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  • Railfanning in the Berkshires Locations

  • Discussion of the operations of CSX Transportation, from 1980 to the present. Official site can be found here: CSXT.COM.
Discussion of the operations of CSX Transportation, from 1980 to the present. Official site can be found here: CSXT.COM.

Moderator: MBTA F40PH-2C 1050

 #1536968  by J.D. Lang
 
CSX's B&A mainline runs over the Berkshires through Pittsfield over the mountain through Chester down to Westfield, West Springfield. There's about 12 freights a day and 2 Amtraks. Unfortunately most run late afternoon thru early morning. You may get lucky with one mid day train but it's hit or miss. There are now 3 webcams along the route with streaming video that you may want to check out to see the pattern through the area.

First one is at the Chester Railway Museum in Chester Mass.:
www.westfieldwebcam.com/index.php/chester

The second one is from the Pilgrim Candle Building looking out at the tracks over the bridge in Westfield Ma.:
www.westfieldwebcam.com/index.php/green-bridges

The third one is in W. Springfield at the Front St. crossing:
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/morga ... ic-cameras

As Jeff said the Housatonic RR. runs through GT. Barrington, Housatonic, Stockbridge, Lenox and Pittsfield. If you have a scanner you may be able to catch their Canaan-Pittsfield turn.
 #1536975  by roberttosh
 
Not to be picky but I think there's typically 14 scheduled CSX freights West ofSpringfield, including 6 manifests, 6 intermodal and two multi-levels. Depending upon when the Hoosac Tunnel reopens, there could also be an additional train or two due to detour traffic. Less likely would be the occasional unit Ethanol, coal or stone train.
 #1537290  by Plate C
 
Closest to where you'll be is likely Chester. There are a few trackside spots along Route 20 starting at the museum and heading toward Huntington I believe. You might be able to see some on Google maps or similar. The museum area is going to be your most wide open viewing with safe/ample parking whereas the other locations are roadside turnouts or trail parking.

There are several trains per day but I think we all understand about RRs and schedules. Also different trains get pushed aside for others in different locations so it's sometimes a surprise what you see where/when.

I'm no expert on this but some examples...

Today- I believe 427 and 437 both passed the area before 8am, as a train that looked like 427 was yarded in NY and when the auto racks (Q263) made it to NY they passed a waiting 437 to get to the yard. Auto racks were rolling West through your intended region by 8am.

Q424 has been leaving West SPG headed WB between 11-12:30pm most days. Some days it's gone before 11, other days they haven't made it out the yard by 12:30. Earlier in the week 427 or 437's counterpart was heading EB through West SPG about this same time, so figure it would have passed your area 40 or so minutes before?

An EB intermodal is usually in the area between 8-9am. No sign of it today but it may have passed when the tracks veered off or it passed behind the auto train.

IDK how great the light is when 263/427/437 pass in the morning but those are all lengthy trains as are their EB counterparts.
Hope that helps a little.