Railfanning Spot: Gauthier Road: Spencer, Massachusetts

Gauthier Road in Spencer is one of my favorite train watching spots. It is essentially the low-hanging fruit of train watching along CSX's Boston line east of Springfield in my opinion. You can park at the side of the road on a relatively lightly traveled road and simply watch the signals about a quarter of a mile down the tracks. If you get real ambitious, you can take a quick drive up nearby Martin Road and get a look at the other side of the signals.

     In the mid-2000s, I made a habit of spending Sunday mornings parked along Gauthier road in sight of the signals and milepost 60. I usually had three or four trains by lunchtime -- two eastbound intermodals, an eastbound manifest and a westbound autorack. In addition, I would often catch the switcher coming out of the auto unloading yard a few miles to the west that would come up the line and pluck autoracks off the siding.

Late afternoon light at Gauthier Road

The biggest day I had was when I caught a four-way meet between three CSX freights and Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited heading toward Chicago.

     I usually sit, no matter what time of year, with one of the car windows open. Eastbounds make themselves known quite a ways off and often will blow their horns passing somewhere in the vicinity of the auto yard. You always have plenty of time to get ready. On the westbound front, well, you have the signals to tell you when they are coming and you can usually hear them as they come around the bend at milepost 60. I personally think eastbound shots are superior to westbounds. The light is usually better throughout most of the day and you get a pretty good long shot as the freights are coming at you.

     I have found in recent years that trees and bushes have been growing larger and larger and it is a little harder to get the clean shots that were available just a few years back. I am not one to carry hedge clippers with me when I am railfanning, although it has been suggested to me. In addition to Gauthier Road, there are several other spots not far away. Chester Depot is just a short drive back toward Worcester and Palmer is about 30 or 40 minutes away to the west. If you go out there on Saturdays, a trip to Tucker's Hobbies in Warren is always good. Tucker's is in a house on Bacon Street and the folks there have a great selection and the owner -- Bob Buck -- is among some of the most knowledgeable people you'll meet.

Late morning eastbound

In fact, a good Saturday outing would be to grab a couple of trains at Spencer, then a trip to Warren and a visit to the Steaming Tender restaurant in Palmer, which is also a great place to catch trains. I always stop at the car wash in Warren too, to vacuum out my car and tidy it up. The car wash is right next to the tracks and across from Warren depot, so if you are lucky you can catch another freight or maybe Amtrak powering through.

     On Sundays, I usually stop off at Klem's in Spencer -- an old-time department store that has everything from gold fish to overalls. They also have a popcorn machine by the front door and I do like freshly popped popcorn rather than the microwave kind. I bought a lot of my cold-weather gear at Klem's, which is why I can sit with the windows open in the winter time and not freeze.

Winter is always good