Rumors, rumors, rumors...

In fact, I believe the Ford traffic, which has its own train and CSXT crew, could be added to the existing Auto train that heads East to Framingham/Boston. Alot of times the Ford train does not go immediately up the Barbers line to Ayer, and ends up needing to be recrewed by CSXT to get it there. One other thing to consider is that while Framingham is a mess during rush hour, I'm sure Ford will save on trucking as Ayer isn't exactly near the big Metropolitan Boston area or all those the South Shore Auto dealers.

Ayer Auto Facility unloads Ford vehicles destined to points all over New England, not just Boston. It's proximity to I-495 makes it an ideal location. I would be very surprised if it were closed, but I know that it is possible, there are always rumors to that effect. It would mean the loss of at least one local in Ayer, possibly two, plus the jobs of 14 unloaders, a foreman, a manager, a general manager, and several truck drivers.

Robert, as Mick noted the autos are destined for as far away as northern Maine. The CP Yard is supposedly going to be the new home of FORD. As for the crews that work at the unloading facility in Ayer (not the train crews) if they are contracted they would probably be given the opportunity to relocate to Framingham, but if they are Guilford employees, yes, they would lose there jobs.

Also, East Brookfield is maxed-out with all of the carriers they have, especially since GM moved out there. In addition to the Ford rumor is one that Hyundai is looking at the CP Yard in Framingham as well.

Another advantage to running Q274 to Framingham as opposed to up to Ayer is the fact that too much time is lost by having to hold the train at Worcester for a crew qualified to Ayer because most Selkirk crews are not qualified to Ayer.

Guilford looks like a loss at Ayer auto all together the buzz is.

Could an Auto carrier get into Auburn via StL&A? That would work goodly

Pretty sure the SLR from Auburn to their connection with CN is cleared for double stacks (and presumably auto racks as well), but I'd have to double check.

The rumors about the auto facility shutting down are true.I work for GMX/the pig facility in Ayer and a few of the auto unloaders are tranferring over to GMX to work.

With the loss of Ayer Auto and the P&W taking more and more of the coal traffic I don't think it will be long before things come to a head and something is done with the place. Although they are one hard group to second guess.

The Jan 15th rumor has obviously come and gone without any announcements, but more than ever I am 110% certain that there is stuff going on behind the scenes between NS and the ST. Studies are being done, top brass from both companies have visited the others headquarters, negotiations are taking place, etc, etc. Who knows, in the end, the ST may just be screwing with the NS and have no real intention of selling, but that's not likely. One thing is for sure, with Ford now tied up at Framingahm for several years, the asking price for the ST mainline to Ayer just got a little cheaper.

I feel so USED by this thread....

CN9634 wrote:Could an Auto carrier get into Auburn via StL&A? That would work goodly

Auburn is too far away from the Boston market to make sense logistically. Granted some cars end up in Maine, but the majority end up inside the I-495 beltway, or at least fairly close to it at places like Providence, Worcester, Nashua, Fall River, Lowell, etc.

Do you think Portland would be a close competitor?

As for Ford moving to the CP Yard in Framingham I asked a Road Foreman of Engineers at CSXT via e-mail and he did not confirm nor deny it. I also asked a CSXT dispatcher in Selkirk, who is usually "in the know" and he said that was the first he had heard of anything.

l008com wrote:I feel so USED by this thread....

hahaha... um. it's true.

As I'm not very familiar with operations north of Boston I'm wondering
if the work being done to lower tunnels in Vermont on New England Central will have any impact on the patterns of auto rack traffic in New England from foreign makers.This probably belongs in a seperate thread
but reading through these posts just got me guessing southbound shipments from Montreal.Can anyone offer any observations?