2-8-4 Berkshires

[SteamGene]

Now why did somebody have to go and mention Fitchburg?  I spent probably the five most miserable months of my life, including my first year at military school, in Fitchburg back in the seventh grade.
Gene

[TonyD]

Not Fort  Devens? Gosh Gene, after a week in Fitchburg schools, you're lucky you didn't do life in the Federal pen, never mind the army... ok, now that I got the Yankees in a stir, it was bridges- mainly, that limited the B&M -and CV's power, the Conn. River line to this day has some spindley looking contraptions, until it's sale, the heavy CNR diesel units couldn't go past milepost X, or bridge Y.... come to think of it, some B&M branches used wooden covered bridges till the big G ended those good ol' days... BTW, ttbomk, the Boston and Albany 2-6-6-2's were replaced by the 1st batch of berks, and the NYC sent them to coal branches in West Virginia, but they were already beat to death by then... a tough grade for many miles. the last time I rode Amtrak thru the Berkshires, atleast 4 CSX freights were broke down on the main, good thing it is working its way to double track once more- the hills are hard even on the newest power. That was a long ride, quicker to have walked home...lastly, the B&A and B&M reworked the fleet so often, no matter what you do to a model, it might just have had a prototype for a few months there... I'm not sure, but I think the guy that did those square sand domes came from the barvarian state railways or somethin'.... don't know how they survived the tunnels...     

[pdlethbridge]

The B&M had Erie mikes for a while but did away with them.

[Guilford Guy]

The B&M had Erie mikes for a while but did away with them.

Only loco's we used that had Vandy's!
We also had 0-8-8-0's which we used on the Mickeyville Hump for a few years, until we sold them to a copper company out west.

[SteamGene]

Yes,
My father was stationed at Ft. Devens, but it was a temporary assignment.  And yes, the school was something of a blackboard jungle.  I think it's the only school I ever went to where I never went to another kid's house or a kid came to mine.  And this was after two years in Japan where it was the exact opposite. 
Funny, I took a course at Ft. Devens as a captain - and didn't think much of the place then, though I did go to Walden Pond.
Gene

[Guilford Guy]

Sad how the only rail in place from the Fort Devens Base is the lead to their sidings, which is now Guilford's Ayer RIP Track.

[TonyD]

Yes, I spent a month in Fitchburg one day last year. Rather nice, interesting railroad linesiding there. Mills with timber trestles from the main into a dock or hopper on the oher side of a gully or river, a feed mill full of covered hoppers  in an area with out a cow for 40 miles, stonework embankments and overpasses from the 1840's or 50's, still just as solid, a recently working turntable with two stall RH? (correct me on this GG and others) and a decent passenger station- terminal for the Boston commutor runs-- and a mile of missing track to the old New Haven/CSX line in Leominster, very short sighted 'railroads are dead' politics in the 70's I guess. So there's plenty to see on your school reunion trip Gene . As far as Devens, I'll tell ya GG, I think there is more rail activity around there now then when the army had it, was just fuel & supply spurs I think.... don't think this was a 'hot spot' till ST..... older closer guys will know...

[r.cprmier]

(correct me on this GG and others)

Don't worry, Tony; he will.

[Guilford Guy]

I am not positive the roundhouse is still there. The station is long gone sadly. Outside Ayer MA, New England Milling Co. uses a former NYO&W NW2. East Fitchburg Yard, a.k.a. "Littleburg," has one of the Fitchburg Railroad's original buildings, with original paint inside, as well as the MBTA and Pan Am crew lounge. In Worcester there was also a Roundhouse until recently. Worcester also has a very nice station, and is home to P&W, who run Super-7's, cabless GE's, some GP40's, and some B40-8's. P&W has also embarked on rebuilding a few branch lines in Connecticut, and rumors are flying about them buying the southern half of New England Central.

[TonyD]

Yeah, the poor southern end of the CV. A few years ago someone wrote an illustrated softcover on it. Still handles quite a bit of freight concidering the' from nowhere to nowhere routing'. Seems it's only claim to fame was the Canadian government's best option for an ice free neutral port....neither use was an ace up the sleeve very often... used to have some nice excusions on that line, rural New Enland at it's best....New London is the 'seed' of my seaport scene.  Enough of that! now let's talk about Fitchburg again!! The old station is long gone I know, but the new one isn't cookie cutter atleast, yes, the roof of the RH was pretty rough the last time I saw it, the TT loke servicable- nice and narrow, i bet it wasn't 200' form the road to the mainline, a modeler could use that as a prototype in a pinch for space. I don't know if that is gone too, but there is a brige over- rt 2A? 31? on the west side of town, there is/was a trestle coming right out to the edge of the highway, with a bumper on it. About 25-30 feet up. Locals told me that was where crushed stone or gravel was offloaded into dumptrucks parked below it, an old paper mill was up the hill to the west, very 'narrow guage- model- looking- thing' I am still at a loss for words concerning this...apparatus... we should all go on a field trip to Fitchburg!! Hey GG! sup with that flatcar of 2 by 4's whackin' the lunchbreak cannonball? We just had a thread about brake wheels! No derail, no chucks, no chain, no cops on the ball.....ouch! could have been worse huh? 

[Guilford Guy]

No one knows how it started rolling. It made it over a derail, through two points set against it, 2.5 miles, down 96ft, and onto the Northeast Corridor. Commuter train went into emergency, had almost stopped. The center-beam flies in at 40 mph, and pushed the train back 47ft. Engineer needs teeth implants, and plastic surgery to piece together his lip. 150 people on the train were injured. I was talking to one of the passengers who was in the 4th car from the locomotive. When the car hit they had almost stopped, and he was thrown onto the ground and glasses and cell phone went flying across the floor...
ROADTRIP!