New England Central Railroad (NECR)

Cowford wrote:What is the weight of hte CWR being laid? The subject was broached earlier in this thread, but not answered.

I haven't seen anything about whether the funds actually came through for this, but NECR's press release says that the upgrades on their mainline for the Vermonter included 286K CWR: http://www.railamerica.com/RAnews/09-09 ... rvice.aspx.

I can't imagine they'd be interested in doing the CWR at all if it wasn't 286K. That'd be a wasted opportunity they'd be better off passing on and trying again later, so odds are the weight upgrade is indeed part of it.

The press release didn't cover that, but usually #100 rail is an adequate minimum for freight, given other requirements mentioned in the release -- adequate ties and bridge work.
Since this is supposed to be high-speed passenger-capable, a look into the grant application/award should hold the answer.

From page 9 -

... The undertaking of this project will provide benefits to NECR freight operations, their customers and the
overall economies of the four states this rail line serves. The project will upgrade the infrastructure to allow the
NECR line, to accommodate 286,000 (286K) pound rail cars. ...

See the application here: http://railroads.vermont.gov/ARRA.htm

Track 1a - Vermonter/NECR Route Improvements - (200KB pdf file) - The purpose of the Vermonter/NECR Rail Improvements project is to improve the conditions of the track, roadbed and bridges along the current route of the Amtrak Vermonter Service in Vermont and New Hampshire resulting in an increase track speed for a distance of 45 miles to 79 MPH and the remaining 145 miles from 55 MPH to 59 MPH. These improvements will reduce the operating schedule by up to 27 minutes and guarantees a more consistent, year round OTP by this train.

http://railroads.vermont.gov/documents/ ... ment1a.pdf

For some reporting on the project and photos of the 115 RE CWR see:

http://steelwheelsphotography.blogspot. ... d-hsr.html

Gil, known as Bill somedays ...

[quote="F-line to Dudley via Park"][quote="CPF363"]and only maintains 3 cab signal locomotives in its fleet to traverse the Springfield Line into CT. [/quote]
The last I knew, MEC 350-353 were equipped with cab signals for use on Amtrak. Did one get retired?

CVRA7 wrote:

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:and only maintains 3 cab signal locomotives in its fleet to traverse the Springfield Line into CT.

The last I knew, MEC 350-353 were equipped with cab signals for use on Amtrak. Did one get retired?

I think they may have swapped out the cab signal unit on one of them when they were playing musical chairs in the repair line. May only be a temporary condition, but they have been operating for some time with only 3 of the 4 Springfield Line-eligible locos in active service. Not that they even need that many when they only go into CT once or twice a week.

Just a note here,

Pan Am does not use "wayside signalling" unless we are talking about CTC via track code. The poles came down (at least in District 3) years ago and they were converted to track code. What they do not have is PTC ie Cab Signalling. They have sections of mainline in Maine north of Rigby that are equipped with ABS signals to protect against occupancy but authority is still via Form D. It is a weird combo...

The weight of the rail doesn't really have anything to do with the 286K clearance, it mostly is the bridgework that needs to be upgraded.

How is progress on the installation of rail going on the NECR? Are more rail trains due? Will the rail installation crews make it to East Northfield by the end of September? How is the tie job going also?

Posted on the NECR Yahoo group 8/10/11:
"Southbound Rail Train through Waterbury,VT at 8:50 am. Didn't see the
power.

John"

Rail is laid and installed to south of Claremont Junction NH. As of a couple of weeks ago, the surfacing crew was still north of Waterbury VT. Not sure how far they've progressed so far.

Update: Southbound rail train pulled into the siding at Claremont Junction NH at 2:35pm.

Surfacing crew has been through Waterbury. Stopped by there two days ago - what a difference! Fresh ballast, new ties, welded rail, a whole new railroad.

I believe they are down around Montpelier now, at least.

First up, the Amtrak Vermont is slated to make another attempted return on Friday, August 12 with the northbound #56 run. Both north and southbound trains will run through August 17, when on the 17th, only the southbound #55 will operate. That is all contingent on timing over the slow-order trackage that exists due to the project. The last attempt to run the trains on July 22, resulted in more than 4 hours of slow orders and the train was halted at White River Jct. That stretch of 6 days was then covered by buses. Bustitution will return on August 17 with the northbound run and run through September 1, when the train is to return for the next 6-day block. Significant progress has been made in reducing the slow orders created by the new rail installation, however many still do exist.

The operation of Amtrak coincides with the work gangs 6-day rest period. The Atlas Rail Gang had reached the end of available (on hand) rail to install last week and over last weekend, reinstalled (with 'relay' 115-pound stick rail) the White River Jct. siding. For those who aren't familiar with the project, the Atlas Rail gang was doing the east rail, while RailWorks was installing the west rail. That said, Atlas finished out the available welded rail at mile 155 of the Palmer Subdivision, roughly Charlestown, NH, before going back to do the WRJ siding. They then took on a variety of finishing projects north of White River Jct., before ending today. The RailWorks rail gang was shipped back north on the Roxbury Sub to the Randolph area to work on gauging from mile 48 south to Windsor, VT (mile 0 of Roxbury Sub).

Rail Train #16 arrived ahead of Rail Train #15, as #16 has 136-pound rail destined for the stretch around Bellows Falls. 136-pound sections had already been delivered on Rail Train #13 and were dropped from north of the Connecticut River bridge in North Walpole, NH to the Bellows Falls Tunnel for the new redesigned interchange and diamond crossing area with the Vermont Rail System there. With Rail Train #16 on the property, the RailWorks CWR Laying Gang will join up with the LB Foster Rep for laying rail south from mile 155 on the Palmer Sub this weekend. Rail Train #15 is slated to be on the property on Friday or Saturday, but will be staged in St. Albans or Brattleboro, pending availability of the installation crews off Rail Train #16. Rail Train #17 will be released and shipped from the SDI Columbia City, IN mill on August 16, while Rail Train #18 (the final rail train for the project) is tentatively slated to be shipped on September 6.


Rail Train #16 rolls toward Windsor, VT on August 10, 2011.

Unitrac is busy picking up the OTM (rail and old spikes, anchors, plates, etc.) and relay rails south of Claremont Jct., NH toward the end of the current completed portion. More work will exist for them after the install gangs get the next 7+ miles of rail installed from Rail Train #16. Unitrac had been staged at White River Jct. for sorting and car loading, however that operation has temporarily been or will be shortly moved to the north end of Claremont Jct. adjacent to the siding.

The RailWorks tie gang is working south from Roxbury, VT and continues to work at steady pace. C&G Surfacing is right behind them and had worked south of the Montpelier Jct., VT area earlier this week. The RailWorks tie removal/salvage gang is working south from Milton, VT retrieving the discarded ties for disposal. Of note, ties may not be inherited by a private individual, whether by 'permission' or by sale. RailAmerica has strict liability rules and is selling most of the ties to the large Pennsylvania Koppers Co-Gen power plant. Also in the Montpelier Jct. area is the RJ Corman Construction crews responsible for the building and installation of the new high speed siding switches.

Other contractors are as follows:

• Atlas Bridge is working on Bridge 33.75 on the Roxbury Sub
• RailWorks Bridge is working on Bridge 33.57 on the Roxbury Sub
• Balfour Beatty is upgrading and replacing crossing protection signals at mile 46 on the Roxbury Sub
• ECI Rail is working on the upgraded CTC system that will be in place south from White River Jct. to East Northfield

The project is shaping up as follows 8/5:

• Rail Installation (Atlas/RailWorks combined) is at 74.85% complete
• 2011 Tie Installation is at 44.85% complete
• 2011 Surfacing is at 37.46% complete
• 2011 Suface Ballasting is at 32.14% complete
• Turnout installation is at 15% complete
• Public Crossings 34.09% complete
• Private Crossings 42.86% complete
• Bridge work is 30% complete
• Signal work is collectively near complete

Did the project include replacement of the 115lb welded rail installed by CN (CN selectively installed CWR between Bethel and Montpelier) or did the contractor replace curve worn areas of the welded rail? What will the redesigned Bellows Falls section look like when all is completed? What is the total number of miles of 136lb rail to be ultimately installed on the NECR and is it only on the Conn River portion of the line or in other places?

The project has left intact several miles of the 115-pound rail that has long been in place.  The curves did get patched on several - one really bad one at mile 15.89 in Hartford.

Bellows Falls and North Walpole will have the 136-pound rail installed - mainly in the area of interchange between the VRS and NECR.  There isn't more than a mile of the heavier rail and only in that section.

The redesigned BF area will see the diamond pushed south 30 feet and an easement of the VRS BF Runner into the NECR.  This new connection will allow the use of 6-axle power and ease the wear on longer equipment utilizing the runner.

Hopefully that answers your questions.  Feel free to throw out any more you may have!  Thanks...

thanks for the great update, Kevin! Welcome aboard!

For those of you not familiar with Kevin's work, posted on the yahooVRS group, have a peek at this http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=361882 wonderful picture of how they used to do it back in the day....April 2011.

Thanks so much for the good feedback. Here are a few more questions:

What will the interlocking at East Northfield look like when all is said and done? Is it slated to be replaced with a high speed diverging switch towards the B&M Conn River Line or the NECR Palmer Sub? The old jointed 115lb rail that is being removed throughout the line, are there any plans by the NECR to weld this into relay welded rail for use on other parts of the NECR, possibly south of East Northfield or north of St. Albans or could it be used to upgrade other sidings?