CSX Boston and Albany Line

I read a few pages back that there are some intermodal trains that service West Springfield. Now that Worcester is operational, are there still intermodal trains stopping in West Springfield and if possible, could those trains be provided?

Stopped there briefly last weekend and a few times in the last few weeks, seems they're still getting stuff, could hear them over the radio re: the Schneider drivers. Caught some funny radio exchanges too.

MBTA F40PH-2C 1050 wrote:I read a few pages back that there are some intermodal trains that service West Springfield. Now that Worcester is operational, are there still intermodal trains stopping in West Springfield and if possible, could those trains be provided?

Oh yes. W. Springfield's slated for much the same types of intermodal renovations as Worcester got, plus state investment on improved road-and-truck access. It's very much the Boston Division's #1B intermodal yard due to convenient Mass Pike and I-91 access to every Western New England direction on the compass.

Hi there -

I am new to this forum, But I am not new to railfanning. I have been a railfan for over 30 years. However, I am new to railfanning in New England as I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. This coming weekend, I am planning my first trip to the CSX Boston And Albany Line between West Springield, Ma to Becket, Ma and I was wondering if anyone could tell me of any good spots that I could go to between those 2 locations. I have no desire to hike into any locations, So the locations would have to be car friendly. I have read up on the Chester area which is one spot that I am planning to go to while I am up in the area, But I am trying to figure out how to get to The Caboose at Middlefield as that is one location I would like to shoot trains from. I also would like to know the scanner frequency for that part of the line, So I can listen to the scanner while I am up there. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Eaglefan

If you were to come further East I'd be able to help you out with a few spots to check out, but I have yet to travel past Palmer (CP83) on the Boston & Albany mainline. At Palmer, there is a nice diner is there and parking lot right on the mainline, the NECR diamond is located here. There is also CP 64 in East Brookfield that has nice lighting in the morning hours, and CP 57 has good afternoon lighting, but is accessed by a dirt road. I'll leave West of the main up to someone else here

MBTA F40PH-2C 1050 wrote:If you were to come further East I'd be able to help you out with a few spots to check out, but I have yet to travel past Palmer (CP83) on the Boston & Albany mainline. At Palmer, there is a nice diner is there and parking lot right on the mainline, the NECR diamond is located here. There is also CP 64 in East Brookfield that has nice lighting in the morning hours, and CP 57 has good afternoon lighting, but is accessed by a dirt road. I'll leave West of the main up to someone else here

Thanks, But I have railfanned at the Steaming Tender in Palmer a number of times in the last year. My last visit to Palmer was back in December of 2012. I will most likely make a trip to Palmer in May. And just for the record, I live in Westminster, Ma so I dont make that many trips out toward the west that often considering that gas is expensive and I have to use premium gas on top of it for my 1997 mitsubishi eclipse GSX. Ayer, Shirley, Gardner, Spencer, and Worcester are the areas that I mostly Railfan

Radio:
Road Channel 160.800
NA/NB Dispatchers: 160.560 and 160.680
Yard: 160.070

Locations, going west from the 100 (west end of WSP yard):

West Springfield:
*If you park at the end of Sears Way you can see anything going on at the west end of the yard (notably, Q019 will make a pickup around 07:30, Q425 will be putting their train together and will be on the move by 10:30 or so). Don't drive into the yard; it's private property.
*Bridge Street crossings (QB 101): About a mile further west, on the other side of CP-100. Good place to see things coming in/out of the yard.

Westfield:
*Grade crossing at "Salt City" (Williams Riding Way, QB 107): Most trains will be flat out on the 50 mph speed limit through here, a little more convenient parking-wise than downtown.
*Downtown: Angles are probably different with the new bridge, also on the way to Huntington.
*CP-109: A bit of a pain to get to with the Pochassic Street bridge closed, but a nice spot with signal warning and a long straightaway going west.

Woronoco/Russell:
*Woronoco Grade Crossing: Not the greatest shot, but you can probably get warning from the Russell detector if you have a scanner.
*Russell Main Street overpass: Less great since the power line for the new detector went up, but it's still doable if you're chasing. The 35mph speed restriction just west of here will slow trains down in both directions.

Huntington:
*Downtown: You can shoot from the bridge (less good since it has acquired a fence, but you can shoot around it for a westbound in the afternoon) or from the large dirt area adjacent to the "yard."
*Along US-20: Any number of shots can be had from the Upper Russell Road crossing, the bluff at the far end of the curve (westbounds only) or any of the other grassy areas between the road and the tracks.

Chester:
*CP-123 area: Old State Road goes over the tracks right off route 20. Not a bad chase spot.
*In town: In addition to the depot area (at the end of Main Street), there's a couple of MOW turnouts off Bay State Drive (need to be approached from the west end because of bridge construction).
*"West" (North) of Town: There are a few shots from the farm crossings in the neighborhood of QB 127. If you park at the Keystone Arch trailhead and hike down the hill ~50ft you can see eastbounds coming off the Stone Arch Bridge.

Bancroft:
*The caboose can be reached by parking at the bottom of the access road off Bancroft Road/Town Hill Road. The stone arch bridge also makes for a nice shot (keep going on the road a little bit longer until it ducks under the tracks).

Becket:
*The "downtown" area of North Becket offers an unfenced bridge (Westbounds only) as well as a ground-level shot of the tracks along Pleasant Street.

Washington:
*Ballou's Crossing (QB 135): Pretty canonical B&A drive-in spot, home to the "Becket" hotbox/dragging equipment detector and a rustic-looking grade crossing.
*Westbound summit (QB 137): Not the real summit, but the site of a small level spot beginning at the west end of the Washington Cut. Summit Hill Road goes over the top of the cut, though this shot has gotten more grown in, and the west end of the cut can be seen from an MOW turnout ("Cat Lady Crossing") just off Upper Valley Road.

Hinsdale:
*Downtown Hinsdale (QB 142) has parking on both sides of the tracks and is home to the eastbound false summit (level track from 139 to 142).

Thanks for all the info Csor......Some good info there. Can someone tell me what street where the old West Springfield station is that I see alot of videos on youtube?

Eaglefan9727 wrote:Thanks for all the info Csor......Some good info there. Can someone tell me what street where the old West Springfield station is that I see alot of videos on youtube?

Bridge Street.

Here is some more information from The Steaming Tender (Palmer, MA) http://steamingtender.com/downloads/TrainSchedule.pdf

Looking for a photographer, he was taking night shots around Beckett end of March, beginning of April. Please PM me.

On my way to work today, I encountered a reasonably lengthy eb Q436 crossing Main St in Ashland, MA at 8:30AM. I would guess it consisted of 50ish cars with a half dozen large CSX hoppers that appeared to loaded with coal (I was ~100 yards away stopped in a line of cars at the crossing). Is there now a coal consumer in eastern Mass? TIA.

Last year when my dad and I took the eastbound Vermonter
We had to wait for a CSX train not sure which one or destination
Same thing westbound and didn't see the Lake Shore Limited

johnpbarlow wrote:On my way to work today, I encountered a reasonably lengthy eb Q436 crossing Main St in Ashland, MA at 8:30AM. I would guess it consisted of 50ish cars with a half dozen large CSX hoppers that appeared to loaded with coal (I was ~100 yards away stopped in a line of cars at the crossing). Is there now a coal consumer in eastern Mass? TIA.

On the Middleboro Mainline, there is a siding, Stiles & Hart at MP 30.9, that takes loaded coal cars every now and then, could be the possible destination

1) Is the Beacon Park engine yard still open? Haven't been by there since end of April, but it was still quite busy at the time.

2) Since the Grand Junction has been closed again for more bridge repair, is the handoff of the Everett job to PAR now permanent or is CSX going to/thinking of resuming it when the line is reopened?