Eastern Railroad Discussion > Massachusetts advice

We've just moved to Cambridge MA temporarily for a year, and would like some advice on the best times and places to see freight trains in Eastern MA and vicinity.  From my earlier times visiting the area, it seems like Ayer MA is a good place to see PAS/CSX movements - but would be interested in what are the best times to catch trains there.  Also Palmer MA seems like a good place to see CSX and NECR at the diamond by the Amtrak station, but wondering about times.  Also on the CSX (ex B&A) line, it seems like all the freight activity is pretty much all west of Worcester these days.   Is that right?

Any other advice welcome if I've missed anything!  Thanks in advance.

Duncan

I don't live in New England but based many years reports on T.O. I would agree that the places you have named seem to be the most popular.  Of course, Ayer and Worcester can be reached by train.  Palmer requires an auto but then you are reasonably close to Springfield.
jb

Check out the train log link on the Westfield MA or Chester MA live cams on YouTube to give you theoretical CSX schedules as well as day by day tally of actual train oasssges by the cams. Yes most of the CSX trains operate west of Worcester except for M436, the not quite daily manifest from Selkirk to Framingham. And there are a number of locals radiating out of Framingham to Leominster, Attleboro, Readville. On most weekdays between Selkirk and Worcester there are 4-5 Intermodal trains, 2 auto rack trains, and 2-3 manifest freights. There are 2 more freights between Selkirk and W Springfield. Note that CSX manifest schedules have been erratic due to recent track work curfews and crew shortages.

that's the good news. Pan Am ops around Ayer are less frequent with a pair of IM trains to/from NS at Mechanicville, a pair of eb/wb manifests essentially between Ayer and NS, a Portland-E Deerfield train pair that runs every other day, and the continuation of CSX Selkirk-Portland manifests M426 and M427. It's not clear these trains are running daily these days to due crew shortages.

NECR ops and Mass Central ops are generally midday occurrences around Palmer.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/22 13:54 by JPB.

Check out the Grafton and Upton near Northborough and Grafton.
 

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO

And Mass Coastal looking interesting as well.

Out 

Ayer originates M426 more-or-less daily, its typically a mid-morning departure from Ayer.  Westbound counterpart M427 is also usually a daylight train, but a little less predictable.  Aside from that, Ayer can have lengthy dry spells at times with nothing but MBTA moving.  There are a couple Facebook groups covering the former Pan Am lines that are pretty active, and would give you a good picture of what's moving.  BO-1 also works out of Somerville a couple times a week and goes up to Peabody.  Chasing that on the main line is a lost cause, but once they get to Salem its easy to follow to the customer in Peabody.

Palmer and Springfield are the best bets for freight action, but only CSX will run on weekends.  They used to have a couple reliable morning eastbounds, but between summer MOW season and crew shortages, they've been all over the place.

Massachusetts Central runs 5 days/week out of Palmer; expect them to be on the move by 7:30.

The Grafton & Upton is also a reliable weekday operation out of North Grafton, but their patched ex-CSX MP15s aren't the most photogenic thing in the world.

Providence & Worcester has a daylight Worcester local; the GRWO crew goes up to Gardner around lunchtime on the days they go, other times they'll stick around town.

Here's the link to CSX train log for Westfield/Chester:[url=http:// ​https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KNdc7WYyC5T1iMDs4QZswdjc5Qpkfr15qNLajdDDitU/edit#gid=1802982525] ​https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KNdc7WYyC5T1iMDs4QZswdjc5Qpkfr15qNLajdDDitU/edit#gid=1802982525[/url]

Thanks all - these are a big help!

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