MELA?

When did Guilford stop running MELA? I can remember watching this train as a kid back in the early to mid-80s -- seems as though it arrived in Lawrence around early evening.

I don't think they classify Lawrence traffic anywhere but at Deerfield now, so in the not too recent past, you'd see them run an EDLA, but the MELA train has been gone for a while - a long while. Furthermore, Lawrence isn't nearly as busy as it was back in the day, so I don't know if there's even enough traffic heading that way to warrant a train designation, hence EDLO.

Seems funny to think that 1982-1984 was back in the day, but I guess it is.

I haven't been to Lawrence Yard in years, but "back in the day" my father and I would head over there on Friday nights with a pizza. A steady stream of MBTA trains, switcher action, and road freights. The big thrill was seeing MELA arrive and gawking at the D&H power, so exotic to me at the time -- I can recall marveling at how filthy dirty the D&H locomotives were compared to the B&M geeps and hoping against hope that an Alco would be in the mix. If you were really lucky, you might also catch some MEC pooled power.

On one of those Lawrence visits, a kind engineer waved my father and I onto GP-40 #315 and gave us a short ride.

Good times!

Well, the good times are over at Andover St. When I drove by there in December, they had the NW lot fenced in to keep people out.