Tag Archives: Warren Massachusetts

Warren, Massachusetts, February 25, 1988.

Now and Then.

At 3:35pm on Thursday, February 25, 1988, Conrail C32-8 6617 and C36-7 6622 chugged eastbound upgrade through Warren passing the old Boston & Albany station.

Conrail SEPW at Warren on February 25, 1988. Exposed with a Rolleiflex Model T with a 75mm Carl Zeiss 3.5 Tessar. Kodak Verichrome Pan (VPX) black & white film exposed at ISO 100 f4 1/250th of a second, processed in D76 1:1 with water. Scanned on an Epson V500 flatbed scanner. Image cropped slight from a 645 size 120 negative.
Conrail SEPW at Warren on February 25, 1988. Exposed with a Rolleiflex Model T with a 75mm Carl Zeiss 3.5 Tessar. Kodak Verichrome Pan (VPX) black & white film exposed at ISO 100 f4 1/250th of a second, processed in D76 1:1 with water. Scanned on an Epson V500 flatbed scanner. Image cropped slight from a 645 size 120 negative.

Waiting for trains at Warren, you can hear heavy freight coming for several minutes, as they labor on the grade up the Quaboag River valley. General Electric diesels make a distinctive sound as they gain speed. Usually by the time the train passes downtown Warren, the train is making a pretty good clip.

This freight was Conrail’s SEPW (Selkirk to Providence & Worcester), a working through freight that typically dropped cars at West Springfield and Palmer.

I’d been trackside since the morning, but spent several hours following a Central Vermont local freight working to Belchertown, and this was the first eastbound Conrail train I’d photographed, although I put several Amtrak trains on film.

After SEPW went east, I headed over to Tucker’s Hobbies (which was then on Bacon Street, within sight of the old station) to visit with Bob Buck.

I heard chatter on the scanner that hinted at a 4th eastward freight. Not wanting to repeat my efforts at Palmer, I went up the Quaboag Valley to Warren and waited there. I was rewarded by yet another eastward intermodal train. Word to the wise; rarely I have I ever seen four eastward intermodal trains in daylight on the B&A route in modern times. Lumix LX7 photo. (Adjusted for contrast in post processing).
CSXT eastward intermodal freight at Warren on October 20, 2014. Lumix LX7 photo. (Adjusted for contrast in post processing).
Warren Station on Ocotber 20, 2014. Lumix LX7 photo.
Warren Station on Ocotber 20, 2014. Lumix LX7 photo.

Compare the 1988 view, with these photos I exposed few weeks ago at almost exactly the same location. (I posted a version of the action image in an earlier post, but I thought it made for a nice contrast.)

Since 1988, the old westward main line was lifted (it was out of service since late 1986), the code lines were taken down, the station has fallen into disrepair (it hadn’t served a passenger train since the 1950s) and the line has become rather brushed in. Step back to 1888, and there was grade crossing at this location, but that’s another story altogether.

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Tomorrow: A long lost box of slides; located, opened and scanned!

 

DAILY POST: West Warren, Massachusetts, October 2013.

Looking east at dawn on CSXT's former Boston & Albany mainline in West Warren, Massachusetts. Time exposure using a Canon EOS 7D fitted with a 40mm pancake lens.
Looking east at dawn on CSXT’s former Boston & Albany mainline in West Warren, Massachusetts on October 22, 2013. Time exposure using a Canon EOS 7D fitted with a 40mm pancake lens.

Early morning is a great time to make scenes with tracks. Here at West Warren a bit of mist off the Quaboag River adds atmosphere to a classic New England scene. Although I’ve made dozens of photographs from this location, I keep coming back to it.

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‘Ireland Through a Magic Lens’—coming up! January 16, 2013 at 7 pm Warren, Massachusetts Senior Center

 

Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland.
Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. Exposed on Fujichrome with a Nikon N90s.

Ireland Through a Magic Lens is the title of my upcoming illustrated talk sponsored by the Warren, Massachusetts Public Library. This will be presented at 7pm on Wednesday January 16, 2013 at the Warren Senior Center in West Warren, Massachusetts.

Address: 2252 Main Street (Rt 67), West Warren, MA 01092.

Senior Center Phone: 1-413-436-5662.

Warren Library: 413-436-7690

For an article on my my talk see page 3 of the January  3, 2013  Quaboag Current.
Click here for a PDF of this issue.

I’ll be presenting some of my finest color work exposed in Ireland. I hope to see you there!

 

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Christmas Day 1982; Warren, Massachusetts

Amtrak Christmas Day
On this Christmas Day 1982, after a ritual of opening presents, my father, Richard Jay Solomon, brought my brother and me trackside to watch trains. Before Amtrak’s eastward Lake Shore Limited passed Warren, a set of Conrail GP40-2s rolled west on what was then a double track railway. As it was a holiday, Tucker’s Hobbies (Warren’s primary attraction) was closed for business. Leica IIIA with f2.0 Summitar and Kodachrome 64 film; scan full-frame;  adjusted in Photoshop to balance color and modify exposure.

Merry Christmas from Brian Solomon!

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