Eastern Railroad Discussion > Chasing that Readville Switcher

On Memorial Day (5/29/23) I was shooting some Amtrak trains on the NE Corridor at Readville MA, and I noticed that CSX was shoving some cars on the upper level along the tracks parallel to the Fairmount line.  So I ran up the stairs and lucked into the job known as the Readville Switcher about to take off for Framingham.  What a way to spend Memorial Day!

1)  Here's the Readville switcher starting to pull out of the Readville Yard and onto the tail end of the Fairmount line, slotted neatly in between departure and arrival of 2 MBTA Fairmount line trains, which use this track as their terminal.  GP40-2 6239 originally started life as a B&O unit.  Just behind where I'm standing the train will merge onto the Franklin line to go to Walpole.
2)  I hightailed it to Walpole and was pretty sure I had beat him, which was confirmed a few minutes later as the headlights appeared visible through the Walpole Tunnel east of the station.   Does anyone else remember the story in (I think) Trains Magazine in the mid-1960s about the "Kissing Tunnel of Walpole"?   I think this is it.
3)  Here the switcher takes the north leg of the wye to transition into the Walpole Yard to drop and pick up cars, before heading to Framingham. 
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/23 11:06 by dwatry.

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4)  While he was switching Walpole Yard, this outbound MBTA Franklin line train (Train 2705) crossed the diamond at the ex-New Haven Walpole station, led by an F-40PH.  On holidays, you can actually see the station because it's not surrounded by a sea of parked cars!
5)  Here's the switcher crawling through the next town up the line - Medfield - at about 10mph.
6)  And my last glimpse of the switcher is here at the junction in Framingham, where he pulls onto the ex-B&A main here to head west.  (Thanks to JPB for letting me know he usually drops his cars at the Nevins Yard, past the MBTA station, instead of going all the way to Worcester.)
 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/23 12:14 by dwatry.

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7)  Meanwhile, Framingham has a lot of other activity happening.  A 3-unit set of SD-40s was switching the Framingham Yard, with 8801 on the point.  8801 was originally a Conrail unit.
8)  Amtrak Train #449, the westbound Boston section of the Lakeshore Limited, also made an appearance right on time with the usual consist.
9)  And lastly, an MBTA outbound Worcester line train approaches behind another F-40PH.  Love the F-40s!  That's the former B&A station on the right, which is now a Brazilian grill restaurant - good place for lunch!
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/23 19:50 by dwatry.

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Lots of good catches here. Thanks for posting. 
New England is such a rabbit's warren of scattered remaining freight trackage mixed in with the comutter trackage it is nearly impossible for anyone who doesn't live in the immediate area to understand what is actually happening. The posts are very interesting!
go

What a great scene photo nine has!
Bob

Fun stuff, Duncan, thanks for sharing your holiday adventures.
Good luck covering all that ground on a workday with traffic though...ugh!

Bob
nerrp.com

Gonut1:

Yes, the tangle of freight trackage around here is very mystifying at first.  After a year here I have finally gotten a handle on how most of the lines on the western side of Boston are worked, but some of the eastern and southern lines are still mysteries to me.  And I thought I had the P&W lines out of Worcester figured out, then the effects of the CSX takeover of PAR seems to have blown some of that up.  Oh well...

I'll miss all these interesting operations when we go back to California at the end of the month.

Duncan

dwatry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gonut1:
>
> Yes, the tangle of freight trackage around here is
> very mystifying at first.  After a year here I
> have finally gotten a handle on how most of the
> lines on the western side of Boston are worked,
> but some of the eastern and southern lines are
> still mysteries to me.  And I thought I had the
> P&W lines out of Worcester figured out, then the
> effects of the CSX takeover of PAR seems to have
> blown some of that up.  Oh well...
>
The book Lost Railroads of New England by Ronald Dale Karr - now in it's third edition - is the best source for figuring out the history and status of rail lines in the area.  You can find it on Amazon.  

With a couple of minor exceptions, just about all lines south of the B&A main had been brought into the New Haven empire by about 1900.  With the exception of the former Old Colony branches from Framingham to Lowell and Fitchburg, the NH didn't stray north of the B&A in the eastern part of Massachusetts.  Likewise, the B&M didn't operate south of the B&A.  The biggest shift in freight traffic patterns occurred in 1969 when the Penn Central absorbed the New Haven.  The PC routed eastern Mass. freight traffic off the Shore Line and onto the B&A, so the former Old Colony line from Framingham to Walpole became a more important conduit for southeastern Massachusetts traffic.  However, the junction in photo 6 wasn't realigned for a direct connection to the B&A until the 1990s....prior to that the Old Colony crossed the B&M at grade, continuing into the ex-NH yard.  A connector on the north side of the station platform allowed trains to access the B&A westbound without reversing direction or entering the yard.

Dave

DavidP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dwatry Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Gonut1:
> >
> > Yes, the tangle of freight trackage around here
> is
> > very mystifying at first.  After a year here I
> > have finally gotten a handle on how most of the
> > lines on the western side of Boston are worked,
> > but some of the eastern and southern lines are
> > still mysteries to me.  And I thought I had
> the
> > P&W lines out of Worcester figured out, then
> the
> > effects of the CSX takeover of PAR seems to
> have
> > blown some of that up.  Oh well...
> >
> The book Lost Railroads of New England by Ronald
> Dale Karr - now in it's third edition - is the
> best source for figuring out the history and
> status of rail lines in the area.  You can find
> it on Amazon.  
>
> With a couple of minor exceptions, just about all
> lines south of the B&A main had been brought into
> the New Haven empire by about 1900.  With the
> exception of the former Old Colony branches from
> Framingham to Lowell and Fitchburg, the NH didn't
> stray north of the B&A in the eastern part of
> Massachusetts.  Likewise, the B&M didn't operate
> south of the B&A.  The biggest shift in freight
> traffic patterns occurred in 1969 when the Penn
> Central absorbed the New Haven.  The PC routed
> eastern Mass. freight traffic off the Shore Line
> and onto the B&A, so the former Old Colony line
> from Framingham to Walpole became a more important
> conduit for southeastern Massachusetts traffic.
>  However, the junction in photo 6 wasn't
> realigned for a direct connection to the B&A until
> the 1990s....prior to that the Old Colony crossed
> the B&M at grade, continuing into the ex-NH yard.
>  A connector on the north side of the station
> platform allowed trains to access the B&A
> westbound without reversing direction or entering
> the yard.
>
> Dave

Here's what the New Haven - B&A/NYC/PC diamond looked like just east of the Concord St crossing in Framingham in 1967 from the cab of southbound New Haven Lowell-Boston freight LB-2 (Ken Patton photo). That's rte 135 crossing up ahead. 
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?2019031102545627937.jpg:bysearch:Framingham:SEARCHTYPE=ADVANCED&PAGE=2&SEARCHSTRING=Framingham&BOOL=ANY&RAILROAD=566&POSTER=ANY&PHMS=&PHDS=&PHYS=&PHME=&PHDE=&PHYE=&POMS=&PODS=&POYS=&POME=&PODE=&POYE=

Nice find on the picture JPB.  Looks to be from the cab on an ALCO FA.  The Lowell - Readville freight was noteworthy as a regular assignment for the FAs, lasting into the PC era.

Dave

Very nice series!

Thanks all who provided additional info!

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