North Brookfield RR

NYCRS3 wrote:Latest news and more answers..........

http://www.wbjournal.com/news49903.html

This is why we ask when you post a link to a news story, you please provide a brief quote. It's been a rule since this site started.

North Brookfield Seeks Freight Rail Revival
Investor sees market potential for train transport

By Livia Gershon -Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer
Yesterday

Daniel M. Bigda wants to bring a five-mile stretch of railroad bed in North Brookfield and East Brookfield back to life four decades after it was abandoned. The rail spur would allow North Brookfield businesses to ship products back and forth from the CSX lines that run through East Brookfield. Bigda runs Boxcar Services, a West Brookfield company that sells and leases rail cars. He said he and other investors have come up with $5.5 million for the project, though he doesn’t expect it to take quite that much money.

Restored trains seen as ‘economic stimulus’ in N. Brookfield :

http://www.telegram.com/article/2011101 ... 1101/local

Sounds fishy to me.



It caught my attention as I was one of those rare persons that unloaded boxcars in North Brookfield as a job as I went to school in area. Harris Pine Mills. (?) 1968.


Perhaps my last real work in my life-----------------------------------------

Teamdriver wrote:Restored trains seen as ‘economic stimulus’ in N. Brookfield :

http://www.telegram.com/article/2011101 ... 1101/local

You need to include a brief quote from the story you're linking to, like this:

NORTH BROOKFIELD — Selectman Richard P. Chabot donned his engineer’s cap last night and said the reincarnation of the North Brookfield Railroad as more than a paper entity is on track. Mr. Chabot said trees and brush from the 66-foot right-of-way will be cleared this winter, and once the frost is out of the ground in the spring, the railbed will be rebuilt as needed, and ties and rails will be laid from the Quabaug Corp. plant to the intersection of the CSX main line in East Brookfield. “In some instances abutters to the right-of-way have encroached, and where necessary, some things like gardens, wood piles, and sheds will have to be moved,” he said.

I would like to see how they came up with the justification for this plan.
What shipper or consignee currently sitting in Northern Worcester County could justify the investment.
A 50' boxcar, gondola or covered hopper is usually the equivalent of 2.5 to 3 truckloads. So 1-2 carloads per day is not much revenue to convert from trucks.

Plus there are quite a few available, rail-served warehouses along the B&A main line now between Westboro and Worcester sitting unused and ready to lease/purchase.
With one of those locations you can do cross-dock services now with minimal infrastructure investment and also deal with only 1 railroad in the state.
And since trucks will ultimately haul to/from the end user, the location does not need to be in northern Worcester County.
Whenever a switching carrier and a Class 1 have to move cars between each other, the additional handling fees make the move expensive.
Again, especially since CSX could woo the operation to a location already along their main line.

Plus With this proposal of basically rebuilding an abandoned ROW, these guys have to consider the following...
1. NiMBYs - they will get their days in court, injuctions, etc.
2. Environmental Impact studies by the state, EPA and every town affected
3. DOT Traffic Impact Studies for all the grade crossings that will have to be put back in - do we really need to put a crossing back in on Route 9 in Brookfield??

They may have $5.5 million to invest in the actual operation, but they will see how fast the money goes to the lawyers and lobbyists first before a shovel is turned.

Also consider the cost /permission to put in a switch to connect to the CSX track. Is CSX involved in this venture ?

The cost of re-installing the switch has already been worked out with CSX.

11/13/11 Article in the Telegram. RR Looks to be operational by June 2012 ? Comments section shows the NIMBY''s are also concerned.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20111113/NEWS/111139772

http://www.telegram.com/article/2011111 ... 39772/1116

Nice stuff further along in the article concerning P&W and G&U.

Mr. Bigda said the survey serves a dual role — to make sure the tree- and brush-clearing crews know what to cut when they open up the corridor and to impress upon abutters who have encroached on rail property that their swimming pools and garden sheds will have to go.

The railroad entrepreneur's ambitious timetable has the track bed being cleared this fall, the bed rebuilt and rails installed to Class III federal rail standards in the spring, and operation of daily freight service by June.

...

That welcome may well be the result of Mr. Bigda having signed commitments from five companies to relocate their businesses to land along railroad property extending from the Quabuag Corp. plant on Grove Street to the interchange with the CSX main line in East Brookfield.

Mr. Bigda explained the primary attraction seems to be having a location where raw materials coming in by rail are manufactured into goods that are subsequently distributed by truck throughout New England.

An additional four companies are taking a wait and see stance until they are up and running, he said.

Otto Vondrak wrote:This is why we ask when you post a link to a news story, you please provide a brief quote. It's been a rule since this site started.

Otto, who has been trying to get kicked off railroad.net since Moses was in a basket ( he he he ) is correct about a link and a brief, "fair-use" quote.

I realize this is difficult since the html buttons on posting replies haven't worked since that very same Moses parted the Red Sea (and yes, according to the site developer, a fix is in the works). However, here is a brief explanation for how to post a quote:

Type in these brackets: [ ] and [/]. Note: I have left out the corresponding html term since that would activate the coding. For quotes, in between those brackets, you would insert the word "quote" (sans the quotation marks). The slash is to close the html coding and should be in front of the html code word.

For instance (space inserted to prevent html activation): [ quote]The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. [ /quote]

Take the space out, and it works. You can also see how coding works (for italics, bold, underlining, etc.) by using the "quote" button on someone elses posts and copying the formatting. But just so you know, the codes (without spaces, in brackets, with the slash to close the coding) for those functions respectively is i, b, and u.

This railroad.net lesson has been bought to you by the letters "rr" (reference to sesame st.).

Just wondering what effect all of this activity will have on the efforts to save/restore/move the East Brookfield station?

So June 2012 is now almost 6 months away....any news?
Hard to believe this is just going to fly through all the red tape our great Commonwealth likes to create.

I know you can't turn a shovel until the spring when the ground has thawed, but there is still a lot of "studies" to be done to keep the lawyers busy.

Plus, not hearing much on the lobbying front, when one follows the money, one usually finds out who is really pulling the strings and how much influence they have to make things happen.

ProRail wrote:So June 2012 is now almost 6 months away....any news?
Hard to believe this is just going to fly through all the red tape our great Commonwealth likes to create.

I know you can't turn a shovel until the spring when the ground has thawed, but there is still a lot of "studies" to be done to keep the lawyers busy.

Plus, not hearing much on the lobbying front, when one follows the money, one usually finds out who is really pulling the strings and how much influence they have to make things happen.

The 12/16/2011 Telegram had an article on the railroad with the "goal" to be up and running by Summer 2012. Considering the "business process" in MA, IMHO that's wishful thinking... Below is a link to the article, looks like the NIMBY's in East Brookfield are getting involved.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20111216/NEWS/112169802

J

Well, it seems time for me to put my two sense in. I think the NBRR Is going back in, no doubt about that. The only question in my mind is what sort of profit can be expected within the first few years. As for the NIMBYs in East Brookfield, they should have realized by now that the NBRR does pass through East Brookfield, so there is the possibility of some buisinesses planting roots in East Brookfield. North Brookfield only has so much room. Besides, buisinesses equals employment and tax revenue to the town, so East Brookfield residents stand to gain from a revived NBRR as well.

daylight4449 wrote:Well, it seems time for me to put my two sense in. I think the NBRR Is going back in, no doubt about that. The only question in my mind is what sort of profit can be expected within the first few years. As for the NIMBYs in East Brookfield, they should have realized by now that the NBRR does pass through East Brookfield, so there is the possibility of some buisinesses planting roots in East Brookfield. North Brookfield only has so much room. Besides, buisinesses equals employment and tax revenue to the town, so East Brookfield residents stand to gain from a revived NBRR as well.

You know, that's a really good point. Hopefully the residents of E. Brookfield are smarter than the ones in W. Upton.