2012 Four: East Deerfield, Massachusetts

                East Deerfield is one of those places that has to be at the top of the list of places to visit for everyone who chases trains for the fun of it. While there are many great places to sit and watch trains in Massachusetts few have everything that East Deerfield can offer. Where to start? 

Norfolk Southern power leads the daily intermodal westbound through East Deerfield yard on Monday, Feb. 20, 2012.

                East Deerfield was once at the heart of the Boston & Maine. At least that is how I remember it in the last few days before the Boston & Maine morphed into Guilford Transportation. I would go up there while I was still in college and stand up on ``Railfan Bridge" and watch GP-40-2s in their blue dip paint scheme tie on to the end of eastbound freights to give them a push up to Gardner. Or I would watch visitors from the Canadian Pacific, Delaware & Hudson or Conrail led freights out of the west end for Canada, New York and West Springfield. You could park at the side of the road and walk up to the bridge, where there would always be someone standing with a camera and a scanner to give you the latest on what was happening.  It was like someone had built a stadium for watching trains.

                After Guilford took over things went downhill for a time. This corresponded to my graduating from college and moving back to eastern Massachusetts to go to work. So I missed many of the dark times, but I would still get out there from time to time and even though the Connecticut River main wasn't what it had been, you could still see trains in the yard if you were patient enough. 

A Rebirth of Activity

                Then about 10 years ago I began to notice quite a few Canadian Pacific locomotives in the yard. They were coming in from New York this time and not down from Canada the way they had in earlier times. The Canadian Pacific had bought the Delaware & Hudson after it was taken away from Guilford and was running trains in and out of East Deerfield. It was the start of a very interesting time.

                Now Norfolk Southern has taken over from the Canadian Pacific and the number of trains into and out of East Deerfield has seemed to have increased thanks to the joint venture by Pan-Am (the latest incarnation of Guilford) and Norfolk Southern. As a result of all this activity, I have seen Union Pacific and BNSF locomotives leading coal trains, as well as Providence & Worcester power. This is in addition to the Norfolk Southern and Pan-Am units that operate there. (Pan-Am also has a collection of oddball lease locomotives and some ancient SD units, so if you are interested in seeing a wide variety of power, East Deerfield can be a satisfying place to visit.)

                A bike path now starts just over the bridge that crosses the throat into the west end of the yard, so now there is a nice little parking lot there. Again, it is like someone has built a stadium up there for railfans.

                East Deerfield doesn't have the activity of West Springfield, but it is much more accessible and much friendlier. It also seems to have a much greater variety of locomotive power even if it can't compete in  terms of volume. So, if you are planning a trip to Massachusetts, I recommend you get a map and check out the action at East Deerfield.