Housatonic Railroad Thread (Maybrook, Berkshire, Pittsfield)

[edbac333]

What traffic are you referring to as Danbury Locals that run during daylight? HRRC daytime traffic to places like Shepaug Reload and other Newtown lumberyards would have nothing to do with Walk. Do you mean G & W (was P & W) stone train CT-2 ? They rarely run during daylight now and when they ran Derby Junction to Tilcon they went through Derby between 9 pm and 9:30 pm and returned through Derby around 1 am unless something out of the ordinary changed things on a given night.When they went to Rings End they returned via Walk but could always come back via Derby if needed and that was around 3:30 AM.
I'm just trying to understand what you mean or what I am missing.
Just to agree with what others have posted , HRRC and Pan Am went through a lot of trouble just to exchange a gondola car for a flat car, especially getting the track able to handle the move . I agree there are a lot of reasons why it would be better for CT-2 to run the Maybrook but why would Pan Am need to be involved in anything involving CT-2? It will be interesting to see what this move was really for.

[J.D. Lang]

In my case the stone trains that I was referring to would be CT-2 to Tilcon in Danbury and the occasional car to Ring's End in Bethel. I think that it would be very good for P&W if CT-2 could run on the Maybrook again. They have a new stone customer in Stratford just north of the Devon Wye on the Maybrook now so it would make operations one heck of a lot easier if they could do it all in one run. Again it will be interesting to see if anything comes of this one aught move or not.

J.L.

[edbac333]

Absolutely agree.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Help me out here, Mr. Lang.

So what P&W would like to do is handle their Danbury Branch traffic originating at Cedar Hill and presenyly routed Eastward on the Corridor to Norwalk, thence Northward to consignees such as Ring's End Fuel (they sold household coal "back in my day") and the stone retailer - both of which are South of Berkshire Jc. They would now like to route that traffic through Derby and Newtown over the Housy to Berkshire Jct, thence Southward on the Danbury Branch to destination.

Would Housy become an intermediate line haul road, or would some kind of trackage arrangement be agreed upon?

Simply because they were able to interchange apparently an MTY Gondola and a Flat and keep them right side up is no assurance that an interchange can work "real life". Since we know Housy only uses OPiuM - Other People's Money, to patch up their excuse of a railroad, where will that come from?

Enquiring, cynical, and skeptical mind wants to know.

[ebtmikado]

P&W already has trackage rights via Derby Jct. over the Housatonic.
It's just the track's been OOS, and hotly contended by P&W for several years.

Lee

[J.D. Lang]

Up until a few years ago P&W had overhead trackage rights on the HRRC from Derby Junction to serve the Tilcon plant in Danbury proper (just west of Berkshire Jct.) and trackage rights on the MN Danbury branch to serve customers south of Danbury. I believe the only active customer they have now on the MN Danbury branch is Rings End Lumber in Bethel. So back then they ran direct from Cedar Hill to Danbury as train CT-2. HRRC had no involvement with this traffic. Now what happened is the HRRC let the track go to you know what and P&W took the HRRC to the STB about the issues. Someone like F-Line could probably tell you what the filling was as I’m not very good with the legalese of those fillings. Anyway it went back and forth for a while then kind of fell of the radar after P&W started using the MN Danbury line from Norwalk to Danbury.

Now as far as this past week’s exchange of two cars between HRRC and PAS at Derby Jct. I’m just as curious as others to what that was all about but the fact is that a train traveled over that stretch of the Maybrook and stayed upright is something that has not happened in a long time which can lead to all types of speculation. My hope is that P&W (G&W) will be able to regain those overhead rights again but WHO will pay for it to be reliable track is a question I asked back a few threads. Hope this helps.

J.L.

[Backshophoss]

Best way to keep this line open would be to give the ConnDot $$$$ to P&W,then P&W pays HRRC to keep the track to at least Class 1 standards,
keeping HRRC honest while the Walk Bridge project is slogging along.
ConnDOT should have MN run a twice a year inspection train over the line to keep HRRC honest as well.
This is what MassDOT has done on their state owned lines(at least 1 time a year!)

[Ridgefielder]

The acute need for the Derby-Danbury Maybrook is re-route of the P&W Danbury locals, not the overnight stone trains to Fresh Pond. The Danbury local runs during the daytime during commuter traffic and pulls its reverse onto the Danbury Branch right after crossing WALK Bridge. That's time of day when the WALK construction project is going to be at its most nightmarish, since 2 tracks on the old bridge + approaches are going to be OOS while they construct the adjacent new bridge and there'll likely be some wild temp-shift S-curves around the construction staging areas on either side.

The New York stone train runs in the wee hours when MNRR is idle and the only other things active within 50 miles are the last NE Regional of the night and the CSX local restocking Cedar Hill. That one P&W should have no problem running no matter how speed-restricted the WALK construction warzone is. After all, you'd have to do a hell of a lot more spending than just operable Derby-Danbury track to get to Fresh Pond. The Danbury Branch isn't certified for six-axle power like the New Haven Line now is, so it's not practical to do a Devon-Derby-Danbury-Norwalk re-route on the overnight.

Hate to contradict you, F-line, but I'd say 99% of the time the P&W Danbury local-- which is mostly stone bound for Tilcon in Danbury plus a car or two for Ring's End in Bethel-- runs in the wee small hours, after the last MN run ties down at Danbury at 0126. They run with an engine at both ends so as to make the reverse move at South Norwalk as quickly as possible. It's the Fresh Pond stone train that runs in daylight.

Now, that being said, I think that everyone would like to get rid of that reverse move on the NEC at South Norwalk. Having a freight derail there and foul both the crossovers and the Danbury Branch is an absolute nightmare scenario.

[ebtmikado]

Both stone trains (CT-2 to Danbury, and CHFP to Fresh Pond) are nocturnal, departing New Haven after the evening rush hour, often departing less than an hour apart, around 8:00-9:00, in the P.M.
About the only time you'll see P&W on the Mets in daylight is when NH-1 takes stone down to O&G, just north of Devon, on the Waterbury Branch.

Lee

[BandA]

What happens when the Sperry car derails, lol

[Backshophoss]

Believe Sperry used the OOS track from Danbury west to the NY stateline for testing new/rebuilt cars onboard equipment.

[freightguy]

CT-2 has to service the new O&G plant and CP 500 siding on Metro North for their stone also. These are both on the Waterbury. That job will probably only get busier as the O&G plant is looking for more frequent service.

I posted earlier when the Walk Bridge project starts, I could see P&W using the Derby jct routing again probably through upgrades from CDOT money for a project of that magnitude. Someone posted how much it would cost to rehab that line. A drop in the bucket for how much the new bridge is going to cost already. Metro North will probably start rebuilding Dock yard soon also. No place for P&W to outlaw on the extreme south end of Danbury branch anymore. To give you a more recent example CDOT picked up the tab for the customers when Metro North turned industrial track 5 back into track 3 in the Milford/ West Haven area along the shoreline. Whoever CSXT couldn't access when the track was being rebuilt and energized with overhead catenary.

[Jeff Smith]

So apparently, per the FB fans group, the Maybrook from Derby to Botsford? is no longer OOS, but Form D, per bulletin order.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Volks, please tell me; is that a railroad?

47 Swamp Rd

https://goo.gl/maps/rhneX11JvFU2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ridgefielder]

Somehow I thought Interstate Lumber had stopped getting rail service. Satellite view contradicts that. Interesting.