by Ridgefielder
njt/mnrrbuff wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 4:34 pm I have said this many times but will say it again. West of Springfield is where the trains will slow down considerably. There is plenty of topography and curves that would make travel times by train a lot slower than driving or taking the bus from Renssalaer to Boston.I feel like there's not enough appreciation out there for just how tough the mountains of western Mass. are from a railroading standpoint. There's a ~1,200' change in elevation between Westfield and the summit of the grade. That's roughly the same as the difference in elevation between Trinidad, CO and the top of the Raton Pass!
There's a reason the New York Central developed a heavy freight locomotive-- the Berkshire-- to deal with that hill. And there's a reason the B&M route farther north uses what's still, after 144 years, the longest railroad tunnel in the US east of the Rockies.