Valley Line to Hartford for interchange?

Anybody know when the PW Valley line to Hartford is to be used again for interchange with CSOR? Seems ashame for all the rehab work put into the line and have it be not active now.

Xian

When the state shells out more $cash$.

Xian, I heard from a source with P&W connections that track work to reopen the line will start this spring.
Current economic conditions have reduced the C&D debris traffic quite a bit, and C&D might have a lower level in the winter even in good times.

CVRA7 wrote:Xian, I heard from a source with P&W connections that track work to reopen the line will start this spring.
Current economic conditions have reduced the C&D debris traffic quite a bit, and C&D might have a lower level in the winter even in good times.

Then this is the perfect time to fix it.

It should also be noted that the line is also out of service due to the mainline being used as a loading area in Cromwell for large power plant equipment being moved to Middletown. There have already been two moves by the P&W and a string of flatcars currently sits under the temporary lifting rig which has been installed across the tracks. Thre tracks have been flooded with stone to allow large trucks to back up the tracks to the lifting rig to unload their cargo. See this link (and related links): http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... y=bobbarbn

Any new (or updates on old) rumors about P&W ever using/fixing the line south of Middletown? (OTHER than the new plant at Maromas.)

Haven't heard anything "new" about extending service to and through Maromas. When I worked for Connecticut Central we moved some equipment to Pratt & Whitney (the other P&W). That is about the last time I remember a train going that far south. The tracks are not in that great of a condition down that far. In fact, the power plant equipment moves had to be offloaded onto trucks in Middletown to make the final move to the power plant, as the rails were not in shape to support the move entirely to the power plant.

I presume that the Valley Railroad is still hoping to make Middletown at some point in the future and the P&W (the railroad) did, at one time, have thoughts of running from Saybrook to Middletown (and beyond, perhaps). Of course this all requires money and in these economic times I doubt that there is much available, even from the State. As you may be aware, the State (or at least some politicians) have proposed expanding commuter rail up the AMTRAK Springfield line from New Haven to Hartford/Springfield. There has also been a proposal to run commuter traffic back to Waterbury over the old Highland Division. I'm sure that these projects would receive funding way before anything to restore the Valley Branch, where there would be few (if any) customers below Middletown. It all comes down to need and funding.

Eh,...
that's ab out what I figgured, but I thought I'd ask.
Thanks for the scoop.

I don't think this equipment is going to the power plant at Laurel - I believe it's going to a new power plant up the hill a bit, on the site of the old feldspar mine. Otherwise I would think they would have rebuilt the existing trackage to the Laurel plant instead of transferring it to over the road at one of the River Rd crossings like I was told they'd be doing.

Yes, that would jive with what I've heard around the VRR shops.

bobbarbn wrote: I presume that the Valley Railroad is still hoping to make Middletown at some point in the future and the P&W (the railroad) did, at one time, have thoughts of running from Saybrook to Middletown (and beyond, perhaps). Of course this all requires money and in these economic times I doubt that there is much available, even from the State.

It was fairly recently that P&W wanted to run down the Valley line, which would have been great for VRR, as they would have gotten free track improvements in exchange for trackage rights or something like that. I doubt anything will happen soon though, as there's not much use for the line, and as it is, the Valley doesn't run steam north of Chester, and only runs a couple of trains a week to Haddam.

It was seriously studied to haul freight down the Valley, but I doubt that capital would offset the slightly higher costs of operating down the Springfield Line and over the Shore Line, and there is certainly no shortage of dispatching capacity in the middle of the night.

VRR has, over the past 5-10 years, gotten the line operable a bit farther north, and put in a yard for the dinner train to run around. If the line ever were restored, it would be great for them to have an operable connection to the "outside world" or at least a bit of it (Saybrook is operable for P&W to take stuff in and out, but not for the Valley's locomotives, since they are not equipped to go on the main line). Presumably, they could run an occasional steam excursion over P&W trackage to Wallingford over the Air Line or Hartford farther up the Valley Line.

As far as I know, however, they have no plans to run farther north, as they have to "build" 3025 and do a heavy and expensive overhaul on #97.

All that being said, the only piece of right of way that is not intact is through the middle of a marina that is trespassing on the CDEP ROW, and it is intact, so when/if the money was available, the line could be reconnected.

BiggAW wrote:All that being said, the only piece of right of way that is not intact is through the middle of a marina that is trespassing on the CDEP ROW, and it is intact, so when/if the money was available, the line could be reconnected.

Having hiked the line several times, there is more than just the marina obstacle.... there's (from s-n), the marina, a backfilled driveway near the Shad Shack high bridge, and a washout north of Haddam Meadows. The P&W fence and monitoring wells were moved and all the brush cleared, so that obstacle is gone. There are also a couple of big bridges that need overhauls (Shad Shack bridge and the Higganum Creek bridge). So while the entire line is cleared of a lot of brush (and more clearing would be required to run standard trains through there), there's still much to be done and it will cost $$$.

I would say that that track overhaul would likely be the way it was rebuilt Cromwell-Dividend: rip up the old, regrade the roadbed, lay new (or new to the location) track.
As for the Marina, either the VRR or the state should be charging them rent, preferably retroactively! They've been encroaching at least since the late 1970s!

Here is a view of the track in Cromwell, north of Main Street, where two loaded flatcars await the P&W for transport to MIddletown. http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20090 ... 521092.jpg

shadyjay wrote:... there's still much to be done and it will cost $$$.

I wasn't saying that its ready for trains to roll, I was just saying that the ROW (the property not the physical roadbed) is intact and not split up into a gazillion little pieces, so the line could be rebuilt give the $$ and the desire to do so (steam in Middletown anyone?).

CVRA7 wrote: As for the Marina, either the VRR or the state should be charging them rent, preferably retroactively! They've been encroaching at least since the late 1970s!

Good thinking! I vote VRR, but it all depends on how the lease it written, and if they could sub-let. Legally, the marina might just have to be kicked off, as the state is leasing the track to VRR and VRR only, and VRR probably can't sublet it, but I haven't read the least, so I don't know for sure.