PALMER & SPRINGFIELD MASS.
Railfanning at Dusk
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| There is nothing more pure railfanning than going to a known nexus where the rumble of trains passing East and West, South and North is known to be constant. You can come burdened with all the accouterments of the well equipped trainspotter: scanner, tripod, multiple cameras and digital video recorders, beach chairs, beer cooler, a bucket of fried chicken, insect repellant, badges, buttons, and caps, logbook, tattered maps, attitude, and patience, among other things. Or you can just show up with your eyes and ears open, wishing with all your heart that a train will shortly roar through. Set in the rolling green hills of central western Massachusetts, the automated diamond at Plamer, and the station and yards at nearby Springfield are well known as hassle free places to practice the pursuit of train spotting. |
 New England Central Railroad 3485 shunting  |
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Hey, what's that Buddliner doing there!?
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 WOOOSH! The Lakeshore Limited roars through |
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Our fanatical photographer stood out in the pouring rain
getting eaten alive by mosquitoes at dusk to get this shot.
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This beauty was standing idling in the Springfield Station yard, so new and shiny. What is it? Who does it belong to? What's it doing here? At first we thought it was an MK1200G -a rare bird indeed, only 4 ever made -and a Morrison Knudsen at that! But, that is not what it is, as it turns out. It is an MP1500D, somewhat less rare, but still! (in 1998 the MK facilties in Boise, Idaho were renamed Boise Locomotive Company; and then Motive Power Industries MPI -hence the MP designation. The 'X' means that it is leased).
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| A friendly mustachioed inspector, who stepped out the shack to smoke his pipe, told us that the loco belongs to Amtrak but at the time no livery paint job had been ordered and at the moment he was just using it as a yard switcher. He very kindly invited us to have a look inside the cab. Note the refurbished console. |
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go on, take her for a spin
around the yard. Yeah, I wish
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