Worcester, Massachusetts: Long History, Long Days.

I’ve spent a lot of time researching railroads in Worcester. It was the site of one of the earliest North American railway junctions and was perhaps the first significant railway gateway city.

Yet, for all its history, Worcester can be a difficult place to make satisfying railroad photographs, owning in part to a massive grade separation project a century ago that raised the tracks above the city streets and effectively partitioned the city.

So much of what’s good and bad about Worcester are direct effects of its railroads.

CSX Q423 assembles its train at the west end of Worcester Yard. The passenger platform at Worcester Union Station offers a decent view of the CSX yard, however most of the year this is lit from the south, which make photography challenging. Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 Digital Camera.
CSX Q423 assembles its train at the west end of Worcester Yard. The passenger platform at Worcester Union Station offers a decent view of the CSX yard, however most of the year this is lit from the south, which make photography challenging. Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 Digital Camera. The multistory building to the right of the train is the old Osgood-Bradley building.
I could title this photo, 'The Grand Partition'—it is where two primary transportation corridors cross; I-290 spans the former Boston & Albany line. Both partitions (corridors) have facilitated traffic through Worcester, but disrupted the fabric of the city beyond comprehension. Worcester is a city of contrasts; fascinating, and frustrating.
I could title this photo, ‘The Grand Partition’—it is where two primary transportation corridors cross; I-290 spans the former Boston & Albany line. Both partitions (corridors) have facilitated traffic through Worcester, but disrupted the fabric of the city beyond comprehension. Worcester is a city of contrasts; fascinating, and frustrating.

On the long days of summer. The sun swings far to the north and makes for nice afternoon light at Worcester Union Station. Near the Summer Solstice, I made a few photos of CSX symbol freight Q423 (Worcester-Selkirk, NY) with one of the remaining AC6000CWs wearing its as-built ‘Bright Future’ paint.

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