#m-420

Odd Couple at Springfield Station.

In July 1984, I was only a few weeks out of High School. My Pal TSH and I were on one of our photography adventures. Bob Buck of Tucker’s Hobbies in Warren, Massachusetts had alerted us to the fact that Amtrak’s southward Montrealer had suffered a locomotive failure, and had been brought down by a borrowed Canadian National M-420.

At that time seeing a Canadian National locomotive in…

State Line Hill: Another ‘Ugly’ Alco and a Caboose!—Three photos.

Following up on yesterday’s post ‘M420 and a diamond,’ here are three more photos from the same roll of black & white film exposed in June 1986.

These photos portray a northward Central Vermont local freight on State Line Hill at Stafford Hollow Road in Monson, Massachusetts.

Keep in mind that with each roll of 120 size film I obtained 16 frames by using a ‘super slide’ insert in my…

the hoe.

Classic Kodachrome: Montreal-built at State Line Crossing.

In the mid-1980s, Canadian National Railway’s Montreal Locomotive Works M-420s were commonly operated on its Central Vermont Railway subsidiary.

It might seem odd in retrospect, but I wasn’t keen on these peculiar locomotives when they were common. Although they were derived from an Alco design, and I was big fan of Alco, I thought they were ugly and not ‘real’ Alcos. I much preferred Central…