I can hear the flanges squealing as Motorman Fred takes his Park Service Trolley around one of the tightest curves on the line in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts. He's approaching the Suffolk Mill stop, where he will pick up a Park Ranger and a sizeable tour group. The trolleys in Lowell utilize former Boston & Maine inner city trackage, which once carried freight cars to and from the city's many industrial mills. Some of the curves on these lines are incredibly tight, necessitating the use of grooved rail, which the crews regularly grease to reduce flange wear...and the noise. Watching the trolleys negotiate some of these curves makes me really wonder how the B&M 0-6-0s ever got around the city back in the day.
The attractive and modern-looking building behind the trolley is the new Jean D'Arc Credit Union Headquarters. It replaced a crumbling historic mill building that the city determined just could not be saved. The City of Lowell apparently has ordinances that require new structures to blend well with the existing historic ones, hence the the new credit union build features a combination of red brick and glass.
