Fall River, Massachusetts
On Presidents' Day I ended up in Fall River on a whim. I was in Providence and decided to take a left when I reached the split between I-95 and I-195. A half hour later, or so, I was at Battleship Cove on the Fall River waterfront. Next to the cove, where the U.S.S. Massachusetts is moored, there is the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Museum and a small yard I didn't know anything about. The museum is interesting to me because it is the only place I know of where you can still see a RDC in New Haven paint.
I wandered around wondering about the yard and watching the birds swimming about in the cove, which is where the Taunton River meets Mount Hope Bay. When I heard a diesel horn. Luck or kismit, I don't know but I wasn't going to argue. Fall River had once been a busy point on the New Haven. I have seen photos of a roundhouse, not far from where I was standing, with a dozen steamers all simmering in the afternoon sun waiting for their next assignment. The city was a major textile manufacturer and it kept the railroad busy. Now so much of that heritage is gone and all most people remember the place for is Lizzie Borden.
So I was delighted to see a Mass Coastal GP9u trundling along the tracks making its way to the yard. I have to say that I think the Mass Coastal paint scheme is handsome and well suited to the region. While I have a soft spot in my heart for the old Bay Colony, I was never a big fan of its gray/silver paint scheme. Oh, it grew on me over time, but I never thought it was inspired. Mass Coastal's cranberry, black and gold is utilitarian, but at least it looks clean and neat.
Here is Mass Coastal's 2006 crossing Water Street and switching the State Pier, while the Braga bridge carrying I-195 looms high above it. As it pulled cars in and out of the yard, the locomotive had to duck into a cut between the city and its highways.
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