Gardner Gawking

[doublestack]

Another tractor-trailer school student drop-out.

[jaymac]

On the It's-Probably-Good-if-This-Never-Happens-Again front, pallets had been set up sometime before 12-24-2011 at 0830 trackside at the warehouse in a series of inverted vees topped off by triangular folding break-down reflectors just to make sure the fouling of 1 with its well-documented results possibly doesn't happen again.
A bit further east, the yard was jammed with racks and general freight, including a quartet of boxes, one SOU and the rest NS, in case there was any doubt about the "S" part of PAS. The gon that on 12-20 had appeared to be a RIP candidate earlier was elsewhere, probably indicating quicker turnaround than has been prior practice.
An ECT was maybe due about 1100, and D-3 was trying to raise the hopefully light PW switcher, but I had responsibilities, so I was outta there. The Heywood, stub, and Dead remained car-free.
While struggling against Holiday-induced mushiness, I hope we all get even more of the positive changes -- and not just the optical ones -- that seem to have happened recently at PAR/S. After growing both up and old with repeated Red Sox cries of "wait 'til next year," it's good to see that next year actually may be here.

[MEC407]

Hear, hear!

[jaymac]

On 12-27-2011 at 0830, things looked pretty much the same as on 12-24, especially with the SOU-NS-NS-NS box quartet on 2 in the yard. As usually happens, ED495 was already well east, and the Dead, stub, and Heywood were MT. An hour of invested patience brought no interesting radio chatter, so it was more than time to follow ED495's example.
At CPF-335 at 0935, only the spike puller was left on the stub. The grapple's carry-car was still there, but off-iron. The Terex front-ender, plus a couple of attachments, was still waiting its call to duty.
A couple of miles east and a few minutes further down Da Hill, NewBlue 606 and OldPaints 619 and 615 were waiting for a new crew on the Wachusett 1 pad with enough cars to extend east past the steam plant. There was a mix of grain and OMYA MTs, general freight, and white-wrapped building-product spine loads. While I was listening and except for a few minutes at Home Despot, there was no audible D-3 chatter before 1100 to ID the train.

[jaymac]

Per atholrail's NERAIL posting of this and adjacent photos, the train at Wachusett waiting for a recrew at Wachusett during the morning of 12-27 was POED.

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=196704

[jaymac]

On the deja-vu-all-over-again front, the 0730 on 01-03-2012 viewing of Gahdnuh showed the same SOU-NS-NS-NS box quartet on the east end of 2 in the yard that had been since there before Santy's midnight run (so last year!). The yard itself was pretty full, with the usual MTness on the Heywood, stub, and Dead. A bit to the west of the Dead, an uncrewed OldPaint 335 sat idling on 2, and even further west on 2, from just east of Tympani to past Pleasant Street, a cut of cars was also making Gardner a temporarily one-track town. It was about time to leave, but D-3 and TC 1612 got into a conversation about a following eastbound, and by 0829, the TC had come east on 2 and backed off onto the now-no-longer MT stub. The 346.6 talker woke up at 0858 and called what would prove to be ED495 clear with 1056' at 0859. At 0903, NewBlues 600 and 378 plus OldPaint 376 had 15 east of CPF-345 and east of the Bike Shop at 0937. However long it would take to open 2 in Gardner, there was an additional complication. D-3 had given 2 from CPF-335 to Rollstone to another TC, and as soon as signal complications at CPF-309 got cleared up, there was supposed to be a recrewed ECT headed west. No idea if there were any heavy EBs later, but a speedo for 343 did get put out on the air.

[atholrail]

335 was last nights ED190. ED4 taxied out of EDFLD and recrewed it early this afternoon.

[newpylong]

That's one feighthaulin' crew! Can't make it to Gardner and return, even thought their only work is Millers and Gardner. ED495 ends up doing their work half the time.

[bmmrlbnsfengr]

What a way to run a railroad !! Sad, it is , a person could bicycle the Old Fitch quicker than the PAR !

[jaymac]

Mebbe things are taking an extra-long time at Millers because of a hush-hush noise-abatement campaign...
Seriously, what seems to be extended dwell-time for at least some cars at Gardner could indicate other problems. Are things still reasonably fluid at Deerfield, or is it starting to choke, too? If there had been snow like last year's, it seems like things now would be worse than last year.

[newpylong]

Like I said, that's one freight hauling crew. That's all you need to know, lol.

[jaymac]

Silly me, thinking that all the shiny dark blue paint meant a better way of doing things!

[bmmrlbnsfengr]

Yes, that blue cannot hide the fact that, " tonnage has a hard time " moving on the old B&M and affiliated lines.

[jaymac]

Sometime before 0815 on 01-06-2012, the SOU-NS-NS-NS box quartet ended its extended stay on 2 in the yard. The yard itself was crammed with racks and nothing but. EDPO had gone east a lot earlier -- there was fresh snow on both tracks -- and the Dead and stub were still MT. The Heywood was, too, but that would probably prove temporary since FI-1 was supposed to climb Da Hill, but was slow getting moving. A bit later at CPF=335, the spike-puller was still on the stub, and the grapple's carry-car was still sitting on the ground. The Terex was elsewhere, curiously enough.

[jaymac]

The 0900-01-09-2012-Rte.-2-W approach showed the WB signal at CPF-345 solid red, an indication that yet again an EB -- later IDd on the radio as ED495 -- had gotten outta town before I got in. As in the 01-06 post, the yard was fairly full with apparently only racks. In the Lingering Longer Department, a UP rack with distinctive tagging was a hold-over from Friday. There were probably others, but the tagged one stood out.
At CPF-335, a newer heavy boom truck was backing off the MOW stub at 0955 and got all the way to the Bike Shop before changing direction. The spike-puller and carry-car were still at 335. The Terex still wasn't.