East Deerfield Gawking

Wait.... is there even capacity in EDF for that many cars and to be able to do any switching? Sounds like how NS was a few months ago, parking trains in all sidings everywhere. Of course, their recovery is like flipping a switch (not withstanding the hard work they put in behind the scenes) in that they can actually make things happen in days, instead of weeks or months.

newpylong wrote:Deerfield 1400 cars. Westbound Montague no power. Another Westbound at Lake Pleasant no power.

So....

How much worse can it get before the railroad is unrecoverable by PAR? Are they close to that point right now?

Last weekend, ALL sidings between Mowhawk and Fitchburg were full, some sidings holding 2 trains, with hi-railers reportedly picking up crews in the remote areas. I am sure some or all have moved out by now, but that is quite a stretch to be single tracked.

Went out to Deerfield today. Got there around 1000 and heard ED4 was down on the Conn River. Went south and caught up with them in Hatfield switching C&S with the 52-77 combo. They then had were gonna work Turfcare, then hold in Northampton for the Amtrak jobs. Afterwards work at PCA, Hercules, and Sullivan's. Back up at Deerfield AYED arrived around 1300 with the 615-3489-604 and 71 cars. The new yard clerk instructed them to yard on R5 with the ballast to R7 on top of 19 already there. The AD1 crew had earlier recrewed a CSX powered 60 car RJED at West portal and brought it to a tie down at the 112 bridge. Now they were hoping on their power 3003-605. They had 67 cars to bring west today. EDBF has the 313-307-314 to take north tonight. Hump had the GMTX slug set. Yard was jammed, Big MOED on Greenfield industrial. No other power was visible.

What's with the hy-rail behind ED4?

The Farmers co-op appears to have gone up in flames this morning...

atholrail wrote:The Farmers co-op appears to have gone up in flames this morning...

Roof-collapse related fire? Heard a bit on the news this morning that as of yesterday the state was up to 231 roof collapses from snow weight. And that total is going to increase dramatically in the next few days with the temps soaring into the 40's weighting down the pressure of the increasingly waterlogged snowpack that much further. And then a re-freeze late in the week creating lots more ice dams. Wouldn't be surprised if a week from today that tally is well over 300, with industrial warehouses being the main casualties. Expect at least 1 or 2 of those to be active rail customers.

I noticed when I was out there the end of January, it looked like they were getting ready to tear it down.

http://www.recorder.com/home/15970632-9 ... grain-mill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There have been so many different customers in that building, more than I can count!

http://www.fireground360.com/blog360deg ... -mill-fire" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great timing on getting OUT of the wood pellet biz.

Owner talks about the probable cause of the fire:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... ire_n.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is no real obvious signs of a fire there. Building looks much the same as it always does - pretty decrepit.

atholrail wrote:Went out to Deerfield today. Got there around 1000 and heard ED4 was down on the Conn River. Went south and caught up with them in Hatfield switching C&S with the 52-77 combo. They then had were gonna work Turfcare, then hold in Northampton for the Amtrak jobs. Afterwards work at PCA, Hercules, and Sullivan's. Back up at Deerfield AYED arrived around 1300 with the 615-3489-604 and 71 cars. The new yard clerk instructed them to yard on R5 with the ballast to R7 on top of 19 already there. The AD1 crew had earlier recrewed a CSX powered 60 car RJED at West portal and brought it to a tie down at the 112 bridge. Now they were hoping on their power 3003-605. They had 67 cars to bring west today. EDBF has the 313-307-314 to take north tonight. Hump had the GMTX slug set. Yard was jammed, Big MOED on Greenfield industrial. No other power was visible.

Thanks for the update and the pictures.

A close look at your 3rd image (file ED4046) shows two men in the lead engine of this train and one man in the 2nd engine. Would it be correct to assume that the guy sitting in the 2nd engine was deadheading? Also, any idea why there was a Pan Am hy-rail vehicle following this train?

Just a trainee. Track car was just doing a basic patrol.

Couple hours around Deerfield this morning. First up was MOED, who had canned at CPF 384 but was getting recrewed as I showed up. NS 9674-BNSF 5524-MEC 601 and 72 cars were onto R2 about 0805. Next up was the EGT. They arrived around 0930 with the BNSF 4701-9887-8238. They stopped at CPF 384 and brought their power to the house for refueling. Next was BFED. The ED4 recrew showed up around 1000. They had a big train (45-55 cars maybe more wasn't counting) and the 3003-307-504-314 for power. There was an RJED train on the Greenfield Industrial, and a POED train at Montague, both powerless. The airwaves also advised of a LCT at Soapstone, and a RJED at West Portal, both canned.