Railroad Forums 

  • Connecticut River Line (Pan Am)

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #866459  by newpylong
 
The entire Conn River used to be signalled. From Greenfield to Northfield was removed in the early 2000's.
 #866468  by roberttosh
 
Hard to believe that back in the 80's they were running 3 trains each way north of E. Deerfield on the Conn River, now they might run 3 a month, and they're more like locals vs thru trains.
 #866534  by NRGeep
 
roberttosh wrote:Hard to believe that back in the 80's they were running 3 trains each way north of E. Deerfield on the Conn River, now they might run 3 a month, and they're more like locals vs thru trains.
No doubt alot of industry since the 80's has gone south etc, but how much former B&M/Guilford business is now shipped by New England Central or truck?
 #866547  by cpf354
 
Conn River was a route for bridge traffic to and from the CP, I understand, but when Guilford assumed control of the D&H, that ended in favor of the D&H routing.
 #866565  by newpylong
 
cpf354 wrote:Conn River was a route for bridge traffic to and from the CP, I understand, but when Guilford assumed control of the D&H, that ended in favor of the D&H routing.
That is absolutely correct. Before they got the D&H you used to see all the traffic that you now see on MOED come down on CPED from Wells River. Although, when Guilford got the Conn River taken from them they retained freight rights to all present consignees on the line. This has since dwindled to a mere few cars a week which they only do because they legally have to. I think it is fair to say they could still be running much larger jobs to WRJ if they hadn't pissed all this traffic away. South of Greenfield I can think of a dozen companies they are still in business with inactive sidings. The NECR has most certainly stolen their fair share of bridge traffic, a lot of it teamed up with the P&W and VRS just to go around the ST. Pretty bad...
 #866624  by roberttosh
 
There used to be an awful lot of Canadian newsprint that ran on both CPED and especially CVSP which handled newsprint to the CR interchange at Springfield for movement south to points along the NEC. This CN originated traffic shifted to CV- CR via Palmer when Guilford's service fell apart in the mid/late 80's and disappeared altogether from the Conn River when the CN sold off the CV to the NECR; it now moves over Huntington, PQ. CP newsprint moving to the Northeast US now moves via the old D&H. Ford Auto traffic to Ayer also used to move south over both the CN/CV and CP until Ford went to fully enclosed racks in the early 90's. There was also cement, lumber, grain, chemicals/LPG and even frozen french fries that moved south into New England via the Conn River, but many of the southern new england companies that received these shipments are either no longer in business or long ago stopped doing business with the ST. What little is left moves south over the D&H to Mechanicville or trickles over the WRJ interchange with the NECR. There was also a train that ran to Whitefield, NH that carried cars for the big mills at Groveton and Berlin, which were both major B&M customers up until the early 80's. That traffic was eventually lost to truck and the GTE, but now both mills are actually out of business. Lastly, there were several big salt piles on the Conn River, Westboro, Littleton, Claremont, etc and that all disappeared when the AKZO salt mine caved in back in the mid to late 90's. With better service and marketing, Pan Am could definately do a lot more business up that way, but through line consolidations, mergers, etc the Conn River more or less lost its importance as a through route.
 #866651  by NRGeep
 
Will the "high speed" stimulus rehab funding for the line perhaps inspire Pan Am to be more proactive in regards to the remaining and potential shippers on the Conn river once the work is complete on the line?
 #866654  by Mcoov
 
NRGeep wrote:...inspire Pan Am to be more proactive...
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...ahhhhhh...BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
In a word, no.
 #866801  by Trinnau
 
Maybe not Pan Am per se, but I'm sure NS will be. Remember they own a 50% stake out there now, and they are certainly going to flex their marketing muscle to drum up new business for PAS to handle - no matter what Pan Am says.
 #866842  by gprimr1
 
To put the situation in perspective, Yankee Candle in Deerfield had a siding right into their factory off the Conn River line.

They now get their wax trucked in from another railroad in Westfield. (Pioneer Valley Railroad I think.)

I think sometimes that it would make more sense to lease the line to the Pioneer Valley railroad or another short line.

I would imagine if the Vermonter is going to run on it, it will have to be resignaled, especially if they ever move forward with the Knowledge Corridor plan.
 #866856  by newpylong
 
gprimr1 wrote:To put the situation in perspective, Yankee Candle in Deerfield had a siding right into their factory off the Conn River line.

They now get their wax trucked in from another railroad in Westfield. (Pioneer Valley Railroad I think.)

I think sometimes that it would make more sense to lease the line to the Pioneer Valley railroad or another short line.

I would imagine if the Vermonter is going to run on it, it will have to be resignaled, especially if they ever move forward with the Knowledge Corridor plan.
Yankee is definitely a good example.

The entire physical plant is going to be replaced. Ballast, ties, rails, signal, crossings.
 #867294  by gprimr1
 
newpylong wrote:
gprimr1 wrote:To put the situation in perspective, Yankee Candle in Deerfield had a siding right into their factory off the Conn River line.

They now get their wax trucked in from another railroad in Westfield. (Pioneer Valley Railroad I think.)

I think sometimes that it would make more sense to lease the line to the Pioneer Valley railroad or another short line.

I would imagine if the Vermonter is going to run on it, it will have to be resignaled, especially if they ever move forward with the Knowledge Corridor plan.
Yankee is definitely a good example.

The entire physical plant is going to be replaced. Ballast, ties, rails, signal, crossings.
I'm def going to have to make a trip up there to see them do that.
 #867307  by newpylong
 
gprimr1 wrote:
newpylong wrote:
gprimr1 wrote:To put the situation in perspective, Yankee Candle in Deerfield had a siding right into their factory off the Conn River line.

They now get their wax trucked in from another railroad in Westfield. (Pioneer Valley Railroad I think.)

I think sometimes that it would make more sense to lease the line to the Pioneer Valley railroad or another short line.

I would imagine if the Vermonter is going to run on it, it will have to be resignaled, especially if they ever move forward with the Knowledge Corridor plan.
Yankee is definitely a good example.

The entire physical plant is going to be replaced. Ballast, ties, rails, signal, crossings.
I'm def going to have to make a trip up there to see them do that.
it's going to be something I think!
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 109