Guilford bringing home the groceries?

[cpf354]

I was hanging around Westford today waiting for SEPO to leave (he had 115 cars and it took a long time for the conductor to walk the train after picking up a cut of cars on the no. 2 track), and a woman with a little girl was walking by and noticed the train off in the distance west of the interlocking. The little girl asked if the train was going to leave and the mother said "no, not for awhile, they'e probably waiting to bring all the groceries to the stores." I thought it was nice that someone still thought the railroad delivered the groceries, even though a good chunk of that bussiness is done by truck. I'd hate to have told her that the train was mostly empty box cars going back to paper mills in Maine.
I can't think of any grocery distribution customer on Guilford. They don't serve DeMoula's in Tewskbury anymore, I believe. Anyone know of any grocery customers that Guilford may still have?

[Noel Weaver]

I wonder if there is still anything around Portland?
Noel Weaver

[cpf354]

Yea, come to think of it now I think there is one in South Portland just west of Rigby, Northeast Distributors, and C&S in Hatfield on the Conn River, and one I should have known, Shaw's in Wells. I assume they are all current customers.

[wolfmom69]

Shaws is the only one. The one near Rigby is Hannafords(Shop & Save). Havent taken rail for years. Ironically,one of the former First National Stores Warehouses,is going great guns as a reload facility in the Deering Junction Yard in Portland. A lot of it boils down to the "JIT"theory. Just in Time! Distributors do not want $$$ tied up in inventory. In and out to the consumers. Bud

[MEC407]

The Shaw's Supermarket distribution center in Wells (next to Spencer Press) still receives occasional rail shipments, but I'm not sure if they receive any "grocery items" in those shipments. My best guess is that they get non-grocery items that are sold in grocery stores... things like Kleenex tissue, toilet paper, power towels, paper plates, etc. I suppose canned goods would be a possibility too. But definitely nothing that is perishable.

[consist]

Tighe Distribution in Woburn gets beer and canned goods (I don't know if they get anything else, that's all I've heard). Up the line in Wilmington there was a Crystal Transportation that used to get cars. I found a bill of lading blowing around the parking lot and bottled juice was one of several grocery-ish items in one load. They stopped getting cars in '03 sometime. Now the cold storage place with a siding off the Crystal spur also seems to have dried up, they used to get mechanical reefers on occasion.

[Cowford]

MEC 407 - about the last thing the railroads haul now is tissue and other light-loading papers. Given that the cubic capacity of a 53' trailer is not too far off of a 50' boxcar, that business went to truck a long time ago. The only niche for railroads is heavy goods, e.g., beer, wine, juice, canned goods... and reefer traffic from the West Coast (at least on CSX going to the New England Produce Center in Boston). Even that can be difficult to capture from truck... every fruit/vegetable has its quality quirks in transit and some are better suited for truck movement.

[CSX Conductor]

For once I agree with Cowford...................even alot of the produce destined for the New England Produce Market in Chelsea comes via truck. The refrigerated trailers probably make better time on van-trains as opposed to a slower moving reefer which probably sees 3 or 4 trains or more and loses time in classification yards etc. While the trailer on a van train might high-ball straight from California onthe BNSF or UP to Chicago, and straight east to Boston on Q114 or Q140 to Beacon Park Yard, where it can be on-site at the N.E.P. in about 20 minutes to an hour depending on traffic, once picked-up by a driver.

[Cowford]

CSX, will wonders never cease? :D Unfortunately, the Grand Junction branch (?) can't handle the new high-cube reefers that UP is bringing on line. Good thing there are a lot of smaller cubes still in service.

From what little I know about veggies, there are pretty eclectic issues with icing, car ventilation, blocking and bracing, stacking considerations, etc... that all come into play in addition to transit time concerns.

[eotd]

Cowford-
It seems like that would make a big difference, being able to take deliveries in the larger cars. Where are the height issues? I know that they removed the Red Bridge.

[ProRail]

Some background on the Produce Market and rail vs. truck

Some commodities such as strawberries and other fruit are extremely time sensitive, regardless of refrigeration. So those products move via truck period.

Other intermediate stuff such as apples from Washington go via intermodal refrigerated trailers. So the railroads handle that business via the piggyback trains to Boston.

The bulk of what goes into Chelsea by railcar is lettuce, potatoes and other rooted veggies that can last longer and have a longer shelf life.

Also - unloading at produce terminals take FOREVER. Most trailers are hand loaded at origin with cases stacked floor to ceiling, so the receivers must do the same at destination. Railcars sometimes are loaded the same way.

Crystal Transportation still gets refrigerated cars. All one commodity. Just smell the outside of the car and you will know what it is.
(Here's a clue - packaged frozen food has no odor.)

Tighe is in the business of handling mainly canned food products for distribution to the major grocery distribution centers such as Sysco, Shaw's, etc. Down the street from them, another warehouse receives flour and other ingredients for baked goods.

[Cowford]

I have no idea where the clearance issues are - I thought they had to do with the Chas. River Crossing coming out of Beacon Park. And a slight correction on an earlier post... the products handling into the Produce Center by rail: Potatoes, onions, carrots, oranges, apples, and even pears. Lettuce does not move east in reefer... I think due to weight vs cube issues. Too bad, lettuce would mean 1000s of carloads between NY/NJ and NE.

[CSX Conductor]

Cowford, to clarify clearances at Beacon Park:

The bridge over the Charles River (known as the B.U. Bridge) which goes above the railroad trestle on the Grand Junction Running track, which connects Beacon Park to Guilford to get to the N.E.P., is ideed a clearance issue. This is why crews have to be careful how many trash cars they hold onto when going between the yard lead and the engine house lead.

Actually, now that I think about it, the problem might actually be at the Cambridge side of the trestle, at the under-grade bridge @ Memorial Drive.