Eastern Railroad Discussion > PAS and P&W handling autos at Gardner 9/22/17

At 9:45 Friday morning, with the outer bands of Jose providing a gloomy setting, Pan Am Southern 287 arrives CPF-345 at Gardner, MA with empty racks from Ayer. 287 will pick up two tracks worth of empty racks off the P&W delivered on a previous day and head to the west end of the double track at CPF-346 to wait on in-bound 28N hauling loaded racks. 287 will pick up more racks at Mechanicville and before continuing west to Bellevue Yard.

As the sun emerges at 12:30pm, Pan Am Southern 28N sets out 29 loaded bi- and tri-level auto racks (most if not all are Subarus) for P&W to forward to NORAD at Davisville, RI. About 5 minutes after 28N power is back against its train of Ayer-bound loads (Fords, I think), the P&W Worcester switcher arrives under the route 2 overpass with a handful of freight and 27 more empty racks to leave for tomorrow's 287 to pick up.

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P&W crew man deposits paper work at the compressor shack and then chats with the 28N conductor ("how about those Sox!" ;-) ) as the P&W engineer pulls empties onto yard track 4. P&W conductor guides the Worcester switcher back against the freshly delivered Subarus prior to heading back to Worcester. The 28N road crew has been relieved by an Ayer-based local crew who are taking the balance of the train the last 30 or so miles through the congested MBTA corridor between Wachusett and Willows to the Sanvel auto unload facility.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 05:24 by JPB.

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Great captions with wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

Anyone know what the orange decals on the 9895 is for?

apollo17 Wrote:
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> Anyone know what the orange decals on the 9895 is
> for?

"Autostart Equipped" And it did work - Startled me when it coughed to life after the crew left the train!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 06:56 by JPB.

In the first picture, is that actually main line track that the train is on!?!? Looks pretty bad, like something you'd see of the Penn Central from the mid 70's...

spwolfmtn Wrote:
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> In the first picture, is that actually main line
> track that the train is on!?!? Looks pretty bad,
> like something you'd see of the Penn Central from
> the mid 70's...

Pan Am refers to that track as "main 2" (instead of a "controlled siding") because it is a remnant of B&M double track. But this track is functionally a siding used for yarding racks and freight and, when clear, as a passing track. Main 1 is the through track having welded rail and is in somewhat better condition (I think main 1 speed limit here is 25mph).