Over the years, I’ve exposed thousands of railroad photos in Palmer, Massachusetts. I started photographing there in 1977.

Kris and I paid a brief visit to Palmer on our trip to Massachusetts in mid-June. This was primarily a social call, and we had limited time to look at the railroad, but we made a few photos in Palmer at familiar places.

For me, Palmer was in its heyday in the mid-1990s, when Conrail was at its zenith running about 15 freights daily in each direction, and Central Vermont/New England Central could be found working the yards here at any hour of the day or night; when Amtrak operated 6-8 trains daily through Palmer, and the Mass-Central had a busy intermodal container facility in town.

It is much quieter these days. We didn’t see a wheel turn, although Genesee & Wyoming’s New England Central had several locomotives at the ready in its yard.

The undergrowth has encroached and there are leafy vines getting ever closer to the tracks. Yet, I was happy to see a set of new CSX gondolas in the NECR yard carrying large pieces of stone.

Photos exposed using my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.

(For old time sake, I also took a couple of color slides).

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