Mamaroneck Marval Freight Siding

[L'mont]

There are two un marked rail crossings on Fenimore Rd. in Mamaroneck. There are several covered hopper (??) styled cares at the end of the sidings behind a small factory building. The sidings frequently have trucks parked on the tracks and the rails look to be WAY out of shape, however the railcars don't look very old and I wanted to know if they are moved with any regularity?

If they are, when do they use the sidings and who uses them?

[Noel Weaver]

Mamaroneck is one of only TWO freight customers between Bridgeport
and Mount Vernon or Woodlawn. It is handled by a CSX local out of the
west yard in Croton, probably on an as needed basis.
The only other freight customer on this line is Rings End Lumber in Darien
which is also switched off track 3, between Darien and Noroton Heights
stations.
At one time in the 1950's, there were four different way freights to handle
all of the local freight on this line west of Bridgeport, hard to believe that
there are only two freight customers left on the whole railroad.
Noel Weaver

[keotaman]

...
when do they use the sidings ...

Over winter (Oct - Apr), they would usually call out of the Mamaroneck siding at 10:45pm, right after the 10:18 Sm-GCT local cleared Larchmont, once (at most twice), weekly.

[checkthedoorlight]

it's amazing just how many sidings have gone dead over the last 20 years. The latest was Arnold's Bakery in Greenwich which disconnected about a year or two ago.

A track chart I have from 1985 lists the following sidings between Bridgeport and Mt Vernon:

Sea Side Park
Bullard Co.
Jenkins Valve (track is still in place, but disconnected from main line, and overgrown with grass.....for an abandoned track, it's quite pretty)
Fairfield Yard
Westport Yard (track is still in place, but disconnected from main line....I remember when there used to be private parlor cars stored on this siding)
Rings End (still in service)
Cos Cob West Yard (still in service, although I believe MNRR actually owns this siding)
Greenwich Coal & Oil
Arnold's Bakery
Portchester Yard (tracks is still in place, but disconnected from main line)
Mamaroneck Yard (still in service)
Mt Vernon Yard
Woodlawn Lumber (track is still in place, but disconnected from main line)

keep in mind that all three branches still have a number of sidings, and what the western portion of the NH lacks in sidings, the run between Milford and New Haven more than makes up for! Even the New Canaan branch has one near Springdale station, and a disconnected track across from it.

[Noel Weaver]

My reference was to active customers. The last on the New Canaan
Branch was in Springdale and I think it was on the bulk track. This one
went a few shorter years ago.
I think they still have a little bit left in Bridgeport but the whole situation
today is a sad story of what "used to be".
Noel Weaver

[checkthedoorlight]

I was thinking about something as I was passing the Rings End siding this weekend. There are bridgeplates up at all of the Darien stations on track 3, so what does the company do about moves in that situation?

[Noel Weaver]

I was thinking about something as I was passing the Rings End siding this weekend. There are bridgeplates up at all of the Darien stations on track 3, so what does the company do about moves in that situation?

I don't know what Metro-North does today but years ago, in the event of
track or bridge work which resulted in an around the clock outage of track
three, one end or the other of the sections that had active freight work
would need to be useable at least during the late night hours. The bridge
plates would then come down for the freight move and go right back up
again after the freight move. Probably a freight move could be held up
for a day or two if necessary too.
Noel Weaver

[keotaman]

I was thinking about something as I was passing the Rings End siding this weekend. There are bridgeplates up at all of the Darien stations on track 3, so what does the company do about moves in that situation?

...
one end or the other of the sections that had active freight work
would need to be useable at least during the late night hours. The bridge
plates would then come down for the freight move and go right back up
again after the freight move. ... Noel Weaver

Metro North does exactly the same today -- I've seen the crew at Larchmont, for the Mamaroneck siding. For Ring's End, they would take Noroton Hts. down, then back up after the move.

[MTASUPT]

The siding at Mamaroneck is still active and the job that services it, I believe is out of Oak Point.

As for the sidings, when the tracks are "OOS" Mamaroneck they did remove the bridgeplates, that was part of the contract when they were rebuilding Larchmont Station.

As for Ring's End, they (State of CT) pay for the trucking. Due to the wire work and on-track equipment, not feasible to lift the plate and service.

[abaduck]

(delurk here; I'm Mike, a Brit, former Deltic (1) Basher(2) in the 1980s)

The point where those sidings branch off from the main lines is just a stone's throw from my house, under the Rockland Ave. overbridge; I've found it a great spot to take my kids to watch trains.

So far I've only seen passenger traffic there; where/when do I have to go to show the boys some freight?!


(1) Deltic: classic Brit express diesel 3,300HP from twin 18-cyl two-stroke opposed-piston engines.

(2) Basher: railway enthusiast who specialised in toting up mileages travelled behind as many individuals in a loco class as possible.

Why would anyone want to 'bash' the Deltics? They sounded amazing, like no other engine I've ever heard:

http://www.corestore.org/delticdeparts.mp3
http://www.corestore.org/delticmediumspeed.mp3
http://www.corestore.org/deltichighspeed.mp3

Thanks

Mike

[abaduck]

...
when do they use the sidings ...

Over winter (Oct - Apr), they would usually call out of the Mamaroneck siding at 10:45pm, right after the 10:18 Sm-GCT local cleared Larchmont, once (at most twice), weekly.

They just did - I got down there at 10pm tonight and things were well under way:



All finished up by 11PM. According to the guys at the plastic factory it's very much 'as needed' - twice a week if they're busy, maybe only once or twice a month if they're *real* quiet.

Mike

[keotaman]

(excerpt) ... They just did - I got down there at 10pm tonight and things were well under way ...

Nice shot! I heard them (2055 hrs) get the okay for the runaround, & then they could shove to Mamaroneck. Didn't take 'em long.
Thanks for sharing.

[L'mont]

Great shot! Got any more??

[abaduck]

Great shot! Got any more??

None that are any good.... but here's one anyway:



And another:



And another:



Most were lousy - didn't really expect train to be there so ran out grabbing only the camera 'just in case'. *You* try 15-sec exposures using a road cone as a substitute tripod and see how many usuable results you get! This would have been nice:



Next time I'll be better prepared, with a tripod - and a flashgun for 'mad b@stard' technique(1), if the engineer gives the OK. Will work better in winter too; the colder the camera (and sensor), the less noise in the long exposures.

(1) Mad B@stard technique: something I mostly use for photography in pitch-dark tunnels, like this:



You open the shutter for something like 30s, then run around - like a Mad B@stard - firing off the flashgun manually at things you want to illuminate. Only possible with trains in limited circumstances, and with permission of the engineer, of course.

Mike[/img]

[L'mont]

Don't appologize for the picture quality, thanks for posting those up. I get the idea. Only one time have I seen the loco there. I was driving up Fenimore and it was on the Marvel side hooking up to the covered hoppers. Funny seeing it cross the Rd. there.