New England Central Railroad (NECR)

[NHV 669]

IIRC, it hasn't been that long since they undercut the tracks in that tunnel for double-stacks. Are there still other clearance issues keeping them from using this route for that purpose, or is the traffic just not there?

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

IIRC, it hasn't been that long since they undercut the tracks in that tunnel for double-stacks. Are there still other clearance issues keeping them from using this route for that purpose, or is the traffic just not there?

NECR is cleared for 19'6" from Willimantic to the CN interchange. 19'6" lets you do autoracks, stacks of international cubes, or a mixed stack of 1 domestic cube + 1 international cube. 20'6" is what the roads with full domestic DS go with for clearance.

NECR has same clearance as PAS and P&W where they interchange, so they're not going to shoot for the extra foot until both those roads not only can do full domestic stacks but also have reason to send them stuff bigger than autoracks. Right now they seem to be an autorack route more than an IM route, so I'm not exactly sure what the trigger would be for needing the extra foot. Maybe VRS clearing its way east of Rutland across the Green Mountain div. to Bellows Falls for a high-clearance lane from CP?

In the short-term they'd probably have lots more upside to chase raising their Willimantic to New London clearances from 17' to 19'6" consistent with the rest rather than spending for the extra foot in MA and VT years too soon for it to matter.

[johnpbarlow]

NECR has same clearance as PAS and P&W where they interchange, so they're not going to shoot for the extra foot until both those roads not only can do full domestic stacks but also have reason to send them stuff bigger than autoracks. Right now they seem to be an autorack route more than an IM route, so I'm not exactly sure what the trigger would be for needing the extra foot. Maybe VRS clearing its way east of Rutland across the Green Mountain div. to Bellows Falls for a high-clearance lane from CP?

I vote for the "traffic just isn't there" argument. CSX does decent full height domestic double stack business to/from the midwest/west at Worcester and W Springfield. Perhaps a decade ago, NECR used to operate an intermodal terminal at Palmer, roughly half way between WSpr and Worc, that handled a relatively small amount of traffic to/from CN via Montreal. I'm guessing that CN arrangement wasn't/isn't competitive enough with CSX to be sustainable. I don't know if full height double-stacking clearance is sufficient to get NECR above the sustainability threshold given NS/PAS do seem to compete with CSX effectively between Ayer and Chicago with single stack trains that often reach 10,000 feet in length. WRT autorack business on NECR, if I undertand correctly from anecdotal commentary from NECR watchers, multilevel cars occasionally transit NCER in small numbers. One exception to this, however, was last winter when the port of Dartmouth, NS auto unload facility was snowed in such that ship(s) were diverted to Davisville, RI. IIRC, many loaded autorack cars were interchanged from P&W to NECR at Willimantic for forwarding to CN.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Exactly. That's the sort of thing they do when every railroad touching them has 20'6" and there's enough domestic stacks in general circulation all around them that it becomes prudent to just reach for the extra foot as a marketing and company valuation formality on odds that they can siphon some of what's awash around them. After all, scraping the Bellows Falls tunnel for +1 ft. is nowhere near the ordeal it was during the last retrofit that reached for 2-3x as much extra clearance, and most other places can come up with that through inexpensive undercutting tricks rather than bridge mods. A purely follow-thru driven last-of-the-last upgrade steps way down the road more than a wall they have to tear down sooner than later to tap some dedicated game-changer of an IM source. That IM source is Norfolk Southern's bag on the Patriot Corridor...not on secondary/tertiary routes like P&W and NECR.


19'6" to New London is the last great rebuild they can plausibly profit from, now that the last 286K gaps are paid-for and being filled. It's their mainline and P&W's mainline that dwarf all other freight considerations in CT, so they can count on matching CDOT funds and heavy state involvement in the NLN port plans (whatever those currently are) to deliver them funding for those clearances in the next half-dozen years and enough biz dev bait that they'll be able to make some small profit off it. Might not be optimal use of public funds, but being big fish in a small pond with a state DOT freight-spending like it's got something to prove...does have its perks.

[QB 52.32]

There has been little utility in what's already been spent to get 19'6" to connect to the P&W at Willimantic: sporadic empty re-positioning of autoracks to Canada and very little container traffic that is most likely also empty re-positioning moves (much of it ironically single stacked).

There would be no utility in either funding 20'6" or extending 19'6" to New London, just spending more good money after bad. CN and CP do not have competitive networks for domestic New England traffic and neither CSX nor NS any practical need for NECR in their intermodal networks. Additionally, the port of New London will not be generating any rail-oriented international container traffic in our lifetimes nor would CN or CP want it as a New England hub.

The taxpayer money wasted on this ill-conceived plan promoted by hapless transportation planners and narrow-minded interests is a great cautionary tale for those who promote similar ill-conceived plans as representing reality.

[ebtmikado]

Such negativity from people who don't even have the coglioni to
write under their real names.

Lee Carlson

[CN9634]

Such negativity from people who don't even have the coglioni to
write under their real names.

Lee Carlson

I think just about everyone on this forum is negative... I'm certainly guilty!

[QB 52.32]

And here I thought I avoided being negative, just honest, especially when I left out the point that we've spent U.S. taxpayer money for not only the clearances but the rebuild of the P&W's Wilimantic branch which serves to shift traffic off U.S. rails and away from U.S. jobs! Oh, well....(but I kid).

[MEC407]

Photo by Jaiden Jadczak:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=561885" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mkittredge]

It appears most of the 323/324 action is in the very late evening or overnight in the WRJ to St. Albans area. I was wondering if that may have changed recently because I saw an afternoon 323 last Wednesday the 27th. I caught it at Middlesex at about 1:30 and followed it to Richmond. It had four engines (3405, 2714, 2680, 3317) and 83 cars. Except for a crawl just before Waterbury (grade or slow board?), they were really moving! Any info would greatly appreciated.

Mike

[Fritz]

Mike,
Last Tuesday night, the 323 outlawed at Montpelier Junction, as both the 323 and 324 sat in Roxbury for over three hours due to the dispatcher's computers being down. What you saw was probably the 501 crew out of St. Albans taking the train north. As far as I know, the schedules have not changed.
Best,
Fritz

[FLRailFan1]

Could anyone tell me any NECR customers from Willimantic to New London? I think KosKoff is still a customer...

[ebtmikado]

Can't promise I won't miss a few, but:

Willimantic Waste, Willi.
Providence & Worcester interchange, Willi.
CC Lounsbury, South Windham.
KofKoff, Franklin.
Limb-it-Less Logging, Franklin.
Freeport-McMoran, Norwichtown
Norwich Bulletin, Norwich.
UBS, Quaker Hill
State Pier, New London (at least 2 firms)
Amtrak/P&W Interchange, New London.

Lee

[MEC407]

Photo by Gary Knapp:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=566293" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ebtmikado]

Washouts.

I was told that NECR has suffered two washouts between Palmer and Willimantic, and at present, trains (normally 608) cannot operate on this section.
I have no idea how severe the washouts are, or how long it will take to repair. But this leaves the customers on the southern end of the line without service.

Lee