Bay Colony Railroad #1701

If you grew up as a rail-fan in Southeastern Massachusetts, you know the Bay Colony Railroad. This short line railroad serviced all of Cape Cod and almost any other line that wasn’t serviced by Conrail or CSX. Growing up in Middleboro, MA, for nearly 25 years I would normally see one of the Bay Colony Railroad locomotives parked on Longmeadow Rd in Taunton, MA. In 2008, the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad was awarded a contract and the Bay Colony Railroad was history. For a short time, Mass Coastal parked a locomotive on Longmeadow Rd, but that didn’t last long. I guess you could say Bay Colony holds a special place in my heart because it was one of the first railroads I rail-fanned. I couldn’t tell you how many times I stopped to see the locomotives parked there. I thought I would never see a Bay Colony locomotive again.

Scrolling through the photos on my Instagram feed, I saw a photo of the #1701 Bay Colony EMD GP8 Locomotive. This locomotive was built in 1953 and started its service on the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line and was later purchased by Bay Colony in 1987. The Bay Colony Locomotive was originally #1750 but then was later changed to #1701. I could be wrong on some of this because it was very hard to piece together the history of this locomotive.

The locomotive is now parked south of Medfield Junction near the Medfield Waste Water Plant on the Millis Branch. Last Sunday, we made a special trip out to Medfield to see the locomotive. Not only did the locomotive bring back memories for me it also brought them back for my dad as well. From what I read, every so often #1701 moves freight on the Millis Branch. We hope to see the locomotive in action sometime soon.

From what I was able to find out, they also service the Watuppa Branch in Dartmouth and Wesport, MA. I need to check out the other locomotive as it is parked in Dartmouth near Old Reed Road.