History Repeats Itself
MBTA heritage GP40MC-3 #1129 leads the Readville Switcher equipment move long-hood forward along the Dorchester Branch. This unit wears the "Cranberry" paint scheme, reminiscent of the days when B&M ran the commuter rail and painted units red instead of purple in a pinch. In the 1980s, the MBTA purchased 6 GP9s from the Burlington Northern to use as work engines, and while many of them kept their classic "Cascade Green" paint, 2 units got the "Cranberry" treatment. MBTA #1922, a high-hood GP9 saw a few years of non-revenue service before being sold off in 1992 to the Central New England Railroad. Nowadays, this unit remains parked in East Bloomfield, CT, wearing its original "Cranberry" paint, although with the CNZR recently losing its lease of the Armory Branch, and its Griffins Secondary being nearly dormant, 1922's future is shaky to say the least. 1924 on the other hand, was a chopped-nose GP9 that served on the MBTA until 1992 before being sold to the Cape Cod Railroad. This unit was later sold off to Nucor Steel in 1997, and was likely scrapped.
