Google Maps Railfanning Section (READ RULES!)


Yup. That's over in Bradford. I used to live up the hill on the other side of the street from the white house in the picture. Today, I live about 4 miles from this location on the other side of the city. I can hear the trains, both freight and passenger, but rarely get to see them.

Where this train is located, is the mainline. The original station is located to the left and there used to be a double slip switch used to serve the former Georgetown Branch (abandoned) off to the left of the engine, and the small yard where the parking-lot is located today.

In addition to the parking-lot, also located in what was once the yard, are some storage tracks for the commuter rail. There are two through tracks that hold 4 consists. The start of the service is in Haverhill, or to the left over the Merrimack River bridge. The train pulls engine-forward across the bridge past the station on the inbound track, crosses over and comes back down the outbound track into the station.
 
Wow, that's cool! I forgot that you lived in Massachusetts. I didn't know you lived so close to there.

Yup. It was here that I became interested in trains. My dad used to bring me across the street to a fence, that's now gone, to watch the trains being switched in the yard as well as the mainline trains passing by. The Georgetown branch was abandoned past Haverhill Paperboard in the 1940s after the hurricane in '36 washed out some bridges. The line is totally gone now, but at one time there were passenger trains that ran from Bradford to Newburyport, via Byfield, and also to Boston via Georgetown, Topsfield, Danvers, and West Peabody.
 
That's really cool! It seems like a nice area to watch trains.

Back then yes, but not so much anymore. Most freight runs at night and we only get the Downeaster and MBTA commuter trains off and on during the day. Thinking back to the old days, that was like having my own model train set across the street.
 
Nice shots! Curious what that passenger car is, can't quite read it. On the first shot there is an additional CP approaching over a ways to the left, and possibly a third to the extreme left, but hard to tell.
 
I've seen that Caritas observation car up in Boston attached to Amtrak trains and it also runs occasionally on the end of the Mass. Bay Rail Enthusiast's excursions.

If you go back in to 2009 in the 2nd shot, you'll see a couple of Soo cabooses.

https://goo.gl/maps/QNVYmjki8kRwrvsR7
 
Interesting. I googled Caritas. Sounds like you may know this, John: https://www.aaprco.com/rail-car/caritas/

EDIT: I had to find more pics to figure out what was above the windows. "Iowa Pacific"

Thanks forester for looking this up. I vaguely remember information about this, but 1985 is about right for the first time I saw the Caritas attached to a rare mileage trip I took with the NMRA. The MBRE setup some tours in and around Boston and vicinity. We took a trip on the Providence and Worcester from Worcester down to New London, across to Providence on the NEC, and then back up on the P&W on home rails. The Caritas was attached to the consist. Another time, I took a trip from Boston to Albany, NY and back. We visited a passenger car rebuilding plant out there run by Super Steel at the time and returned with the Caritas attached.

The trips were quite nice actually. We got an old-fashioned boxed lunch and they handed out, or you could purchase, I can't remember now, trip guides. The trip guides explained the trackage, history, and connecting branches. These, guides, were detailed right down to the miles for where to look out for certain details. I learned a lot about the trips, and use that style for history behind the routes I build.
 
Nice! Great experiences. I gotta actually get back on a train here soon.

Same here. I haven't done any trips to speak of in about 30 years. I was looking at doing a round-trip Amtrak ride just because, but I don't have the money for something like that anytime soon.
 
Feeling nostalgic, I was hoping to find some scarlet on grey SP/CB locos. Found one at a UP yard at Pajaro, Calif (next to Watsonville).

In June 2011:
UP 555 and HLCX 991 sitting at Pajaro, Calif. I'm not recognizing the model, maybe EMD MP-15???
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.893...aOuf-NuQ!2e0!5s20110601T000000!7i13312!8i6656

In March 2020:
UP 1004 (formerly Cotton Belt) sitting at Pajaro, Calif. Perhaps an EMD GP-40?
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.893...4!1s4ejC6yfiwc3-sMG1DFLNsw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Coupled to 1004 at Pajaro, UP 9987 and 1096 looking like EMD GP-40 locos to me.
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.893...4!1s46nBqP_HX4MeKxqd9u6C4A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
 
In March 2020:
UP 1004 (formerly Cotton Belt) sitting at Pajaro, Calif. Perhaps an EMD GP-40?
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.893...4!1s4ejC6yfiwc3-sMG1DFLNsw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Coupled to 1004 at Pajaro, UP 9987 and 1096 looking like EMD GP-40 locos to me.
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.893...4!1s46nBqP_HX4MeKxqd9u6C4A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192[/QUOTE]

The Cotton Belt unit looks like an old GP40-2. Pan Am/B&M ran tons of them on their lines.

In June 2011:
UP 555 and HLCX 991 sitting at Pajaro, Calif. I'm not recognizing the model, maybe EMD MP-15???
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.893...aOuf-NuQ!2e0!5s20110601T000000!7i13312!8i6656

That looks like a GP38 or GP40-3?



Go back in time to 2011 and go down Railroad street and look at the wye. You'll have a bunch of UP units lined up.

https://goo.gl/maps/GprqAceA1T5Gu7qr9

I can't read the road numbers well enough to make all of them out.

Great place!
 
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