Tag Archives: #Danville Junction

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Sunrise at Danville Junction

In October 1999, I was working for Great Train Escapes, a Seattle-based tour company that operated fall foliage rail excursions in New England in conjunction with its regional bus tours.

Part of the itinerary was to travel on a neo-streamliner from the Portland, Maine area to Gorham, New Hampshire. The train in 1999 was part of a leased set normally operated by the Copper Canyon Train in Mexico.

I made this sunrise view with an Nikon N90s loaded with Fujichrome at Danville Junction—where St. Lawrence & Atlantic crossed Guilford’s Maine Central. The tour buses were unloading the guests to board the train here for the journey to Gorham.

The leading locomotive was one of St. Lawrence & Atlantic’s former Canadian National M-420 diesels, behind it are a pair of Amtrak F40PHs, which had been made surplus from long distance survices, as the result recently delivered GE P42s.

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Danville Junction Then and Now—Three photos.

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In October 1999, I made this view of a meet between the Great Train Escapes tour train and a St Lawrence & Atlantic freight. Both trains were led by MLW-built M-420 diesels.

Eastbound at Danville Junction in October 1999.

Since that photo 21 years ago, much has changed at Danville Junction,

The trees have grown; the track arrangement was simplified, the St Lawrence & Atlantic was amalgamated into the Genesee & Wyoming network, the MLW diesels have vanished from the scene, and the tour train doesn’t operate any more.

Looking east at Danville Junction in June 2020.
Former St Lawrence & Atlantic alignment at Danville Junction in June 2020.

In June, Kris Sabbatino and I paid a brief visit to Danville Junction, my first since 1999. It was a surreal experience for me. So little of it seem familiar.

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