Berkshire Scenic Excursion to Canaan, CT

A trip on the Berkshire Scenic Railway between Lenox, Massachusetts, and Canaan, Connecticut, on May 17, 2008, organized by the Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts. The train consisted of seven heavyweight commuter coaches (hailing from Berkshire Scenic, Holyoke Heritage Park Railroad, etc. unless those railroads are one and the same??) and lead by Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum Alco SW(?) No. 8619 and Housatonic Railroad RS-3M No. 9935.

This was all filmed using a short-lived camera fitted with batteries that, unbeknownst to me at the time, were incompatible with it. As such, said batteries ran down both unpredictably and frighteningly quickly, leaving me caught off guard when the camera shut down right before the trips photo runby. Luckily, I restocked when the train got to Canaan and shot the rest of the trip without much incident (including the clever switching job at Canaan— performing a run around without a passing siding!), but yeesh. A nuisance! (And this is why the photo runby scene ends so abruptly.)

It was really neat to see the huge, Victorian-style Canaan station, which had been nearly destroyed by fire only several years ago. Very fortunately, the station was restored to its current appearance rather than torn down. Today, youd never guess the building was ever damaged. Further, a passenger train in front of the station is a very rare sight. Scheduled excursion trains on this route only travel between Lenox and Lee, many miles north of the MA/CT border!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• excursion
• passenger
• train
• diesels
• rare
• mileage

[camaroracer454]

Thats a neat trip they did, do you know on what occasion they run this extended trip and when it maybe be in 2010?

[AttiK]

Unfortunately, I can't say that I know. (I do know that it doesn't happen often... this was the first passenger train to ply these tracks in 50 odd years, as I understand.) But perhaps more trips will be made now considering that the first one was a hit. I'd recommend getting in touch with either the MBRRE or Berkshire Scenic itself for more news or info...

[39franklin]

I remember taking the train From Lee to NYC. When I moved to NY I use to go back on weekends to visit my friends. This was the last 50"s and early 60's

[JET997u]

Man, there are a lot of fat people watching this train come and go.