Housatonic Railroad Thread (Maybrook, Berkshire, Pittsfield)

[Jeff Smith]

http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/ ... 032988.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lots of pictures. "Diesel-electric"? Huh?

Fair-use:

NEW MILFORD - A six-car train derailed late Monday on the Housatonic Railroad line, just two miles from where another train derailed last summer and about 12 miles from where a third train left the tracks three months ago.

About 10 p.m. Monday, a diesel-electric freight engine pulling cars filled with construction debris veered off the rails on its way from Danbury to Massachusetts. There were no passengers on the train and no injuries were reported.
...
Mayor David Gronbach said he’s unnerved by the repeated derailments.
”I am concerned with what is becoming a pattern of train derailments in the area,” Gronbach said. “I will be reaching out to the railroad and the state to address the issues that may be causing these events.”
...
Monday’s accident was the third in less than a year on the Housatonic line between Danbury and the Massachusetts border.
Last June, an empty seven-car train left the tracks after hitting a broken rail about two miles north of the scene of Monday’s accident.
In January, several northbound freight cars, also filled with construction debris, left the tracks near Pocono Road in Brookfield. The train included two tankers of flammable isopropyl alcohol, but they did not leave the tracks.
Whitney declined to comment on why the line has experienced repeated derailments.
...

[Ridgefielder]

http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/ ... 032988.php

Lots of pictures. "Diesel-electric"? Huh?

So the reader can differentiate it from all those diesel-hydraulics you see in Southern New England.

[J.D. Lang]

"luckily there was no passengers on the train" I wonder if those cars were business class accommodations ? Got to love it.
J.L.

[Gilbert B Norman]

As I noted on the previous page, the News-Times should go hire a reporter for the "derailment beat".

[Otto Vondrak]

But it's not, like, an "UPGRADE!"-upgrade because $20M will disappear real fast when diffused across an in-state corridor of that length...and all the disaster spots HRRC left behind on a corridor of that length. "Good solid Class 2" is probably a bit of a reach for the initial investment. Staying consistently upright with wheels firmly affixed to stick is more the type of life's little victories the state's first funding shot is aiming for.

Does HRRC even have the freight traffic left to justify investment a Danbury-Pittsfield route anymore?

-otto-

[H.F.Malone]

Does anyone have some info about track geometry at Canaan station? Specifically, the degree of curvature of the NW quadrant of the wye (next to Collin's Diner parking lot), and the number of the turnout that connects to the main track immediately south of the Route 7 crossing? It looks like a Number 6.

Thanks!

[daylight4449]

Does HRRC even have the freight traffic left to justify investment a Danbury-Pittsfield route anymore?

-otto-

Going back to a report from 2011, HRRC handled an average of 6000 cars per year... No clue what it is these days. With that in mind, I'll leave the link to the report here;
https://westcog.org/wp-content/uploads/ ... _20111.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DutchRailnut]

ok with only 250 business days a year that translates into 24 cars a day (average )

[J.D. Lang]

Does anyone have some info about track geometry at Canaan station? Specifically, the degree of curvature of the NW quadrant of the wye (next to Collin's Diner parking lot), and the number of the turnout that connects to the main track immediately south of the Route 7 crossing? It looks like a Number 6.

Thanks!

I'm not sure if this will be of any help but this is a site of New Haven valuation maps archived at UConn.

http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/mash_up/nynhhrr_index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You may already know of this site but I thought that I would post it anyway. It's a sharp curve and was relaid with welded rail a few years back.

J.L.

[Noel Weaver]

FWIW 97 was turned on that wye back in August of 1968. I seem to think there were restrictions back in the days of steam although I am not sure about that one.
Noel Weaver

[Gilbert B Norman]

I highly recommend a review of the Report linked here by Mr. Daylight.

Of interest would be if anyone so informed could update the report with major changes to HRRC, such as Newtown-Derby Jct removed from service.

All I can say is that my comment last year at Reunion to a now retired faculty member residing in Kent when he related Housy's latest spill to me (the June one in New Milford) and that it was mostly garbage: "Nobby, I spent eleven years of my life in the railroad industry and if this excuse of a railroad ever is to handle HAZMAT, you'll be looking at a Megantic right here in the Valley" rings mighty true.

[NortheastTrainGuy1965]

Does anyone have some info about track geometry at Canaan station? Specifically, the degree of curvature of the NW quadrant of the wye (next to Collin's Diner parking lot), and the number of the turnout that connects to the main track immediately south of the Route 7 crossing? It looks like a Number 6.

Thanks!

I'm not sure if this will be of any help but this is a site of New Haven valuation maps archived at UConn.

http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/mash_up/nynhhrr_index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You may already know of this site but I thought that I would post it anyway. It's a sharp curve and was relaid with welded rail a few years back.

J.L.

This is a wonderful site. I noticed these maps did not include the Naugatuck Valley RR through Torrington and up to Winsted. Where is the main index to search for other RR maps such as NVRR and CNE?


Sorry to drift off topic from the Housatonic but it leads to a Housatonic question anyway.

I noticed on a site map of the Winsted Train station in a 2009 article that there were two tracks. The NVRR track farthest from the station appears to be a dead end with return service east then south down to Torrington-Waterbury-Bridgeport.

The track in question is the one closest to the platform at the Winsted station. It is a CNE track from Hartford going west at appears to continue west to North Canaan. Does the CNE (or NVRR) meet or cross with the Housatonic and if so are there maps of freight and/or passenger service ?

[Greg Moore]

Yes, the CNE did cross the HRR in North Canaan (hence that being a Union Station).

The tracks east of North Canaan have been long gone (I believe since before the 1950s).
The tracks west of North Canaan to Lakeville were in service through the 1960s (and I believe into the very early 1970s).
The tracks west of Lakeville into NYS were out of service before that.

Other than a stub to serve the lime plant east of the North Canaan station, none of the CNE tracks in the area survive.

[Otto Vondrak]

Of interest would be if anyone so informed could update the report with major changes to HRRC, such as Newtown-Derby Jct removed from service.

This one slipped by me. I know we discussed this in the past, but isn't HRRC supposed to keep the entire route from Danbury to Derby Jct. in service as per the trackage rights agreement made with Providence & Worcester that allows them to access the Tilcon plant in Brookfield? Or have they just given up on enforcing that and just use their rights on the Metro-North Danbury Branch?

-otto-

[Jeff Smith]

There were a couple of filings a couple of years ago by P&W with the STB asking for an adverse abandonment judgement, presumably so P&W could pick up the trackage rights themselves. I guess they got tired of paying overhead fees for tracks they weren't using; I believe their intent was to try to force HRRC into maintaining it per that overhead agreement to Tilcon.

This routing for them is far preferable than the Danbury branch, where there's precious little freight, and is operationally difficult in that they have to go via a congested NH line to SoNO, and then in a congested area with the branch interlocking, change ends to head north (I believe they put an engine and engineer on the east end, so more crew...), and tie up inbound tracks while they cross over onto the branch.

At some point, the filing was withdrawn; I don't know what happened. Maybe with G&W ownership of P&W they'll revive the issue.

The only thing I can think of is CtDOT has no good options into forcing HRRC to maintain the south/east end of the Maybrook at Derby. It's HRRC owned, so not much they can do I guess. It's a shame.