Break Time The crew climbs back aboard after making a stop at the general store in the village of Center Monson, Maine.
bridge carrying the tracks of the Allagash Railway over the AGE at Aldrich Road. The 6,000-hp of the three C-
420s was more than enough to keep the train moving up the 3.5 percent grade as the rails skirted Bull Creek. They were putting on quite a show as Train No. 1 ap- proached the New Hampshire state line and the summit of the grade. By the time we got back to the
car, we missed the train pulling into Danhill but were able to catch up with it at the west switch of the siding. Just a few snow piles were left on this early spring day as a reminder of the harsh conditions of winter railroading on Mahoosic Notch. At East Berlinton, the AGE
rails crossed the Grand Trunk Railway at EB Tower. Train No. 1 slowed to a stop as it approached the home signal. Soon we knew why. A Grand Trunk GP9 pull- ing a short local rolled past the GT depot and rattled over the
diamond. A little while later, the clank of levers could be heard as the operator gave the AGE train a “clear” aspect on the home signal, and we photographed the trailing unit in the consist going past the tower. Our last look at the LV Yellow
Jackets was from the Berlinton Paper Company mill complex as they approached the Berlin- ton Yard board. The time was 11:31AM, and Train No. 1 would be into Berlinton in just a few minutes. It was time for us to turn around and drive back to South Dover. This would be the only time
we saw these classy looking Alcos on the Atlantic Great Eastern. A few weeks later, this three-unit set was sent west as part of a power swap with the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. DT&I sent three fairly new EMD GP35s to the Le- high Valley for testing. The three LV Yellow Jackets would spend most of the rest of 1965 work- ing in Michigan on the Ann Arbor
Railroad, which was under DT&I control at the time. The Atlantic Great Eastern
Railway is the creation of John Ozanich of Battle Creek, Michi- gan. It is a railroad set in Maine and eastern New Hampshire in the 1950s and early 1960s. Even though it is freelanced, it has been one of the finest examples of pro- totype railroading and Time Table / Train Order operations for more than 20 years. The three Atlas C- 420s were detailed to match these locomotives as they would have been in 1965. They were intend- ed for use on the late Arnt Gerrit- sen’s Ann Arbor Railroad layout, and that is where the final picture in this story was taken. This story provided an irre-
sistible opportunity to combine a freelance railroad story with an actual piece of history because the Lehigh Valley Alcos could have been seen on the Atlantic Great Eastern after their delivery to the LV and before being sent off to Michigan.
Full
Throttle Following page: The three Alcos are working hard as they grind up the 3.5 percent grade to the summit of Mahoosic Notch at the New Hamp- shire state line.
FEBRUARY 2016 43
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