I do most of my train watching on the Lowell line in Woburn and Wilmington. But I cross the Reading (Haverhill) line usually too. And of course I see far fewer trains as it's single-tracked. But last thursday was interesting. When I got to the station, I saw a headlight towards the direction of Wakefield (over near the end of the doubletrack). So I thought it was simply a train that was coming, but the signals were aligned for a train in the other direction. I waited a bit but the train I saw never came, and eventually it turned it's lights off. Then I heard some beeping off in the distance.
From the opposite direction of this train (come from the north, heading to boston), a commuter rail train had appeared. And it had no lights on at all. And it was beeping it's way through every crossing. And there are a lot of crossings! He was trying to "beep quietly" I would say, since there are house and apartments all over this area. But he was still beeping away. I assume there was a lighting issue on the train, and beeping at crossings is standard procedure in that case?
Then once that train left, the other train that was waiting proceeded to the North through the station. No beeping but guess what it was! A pair of old red-stripe painted Guilford locomotives with no other cars, slowly heading north. You don't see that on that line very often. What were they doing there, anyone know? Again this was this past Thursday the 25th, although technically it may have been early morning Friday. I think it was around midnight give or take but I'm not sure.
Anyway the Guilford locomotives were neat, it was very retro feeling since there hasn't been any regular freight on that line since... well since those locos and their paint jobs were probably new
From the opposite direction of this train (come from the north, heading to boston), a commuter rail train had appeared. And it had no lights on at all. And it was beeping it's way through every crossing. And there are a lot of crossings! He was trying to "beep quietly" I would say, since there are house and apartments all over this area. But he was still beeping away. I assume there was a lighting issue on the train, and beeping at crossings is standard procedure in that case?
Then once that train left, the other train that was waiting proceeded to the North through the station. No beeping but guess what it was! A pair of old red-stripe painted Guilford locomotives with no other cars, slowly heading north. You don't see that on that line very often. What were they doing there, anyone know? Again this was this past Thursday the 25th, although technically it may have been early morning Friday. I think it was around midnight give or take but I'm not sure.
Anyway the Guilford locomotives were neat, it was very retro feeling since there hasn't been any regular freight on that line since... well since those locos and their paint jobs were probably new
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