Grafton & Upton Railroad (G&U) Discussion

IIRC the Jackson machine in Upton Yard is a vibratory tamper.

Rich C

what exactly does a vibratory tamper do?

It uses electric motors with offset counter weights to create vibrations in the fingers that shake the ballast stone and compact it under and around the ties.

Rich C.

However a tamper doesn't really compact....it tamps the ballast, which is different.

What exactly is going on with the Grafton and Upton Railroad? I live in Hopedale and always pass the tracks. Is there any chance of the rails being used again?

I tried to buy the ge 44tonner #9 and they said it might be getting fixed they would know in a week or so something is brewing at G&U and it smells good!

I got this on one of the Yahoo Groups

CSX is headed for North Grafton with six cars for the G&U right now. The G&U should be out and about sometime
this afternoon.

And we thought they were dead...

The cars are most likely to be set off at North Grafton, where the contents will be trucked to Wheatabix in Clinton.

Can someone explain why Wheatabix gets cars in Grafton and then pays to truck the grain to Clinton when CSX could bring them within a mile by using their Clinton spur (to the junk dealer) and could even restore the track directly to Wheatabix. Only in America! BTW, when did the track to Wheatabix get torn up? PennCentral? New Haven?

In some cases the larger railroads are not interested in the smaller customer. In some cases the larger railroads can't tailor the service like a short line. In some cases the larger roads don't want the car load business compared to volume.

In this case it could be any of the above, or a financial charge to reopen the track, or any combination of things that made the deal less expensive to do it via the G&U. In any event the G&U needs additional business and revenues.

One of the short lines in NJ had a customer who wanted to ship out about 250 cars of product out per year, but the class one connection would not accept the cars unless the customer gauranteed 600 cars or a minimum payment for 600 cars. Said deal fell through. Short line lost 250 cars of potential revenue, class one status quo.

ewh wrote:Can someone explain why Wheatabix gets cars in Grafton and then pays to truck the grain to Clinton when CSX could bring them within a mile by using their Clinton spur (to the junk dealer) and could even restore the track directly to Wheatabix. Only in America! BTW, when did the track to Wheatabix get torn up? PennCentral? New Haven?

If I recall, the Wheatabix Spur was taken up before the end of the Conrail era in the late 1990's. The only customer left on that spur is Riesner, a scrap
metal dealer, and that spur is not that great to work, bad curves and a nasty
grade. The roadbed that ran from Wheatbix is now a baseball/soccer field last thing I recall. Reisner usually has 4-8 loads to be sent out per week of
scrap metal. The NiMby's are also on Reisner's case and want them moved out of the area.

J

My point is the scrap dealer is still getting cars every week. Sure, the spur is "unique" with it's curve and grade, but it has worked since the 1870's. Google Earth shows that a bridge on the row west of the ball field is still in place and the last time I was in Clinton the row was clear. This is not about a Class 1 screwing a short line, but a short line taking advantage of a Class 1's missed opportunity. Perhaps the real answer lies with those NIMBY's in Clinton. BTW Clinton would never have existed without the rail lines. I think the junk dealer adds ambiance to such a picture book New England town.

The line goes right next to the ball field but the bridge has fire damage to it. I have not walked further down the grade to see what it looks like the rest of the way.

Hi All--Anyone know the latest with the Grafton & Upton Rail? Looks like there was some activity last month?? Thanks!!!

I'm not sure if anyone else has heard the news, but 50% of the G&U has been sold and the remaining 50% probably going to be bought out in the next 4 years. The new owner has the full intent of restoring the entire railroad and plans on putting everything back into operation within 2 years. Everyone... the G&U is BACK!

Here are some very recent links to newspaper articles about the G&U.
http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x269372205
http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x2086329157