Spencer

Andres has been a loyal commuter rail fan since before he could say "train." He is also lucky enough to have parents who, well before he was born, happened to purchase a home within spitting distance of the Fitchburg Line.

Not much tends to happen on this line. The trains are frequent in the morning and late afternoon, making for great entertainment on days when the kids are playing outside. On rare occasions (usually weekends) an actual freight train will come through, a long line of Conrail cars towing cargo into the city. I think Andres has seen one of these freight trains...though it was so long ago I doubt he remembers.

Our home is across the street from the train tracks, and there is no fence or other barrier preventing us from actually walking along the rails (in fact, many Brandeis students park their cars near our house, walk across the tracks, and then on up the hill to wherever they are going). The absence of a barrier makes the train feel like part of the community; almost a character that is part of Turner Street, as opposed to a noisy nuisance.

The train passes during a snowstorm. Thankfully, not a recent photo.

When Andres was 2 he enjoyed getting up close and personal to the trains. Hearing the train crossing signals in the distance, we would run to the edge of the tracks, I would pick him up, and we would watch as the giant purple and silver train whooshed past us. Now that he is 3 (almost 4!) he has grown more cautious. He prefers to stand further back now, and he certainly does not need his dad to pick him up--though sometimes he still requests that. Perhaps not surprisingly, he has also passed down his love of the trains to his sister. Celia's eyes widen whenever she sees the train; recently, she has become more interested in seeing it up close like her brother a couple years ago.

My kids' happiness at seeing the train aside, nothing much ever happens on the Fitchburg line. The trains roll in, the trains roll out, hour after hour, day after day.

That is, until a couple months ago.

Earlier this year we saw a rarity on our branch of the commuter rail: a 2-level passenger car. Andres had never seen one of these "double trains" before so it quickly became the stuff of legends. "Daddy do you remember when we saw the double train?" he would ask. And whenever the train signal would sound, he would ask, "Daddy is there a double train coming?"

We saw it that first time, and then didn't see it again for a couple days. Then it appeared again, seemingly out of the blue. "Daddy look--the double train!" A couple days later, it appeared again. Now the double train appears often (ridership must be up on our branch of the line), but infrequently enough that Andres still gets a kick out of seeing it pass. He's back to running to the window whenever a train passes so that he can catch a glimpse, however fleeting, of the magical double train.

Around the time that we saw our first double train something even more significant happened--Spencer arrived.

For the uninitiated, Spencer is a silver engine who runs with Thomas, Percy, and James on the Island of Sodor. He is a less popular (though no less critical) part of Sir Topham Hatt's fleet of trains, all of which strive to be Very Useful Engines.

In our neighborhood, the role of the fictional Spencer was played by a new (to us, anyway) MBTA engine all decked out in silver and red.

Spencer rumbles down Turner St.

The sight of this new engine was shocking. We had become so used to the staid gray and purple of the regular MBTA trains that this engine seemed like it had come from outer space. Andres immediately identified the newcomer as Spencer; he also took the step of naming the older trains (the ones we were more used to) Rosie.

So now, in the space of only a few weeks, the Fitchburg line was relevant again. Double trains had arrived, as had the magical Spencer. Train watching had never been so fun...a regular Rosie sighting could be made more interesting by the passing of a double train, while seeing Spencer was always a treat, even if a series of single-level passenger cars followed him. It shouldn't take much to figure out the Holy Grail of the MBTA: Spencer towing a double train. This combination has been elusive so far, though Andres seems pretty motivated to find it.