by jaymac
It had been a bunch of months since I'd gotten to -- let alone west of -- the East Portal, so 06-12-2012 was the day. The dominant impression was one of neatness. If there was a spot that needed it, it seemed to have been stoned. The Deerfield River bridge at the East Portal has had its walkway replanked and a new guard rail installed. The wood is still raw, but mebbe treatment is in the future. Every other bit of ROW that was close enough to be seen from a moving car looked neat, not cool neat -- which it was -- but well-groomed neat, like the T or AMTK. There were occasional old ties off to the side and even a few stacks of oldies, but none of the messes of prior times.
Until I heard the AD-1 crew talking, I was wondering if there was no radio on D-3. I did hear a couple of different CSX desks and CP/DH, but nothing from PAS for a long time, not even for permits. After my Mechanicville u-turn, D-3 did give MOAY, with leader NS 9954, a clearance route Line 13 effective at 1050, but that generosity was complicated by a Line 4 taking all tracks OOS between 466 and 464, which is good. There was a yellow crane -- mebbe hy-railer, mebbe highway-only -- and its crew on top of the bridge over the Hudson.
Also on the radio theme, WB in the AM and EB in the PM there was no audible chatter outta Deerfield. On my EB swing, D-3 did talk to both ED-2 and ED-4.
On the speedo front, there must have been some in and around Gardner. Over the radio and not by eyeball, AYMO tripped the 346.6 talker at 1324 and got a "train too slow" for its 7450' at 1332.
Until I heard the AD-1 crew talking, I was wondering if there was no radio on D-3. I did hear a couple of different CSX desks and CP/DH, but nothing from PAS for a long time, not even for permits. After my Mechanicville u-turn, D-3 did give MOAY, with leader NS 9954, a clearance route Line 13 effective at 1050, but that generosity was complicated by a Line 4 taking all tracks OOS between 466 and 464, which is good. There was a yellow crane -- mebbe hy-railer, mebbe highway-only -- and its crew on top of the bridge over the Hudson.
Also on the radio theme, WB in the AM and EB in the PM there was no audible chatter outta Deerfield. On my EB swing, D-3 did talk to both ED-2 and ED-4.
On the speedo front, there must have been some in and around Gardner. Over the radio and not by eyeball, AYMO tripped the 346.6 talker at 1324 and got a "train too slow" for its 7450' at 1332.
"A gray crossover is definitely not company transportation."
