In November 2004 I got a few days off for working a few weekends early in the month, so I did what I usually did when I had some extra time -- I headed for the mountains. The Berkshire Hills to be exact, that part of the Appalachian chain that crosses western Massachusetts and where one of the oldest mountain railroads in the world still operates. The modern landlord is CSX and they still put a pretty good show.
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| CSX AC60CW leads a westbound freight upgrade near Russell, Massachusetts. |
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The first shot was taken off the top of a rock outcropping that is along a trail in the woods. It took some hiking to get up there but it was well worth the effort. It was a pretty warm day and I was surprised at how many bugs were still buzzing around in late November. The other thing I didn't expect was how loud the train was. As you can see this location is on a pretty tight curve and the cars squealed as they rounded it. It was definitely an ear blaster.
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| CSX eastbound intermodal near Bannish Lumber and Chester State Forest. |
I am not sure when I took this shot, but it was in with the other slides and looks to be around the same time. I also like it. This is an eastbound intermodal coming down off the mountain at the signals by Bannish Lumber. I like this spot because you can often come across an eastbound waiting in the hole and that means that westbounds are on the way. It is also easily accessed from Old State Highway and Rte. 20 and there is good access to the river nearby. (I used to like to fish, so a good spot where you can fish and take photos of trains was pretty much my definition of Heaven.)
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| CSX SD-70MAC 4768 comes down out of the Berkshires with an eastbound manifest freight. |
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I don't remember exactly where I took this one. I may have notebooks tucked away someplace documenting this trip. I don't keep the best notes and rely on my memory way too much. I have to be more disciplined. Anyway, I would guess that this was somewhere between Huntington and Chester, Massachusetts. And if memory serves, it was one of the first trains I took that day.
It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it has almost been 10 years since I took these photos. Time has passed so much quicker than seems possible and I still considered these shots to be among my "modern" collection. But the reality is that just isn't true. Time moves on.
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