Railroad Forums 

  • F-Unit on New Hampshire Main, early 2000s?

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1260967  by MinutemanMaroon
 
Hello, i'm a new member and a teenage railfan, living in southern New Hampshire. I was down by the PSNH's Merrimack Station coal plant the other day (at the Old Ferry Road crossing to be exact) and I had a bit of a flashback, you could say. When I was eight or nine in the early 2000's (2003 or 2004, I think) my mom would take me down that way often to see the trains. One evening, later than usual, we were driving down Old Ferry Road and suddenly saw action! I distinctly remember seeing an F-Unit being moved by another diesel locomotive, it seemed like it was being moved off of a siding where it was stored perhaps? I, as a young lad, referred to it as a "Super Chief" having no knowledge they were called F-Units :-D . I asked my mom the other day and she said she remembers it being an F-Unit as well. Strangely enough, I remember it being in a green livery.... I know now there is absolutely NO reason for an F-Unit to be on the New Hampshire Mainline in this era, with neither Guilford or NEGS using them, ever. But this is one rail mystery I have never been able to solve and I wonder if anybody has any ideas!
 #1261299  by b&m 1566
 
I was living in Concord, NH around 2003 - 2004 and there were no F units under operation. If the engine was green it's quiet possible you mistaken NEGS ex-GP18 #503 (now with NHN).
 #1261345  by joshg1
 
If F, could it have been on its way to Lincoln for repair/refurb? Memory is a tricky thing, but I think it hard to mistake a F unit for a GP18.

What shade of green? I think of 503 as faded medium green.
 #1261348  by shadyjay
 
Sometime around then, the "Roger Williams" RDC cars (ex-NH) were moved up to Lincoln for "repairs". Two of the cars of this train that was at one time made up of several Budd RDC cars had "streamlined" noses, akin to an F-unit. The "trainset" (now I believe 3 cars: one intermediate and the two streamlined cabs) is still up in Lincoln on the Hobo RR. It's possible this was the move you saw, as it came from Danbury CT and the N.H. main is the only access to/from Lincoln (except by over-the-road transport).
 #1261410  by AVR Mark
 
I wonder if what he saw could have been one of the Maine Eastern FL-9s. It could have been in transit on its way either to of from Maine.

Mark
 #1261454  by newpylong
 
AVR Mark wrote:I wonder if what he saw could have been one of the Maine Eastern FL-9s. It could have been in transit on its way either to of from Maine.

Mark
Bow is not on the way to Maine... unless they went up there for repairs, but I seem to remember the Maine Eastern F's going straight across and to them. I picked one up in Deerfield and it took me forever to find the handbrake lol.
 #1261456  by CN9634
 
newpylong wrote:
AVR Mark wrote:I wonder if what he saw could have been one of the Maine Eastern FL-9s. It could have been in transit on its way either to of from Maine.

Mark
Bow is not on the way to Maine... unless they went up there for repairs, but I seem to remember the Maine Eastern F's going straight across and to them. I picked one up in Deerfield and it took me forever to find the handbrake lol.
Inside on the rear conductors side?
 #1261498  by MEC407
 
Aside from having no apparent reason to be in Bow, the timeline is a little off. The FL9s came to Maine in the summer of 2005. Before that, Maine Eastern had been using F40PHs. (Can't think of any reason why one of those would be in Bow either.)

MinutemanMaroon, are you absolutely certain that it was green? Memories can play tricks on us sometimes, even recent memories. (Ask five eye-witnesses what color a bank robber's shirt was, and it's likely you'll get at least two different colors!)

(FWIW, I saw those Maine Eastern FL9s when they made their inaugural journey to Maine in '05. They were tacked onto the head end of a Downeaster (behind a P42), and I kid you not, they were running and MU'd! I almost couldn't believe my own eyes, but I watched them as the train screamed across Scarborough Marsh, and they both put out nice plumes of smoke when the engineer throttled up to reach 79 MPH. Since then, they've traveled via PAR and other freight roads to get between Maine and NJ, but that initial trip to Maine via Amtrak was pretty sweet.)
 #1261841  by MinutemanMaroon
 
I think the green from my memory was probably the 503, which was another huge part of my childhood (knowing now there was once an ex-Rock Island geep in my area I wish I had paid more attention back then! :( ) the only explanation for the F Unit shape must be the Roger Williams, although I still feel pretty darn unsure! Who knows, maybe Bow is some sort of locomotive Bermuda Triangle.....

On a side note, what's the status of NEGS today? Sad thing that happened to them with Pan Am and such.

Also, speaking of unusual moves on the NH Main, last summer while working at my family business Central Paper in Manchester I saw a Pan Am freight heading south consisting of all (10 or more) Railbox boxcars....were they being stored somewhere?
 #1262394  by Otto Vondrak
 
MinutemanMaroon wrote:On a side note, what's the status of NEGS today? Sad thing that happened to them with Pan Am and such.

Also, speaking of unusual moves on the NH Main, last summer while working at my family business Central Paper in Manchester I saw a Pan Am freight heading south consisting of all (10 or more) Railbox boxcars....were they being stored somewhere?
Welcome!

Please start a new thread if you're going to change the subject... And NEGS and Central Paper would definitely be changing the subject ;-)

-otto-