CSX Fitchburg Secondary Discussion

F74265A wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 7:33 pm So far I can’t tell if the plastic pellets siding would be off the Fitchburg secondary in Leominster or farther north off the B&M main. I cannot find an addresses

The address is 233 Florence Street. I also can't see how that address is going to be serviced. There is a small industrial area south of Route 117 and perhaps they are going to transload there.

Years ago there was a small yard just north of 117 where the end of track and run around is today. In the 1980s and at least in to the early 1990s there was a very active plastic pellet transload operation on the edge of that yard. It was to the left of the Hannaford grocery (former victory market) parking lot

F74265A wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:20 pm Years ago there was a small yard just north of 117 where the end of track and run around is today. In the 1980s and at least in to the early 1990s there was a very active plastic pellet transload operation on the edge of that yard. It was to the left of the Hannaford grocery (former victory market) parking lot

Can you restore that for $348,798?

As I read it, 348k is only 60% of the money and the company is putting in another 40%. I’d guess that total is enough to restore a short track there. It was just a couple old tracks in the weeds and dirt before but was pretty active for transload

Are any of the box plants on the line getting cars anymore? Most days seems to be tanks, center beams and C&D cars.

roberttosh wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:04 am Are any of the box plants on the line getting cars anymore? Most days seems to be tanks, center beams and C&D cars.

NewCorr in Northborough is the only box plant that I am aware of that still receives loads in boxcars. Mass Container in Marlborough switched to trucks a few years ago (although there was a lone boxcar on their siding a few weeks ago). From what I can tell, B724 leaves North Framingham with cars for the northern end of the line ( lumber and trash) on Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday, and with cars for the southern end (Safety Kleen, Ken's Foods, NewCorr - when they have cars) on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I believe they run to at least the Clinton runaround, or to the end of the line as needed on M/W/F (I can't confirm 100%)

A few pages back on this thread there is a video from February 2020 of csx spotting cars at the trash place. I noticed tank cars spotted across at teknor. There’s also another video out on YouTube from feb 2020 of csx switching out tanks and covered hoppers from teknor so at least as of February of this year there was more traffic north of Clinton than trash and bestway lumber. Someone said earlier that they didn’t know if teknor still got cars. As far as I can tell, the teknor plant is still open and I would be surprised if they dropped rail service since February although it’s possible

F74265A wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:08 am As I read it, 348k is only 60% of the money and the company is putting in another 40%. I’d guess that total is enough to restore a short track there. It was just a couple old tracks in the weeds and dirt before but was pretty active for transload

Yeah, got the exact figures. The grant is for $348,798. The amount that the company is contributing is $232,532. The total money available is $581,330 which I would hope is enough to restore things as they were which is pictured below.

That’s exactly how I remembered it. If a 5mph siding in the mud can’t be rebuilt for half a million bucks we’ve had some serious inflation

Just a reminder there is still a siding about 100 yards towards Leominster from the new siding for the trash transload. The switch is still in place but the track thru the grade crossing at Linchfield Street was removed when the branch redone last year eliminating one track in the grade crossing. It goes into an industrial park and is about a mile closer to the new customers physical location and the track is in good condition unlike the left over in the downtown yard which is in the mud and weeds . All they would have to due is put back around 50' of track and resurface the grade crossing .

I see that siding into the industrial park. I recall that grade crossing on Litchfield St was rough in the past. So, if the yard is just mud and weeds now, where is the current run around for the power to get on the south end of 15+ cars of c&d to head back to Framingham?

F74265A,
Just after my last post, last Thursday CSX removed the switch and the remaining track that went to the siding up to the property line / gate to the industry.
The runaround track at the Leominster yard is in good shape this was re-done along with the rest of the work last year, there are still 2 switches off the run around on the east side of the yard. These are the old transload sidings where they unloaded centerflows of plastic pellets around 10+ years ago. They could still be used with a little work.

The two old sidings were the ones that are in the mud and the weeds.

roberttosh wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:04 am Are any of the box plants on the line getting cars anymore? Most days seems to be tanks, center beams and C&D cars.

I noticed two or three box cars at MassContainer this morning. They have not had any box cars in several weeks. They seem to get intermittent deliveries via rail lately.

Have operations changed in the last month or so? I think there were a couple of Saturday's this month that I heard them running....I think instead of Sunday. I didn't go chasing so I can't confirm. I saw them running south in Berlin tonight with 16 C&D and 4 or 5 boxcars on the end. I'm thinking they may have done some south end switching before heading to Leominster. The runs to Leominster usually only have C&D, centerbeams, tanks, and the occasional covered hopper. Boxcars are rare going that far north given operating practices over the last few months.