Eastern Railroad Discussion > Train Watching in Ayer, MA

    I am considering visitng Aye, MA., to do some train watching. Does anybody have information which would be useful for me if I were to do so?

Thanks.

Train-watching in Ayer can be very spotty, although that also applies to everywhere along Pan Am Railways/Guilford/Springfield Terminal, and with the MBTA traffic at least you'll know when passenger trains are likely to show up. The 287/28N autorack trains and 22K/23K container trains both have Ayer as their eastern endpoint, and except for 23K all normally pass the commuter platforms, with 22K then backing around the east leg of the Hill Yard wye to enter the intermodal ramp. All four of these trains also typically have NS power (although every once in a while there's an exception, such as the 287 that went west last week with a UP/MEC combo).

Pan Am's operations are so erratic I'm not going to try to give you approximate times for when these or any other trains (POED/EDPO, POSE/SEPO to/from CSX, etc.) are likely to show up. When I visited Massachusetts earlier this month, I briefly visited Gardner on consecutive days and on both days an eastbound train outlawed there, with the affected train (28N?) being tied down for many hours on the second of those days.

I don't recall which of these channels are the most active but I believe if you have 161.100, 161.160, 161.400, and 161.520 in your scanner you should be good to keep track of what's going on. Corrections welcomed in this regard.

> I don't recall which of these channels are the
> most active but I believe if you have 161.100,
> 161.160, 161.400, and 161.520 in your scanner you
> should be good to keep track of what's going on.
> Corrections welcomed in this regard.

The two I bolded above are the two most likely to be used.

22K and 28N can show up whenever, but 23K usually goes on duty around 11:30 - though that can get pushed back.  Once the crew reports, if there are no issues its usually an hour or so to get the train together, then they'll start talking to the dispatcher about leaving town between MBTA runs.  POSE is usually into Ayer lunch time/early afternoon as well.  287 is usually an overnight or early morning departure, although that can and does change sometimes.  The Guilford era is over, but old habits die hard.

POED and EDPO are both morning trains most of the time, and are the only two road jobs that will have Pan Am power.  There also is almost always a local or two working around town (listen to the scanner for those) and sometimes you can catch the Fitchburg local coming down to swap blocks of cars.

I'm not familiar with the area, but won't you also see the AYPO / POAY container trains?

Andrew

florida581 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not familiar with the area, but won't you also
> see the AYPO / POAY container trains?
>

I do not believe that traffic normally operates as a separate train. Rather, this thread indicates the Poland Spring cans normally are handled by POSE/SEPO:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,4127404

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/16 09:27 by toledopatch.

One of the attractions of train watching at the Ayer T station midday on a Friday is the coffee klatch of 5-10 fans, mostly retired, who sit and kibbutz, reminiscing how great the B&M used to be, They're generally a fun bunch and have a wealth of contemporary and historic knowledge. There's plenty of rumor mongering like "When is Watco going to take over the MEC?". And there are lots of scanners on hand to keep everyone informed should a move be in the offing (although Pan Am radio and the quality of the train - dispatcher discourse are wanting at most times). It's a good place to start the day to learn seems to be happening on the RR.