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  • Middletown Branch - Wethersfield Secondary

  • Topics relating to the operation of the P&W Railroad, which is a subsidiary of Genesee and Wyoming. Regional freight railroad based in Worcester and operating in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.
    Official Website
Topics relating to the operation of the P&W Railroad, which is a subsidiary of Genesee and Wyoming. Regional freight railroad based in Worcester and operating in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.
Official Website

Moderator: MEC407

 #1503368  by bwparker1
 
MikeMM wrote:I went to the Wethersfield meeting last Wednesday put on by the CT DOT.

Service through Wethersfield will begin sometime in April.
Two trains per day ...maybe. One North, one South.
Speed ... 10mph.
Eight public crossing.........horns at each one!

Freight mostly building material. No planned hazardous material.
The P & W presently use Springfield >>Worcester>>Norwich >> New Haven.
This Springfield >>Hartford>> to New Haven will save a lot of time and mileage.

Residents voiced displeasure with horns mostly. The mayor said there are quite hours after 10 PM. Sorry FEDS over rule that!

Residents also would like to know what is sprayed to keep down vegetation as the Wethersfield meadows is used as farmland.

Hope this is helpful...................I'm a newbie !!

Mike
Thanks for the post Mike and welcome. I too live in Wethersfield but was unable to attend the meeting. It really is just one train, the same train will travel down and back, so they are saying "two trains." Things will be creeping through Town, but I think it will be great to hear the engines.

In addition to building materials from Seven D in Rocky Hill, there is potential for outbound loads of non-hazardous, polluted/contaminated soils from the RED Transfer facility in Portland, CT. They are shipping ~ 12-15 cars weekly with service 1-3x per week from P&W.
 #1503504  by MikeMM
 
They specifically said "they were not planning on shipping any hazardous material". I think RED process asbestos and
maybe contaminated soil.....maybe they don't consider that stuff hazardous !

I was thinking that they are not using the Springfield line because it is too busy with passenger trains now. So that brings
up a question. How do they get to Springfield from Hartford? on the West side of the river through Windsor or on the
East side of the river through South Windsor using the Hartford RR bridge?

I would think that whatever they are shipping from Worcester to New Haven would now be going through this Middletown branch.

Another question. Now that the G&W owns the P&W and Southern CT is it possible for the S-CT to use the tracks through
Wethersfield. If I had thought of that I might have asked at the meeting.

One thing they mentioned at the meeting was the P&W only has a 6 month (probably renewable) lease with the DOT.

Here's a link to the Hartford Courant article from after the meeting.

https://www.courant.com/community/wethe ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mike
 #1503506  by bwparker1
 
It’s not cost effective to ship the Asbestos via rail (I know people that work there). The contaminated soil works due to the weight and final destination endpoints. Definitions and characteristics for soil are confusing and not related to definitions for “Hazardous” solid waste. I expect you’ll see RED shipments and Loads/Empties for Seven D.
 #1503510  by bwparker1
 
Also there is only one way to Springfield. It’s via the Springfield line which goes to Windsor, Enfield & Springfield. The “Armory Line” which runs through South Windsor, is severed at the CT/MA border and tracks long gone in Massachusetts. Normal activity ends in East Windsor at Crop Production Services.
 #1509777  by bwparker1
 
Tracer wrote:Ron Karrs book “The Rail lines of Southern New England” say the section between Rocky hill and Crowell was abandoned in 1972. Is this incorrect and/or was the line reopened at some point?
The line was opened at some point to serve the Building products company Seven D wholesale. Prior to the P&W operating the lines, there was a Connecticut shoreline that operated the Middletown cluster... the name was something like the Connecticut Central Railroad.

Service starts again up to Hartford on Monday June 3rd. CTDOT has been handing out literature during morning commute hours.
 #1510615  by bwparker1
 
FYI, a test train of two lite engines (NECR Engines were used) went south through Wethersfield and Rocky Hill to Middletown, and then returned empty on Monday, June 3rd.

Today, one P&W engine went south from Hartford about 9:15 AM with no cars. They picked up 6 loads of contaminated soil from RED Technologies and then came back north through Wethersfield and crossed Maple Avenue about 1:00 PM.

Photos available at CSOR Facebook Fan Page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/110607852373710/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1511606  by Larry
 
They are now replacing ties along the Northern end where train goes either to Regional Market or continues down to Middletown through Wethersfield. Along 91 south you can see where new ties were placed along ROW to be put in soon. I also looked at the Regional Market and it looks like track next to the Market was rehabbed with all new ties and ballast on North end toward bumper? About two thirds of track was done but not where it connects to lead. I have not seen a railcar delivered there in sometime now. Could something be in the works?
 #1519106  by bwparker1
 
Seems to be running less frequent than was stated originally. They are running, seems to be 1-2x per week. At this point I only know of cars with contaminated soil be shipped out and empties returned. Have not seen any other traffic.