is now DGNO freight trackage, plus the DART light rail line.

 

This passenger car is also there......

 

 

Walking a little bit further west I found the fire station.......(though nobody appeared to be about)

 

 

...and that was adjacent to, and had a useful (open) gate in the yard which led to.......

 

 

...a pair of low-emission rebuilds of the DGNO.  They looked as though they had been parked there for a while and other motive power seemed to be working trains on the line when I saw them.

 

Intrinsic Brewing was visited and apart from the beer, I can certainly recommend the "Texas BBQ" which is the food operation within the brewery. It was that good, I went back a couple of days later!

 

A quick look at the CPKC line through town (nothing happening) was followed by a look at the bus station....

 

 

....before getting DART back to Downtown Dallas.  A photo of an outbound service is seen below..........

 

 

Yet another large flyover constructed to take the lines over the CPKC Dallas Sub, though the DGNO line, which is the trackage in the foreground on the original alignment, crosses it on a flat crossing.

 

I got off at City Place station and had a walk to the McKinney Ave tram depot where their Birney Car was in one of the sheds, along with another unidentified car undergoing restoration....

 

 

As I hadn't covered the DART Green line out to North Carrollton, that was then ridden as the last trip of the day.  I'm glad I did, as that was in the programme to be ridden later in the holiday when I covered the A-Train diesel service to Denton, but that didn't happen due to what the next morning was going to bring.

 

I did get a photo of the new station and roadbed being constructed at Carrollton for the Silver Line out of the train window as we passed through.......

 

 

The existing freight line operated by DGNO is over on the left, with the Silver Line following the old Cotton Belt alignment through to Plano.

[Johann Marsbar]

To say that the Tuesday was messed up, with the morning events affecting the rest of my holiday, would be something of an understatement!

 

I woke up early, as usual  (05.00ish), and put the TV on for the weather forecast, only to find that they were advising of another belt of storms - possibly severe - approaching the area from the north-west that morning and likely to arrive somewhere around 06.30-07.00 time.  The weather radar did indicate that the worst was going to miss Fort Worth with mainly Dallas being hit, the western edge passing close to DFW airport.  Having seen that, I decided to head out earlier than planned and aim for Fort Worth for the morning, rather than Dallas to avoid the worst of it (or so I thought....)

 

It was already 80F (and dry) when I wandered over to Hidden Ridge station at around 05.40 and waited for an Airport bound train. About 5 minutes after arriving there, the weather front arrived and the wind went from hardly anything to gusts of what must have been 60mph+ judging by the bending of the trees, accompanied by what could best be described as monsoon coditions, thunder and lightning. I had about 10 mins wait for a train to turn up and I ended up looking like a wet t-shirt competition contestant as there wind driven rain was impossible to get shelter from. The overall roof at the station and the windbreaks were absoloutely useless!

 

The train slowly proceeded as far as Belt Line station (2 stops further on) where the driver came on the PA and announced that he had been told to hold there for the time being (actually turned out to be 75 mins, from 06.00 to 07.15) due to the weather as it had been deemed too dangerous to proceed. As if to announce our presence, withing a few minutes of stopping there, lightning hit an adjacent transformer box on a (domestic) power line, which then exploded with a huge bang and a nice firework display of blue sparks - something that carried on with other explosions for about 15 minutes!

Traction power was then lost at 06.20 to 06.40 and the emergency battery supply on the unit took over with limited lighting and a/c.   It was rather disconcerting being stuck there when, apart from the frequent explosions/lighning/rain, you had no idea of what was going on.  It wasn't until I got back to the hotel that evening that I found out about the tornados in the area and also the amount of chaos due to the electric supply system being disrupted - something that continued over the next couple of days as well.

 

We eventually moved off and on getting to DFW I found that TEXRail were running with a few delays/cancellations so I was able to get the 07.40 to Fort Worth, the weather improving (marginally) the further west we got. FW was just heavy rain (not monsoon) with the odd clap of thunder, so I was able to seek out the place I'd found on the Sunday for another decent breakfast.

 

The "Station Host" at FW Central had reminded me about the Fort Worth Subway car on display in one of the downtown office complexes, so with it being wet, that morning seemed a good time to seek it out. I duly found the place and after the initial surprise from the Security desk that someone was even out looking for such things on a day like it was outside, I had a look at the car and the associated display about the Leonards Department Store.......

 

 

 

 

The Subway was constructed as a private venture by Leonards Department Store in 1963 to link their huge shop in central FW with some large car parking areas that had been established just north of downtown. The full history of the line is shown here....   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_Center_Subway

 

The cars were obtained from Washington DC which had ceased operations around that time and in the initial rebuild phase they still looked like PCC cars, with rather boxy new bodies being gained by some of the fleet later on.  The one on display here is the only one that shows the initial phase of their operation, whist a couple of the later ones also survive, one being visible - under tarpaulins - at the TEXRail DMU depot.

 

By 10.30 the rain had all but stopped so I went for a wander along the 9th St dead-end road, where there was quite a lot of action that morning. It was obvious that the storms had disrupted rail traffic and trains were stacked up at the Tower 55 junction in all directions....

 

 

 

 

Passenger services were running normally, so after a morning in FW I headed to Dallas on TRE, these new Flirts for the Silver Line being seen on passing the TRE depot......

 

 

At Dallas Union, freight was running as normal.......

 

 

......but it was rather obvious that that wasn't the case on the DART Light Rail!

[Johann Marsbar]

On the Tuesday afternoon it was fairly obvious that DART were having major problems and it wasn't apparent that any effort was being made to get things back on schedule.  Whilst standing at Union Station, very few trains were passing and there was a 30 min gap before anything appeared to head into Central Dallas. Normally there was one every 7-8 minutes (or less) and after hanging around at West End station for ages for a non-existent Green Line service to connect with the A-Train diesel service to Denton, I gave that up as a bad job - there was simply nothing moving!

 

A wander down to see if the McKinney Ave line was running produced this sight, looking east, of 4 trains waiting to proceed, and there were another 3 behind them........

 

 

After an eternity, a DFW bound Orange Line service appeared, so I gave up and headed back to the Hotel.  Very few other trains were passed, so I actually ended up walking from the Hotel to the Irving Convention Centre/Downtown stop area to buy some drink. In that time I saw one orange line train in 70 minutes.........

 

 

On the last full day of the trip (Wednesday) it was obvious that all was still not well with DART with seemingly a reduced service operating (but no info to that effect..) so headed first via Light Rail and Bus to get breakfast at Joes in Heritage Crossing before going into Dallas on TRE.

At least the freight was functioning normally.....

 

 

 

I then headed out to City Place for a last look at the McKinney line and was pleased to find their Birney car was out in service......

 

 

The woman driving it (accompanied by a female trainee) gave the best demonstration of tram driving that I'd experienced on that line, rather than just pottering about aimlessly which is what the others all did!

 

I then covered the last part of the DART light rail network outstanding - the Green Line to Buckner, where I boarded a bus for the (what turned out to be) interminable run to Garland Transportation Centre.   Nearly all the traffic lights were o/o/s courtesy of the previous days storm, so every intersection was treated as an all-way stop, which sounds OK until you realise some of them actually involved 12 or more lanes of traffic, all trying to work out who had the right of way next!    It did work - which I'm sure it wouldn't here - but took ages at each junction.

 

I was certainly glad to get to Garland to return to Intrinsic Brewing, particularly as it was $3 a pint all-day!  (and the food was even better as well)

 

From Garland I headed back to Union Station on the Blue Line, though had a bus replacement leg on part of the trip - which of course encountered the dead traffic light problems again, but I did get there eventually......

 

 

I decided to do a quick round trip out to Heritage Crossing on TRE and was glad I did as this DGNO freight was switching in the area......

 

 

On the way back to the Hotel, I broke my journey at Inwood (Love Field) station to make a short visit to Celestial Brewing. That was enlivened by discovering a chap standing at the bar who had an Ipswich Town FC cloth badge on the back of his rucksack!  He said he'd followed them for several years, despite being born in and living in Dallas all his life....

 

The last day saw another load of storms and heavy rain passing through, so photography was somewhat limited - as was the information about my flight at the Airport, though  was able to check in on it OK during the morning, even if it didn't leave until 20.55 (theoretically...).

 

Last photo is the Trinity Metro free shuttle bus that links the Centre Port TRE station with DFW........

 

 

There is absoloutely no information anywhere at the airport about this route and there aren't even any marked bus stops!

However, it still runs and by catching it from the rail station, I did find out where the stop is for future reference, as the Dallas/Fort Worth area is certainly one that I'm hoping to go back to sooner, rather than later. Next March might be suitable as it should be a lot cooler, but I'll see nearer the time.

 

The LHR flight eventually left just after 22.00 which was't bad considering that the place was in total chaos due to that days storms and one of the earlier AA flights to LHR (15.00?) didn't actually leave until around the time ours did.

 

More installments in this thread to come later in the year............

[Johann Marsbar]

Placeholder time.......

 

[Johann Marsbar]

As you most probably guessed from the previous photo, I had an 8 day break in the Boston area last month, flying out on Virgin Atlantic A330-900 "Eliza Doolittle" from Heathrow on Tuesday 16th of July.

As the usual Motel 6 out at Braintree that I'd stayed in before seemed to be unavailable (It's actually been demolished!) I picked another suitable hotel on the Red Line subway in Quincy, though Wollaston was the nearest station to the hotel at about 10 min walk away.

Highlight of the flight was commencing push-back on time and then coming to an abrupt halt after about 4 ft of movement. After a pause, the pilot came on the p.a. and said a passenger wanted to get off.....!!!!    Queue the bu**ering about whilst they attempt to find that individuals luggage in the hold and unload it....... so we got away about 45 min late in the end.

 

Immigration wasn't too bad at BOS , so after being hit by the 93F temperature outside, I caught the Silver Line rapid bus to South Station - no longer a dual mode trolleybus but a diesel bus with battery capability for the tunnel - though the overhead wires remain up in the tunnel section. The MBTA seem to have progressed further down the pan in the 12 years since I was last there and the run on the Red Line from South Station was tedious to say the least with lots of stop/start moves and a very long section of 10 mph running caused by poor track, which they have yet to replace. Service frequencies were abysmal so the train was wedged as well. I'd bought a 7 day ticket for Commuter Rail Zone 1A - basically only one stop out from North or South stations for $22.50 which is also valid on the buses & subway lines. One pleaasant surprise, that I only discovered a week before the trip, was that one of the main road tunnels - The Sumner Tunnel - was shut for a month, including the time I was there, and they had extended Zone 1A out to the terminii of two of the Commuter Rail lines - Newburyport & Rockport - to get people to leave their cars at home!  The Blue Line subway was also running an enhanced service with no fares being charged for similar reasons.

 

The first full day in the area was actually what I intended to do on the third day, but as I'd made contact beforehand requesting a visit to a Fire Department, the Fire Chief said they were having resurfacing work done that day, so could I come on another day. I duly changed it to the Wednesday, only to find that the local council had changed the work from the Friday to the Wednesday in the meantime. As the Fire Chief was away on holiday, he didn't know that....

 

Another 92F day, I made my way fairly early from the hotel to get to North Station via the Red and Green lines, particularly based on the previous afternoons travel experience. It took 75 mins to complete the trip whereas previously it would have been more like 50 mins!

I'd gone for an earlier Ipswich train than originally intended, and even that got delayed en-route due to single line working around Lynn. With the tunnel closure, my ticket (Newburyport line) was valid all the way to Ipswich - something that would have normally cost $21.00 return - so that trip alone almost covered the $22.50 I paid for the week!!

 

One of the rebuilt MBTA F40's is seen at Ipswich station....

 

 

..with the double deck driving trailer on the rear crossing Topsfield Road as it heads north to Newburyport.....

 

 

I'd still got 30 mins or so before my appointment at the Fire Station, so had a bit of a walk around and photographed this police car parked in the yard at the Police Station.....

 

 

...during which time, Plod came out of the building and gave me a very dirty look!      I told him where I was from and he said "wait there", and duly returned with a gift of an Ipswich Police patch for me!

 

I then spent 2 hours having a full tour of the Fire Department, including their main 1908 built fire station plus a sub-station a few miles out of town. They moved vehicles around for photos and I was presented with a t-shirt, hat and some patches whilst I was there as well.........

 

 

They even have a few rescue boats as the US Coastguard don't generally bother with inland waterway rescues.

 

 

The ladder truck is too large to fit in the 1908 building (constructed for horse drawn vehicles) so it lives in the shed out the back. It's 28 years old now - though it doesn't look it - so is due for replacement soon, even though it sees little use.

 

 

There were then 2 breweries to visit, one of which had this low-relief delivery van bahind the bar with the beer taps on it.......

 

 

The town itself was one of the early places to be settled (1634), so there are lots of Colonial era buildings there, including this 1660 one.....

 

 

I've previously scratchbuilt an N Gauge model of that one and it sits on my layout with other Colonial era ones I've built after seeing them on my travels over there. Makes a change from DPM/Walthers/Heljan ones!

 

Back at the station, this Newburyport service was leaving as I arrived there.....

 

[Johann Marsbar]

I'd booked a couple of trips on Amtrak during my stay in the Boston area, the bookings being made back in May when they were having a 50% off sale on fares, which actually reduced the price of  sampling the Acela service down to a fairly sensible level for a change.

 

On the Thursday I had booked a return trip to New Haven - outward  on an Acela, which would be my first trip on one - returning on a Regional train in the evening, the fare for that trip being something silly like $11 single for a 2.5 hour trip!

To be honest, I was totally underwhelmed by the Acela, as, at about 25 years old, the interior looked rather tired to say the least, not helped by my seat being stuck in the reclined position - though at least I got a facing seat. Running was a bit lackluster as well with a long wait somewhere just to the east of New London station.

The train is seen after arrival at New Haven.......

 

 

The traction variety at New Haven has reduced now that EMUs have replaced the Shore Line East diesel services to New London......

 

 

...though you still get CT Rail (and Amtrak) diesels on the Hartford/Springfield operations......

 

 

Was surprised to see one of the "work train" Amtrak diesels in this livery - even if it was difficult to photograph due to a fence on the bridge parapet.....

 

 

Main destination for the day was East Haven and in getting there I found that CT Tansit appeared to have decided to follow the MBTA lead. Boarded the bus at New Haven Green and attempted to buy a day ticket (actually the price of 2 singles anyway) and found the farebox wasn't working = a free ride.    The one on the return journey wasn't working either!

 

East Haven Fire Department seemed to be having a "wash the fire engine" day as I walked past.........

 

 

 

 

....though my actual destination was the Shore Line Trolley Museum....

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

I'd commented on the Acela trip being rather "underwhelming" in the previous post and the same could be said of what was my fourth visit to the Shore Line Trolley Museum.

Since my last visit back in 2010 they had undertaken a major construction project to build new car barns at a much higher level on the site to mitigate potential flooding problems in the furure, given the site is very low-lying, so I was expecting a much better "experience" than I actually got.

 

I got there just after they opened at 11.00, just in time to see the first car depart, which was a New Orleans vehicle, but there was a Connecticut car sitting outside the entrance/exhibition building, so that seemed to be going to be the next to depart. On buying my ticket I found they had cancelled the next departure so it would be an hour until the next one! (the New Orleans one again). It was obvious the place was being run on a minimum staffing level with a girl of student age in charge of the ticket office/shop and one, later two, tram drivers. There were some working volunteers about as well but they remained well hidden in the workshops.

 

When the 12.00 departure turned up, we went to the end of the line at Short Beach and then returned to the car barn/workshop complex.  It then became very obvious that the new buildings had been constructed and stock moved in, but there was no public access to them!  The display of cars to the Public consisted of no more than a dozen, seemingly randomly selected examples, with nothing more "modern" like a PCC car on display.  These were all housed in some of the original buildings on the site which is presumably where the operational vehicles are kept. The only Rapid Transit/Subway car on display is one of the two PATH ones that were extracted from under the World Trade Centre wreckage in 2002.

 

In the two display sheds.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you wandered away from the display sheds and in some cases ignored the "no visitors beyond this point" signs, there were about 5 buses in advanced state of dereliction......

 

 

....two of which were Philadelphia trolleybuses......

 

 

A solitary former Newark PCC car was also photographable......

 

 

A few other cars could be glimpsed through the open doors of the workshop areas, but that was it.

That was by far the poorest display of equipment on any of my visits there over the last 37 years and it doesn't actually encourage me to ever bother visiting the place again!

 

Asthere was so little to see by comparison with earlier visits, I'd left by 13.20 and made my way back to catch the bus back into New Haven......

 

[Johann Marsbar]

The rest of the time in New Haven was spent having a wander around the central area of the City - in particular Yale University - and visiting a rather excellent pub for a meal which I'd remembered from my 2010 visit and which hadn't gone out of business in the meantime, unlike a lot of others in the US I've previously visited.

 

CT Transit are the main bus operator in the state.....

 

 

 

 

A fire alarm going off at an office block in George Street provided some opportunities for fire engine photography.....

 

 

 

New Haven station was opened in 1920 and has been nicely restored in recent years......

 

 

It's just a shame the train services there are generally rather bland nowadays and consist mainly of ConDot EMU's......

 

 

All Amtrak services in the time I was there waiting for my evening train to Boston were Acelas, apart from mine which was an ACS 64 electric hauled train, though I was more concerned with getting a seat than photographing it!

 

Only other train seen was another CTrail service to Springfield.....

 

 

...though this road/rail shunter at least provided a bit of interest.....

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

As I'd moved my trip to Ipswich to the Wednesday, that then freed up the Friday for other things, so I took advantage of the extended validity of the zone 1A ticket by doing some moves on the Newburyport line out as far as Hamilton-Wenham, which conveniently enabled me to visit a number of breweries along the line as well during the afternoon!

 

Whilst waiting for my Red Line subway train at Wollaston first thing, this inbound Commuter train passed on the single line section there.......

 

 

As the Red Line had been extended out to Braintree in the 1970's on the former mainline trackbed, when they decided to reinstate mainline commuter services in the late 1990's there was only space for a single track in some areas.

 

From North Station I headed first to Chelsea, a brand new station and bus interchange constructed since I was last there in 2012 and which replaced the original station about a mile north of the new station........

 

 

...and then on to Beverly......

 

 

The former station building there is in use as a restaurant, but whilst the track elevation has been preserved, the other side has a featureless solid block of a building tagged on to it whch preumably houses the kitchens etc.

 

 

I then headed out to Hamilton-Wenham, the station literally being on the boundary of the two named towns, Wenham being the much older of the settlements by about 150 years.

 

I wanted to visit the Town museum in Wenham which looked interesting as it had collections of model railway equipment and layouts, plus a collection of lead model soldiers - most of which turned out to be Brittains products.

 

As it was the school holidays, one of the town fire engines was at the museum for some holiday event.......

 

 

..and the museum incorporates this house from the 1600's...

 

 

There were actually some very interesting things in the museum other than the model stuff, particularly a number of photos taken in the 1890's/early 1900's by a local photographer, such as this 1892 shot of a B&M 4-4-0 at the station.......

 

 

...plus this local horse tram.......

 

 

The horse tram depot was actually originally the opposite side of the road from the museum, but its just an open area of grassland now. The Museum do a set of 4 fridge magnets of trams in Wenham, two of which show the Depot, so I had to buy a set of those!

 

Some tram tickets (+ rail tickets) were on display as well.......

 

 

A view of the fire station..........

 

 

On walking back to the station, I spotted this milestone which I'd walked right past on the way to the Museum..........

 

 

Dating from 1710 it shows the distances to Ipswich (I) - 6 miles and Boston (B) - 21 miles.   Rather amusingly, Great/Little Wenham in Suffolk are about the same distance from Ipswich as their Massachusetts equivalents!

[Johann Marsbar]

From Wenham I caught the train back to Salem - another Tourist Trap courtesy of the 1692 Witch Trials - although the amusing thing is that most of that actually happened in "Salem Village" which is nowadays known as Danvers, a completely seperate Town!  Don't tell the various witch themed shops and attractions in Salem that though!

 

I actually only stopped off there to visit the East Regiment Brewing Company though did return there on a few other occasions later in the holiday as it was a useful change point between train services as there was only one platform, so comnnections were basically guaranteed!

 

A Boston bound service is seen arriving at the Transit Centre.....

 

 

From Salem it was on to Beverly, a town that has no less than 4 breweries within a 5 min walk of the station and I was able to visit 3 of them in the time I was there. One, Backbeat Brewing is directly opposite the station and can be seen in this MassDOT liveried loco arriving at the station....

 

 

They specialise in cask conditioned ales - at a price ($11/pt!) - but they were memorable for producing the Worlds largest 12" pizza which must have been more like 16" when it was delivered.

The chap who cooked/delivered it to my table turned out to be the head brewer there who had just returned from a holiday at the Ealing Beer Festival in London!

 

Just up the road was Gentile Brewing and this withdrawn fire engine was parked in a yard nearby...

 

 

A couple of other elderly vehicles were seen whilst I was in Beverly as well.......

 

 

 

I decided to drop my proposed visit to Bent Water Brewing in Lynn and ended up heading back to Boston and the Hotel instead. I'd spotted where the brewery was located from the passing train, but as a temporary station is currently in use in Lynn whilst the other is rebuilt, I didn't fancy what looked like a 3 mile walk each way to get to the place.....

 

I did stop off at Park Street on the Green Line for some photos on the way though.....

 

 

The Park Street tram subway opened in 1897, as celebrated by this mural......

 

 

 

The Kinki Sharyo vehicles like #3662 above are now pushing 35-40 years of age (albeit rebuilt a few times), but I didn't see too many of the "new" Type 9 cars during my visit, the only one photographed being this one at Park Street....

 

 

I still think the person who came up with the Type 8 and Type 9 designs ought to get out more as they look seriously ugly compared with other equivalent LRV designs of recent years!

 

Back at Wollaston (eventually..), the Braintree bound train I had just got off is seen in the platform. These date from the 1986/87 period....

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited August 25 by Johann Marsbar

[Johann Marsbar]

The MBTA now issue a "Weekend Pass" which is valid for unlimited travel on Saturday & Sunday on the Commuter Rail network for $10.

I had one of those whilst I was there to enable visits to be made to a selection of Breweries, though before heading off on the first leg of the rail trips on the Saturday morning I took the opportunity to cover the fairly recent Green Line route extension to Medford.

On the elevated section in Lechmere you get a good view of the MBTA Northside operating centre for Commuter Rail and also the new tram depot. A surprise was this pair of Precision Locomotive Leasing locos parked up there...........

 

 

This fleetlist indicates they are being used on the MBTA cable laying train....  https://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/Precision_Locomotive_Leasing

 

First trip of the day on the rail ticket was from North Station to Lowell, the intention to be to ride on the National Park Service heritage (replica) trolley network there, but they were shut that day!

 

At Lowell Interchange (next to the station) one of the Lowell Regional Transport Authority buses is seen.....

 

 

The fruitless walk into Town only produced this fire engine photo opportunity.....

 

 

.....though from what I saw on my walk, the place had declined somewhat since 2012 so I then headed off to find Navigation Brewing who were out near the Transport Interchange. It was something of a challenge to find their premises (they were in an old mill building converted to a multi-occipancy "craft" shopping complex) though they were certainly worth finding!

 

From Lowell, I travelled on to Lawrence on the Merrimack Valley bus service 24 - notable for them being an operator who have given up collecting fares - all routes are now free - not bad considering the trip there took about 50 mins.......

 

 

After visiting Spicket Island Brewing  in Lawrence, another MEVA bus took me on to Haverhill - another 55 min free trip - where another of their vehicles is seen in Haverhill Bus Station......

 

 

Tap Brewing in Haverhill was the destination this time, a brewery I'd visited a couple of times before, but they were called other things back then! (Haverhill Brewing being one of their former names).

 

As work was being carried on to the rail bridge over the Merrimack River (allegedly...) the MBTA train service to Haverhill was suspended from that Saturday through to a date next year, so you had to make your way to Bradford, the other side of the river and catch the train from there.

Amtrak and freights are continuing to run, as I saw as I was crossing the road bridge......

 

 

The former station building at Bradford is now some Steampunk themed venue.......

 

 

...though there is a new station beyond along with a large layover/storage yard.........

 

 

My train back to Boston is seen arriving at the station.........

 

[Johann Marsbar]

On the Sunday of the "Weekend Pass", I'd actually changed my morning plans from doing the Middleboro'/Lakeville line - a line I had covered before back in 1987 on a run to Hyannis - to the Kingston line - the final few miles of which would have been "new track" as I'd done the Plymouth line that used to branch off just before Kingston. The Plymouth line was mothballed several years back and is unlikely to return.

However, the MBTA set out to prove that they could make the Commuter Rail service as useless as the Subway/Buses appeared to be at times....

 

As it was a nice morning, I thought I'd get the subway out to Braintree and get a photo of the Summer "Cape Flyer" to  Hyannis passing through. This is a premium service which covers a normally non-passenger route beyond Middleboro'/Lakeville and the Weekend pass wasn't valid on that route.

 

A Red Line train is seen from the island platform of the Commuter Rail service leaving the subway station at Braintree for Boston......

 

 

This interesting looking Subway works car was parked up there, my guess being it is constructed on a rather elderly underframe.....

 

 

 

I'd noticed that one of the inbound services to Boston South hadn't appeared but didn't think any more of it as the Cape Flyer was due...........

 

 

This service is worked in top/tail mode...........

 

 

A couple of cars in the train are wrapped accordingly.....

 

 

I then waited for the Kingston train, its arrival being shown on the platform indicators, but it didn't appear and the indicators just flipped to the next train!

 

Whils waiting, another Red Line departed.......

 

 

...and I began to wonder what was going on.    I decided to retrace my steps to Quincy Center and see if the originally planned M/L train turned up, as, if it didn't, I could make alternative plans.

 

Thankfully it did, so I took a run out to M/L where there was absoloutely nothing to do for the 40 mins it sat at the station - not helped by it being in the middle of nowhere......

 

 

On reflection, I'd have been better getting off at Brockton as at least there was a local bus operation to photograph there.  I did speak to the driver whilst at M/L and he said there had been several cancellations that morning due to staff shortages.

Catching the train right back into South Station, this ACS-64 was parked at the buffer stops at what is now more like the Black Hole of Calcutta than a railway station, and it's going to get worse as there are plans to build over even more parts of the tracks there.....

 

[Johann Marsbar]

The MBTA services out of South Station seemed to be disrupted as my 13.00 service to Worcester was shown as "Delayed".  It did turn up shortly after it should have left and after a quick loading of passengers, the doors closed at 13.12 - but we sat there until 13.25 before we left......

 

I was actually getting off the train in Framingham for a visit to Exhibit A Brewing, the 25 minute delay rather messing up my time there, particularly as it was 20 min walk away from the station as it was and the trains only being every 2 hours at the weekend!

However, it was definitely worth the walk and I did have time for a few photos at the station on the way back, as the next train was running late as well - but only by 6 minutes.

 

This caboose was parked in the area in non-railroad use.......(the tower is on the church behind, not on the caboose cupola!)

 

 

...and Framingham now obviously warrants their own bus service, which even runs on a Sunday, something that Framlingham here - after which the place is apparently named (though the L got dropped for some reason....) - certainly doesn't nowadays!

 

 

There was even some switching activity going on in the CSX yard there, though it was difficult to photograph.......

 

 

Eventually my Worcester train appeared - the old station building at Framingham now being a Brazilian Steakhouse...........

 

 

The Amtrak "Lake Shore Limited" does still stop at Framingham as well as the MBTA trains.

 

Another Brewery visit was planned for Worcester, this one being Bay State Brewing, not far from the station. 

Just south of Worcester Union is the former HQ building of Osgood Bradley, former builders of streetcars and railway rolling stock, with the building now having been converted to condominiums.....

 

 

One of the City fire stations was also nearby and I saw some equipment returning from a call.......

 

 

A new bus terminal has been built since I was last there - not that there are many services on a Sunday - but I did manage to get a photo of one whilst on the way to the Brewery. The twin towers in the background are on the railway station......

 

 

Whilst waiting at the station for the train back to Boston there was a bit of movement going on in the adjacent CSX Intermodal Terminal......

 

 

Back at Boston South, the Lake Shore Limited was still sitting at the stops.......

 

[Johann Marsbar]

On the Monday I had booked a return ticket to Providence, RI, on Amtrak at a bargain price during their May "50% off" online sale and was due to leave Boston South at 11.40, which gave most of the morning free in Boston.

 

I headed off to the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line for some photography, but by Summertime most of the route is a "tree tunnel", the only decent lit shots being available at the Mattapan station and turning loop.

PCC #3081 - built in 1944 - certainly looked rather tatty, seemingly being about 20 years since it was last refurbished........

 

 

This one had been involved in a serious prang and was being cannabalised for spares.......

 

 

.....whilst most of the others were in a rather more presentable state.......

 

 

They have been carring out a rebuilding programme again recently, but how long they will keep running 75-80 year old trams on the line is debateable.  My guess is they will eventually have to shift some of the more "modern" (only 40 year old..) articulated cars off the Green Line there at some point, once they start getting their fully low-floor cars in the next few years.

 

Amtrak were having a bit of a meltdown when I got to South Station, as nothing was running between New Haven & New York due to "emergency repairs" - a broken rail according to the conductor on the train to Providence. The previous day the overhead wires had apparently been brought down as well in the NY area....

 

The 11.40 train actually reversed into the platform at 12.05 and left at 12.28, but I wasn't too bothered as my return train didn't leave Providence until 21.05.

 

A few hours were spent wandering around some older (pre 1800) parts of the City I hadn't found on previous visits, as well as photographing some other transport interest......

 

 

 

...before visiting the superb Trinity Brewing for some food/drink, and then walking to the west of the City centre to seek out two new breweries that I'd not visited before - Moniker Brewing (some strange looking clientelle.....) and Origin Beer Project wich was literally across the road from the other place.

 

Back at the station, this Amtrak Thruway bus was sitting outside......

 

 

.......as were the Police......

 

 

An MBTA service is seen in the station just prior to my Amtrak service arriving........

 

[Johann Marsbar]

The next morning an inbound service to South Station is seen on the single line section passing Wollaston Red Line subway station.....

 

 

I took the 08.35 Newburyport service from North Station as far as Salem where it is seen just before continuing its journey north. Note the other Gricer photographing the train by the shelter.....

 

 

This was followed by a Boston bound train.......

 

 

The station signal box which can be seen in the background survives, though not in active use.  There used to be a triangular junction for the branch to Danvers at Salem, though the southern curve is long gone and has been built upon by the Salem Transit Center rail/bus station and car park complex.  The Danvers branch still appears to be in situ but rather overgrown.

 

I caught the next service to Rockport, alighting at Manchester-by-the-Sea , where this elderly platform canopy survives on the outbound platform......

 

 

There is also a rail lifting bridge over the harbour there.........

 

 

........and their WW1 memorial (erected 1931) must qualify quite strongly in the "unfortunate poses for war memorials" category........

 

 

I caught the next train back to Salem and whilst having a wander around the town, I found this nicely restored pick-up truck, though it was a bit far from home.......

 

 

Back in Boston, I took a circular run on the Green Line out to Cleveland Circle..........

 

 

..and back from the nearby station on the Riverside branch, before heading out to Malden on the Orange Line.  This fire engine conveniently appeared as I was walking from Malden Center to Idle Hands Brewing.......

 

 

After visiting that brewery and also Faces Brewing, I headed back into central Boston on the Orange Line, this route being totally operated by the Chinese designed/constructed - though via a US subsidiary based in Springfield, MA - subway stock...........

 

 

They have suffered from multiple delays and teething problems and the batch of similar cars for the Red Line are only now starting to be delivered, many years late.

A few US operators who were going to purchase new stock from CRRC have since cancelled their orders!

[Johann Marsbar]

I got off the Orange Line at North Station and took a train out to Swampscott to photograph the distinctive former station building which is located there......

 

 

It's a wooden structure dating from 1868 and was originally built for the Eastern Railroad.

 

The next day, the last of the trip, I started off by catching a train from North Station out to Chelsea.  There seemed to be a number of delayed trains heading into Boston and the reason for this soon appeared, as one of the trains had failed and was being pushed by the following train!

The consist included a cab car in a special livery..........

 

 

 

From Chelsea I caught the Silver Line busway .........

 

 

.....as far as the Airport station, from where I caught the Blue Line........

 

 

...out to its Revere Beach/Wonderland terminus......

 

 

From the Airport out to Wonderland, the Blue Line was constructed on the trackbed of the defunct Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn narrow gauge line which closed just before WW2.

End of the line is now where the tree line is in the above photo, though most of the trackbed from there to Lynn is still fairly clear (give or take a few areas of building encroachment) and there is talk of rebuilding the whole line into Lynn at some point.

 

I headed back into Boson and then caught the ferry to Charlestown to look around the former Navy Yard there but the weather took a turn for the worst resulting in a change of plan.

I headed for the Lechmere Viaduct on the Green Line to get some photos......

 

 

 

...ending up at the new Lechmere station......

 

 

...where, given the weather, I remembered that somewhere in the vicinity there was a brewery that I hadn't been to before.  The area has been completely redeveloped as part of the Green line rebuilding and extension, but I eventually managed to find Lamplighter Brewing to pass a bit more time before heading back to the Airport.

 

At the Airport, the Blue Line is seen heading in to the East Boston tunnel on 3rd rail power, the changeover from overhead current collection taking place at the Airport station.

 

 

 

That concludes the images from my July trip to the Boston area.

 

I've got one more trip to the USA still to come and hopefully I should see rather more freight activity on that trip than I did on the Boston one - though it's another City based trip without a car......but an excellent Public Transit network there and in the surrounding areas, all for an $8.00 day ticket..........

[Johann Marsbar]

Taken last Friday.......

 

 

I can't help wondering just how many of these Warbonnet variations are still running around over there now - plus the paint seems to have lasted remarkably well on this one!

[Johann Marsbar]

The final US jaunt for this year was to the Seattle area - chosen mainly as it was actually cheaper to have 8 days in that area compared to New Jersey, which was where I originally intended to go, despite the place being on the opposite side of that Country!

 

I stayed at the same hotel as I had done on my 2017 trip to the area and it proved to be just as good as 7 years ago, being located at the current southern end of the Link north-south light rail line and only one stop away from the SeaTac Airport station.

 

After an overnight stay at a hotel near LHR, this flew over whilst waiting for the bus to the Airport that morning........

 

 

I actually managed to find a decent location to wait within Terminal 3 (by Gate 34) where you could actually see some air activity.......

 

 

 

Virgin VS105 was worked by a Boeing 787-9 and was a fairly uneventful flight, the route being well to the north, flying over Iceland, Greenland and NW Canada, and it was fairly clear most of the way, as seen by this view of Greenland.....

 

 

It was even clear for the landing at SeaTac, as seen by this view of Seattle Port.......

 

 

The Amtrak and Sounder depots are visible at the bottom of that photo as well.

 

US Immigration was carried out in a fairly newly opened section of the International Terminal and was remarkably well organised - the best I've seen - so it only took 25 mins between getting off the plane and being on the platform of the light rail station.  The Immigration Officer did ask me though, out of all the places in the World I could have gone to, why the hell I picked Seattle!

 

A surprise was finding that the advertised "all operator" day pass for the Puget Sound region was being sold for $6 instead of the expected $8, though I never found out why and for how long it was on offer at that price. It was like that the whole of my trip, so I ended up buying one each day as the single light-rail fare was $3.

 

After checking in at the hotel by 15.50, I thought a trip into Seattle was in order to see what was going on for a couple of hours.

 

This fire appliance conveniently was held at traffic lights by King St station when I got Downtown....

 

 

...but apart from the evening Sounder Commuter runs, the only other rail activity was this set of light BNSF power running through.....

 

 

Some Enviro 500 double-deckers were also about in the area for Community Transit commuter runs....

 

 

...whilst the Seattle trolleybuses were much in evidence.......

 

 

Back at the hotel for 19.00 it was time to crash out for the day, particularly with the 8 hour time difference......