O & G New Milford, new spur?

http://blog.ctnews.com/offbeat/2013/11/ ... ad-siding/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
O & G Has their own loco/s ?????
Joe D

joetrain59 wrote:http://blog.ctnews.com/offbeat/2013/11/ ... ad-siding/
O & G Has their own loco/s ?????
Joe D

Anything's possible, and it's not unheard of for a quarry operator to own locomotives or even run an entire railroad (Branford Steam, for instance.) That said, the article also says O&G is going to be shipping crushed stone in boxcars (!?) so I'm not sure how accurate the details are here.

Ridgefielder wrote:

joetrain59 wrote:http://blog.ctnews.com/offbeat/2013/11/ ... ad-siding/
O & G Has their own loco/s ?????
Joe D

Anything's possible, and it's not unheard of for a quarry operator to own locomotives or even run an entire railroad (Branford Steam, for instance.) That said, the article also says O&G is going to be shipping crushed stone in boxcars (!?) so I'm not sure how accurate the details are here.

In bags?? In Boxcars?? Maybe the stones will be for the homeowners for landscaping?? New business for the Housy, Nice!!

I'm very curious as to where there hauling it to. Points south on the Housatonic doesn't have a lot of customer options that I'm aware of. Especially with tore up track east and Metro North property west. Would they interchange in Danbury with P&W ?

P&W brings stone from CT to NYC & Long Island customers - maybe they're hoping to tap this market? Over the last few years aggregate customers here have really taken to rail delivery. P&W used to make the run once or twice a week in the warm months - the last few years they've been up to 3 trips a day with 60-90 cars each being the norm. Rumor is it'll be even more frequent in the years ahead.

There is an O&G plant right near the Danbury Fair Mall. It looks like the stone will be hauled from the quarry to the Ready Mix plant by rail, instead of trucking it there like they do now.

Eric

Hauling by rail to ready-Mix plant by Mall would take a LOT of their trucks off RT.7.
Joe D

pomperaugrr wrote:There is an O&G plant right near the Danbury Fair Mall. It looks like the stone will be hauled from the quarry to the Ready Mix plant by rail, instead of trucking it there like they do now.

Eric

I doubt there's been a movement west of White Street since those rescue moves of stranded equipment after the Danbury Branch washed out in the spring of '11. Here, for what it's worth, are pictures from Google Street View of the track at the Main Street crossing-
Looking east: http://goo.gl/maps/0w0rZ
Looking west: http://goo.gl/maps/Bn7Jc

Wonder what kind of shape the track is in under all that brush.

Not in good shape,thats for sure,by now the ties are compost, Mill Plain is in a swamp,that part of the ROW
is most likely unstable at the sub-roadbed level by by now.

I agree with the above two posts. Those pictures really sum it up. That's pretty much the extent of that line all the way to the state line were at least Metro North had cut all the fallen trees and sprayed this past year. I was walking around the state line and if you didn't know that there was tracks there you would have thought it was an over grown old row with trees down/ brush up over 5 feet high and deteriorated ties is an under statement...... Is anyone exactly sure that this is going to be the destination for the stone or just an assumption? Seems like HRRC would have to do a lot of work to the line for several cars a month. Then again any customer when you only have a few is a good customer....

AMK0123 wrote:I agree with the above two posts. Those pictures really sum it up. That's pretty much the extent of that line all the way to the state line were at least Metro North had cut all the fallen trees and sprayed this past year. I was walking around the state line and if you didn't know that there was tracks there you would have thought it was an over grown old row with trees down/ brush up over 5 feet high and deteriorated ties is an under statement...... Is anyone exactly sure that this is going to be the destination for the stone or just an assumption? Seems like HRRC would have to do a lot of work to the line for several cars a month. Then again any customer when you only have a few is a good customer....

I think HRCC's assumption is probably that overturned cars full of stone is easier to clean up than overturned cars full of chemicals or trash or lumber. Plus, they only have to make it upright about 1/3 mile across those first 4 grade crossings past DRM to avoid making the 6:00 news. The overgrowth the rest of the way will leave no one the wiser.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:I think HRCC's assumption is probably that overturned cars full of stone is easier to clean up than overturned cars full of chemicals or trash or lumber. Plus, they only have to make it upright about 1/3 mile across those first 4 grade crossings past DRM to avoid making the 6:00 news. The overgrowth the rest of the way will leave no one the wiser.

Unless of course they happen to derail on the Lake Avenue overpass...

The original article I read indicated that O&G planned to have the HRRC transport about 40 car loads of stone per week from the New Milford Quarry to its plant in Danbury. Who knows if it will happen, butthere is a possibility.

Eric

If some of the stone cars derail, just tip them over and spread it on the tracks - they probably need the ballast. Use duct tape to mend the ties. If that is not possible, replace the ties with overgrown trees cut along the ROW.

On a serious note, would cement ties work better than wooden ties in swampy areas?

Crappy drainage and the ties disintegrating is why Metro North had all that Bronx ROW work - so my educated guess is probably not.