CV and B&M were regularly pooling power after 1976 because Conrail forced the CV into changing their interchange point to West Springfield, MA.

Interesting. So when was the CV allowed to interchange at Palmer?

Prior to the changed interchange point, the CV interchange was done at Palmer, Massachusetts. I used to work the day switcher there and our power was an Alco RS-2 number 5229. Which was the last RS-2 on the PC system. First move Monday thru Friday was to get the CV interchange which meant pulling 100-130 freight cars up a 1/2 percent grade to the run around which only held 12 cars. Palmer was happy when the interchange switched to Springfield as we would blanket downtown Palmer with a layer of smoke every morning around 6:30 AM pulling the CV drag up to the Palmer yard. Historical note, our locker room was in the next to the last original Boston and Albany engine house, single stall, red brick that the track department took over every winter to work on their machines. Still had a dirt floor. Oil fired steam heat. Showed up one morning at 5 AM unlocked the locker room and started the coffee maker and while making out my time card ( this was in February) I wondered what was wrong then realized I didn't hear the engine idling which was just outside the door and it was 5 degrees above zero. Climbed on the engine to discover the someone had been there and shut all the engine switches off including the engine control. Checked the engine water as water temperature was at 14 degrees and was surprised to see it still held water. The problem was the fuel pump motor relay had burned out so a block off wood kept it closed and when I hit the starter switch it came up to compression on the first cylinder and stalled. Released and tried it several times with the same result. Finally said screw it and held the starter switch saying to myself go ahead, blow the 450 amp slow blow starter fuse. After a long delay it worked through the compression and then was bugh, bugh, bugh, then amazingly started. Now I had to hold the cold block of steel until the low oil light went out which seemed to take forever. Then released the starter switch and as both contacts released the auxiliary generator kicked in. 5229 had two options, a low volt meter and a amperage meter to show the low voltage system. I was shocked when the engine dropped 50 rpm to a dead smooth idle instead of the usual rolling idle and the amp meter buried itself mechanically past the 300 amp marking as far as it would go. Once we tied onto the CV drag and started pulling by the time we came to a halt she was fully warmed up and as usual the Palmer fire department showed up wanting to know where the fire was from the smoke she created every morning. Finally put a halt to the every morning fire department run by inviting them two at a time to ride with us on the first move of the day, they had a blast. Because we were out in the boonies so to speak our engine always had good batteries. It took just over 8 hours to fully charge the locomotive batteries. And yes it still had a 244C engine, later RS-3's used the later model 244D engine. The short line that took over after the CV interchange point went to Springfield tore down the engine house which I thought was a mistake. I miss the old days Cheers!