Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS 264-13 detours over CSX as X426-14

Eastern Massachusetts had a decent rain storm Monday 9/11/23 (one of many this summer) and the town of Leominster received a jackpot 9+ inches within a few hours leading to highway flashflooding and a washout on MBTA's Fitchburg line used by Pan Am Southern freights (operated by G&W entity Berkshire & Eastern as of 9/1/23) to get to/from its eastern terminus Ayer MA, about 11 miles away.  The washout picture is a screen grab from TV station WCVB's report on the area damage. As of Friday 9/15/23 MBTA/Keolis crews were in the process of repairing the washout with some projections saying the site be back in service Saturday 9/16/23.

NS arranged with CSX to detour train 264-13 with 7,000 feet of single stacked containers over CSX from Buffalo NY directly to Ayer as CSX symbol X426-14. This train was led NS 8100, the Nickel Plate heritage unit, but because an ACSES PTC equipped unit is needed to yard the consist at Ayer by pulling onto the MBTA mainline, CSX had to cap the train at Selkirk with a 57 year old SD40-2 #8881 equipped with both I-ETMS & ACSES PTC. Here's a capture ox X426 cruising past the Thomas Basin of the Wachusett Reservoir at West Boylston on CSX newly rehabbed Worcester main line.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/23 06:50 by JPB.

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The 1st photo shows X426 emerging from a tree tunnel at Still River Depot road in Harvard - CSX track improvements to this once decrepit line are visible. Note that in the mid-20th century, this track hosted the State of Maine, the Bar Harbor, and the East Wind passenger trains between New York City and points in Maine.

In photo 2, 8100 passes "Harvard station" which is point separating CSX territory to the south and PAS/Berkshire & Eastern's Hill Yard at Ayer. 

In photo 3, CSX 8881 is putting its ACSES PTC to work as it doubles the consist into the Hill Yard intermodal pad.

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Thanks, I was wondering where this was. Good coverage.

Thanks for the sharp images!