Question about Fitchburg Rails

Hello All!

Please be patient with me as I am new to this forum. I am hoping maybe someone could help me with two queries I had.

First, I don't know if anyone is familiar with the section of the Fitchburg freight line (I don't know the appropriate lingo, sorry) that parallels 5th Mass Avenue (and Rt. 2) behind an industrial area. This is just west of the rt. 31 exit on Rt. 2... it may technically be in Westminster. My question is, next to the two "live" tracks, there is a third track that is mostly submerged in a swamp, that appears to head towards Westminster/Princeton. I was curious if this was ever an active line, or maybe some old freight yard now long extinct.

Second, when and what travels the tracks that are still used? I'm fairly certain that there must be a regular schedule, as I heard a whistle blow at roughly the same time each weeknight and early morning when I was growing up in Westminster.

Finally, thanks to all of you; I just discovered this forum and think it's tremendously wonderful that people are out there preserving the amazing history of rail travel, freight and passenger alike.

Thank you in advance!

Don't have an answer, but welcome aboard! This forum is quite active, and I'm sure someone will get you an answer.

That would be the Freight Main Line you are refering to, and there are many abandonded sidings in that area, I think what you saw was the lead into the old Great Northern Paper mill. The last service to this mill was in the mid-90's. The mill closed, and was bought out by another company whose name escapes me, and it is now active again. There was talk a few years ago of restoring service to that mill, but obviously that has not happened yet.

A siding is a branch for private business purposes?

Thanks for your patience!

The tracks in that area see several freights each day but the timings are generally unpredictable i.e. there is no schedule. The only excpetion to this are the 2 intermodal trains (AYMO and MOAY). AYMO usually leaves Ayer around 9 PM headed westbound, the MOAY is more unpredictable, usually goes through early in the AM but if it is running late can be seen in daylight.

There is often a local (FI-1) that will run west to Gardner and sometimes further west to Otter River (Templeton) which is usually in the daytime.

Other freights include EDLO/LOED (E. Deerfield - Lowell), NAED/EDNA (ED - Nasua), RURJ (Rumford - Rotterdam Jct.) , EDPO (ED - Portland), they can pretty much run anytime.

Also there are coal trains off of Norfolk Southern, often with NS power, that run to the Bow generating station near Concord NH.

Boy, I feel somewhat out of my league here. Could someone explain how the abbreviations work (or link me to a page that does)? I assume that "AYMO" is broken into departing and arriving, so... Departing AYER, Arriving... Where? Do all the yards in the country just have a two letter call sign? That would seem to yield too few variables for all the yards in the country.

Thanks a ton!

Well, symbols indicating departure / arrival location vary by railroad.

For example, Guilford uses the two-letter designation for terminals.
**Canadian National uses 3 numbers for its trains, which indicates nothing
about the train's destination. You have to know those symbols by heart!
** BNSF uses 1 letter, to indicate train type, followed by 3-letter symbols for the terminals [M-BRCGAL: manifest, Belt RR to Galesburg, IL]
**UP does the same, except it uses 2-letter symbols for terminals [A-SPBV: Tri / Bi-levels Spring, TX to Brownsville]
**CSX uses one letter, followed by 3 numbers. The letter indicates the type of train, and so does the first number [Q114: Intermodal train, Boston-Chicago (100's on CSX are intermodal trains/ go to the CSX forum here, and check out the "Bull Sheet"]

So knowing about a train's origin/destination really depends on how much you want to memorize. And the bigger the railroad, the more there is to learn by heart.

As far as sources for Guilford--now Pan Am - there is the New England Railfan Timetable [Guilford Rail System] published by Oxford Junction Press. It gives track profiles, train symbols, and a host of other info. Ones exist for other major railroads in Southern New England, also.

Hope this helps.

Well, this is a lot of information. I can't tell you all how helpful you've been. I had a great Uncle who worked as a conductor in the South. I'm not certain who he worked for offhand, but I know he lived in Tennesse. I'll see if I can't find his old ticket punch (which I still have somewhere!) and ticket stubs.

Thank you all again!

Here is a site that will give you a boxcar load of info, including what all those pesky symbols mean.

http://home.comcast.net/~petlick/grs.htm

Yes, I like that site. But I've heard the trains listed are out of date. Given that Pan Am changes operations often, I can understand why.

Here's a quick question, as I've spent some more time reading the boards here; many people seem upset about Pan-Am and Guilford. Can someone explain what that's all about?

NorthernPhoto wrote:Here's a quick question, as I've spent some more time reading the boards here; many people seem upset about Pan-Am and Guilford. Can someone explain what that's all about?

There are enough answers to that question to fill several books, I'm afraid. Here are a few "reasons" that I can think of quickly off the top of my head:

- The way the company has interacted with the unions
- The way the company has interacted with the general public
- The way the company has interacted with its customers
- The way the company has interacted with the states/cities/towns that it operates in

I'm sure others can elaborate and fill in the blanks. I'd rather not think about it right now. (gotta keep the ol' blood pressure in check!)

NorthernPhoto wrote:A siding is a branch for private business purposes?

Thanks for your patience!

Definition of SIDING:

A track auxiliary to the main track for the meeting or passing of trains.

Noel Weaver

MEC407 wrote:

NorthernPhoto wrote:Here's a quick question, as I've spent some more time reading the boards here; many people seem upset about Pan-Am and Guilford. Can someone explain what that's all about?

There are enough answers to that question to fill several books, I'm afraid. Here are a few "reasons" that I can think of quickly off the top of my head:

- The way the company has interacted with the unions
- The way the company has interacted with the general public
- The way the company has interacted with its customers
- The way the company has interacted with the states/cities/towns that it operates in

I'm sure others can elaborate and fill in the blanks. I'd rather not think about it right now. (gotta keep the ol' blood pressure in check!)

I am not going to defend Guilford from the things posted above but I will
defend them in one respect. They are treating the "Downeaster Amtrak
passenger trains" better than just about any other railroad in the US when
it comes to on time performance and general operation of these trains and
I think we all should recognize them for that. Without their cooperation in
this operation, they would not be anywhere near the success story that
they are.
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:

MEC407 wrote:

NorthernPhoto wrote:Here's a quick question, as I've spent some more time reading the boards here; many people seem upset about Pan-Am and Guilford. Can someone explain what that's all about?

There are enough answers to that question to fill several books, I'm afraid. Here are a few "reasons" that I can think of quickly off the top of my head:

- The way the company has interacted with the unions
- The way the company has interacted with the general public
- The way the company has interacted with its customers
- The way the company has interacted with the states/cities/towns that it operates in

I'm sure others can elaborate and fill in the blanks. I'd rather not think about it right now. (gotta keep the ol' blood pressure in check!)

I am not going to defend Guilford from the things posted above but I will
defend them in one respect. They are treating the "Downeaster Amtrak
passenger trains" better than just about any other railroad in the US when
it comes to on time performance and general operation of these trains and
I think we all should recognize them for that. Without their cooperation in
this operation, they would not be anywhere near the success story that
they are.
Noel Weaver

Considering "Pan Am's" PR legacy do they have any choice?