Eastern Railroad Discussion > Hanging Out In Ayer MA

In the Boston area, if you want to see freight trains, Ayer MA is the place to be!   On May 23, I went in search of some freight activity.  I checked out Lawrence MA first, with no luck.  Decided to head over to Ayer, and on the way caught a CSX local switching, before catching a lot of activity in Ayer.   Timeline warning - photos not necessarily displayed in the order they happened!

1)  First freight activity of the day was the CSX local LA-1 (out of Lawrence) switching in Tewksbury MA, on the single track freight line connecting Lowell MA and Lowell Jct (near Lawrence).  Power was an MEC B40-8.  Here he is ready to head back to Lowell Jct on the Boston-Haverhill line, running long hood first.
2)  Best catch of the day was a meet between M-426 and M-427 between Ayer and Willows.   Here is M-427 finally moving west after having been blocked for a few hours by NS 11R, which had to wye its power to get a PTC unit on the point.   M-427 runs Waterville ME to Selkirk NY via Worcester MA and the CSX former B&A line.
3)  And here's M-426 coming east right out of the sun with an SD-40E3 #1712 (possibly nicknamed "Lego"?) on the point, passing M-427s train.  Last 2 shots were done at the Snake Hill Rd crossing.  M-426 runs Selkirk NY to Waterville ME, also via Worcester MA.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/23 08:26 by dwatry.

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4)  I chased M-426 east, and caught it again at the Forge Village crossing.   Car in the intersection ran the red light and foiled my shot!
5)  Here's the power for 11R, which held up all the activity in Ayer for about 2 hours.  Here they are at the Nemco Road crossing east of Willows.  They had to proceeed east, crossover, then come back west and go to Ayer to wye at the yard to get a PTC-equipped loco on the point.   All this took them a long time for some reason. 
6)  Here's 11R's power wyeing in Ayer while an MBTA eastbound commuter scoots by.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/23 10:11 by dwatry.

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7)  Here's that MBTA eastbound in push mode leaving Ayer, with an MPI HSP-46 providing the power.
8)   A later MBTA commute had a GP-40MC for power leading a westbound.

 

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Great recon in the Boston area.
Regards, Jim Evans

Great stuff, thanks for sharing! 

What has happened to the "Berkshire and Eastern" spin-off that was supposed to start operating west of Ayer on the old B&M?  I thought this was to have been a done deal early this year? 

Soo715 - my understanding is that Berkshire & Eastern, which will be a Genessee & Wyoming property, will takeover operations September 1st.  I believe they will just operate Mechanicville NY to Ayer MA.   East of Ayer is CSX.   I think this is also when the NS run-throughs will switch to the CSX main across MA and will use the Worcester-Ayer line, which will get a lot busier than it is today!

Duncan

Thanks! It seems it must happen eventually. I'm guessing labor agreements were harder to negotiate than originally thought resulting in the delay. Hopefully the workers got a good deal!

Wonder if the Hoosac Tunnel may then see only a handful of daily trains?

Oliver Barrett

dwatry Wrote:
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> Soo715 - my understanding is that Berkshire &
> Eastern, which will be a Genessee & Wyoming
> property, will takeover operations September
> 1st.  I believe they will just operate
> Mechanicville NY to Ayer MA.   East of Ayer is
> CSX.   I think this is also when the NS
> run-throughs will switch to the CSX main across MA
> and will use the Worcester-Ayer line, which will
> get a lot busier than it is today!
>
> Duncan

Oliver - Yes, I think the Hoosac Tunnel will see fewer trains than today.   I'm not sure how many use it today - maybe 3 trains each way per day?    Sad to see that line with reduced traffic.

Thanks for sharing. Having lived near Ayer in the early 70s, it amazes me how much more foliage there is now. And they say New England has a problem with ticks (they fall from trees on unsuspecting hosts).

If you all ever have a serious drought and forest fires like other parts of the country, there will be plenty of wood to burn.

Victor Baird



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/23 10:48 by wabash2800.

Nice pics!!