Let's keep Tunnel Thursday rolling with another from last summer. This was wild and I'm glad I got it...wonder if it will happen again?
Amtrak Train 1246 the Sunday afternoon southbound Berkshire Flyer from Pittsfield to New York Penn Station hustles out of State Line Tunnel on the old Boston and Albany mainline. Leading the way is AMTK 743, a GP38-3 delivered in March 2024 and dressed in the railroad's new Phase VII paint scheme. Normally assigned as a yard switcher and work train unit at Rensselaer it is used only on the Albany-Rensselaer to Pittsfield leg since there is no turning facility at Pittsfield. Upon return to Rensselaer it will be cut off and the P32AC-DM that trailed on the rear providing the HEP will now lead the train south down the Hudson Line.
This unit was most recently rebuilt by Progress Rail from PRLX 2166 but has a long history. It was originally built as a GP38-2 in Sep. 1975 for Cleveland Electric Illuminating to Penn Central specs and numbered CEIX 104 and used on unit coal coal trains. After being returned to EMD when the lease was up it entered the LLPX lease fleet until being going to the Union Pacific under a long term operating lease in 1997. It wore numbers UP 1975, 2394, and 894 until being retired in 2009. It then became part of GATX's lease fleet after they bought out EMD's leasing arm and it became GMTX 2166 and continued spend time on UP just now dressed in blue and white instead of Armour yellow.
The original tunnel here visible at left, was bored about 1840 by the Western Railroad and was joined by another just to its south about 1912 when the line was triple tracked. When Conrail singled tracked the line in late 1988 it was left vacant and all traffic now moves through this south bore. This 600 ft long tunnel is not actually located on the MA/NY state line but is a couple miles to the west here at Milepost QB164.8 on what is now known as CSXT's Berkshire Subdivision.
Canaan, New York
Sunday, July 14, 2024
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