Scanned from an Ektachrome slide....In an era before internet and social media had totally taken over the railfanning world, a morning of waiting was about to be rewarded on July 6, 2002 along Guilford's West end. At the time, GRS had only three remaining SD26s. Mostly hated by crews but happily hunted by those with cameras , they would ultimately run most of their final years West of East Deerfield, MA. July 5th had two of those dinosaurs come East on SEED, so would they head back West for us to see on the next EDRJ? Ultimately, our gamble would pay off when District 4 would call the day's crew with "C&E Extra 619 West." From there, it was a mad scramble to get as many shots as possible at the "best" locations. One of mine was near the Buckland/Charlemont town line at a spot known simply as the Memorial Tree. A couple of us had previously built a spindly ladder up a hillside birch tree in order to see the tracks over the old telegraph wires. I used it this warm day to get EDRJ leaning through the curves with 619 leading a sister and two other "Gs" toward Rotterdam Junction. The signal bridge at Rice's Interlocking still stood within a mile West of here even though the siding was no longer connected. The last SD26(643) would be retired and scrapped by 2012. Sadly, none were ever preserved.
