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  • Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

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Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by Ridgefielder
 
Noel Weaver wrote:Spring (SS-274 under the New Haven) was closed sometime between 1989 and 1993, most likely I have the date here somewhere but it was too much to try to find tonight. The roof was flattened long before the tower was closed. It was closed as part of the project when the second track was pulled out over much of this line and control was transferred to the train dispatcher in Boston. I probably have the approximate date of closing of Tower 40 on the B & A which was the one in the station but again the date is not handy. The Boston and Maine also had a tower in Springfield, WA tower was closed around the time the B & M cut in the CTC on the Conn. River back in the mid 60's. In order to turn equipment on the wye it took action by all three towers working together.
Noel Weaver
This might be a stupid question, but why wasn't there a "union" tower controlling moves over all three roads through the station complex? Was the Springfield setup the normal practice in pre-Amtrak days at places like Worcester or Albany, where there was a union station but no "union" terminal railroad like Portland Terminal Co. or Washington Terminal?

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by TomNelligan
 
At Worcester, the New Haven and B&A had their own towers controlling their portions of the trackage west of the station. Pittsfield Union Station trackage was controlled by the B&A/NYC. Each railroad's rulebook and employee timetables would provide the procedures for movements across the jurisdictional boundaries. South Station was of course operated by the jointly-owned Boston Terminal Company.

Why weren't things consolidated? That's just the way things evolved from the days when manually-controlled interlockings were the rule. There was also some sense of territorial protection in the pre-merger days (why let the other guy control your trains?), and unions that weren't especially fond of tower consolidations that cost jobs.

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by Noel Weaver
 
Especially the New Haven but both the New Haven and the Boston and Maine towers controlled more than just the connections to the Boston and Albany (NYC). SS-274 controlled switches, crossovers and signals considerably south of the diamond and it would not have been practical for the Boston and Albany to control stuff that had little or nothing to do with the B & A.
Worcester was and still is a different type of set up, a train could cross from the New Haven to the Boston and Maine without any signals from the Boston and Albany whatsoever and movements can still do this today on Providence and Worcester trackage although the towers are gone. OK Franklin Street tower building is still standing but it has not been used as a tower in a long, long time.
Noel Weaver

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by bwparker1
 
theseaandalifesaver wrote:Is the mail station just not used at all now?
I don't think Amtrak is going anything with mail/packages at all. So if the building is in use, I don't think it is being used for rail related traffic, but someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I remember reading that one of the reasons Amtrak got out of the mail/package/small freight business was that it added a lot of time to their passenger train schedules.

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
bwparker1 wrote:
theseaandalifesaver wrote:Is the mail station just not used at all now?
I don't think Amtrak is going anything with mail/packages at all. So if the building is in use, I don't think it is being used for rail related traffic, but someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I remember reading that one of the reasons Amtrak got out of the mail/package/small freight business was that it added a lot of time to their passenger train schedules.
And negligible revenue for all the processing trouble, so they let their USPS contract expire.

Amtrak Express shipping is still around, but that's for a very small stable of captive customers (like the aforementioned funeral home "goods" shipments :wink: ) and special requests. It's run solely by them through the baggage dept. so the extra administrative overhead is virtually nil compared to the old USPS mail stations.

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by Cadet57
 
bwparker1 wrote:
theseaandalifesaver wrote:Is the mail station just not used at all now?
I don't think Amtrak is going anything with mail/packages at all. So if the building is in use, I don't think it is being used for rail related traffic, but someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I remember reading that one of the reasons Amtrak got out of the mail/package/small freight business was that it added a lot of time to their passenger train schedules.
The MoW crews use it.

Re: Springfield, MA

  by QB 52.32
 
newpylong wrote:Rigby yard is the largest left in terms of acreage and carload numbers. East Deerfield is second. West Springfield is third.
If you measure using a more contemporary stat. that takes into account intermodal container and trailer traffic, which in WSP is part of the yard facility, in terms of throughput, that would put West Springfield at least in 2nd place. Measuring intermodal by "carload" does not accurately portray this modern day method accurately in terms of true volume. In a most conservative conversion, taking into account the cubic capacity of a modern day intermodal box vs. a contemporary boxcar and the likely well utilization for the mix of intermodal cars (before the B&A was fully cleared), order of magnitude, we're talking 1 intermodal car count really equates to a 2 non-intermodal car count. In a most liberal count, where 1 intermodal trailer or container equates to 1 car, West Springfield is on par with Rigby by volume of "freight handling units". Just some food for thought.

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by roberttosh
 
How many lifts per year does West Springfield handle? Do any intermodal trains originate or terminate there or do they all go to/from Worcester?

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by Ironman
 
I don't know how many lifts per year in West Springfield, but all the intermodals begin/end in Worcester. Every now and then, L113 will be lite out of Worcester and just pick up cars in West Springfield.

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by CVRA7
 
Former New Haven Railroad tower SS-E 274, (SPRING tower starting with the PC era) closed on 15 May 1991.

In the later years of the New Haven RR the tower was usually just called SS-274.

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by roberttosh
 
How many locals work out of W Springfield? I'm assuming one goes to Palmer, another to Indian Orchard and one to Westfield/PVRR.

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Ironman wrote:I don't know how many lifts per year in West Springfield, but all the intermodals begin/end in Worcester. Every now and then, L113 will be lite out of Worcester and just pick up cars in West Springfield.
There may be more in the future. CSX is investing in upgrades to W. Springfield to get it up to par with the automation efficiency of the new Worcester facility, and the state is pursuing road upgrades into the yard. Since it's a physically much larger facility than Worcester it's got a much higher growth ceiling if its efficiency at processing goods (vertical crane loading by fewer staff, computer-automated truck queues, etc.) got the same frills as Worcester now does. Regardless of how they ultimately use it vs. Worcester for intermodal assignments. It's definitely not taking a strategic back seat for them.

Re: Springfield, MA - Station, Tower, Trains, Tracks, etc.

  by roberttosh
 
Looking at the West Springfield intermodal facility on google earth, which definitely looks to be post upgrade, it seems like there is no room for expansion as the terminal is really hemmed in by the yard to the south, the connecticut river to the east and a bunch of existing businesses to the north. I guess they could try to expand the unloading tracks westward, but that would involve major track and road realignment and wouldn't add much parking. Again, I am admittedly just looking at google earth and have only driven by the Worcester yard once (as well as seen detailed plans) but it seems to me that the Worcester terminal has much longer unloading tracks and considerably more parking spaces. Perhaps there was a more recent expansion at West Springfield?
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