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  • CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1564526  by Rockingham Racer
 
roberttosh wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 7:19 pm With the NS pair now thrown into the mix as well as a likely uptick (increased PAR & Waste traffic) in train starts with CSX on the B&A, I wonder how this effects the MBTA expansion plans to Springfield/Pittsfield? I don't see any way they can think of running 5-6 roundtrips a day without the addition of more double track, especially with the amount of 8-10K foot trains they're running now.


Double tracking between Worcester and Springfield has always been part of the MassDOT plan, IINM.
 #1564536  by taracer
 
lirrelectrician wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:41 pm It will be very interesting to see NS reactivate the Albany main. Plus there was talks years ago but noting happened that they were going to add a second track from Barbers to Worcester so CSX and P&W would have their own tracks. I wonder if now that would be done. I also assume the Worcester mails days of being a 10 mph railroad will soon be over.
Thank you and enjoy .
Mike Scholz
As I've posted they have started clearing from Garden St. east. A post here says it has nothing to do with the transaction, but this area has been severely overgrown for at least 20 years. I'm not talking about some light brush, fully mature 30+ feet tall trees have been removed.

Due to certain changes post covid, it is basically single track from CP45 to CP57 for most of the day. Track 1 and the siding have become an extension of the Worcester yard with the abolished Q 437's cars brought in by the local out of Framingham and parked on the siding and Q426 and Q436 parked on Main 1. Some time they have to park Q427's cars down there too just to be able to bring the 426 up the branch.

If the NS trains are coming at the end of next month they will need space to park trains real soon. The only place to do this is on the branch itself.

Between Garden St. and Barber's is the perfect place to do it. Really Garden St. to the New Bond St. crossing.

The track is actually still in place, not that they would use it, just an interesting fact.
 #1564539  by F74265A
 
How Far east does the clearing work above garden st extend? Does it head up toward new bond st in a way that indicates an attempt to prep the old north bound main ROW for work?

As for NS starting to use rights in a month, I have my doubts. Even if stb were to grant the rights immediately, (1) pan am clearance map lists the Worcester route as 19 foot 6 —meaning DS won’t clear yet, and (2) there’s no connection yet at VO and the Albany main is in poor condition. I’d love to know what the clearance restriction is on the Worcester route. I believe it is the csx overhead bridge in Clinton, but am not certain. Perhaps there is more than one issue. How fast work commences and proceeds on the new NS DS route will be a good indicator of how committed the parties are to making this work. My prediction is that the new NS service starts in the fall after construction season
 #1564542  by newpylong
 
Does the city of Worcester have an online GIS based tax map? Figuring out what's going on with the clearing should be relatively straight forward if so. If the railroad owns the land chances are it's related. Even before this they've been talking about clearing that out to build staging track for years.
 #1564543  by F74265A
 
Look up 150 millbrook st in the Worcester tax records. I believe that’s the lot the OP points to. It is owned by B&M
They own more land just north of there too
 #1564546  by roberttosh
 
taracer wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:30 am If the NS trains are coming at the end of next month they will need space to park trains real soon. The only place to do this is on the branch itself.
Where did it say the NS trains were being switched over to the B&A in a month? I could see them operating the trains that way single stack without full DS clearance work completed on the Worcester line to reduce transit times, but that seems like a real stretch that the connecting track work/upgrades at Voorheesville would be complete not to mention the installation of a main line switch on CSX in the middle of the winter.
 #1564547  by taracer
 
The point I'm making is there is no way CSX is going to deal with the current way to go up the branch from CP45. There is no way that the G&W in St. Albans will control CSX movements from CP45 to Barber after this sale. We are at their mercy there right now.

CSX just paid 700 million, I'm pretty sure they knew they would have to rebuild that track . Expect this whole area to be reconfigured.
 #1564549  by Shortline614
 
March 27th is when the Trackage Rights become effective. In all likelihood they will remain unused until the connection between the D&H and Selkirk Branch is rebuilt and the B&A is cleared for double stacks.
 #1564552  by F74265A
 
roberttosh wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 12:45 pm I'm not questioning your point, it is well taken, I am just curious where you heard the NS trains were coming at the end of the month.
The trackage rights filing with stb has language to the effect of not sooner than March 27, 2021. But read more carefully I don’t think it would become effective until the whole deal is approved by stb
 #1564553  by taracer
 
The VO connection is easily upgraded to a 15 MPH connecting track for the trackage rights. Easily done in about 30 days to get it working.

I'm not saying its going to be right on the 27th, but close.
 #1564554  by roberttosh
 
30 days may be possible from an actual construction standpoint, but unless both CSX and NS have all the required engineering/scheduling work completed and the materials ordered and in place then it is going to be a lot longer than that. You would be surprised at how much pre-planning and mobilization goes into these types of projects before they can even break ground. In addition, I would think that he NS would want to get the line completely rebuilt before shifting the trains that way and not have to rebuild from the ground up under traffic.
Last edited by roberttosh on Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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