Hamden, CT freight yard.

What kind of train go in/out of this yard and where do they usually go?

There have been no trains in Hamden, CT in nearly 40 years, since Penn Central abandoned the lower end of the New Haven's Canal Line branch. So I'm sure that what you're asking about is what's left of the NH's Cedar Hill Yard along I-91 in New Haven and North Haven. This is the remnant of what was once New England's largest freight yard, currently operated by CSX and also used by the Connecticut Southern and the Providence & Worcester. CSX switches the yard and provides local freight service towards West Haven but runs no road jobs in or out. CS comes down from Hartford with a daily road freight. P&W runs out of New Haven on three routes, on Amtrak's Shore Line east to Old Saybrook, the former NH Air Line to Middletown, and west on Metro North with stone trains to Danbury and Long Island. Additionally, Amtrak uses the former westbound departure yard at the south end of the yard to store maintenance equipment. A surviving concrete coaling tower from steam days is a prominent landmark there.

Wasn't CSX serving a lumber outfit in Darien, CT of the Northeast Corridor?

bwparker1 wrote:Wasn't CSX serving a lumber outfit in Darien, CT of the Northeast Corridor?

Cedar Hill is the dividing line between local rights north, east, and west. CSX has everything west on the New Haven Line to NYC, P&W's rights run east on the Shoreline and north up the Air Line + Valley Line to Wethersfield/Hartford, CSO's run north the whole length of the Springfield Line. P&W only runs overhead west to NYC on the New Haven Line for its stone train and to access the Danbury Branch where it has local rights. Pan Am Southern also has overhead rights to Cedar Hill on the Springfield Line, although I don't think they ever venture south of Berlin having far better CSX interchange options in Massachusetts.

There are quite a few local customers on the New Haven Line. And one a few hundred feet down the Stratford Industrial Track (which has pretty much been reduced to just a glorified siding for that one customer). But nothing sizeable enough for them to run a dedicated local out of Cedar Hill. I think they just cover those customers en route to/from New York.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:There are quite a few local customers on the New Haven Line. And one a few hundred feet down the Stratford Industrial Track (which has pretty much been reduced to just a glorified siding for that one customer). But nothing sizeable enough for them to run a dedicated local out of Cedar Hill. I think they just cover those customers en route to/from New York.

Having just ridden the line last week for the umpteenth time, I have to question your definition of "quite a few". There's a construction debris customer in West Haven and one or two other active sidings in that area, the Stratford Industrial Track, Ring's End Lumber in Darien, and one more lumber customer in Mammaroneck. As far as I know, that's it for on-line freight between New Haven and New Rochelle, a tiny fraction of what there was in NH days. CSX runs no through freights between Cedar Hill and Oak Point, rather there are locals originating at each end that run only as far as required for the day's business.

Definitely thought this was Hamden. Thanks for all the info! It's insane to believe this small yard used to be one of the biggest in New England.

theseaandalifesaver wrote:Definitely thought this was Hamden. Thanks for all the info! It's insane to believe this small yard used to be one of the biggest in New England.

Not "one of the biggest" but the BIGGEST. Next in line after this was probably East Deerfield on the Boston and Maine which still has some operations. Worcester is the other yard in New England that is still relatively busy. There are two or three yards in Northern New England too but I doubt if they rival the activity at East Deerfield or Worcester.
Noel Weaver

Rigby Yard in South Portland, Maine is often cited as "the largest rail yard in New England" but maybe that only refers to the physical size and not how busy it is...? Although it certainly appears to me that it's at least as busy as East Deerfield and Worcester.

Is Cedar Hill yard the one Amtrak's Springfield line goes by?

fl9m2004 wrote:Is Cedar Hill yard the one Amtrak's Springfield line goes by?

Yes, it goes by part of it and more of it can be seen in the distance
Noel Weaver

Is the line connected to the NEC at all?

theseaandalifesaver wrote:Is the line connected to the NEC at all?

Yes, that's how they get those trains in and out.

The south end of Cedar Hill is basically a big wye with connections to the NEC in both eastbound and westbound directions, near the point where I-91 approaches the railroad. At the north end there is a mile or so of connecting trackage north of the yard throat that is visible from I-91. It joins the Amtrak Springfield line just south of the site of the former North Haven passenger station. The Springfield line itself runs parallel to the yard but west of the active portion, separated by marshland.

theseaandalifesaver wrote:Is the line connected to the NEC at all?

Yes. The wye into Cedar Hill is right next to the Springfield Line split and right next to I-91 where it crosses the Quinnipiac River: http://goo.gl/maps/lDgOL" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. You can see on the overhead view it's a very complex junction...co-mingled with the Air Line/NEC split, bi-directional off the NEC. And...a second completely redundant NB access point off the Springfield Line right after it splits from the NEC that feeds only the yard and not the Air Line. P&W uses the wye leg off the Shoreline to reach the yard and serve its Air Line locals.

AND...there's a third access point SB from the Springfield Line access point nearly 4 miles north in North Haven right by the I-91/CT 40 interchange: http://goo.gl/maps/LmzYE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Yard-only, no Air Line access. That's where CSO peels off and where Pan Am Southern would peel off if they used their overhead rights this far down.


That's how big this yard used to be. It was huge and long and spread out with various smaller auxiliary yards and needed redundant leads from all area lines to balance the humongous traffic load coming into it.


EDIT: Tom beat me to it.