Some months ago I spotted a what looks like a new paint job on a loco switching at a box plant north of Holyoke MA, near the Northampton MA city line. The logo is Pan Am Railway. I did some searching and found out it is formerly the Guilford Railroad. I guess this happened sometime ago. Usually I see Springfield Terminal locos doing the switching and also switching the coal fired power plant nearby. Stuff happens.
Rich
Guilford Transportation changed their name to Pan Am Railways in March 2006…so yes, it’s been a while! The Springfield Terminal units you saw switching were part of the Guilford family, as the original ST was a tiny B&M-controlled shortline that disappeared many years ago.
How big is the railroad? How many locomotive are active on their roster?
Pan Am Railways is actually a holding company for several railroad companies, including Maine Central, Boston & Maine, Springfield Terminal, and others. If considered as one railroad, it would be a Regional (Class II).
Their main lines make an “L” shape; the Fitchburg Division runs from Rotterdam Jct, NY (sort of near Albany) cross the state border into Massachusetts, then head east through the Hoosaic Tunnel, East Deerfield Yard, Fitchburg, and Ayer, and eventually reach Lowell. There are a couple branches off this route, including ones to Springfield and Worcester, MA.
Their Maine Central Division runs North from Lowell up to Bangor, ME, via Portland, and northward from there. This route has a whole bunch of branches. And finally their Boston & Maine Division runs up to Lowell from Boston on trackage rights, then goes up to Concord, NH.
Here’s a system map: http://www.panamrailways.com/Maps/map.htm
Their roster of around 100 (some of this number are currently out of service, so they probably have around 75-ish in service plus a bunch of HLCX leasers) is pretty neat. Built of mostly GP40s (not Dash-2 ones! [:)]), they also have a high-hood SD45, an SD26, and an SD39, among others.
Here’s a complete roster: http://www.thedieselshop.us/GRS.HTML
And here’s a Wikipedia page on the railroad:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Railways
Hope this answers your questions!
Those of us ‘of a certain age’ might be able to remember when Pan Am Airways was a premier, class-act airline, right up there with SwissAir, Lufthansa, etc. If anyone back then had predicted that - say, 30 or 40 years in the future - the Pan Am ‘brand’ would be chiefly known only as the name of a [insert any other pertinent disparaging adjectives here] New England regional railroad , he would have been locked up as a madman [same as the guy who correctly predicted the 20th century’s weird twists of history in the epilogue to famous science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke’s 1960s book, 2001 - A Space Odyssey].
The reason that Guilford Transportation was renamed Pan American was that the parent company bought the remains of the airline (IIRC, what they got was really just the rights to the name) and attempted to restart it as a discount charter and commuter operation. They soon ran into financial trouble and problems with the FAA and the air carrier “crashed and burned”(not lterally, thank goodness)…there are some folks here in New England who feel that the company’s management of it’s rail operations is only slightly better than it was with the airline,although the new “Patriot Corridor” strategic alliance with Norfolk Southern may be a step in the right direction…
They’ve totally bastardized the good name of Pan Am. It’s still Guilford in my book. There’s only one true Pan Am and that is the great airline of years gone by.
I wonder who owns the rights to the “Braniff” name (spelling?). I’d like to see the livery the locomotives would carry if that name got resurrected!
The loco I saw was a nice shiny black finish with white lettering.
Below are a few links with some loco numbers.
http://www.thedieselshop.us/GRS.HTML
Don’t know how accurate wikipedia is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Railways
Some of these links may be dupicates of what others may have posted.
Rich
Pan Am Railways currently has 7 painted locomotives in 2 schemes, and 2 business cars.
MEC 505 and 511 (former CN GP40-2Ls) were painted back in 07 and are in a light blue and charcoal scheme.
MEC 307, BM 327, MEC 350, MEC 352, and MEC 506 wear the dark blue, which is what you saw. Only MEC 350-353 are allowed on the Conn River Line, because they are the only units with Cab Signals which are needed south of Springfield. The Business cars are also in this dark blue, more recent paint scheme.
Tyler, Guilford doesn’t acknowledge any ST/B&M/MEC divisions… District 4 is from Mechanicsville NY-East Deerfield MA, District 3 is from East Deerfield MA-North Chelmsford MA, District 2 is from North Chelmsford MA-Portland ME, and District 1 is everything north of Portland. Also, they currently roster 2 SD26s ST 621 and ST 643. Other notable power includes 2 ex MEC GP7s in Maine, several B&M GP9s and GP9rs working around Deerfield, a HH SD45 albeit out of service since 2007, 1 GP38 of MEC heritage, and many GP35s and GP40s from NW, Conrail (2 NYC), and Canadian National.
Hi 
Guilford Guy
Thanks. I figured you would know the details. Both times I was riding with someone else and doing about 50 so not much chance to look closely. The loco sure looked black at a glance.
Rich
I thought there was only one SD26 still active?
Braniff Railways, eh? Will the train crews be required to wear multi-layer uniforms and do a “Railstrip” over their hours of service?
643 blew a traction motor, but its already back on the road.
621, has been inside the Waterville shops for a few months, but is not retired, nor in the deadline.
What about using Eastern?[bow] That would be great logo!
And “I” thought you were going to show pictures of a flying locomotive.
You asked for it, you got it!
http://www.radley.org.uk/OR/OldRadleian/2002/images/planes/locomotive.jpg
Hey anything’s possible. Even a New England regional railroad being named after a defunct airline. Not that it makes any sense.
It actually does… Timothy Mellon is an aviation fan, and purchased Pan Am. When his airline venture fell through, he renamed his railroad to Pan Am Railways. For those in New England, the PAR and NS business trains are scheduled to be out and about this weekend or next. The two will be combined in Mechanicsville NY, and run to Ayer and back with the NS F units.
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?200907312047469534.jpg
The PAR Blue is very dark, and can be mistaken for black in the wrong light.
