June 1984, I had just graduated high-school, and was aiming to visit Tucker’s Hobbies in Warren, Massachusetts on a Friday evening.

I must have chased this eastward Conrail freight from Palmer, staying ahead of it on Route 67.

Standing immediately west of the old Boston & Albany station, I was poised with my Leica 3A fitted with a screw-mount Canon f1 .8 50mm. I arrived moments before the roar of the engines announced the approaching train.

Three new Conrail SD50s! That was a good catch. These locomotives, although common across the Conrail network, were not often seen in sets of three, and only occasionally operated on the B&A.

At least one of these units survives to the present day as a Norfolk Southern SD40E.

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