NORTH GRAFTON, Mass. — The Grafton & Upton paint scheme has been yellow and black ever since its first diesels – two General Electric 44-tonners – arrived on the property in 1946. Those colors carried over to an Alco S4 switcher, and earlier in this century on an eclectic roster of older EMD road-switchers and a single F7. More recently, the busy, independent 24-mile short line has depended on a trio of onetime Seaboard Coast Line EMD MP15ACs, all working in patched CSX Transportation paint.
So, observers were surprised earlier this year when long out-of-service GP9R No. 1751 emerged from an extensive rebuilding wearing black and orange. Somewhat reminiscent of the old Rio Grande and the current Wheeling & Lake Erie schemes, the former Grand Trunk Western GP9R regularly runs on trains between North Grafton and Bellingham.
The new colors have also been applied to one of the MP15ACs; the two others are expected to follow it in the paint booth at the railroad’s shop.
The MP15AC was the first switcher fitted with EMD’s Dash 2 modular, solid-state AC electrical system. These units are easy to distinguish, thanks to the plain front on the hood and their tunnel-motor-style radiators with see-though side air intakes. The MP15AC also has an additional 6 inches of space between the trucks so it can be fitted with a 1,600-gallon fuel tank.
Grafton and Upton has new paint? Slow news day!
Seriously, we should be happy that in de-industrialized New England there’s still a viable short line serving shippers. People don’t understand that Massachusetts is a fairly sizable state with a lot of variety. The Commonwealth doesn’t fit into a paper bag tightly wrapped around Boston and Cambridge.
Loose car freight in New Egland is a whole lot less that what it once was — but it’s not entirely gone.