Is the CoOp or Sanford Hawley still receiving or shipping carloads ? I usually catch the local on the bridge over I-84 once a month or so, but nothing recently.
Railroad Forums
FLRailFan1 wrote:I bet if the CSO had the full line east of Manchester (to Willimantic), the line would be busy.Hauling what? What sort of untapped market for carload freight lies between Manchester and Willimantic? There was basically no on-line business east of Manchester when the line was abandoned in 1970, and there's far less market for carload freight business in Connecticut in general now than there was back then. The main reason Hartford-Willimantic lasted as long as it did after the end of passenger service in 1955 was because it was part of the New Haven's convoluted route for autoracks and other overdimensional cars (Maybrook-Derby Jct.-Waterbury-Hartford-Willimantic-Plainfield-Putnam-Boston). Once Penn Central rerouted that traffic to the B&A in 1969, the Midland unfortunately had nothing left to justify its upkeep.
FLRailFan1 wrote:I bet if the CSO had the full line east of Manchester (to Willimantic), the line would be busy. CSO tries to get business that the PC/Conrail didn't care about. (Of course, I wish it was back along with the old Rockville branch). Granted, the changing economy of Connecticut from manufacturing to Service, killed the need of trains. But think about CSO running to South Manchester and Rockville/Ellington.)PLEASE! Enough! That line is NOT coming back because there is NO demand for interchange between P&W and CSOR that will justify the MILLIONS it would take to rebuild the line from the ground up. Let's not even START on the whole NIMBY issue of wresting the trail back from it's currently state.
Larry wrote: I agree this line needs to be opened to Willimantic and the time is now with the NH to Sprfd Amtrak line going to be doubled tracked and their fees that they charge CSO per car load as well.Based on what? There is no demand for freight at all between these two points and if you think MA is having trouble getting SCR past the voters/NIMBYs in that area, just watch what would happen if CT ever got serious about retaking the trail back for rail use.
Larry wrote:I believe that is what FLrailfan1 is saying and I also believe it would help all out, tie CSO together with NECentral. I also think P&W would also benefit from the connection as well as CNZR to get away from CSX. Just a thought but I know it will never happen.That is what I'm saying. If a New England Central customer (say a lumber mill) had to ship lumber to home depot, it will go to Palmer on NEC, to Selkirk on CSX, back to West Springfield on CSX, to Hartford on CSO (added expense of Amtrak's cut) to home depot on CNEZ. If the route was intact, and CNEZ had trackage rights on it... it would be NEC to Willimantic, then CNEZ to Home Depot... (Cheaper). P&W could have trackage rights over it, so they could take freight off AMTRAK (save $$ for rail customers).
FLRailFan1 wrote:So how many lumber mills that supply HD are there on NECR?Larry wrote:I believe that is what FLrailfan1 is saying and I also believe it would help all out, tie CSO together with NECentral. I also think P&W would also benefit from the connection as well as CNZR to get away from CSX. Just a thought but I know it will never happen.That is what I'm saying. If a New England Central customer (say a lumber mill) had to ship lumber to home depot, it will go to Palmer on NEC, to Selkirk on CSX, back to West Springfield on CSX, to Hartford on CSO (added expense of Amtrak's cut) to home depot on CNEZ. If the route was intact, and CNEZ had trackage rights on it... it would be NEC to Willimantic, then CNEZ to Home Depot... (Cheaper). P&W could have trackage rights over it, so they could take freight off AMTRAK (save $$ for rail customers).