Eastern Railroad Discussion > Lackawanna visits the B&A on Ground Hog Day

DL&W Heritage unit makes its first ever appearance on Ayer-bound NS Z264-02 on the CSX B&A main passing the live cam at Chester on 2/2/26 at 0833. Z264 was ~3,000 feet in length with 41 double stacked wells. We New England railfans appreciate that NS re-routed this train off PAS/MBTA  with its lead unit restrictions* so now Heritage units can lead**. The ability to haul double stacked domestic containers is merely icing on the cake!

NS 1074 certainly saw its shadow!

* While neither NS or PAS has PTC installed on the previous 264/265 previous routing through Hoosac Tunnel between Binghamton and Ayer, CPKC requires I-ETMS between CP-485 Schenectady and CP-XO Mechanicville and the MBTA requires ACSES east of Wachusett. Net: dual PTC mode NS SD60Es always had to lead 264/265 east of Binghamton.

** It is strongly rumored that CSX intends to remove Conrail era cab signals on the B&A and revert to wayside intermediates. If and when that happens, foreign power will also be able to lead NS and CSX locomotives in New England.

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Great shot ! Thanks for posting it and the info regarding cab signals , it's been almost 40 years rebuilt since the B&A trackage and signal system was rebuilt by Conrail  .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/26 07:28 by mvrr10.

PTC makes cab signals redundant/unnecessary. But good old hidebound NS, last to do everything (retire steam, short nose diesels, chemical toilets, AC power, etc., etc.,)  keeps the ex-Pennsy cab signals in operation, therefore foreign power still can't lead.  Someone please send them a 21st century calendar!
 

The cab signal removal is coming again? I remember when CSX was talking about doing that 20 years ago!

not even 3 weeks of the NS trains on the B&A and the 4th NS hertitage unit so far (Conrail, D&H, Reading , Lackawanna), and not sure if its due to the weather, but the lateness of these trains has made a good percentage of the runs in daylight in western Mass.

Of curiosity, when these crews came on board, did they sit in with CSX crews to just get a sense of the trackage or thats not neccessary or how its done.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/26 19:36 by md.

md Wrote:
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> Of curiosity, when these crews came on board, did
> they sit in with CSX crews to just get a sense of
> the trackage

Rumor had it that the NS guys were riding along with their CSX counterparts on M426/427 while qualifying on the territory.