I didn't go up to Nashua to look at trains. I was actually trying to check out the Joyce Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. Google maps brought me into the parking lot of the Nashua Housing Authority, which backs up to the park/sanctuary. Unfortunately there was no apparent way to get into the park and there were signs all over the place saying no parking/housing authority staff only. It was Sunday, so I really wasn't worried about the signs, but the lack of an enterance to the park annoyed me. I ended up bailing.
I checked my maps and realized I was a short drive away from the Nashua yard. As the word is CSX is going to buy PanAm soon, I figured I should make an effort to check things out because it might be one of those situations where what is there now won't be there tomorrow. (I don't have any inside knowledge of what CSX plans to do with its track north of Lowell. I just know that I have hesitated in the past and lived to regret it.)
I love that little wye right at the north end of the Nashua yard and I have seen trains rolling through there on the branch about 10 years ago. I didn't see any wheels turning on Sunday, but I did catch 306, still in Gulford paint. I wonder how long it has left to live? The GP-40 started life working for the New York Central, according to the internet. So, if it lives even a day on the CSX that means it will have served the NYC, PC, Conrail, Guilford, Pan-Am, all of which have been swallowed up and digested by CSX. (Well mostly, Norfolk Southern enjoyed dining on some pieces of those old route.) You could say it had come full circle.
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