Trains on the B&A 1960s

Was wondering if anyone could tell me how many through trains the NYC was running on a daily basis over Washington Hill in Western MA just prior to the creation of the PC. Thanks!



As I understand it about 15/day at the very end:

Freight:
BA-2 DeWitt-Boston MDSE (ran as XB-2 Fri, Sa with 10,000 tons and road helper on rear Selkirk-Worcester)
BA-4 DeWitt-Boston MDSE (ran as XB-4 Fri, Sa with 10,000 tons and road helper on rear Selkirk-Worcester)
BA-6 Selkirk-Boston MDSE (Flexi-Flos for Framingham on the headpin)
BA-8 Selkirk-Boston Autos and Flexi-Vans (connect from ML-12; previously was A/SV-4)
SV-4 Selkirk-Boston Flexi-Vans and TOFC (connect from SV-2 Chicago and SV-6 St. Louis/Indianapolis)

BB-1 Boston-Buffalo autoracks, and loads to various points short of Cleveland
LS-3 Boston-Galesburg, IL general MDSE - carried Elkhart and Indianapolis blocks. Entire consist was reclassed at Elkhart and then was put back together and continued on. Pool power with CB&Q; either BA-2 or BA-4 was also part of the CB&Q power pool (GP20, 30, 35, 40 and U25Bs)
SV-3 Boston-Selkirk Flexi-Vans and TOFC
BV extras Boston-DeWitt for empties and misc. (Boston Various)

Passenger:
You had the remnants of the New England States which had its name and most of the consist stripped off in 1967 at the same time the Century got the axe. There were also mail & express trains but they would have been decimated in 1967 when the US Mail pulled many of the contracts. In 1965 there were three of them each way (Albany, Buffalo & Cleveland with Chicago/St. Louis connections). The Beeliners (aka RDCs; one Albany-Boston schedule and two Springfield-Boston) were cancelled in the first quarter of 1965. In 1966 the ICC required them to replace these with a daytime Boston-Albany train which ran with one engine and one coach. This didn't last long.

NYC27 wrote:Passenger:
You had the remnants of the New England States which had its name and most of the consist stripped off in 1967 at the same time the Century got the axe. There were also mail & express trains but they would have been decimated in 1967 when the US Mail pulled many of the contracts. In 1965 there were three of them each way (Albany, Buffalo & Cleveland with Chicago/St. Louis connections). The Beeliners (aka RDCs; one Albany-Boston schedule and two Springfield-Boston) were cancelled in the first quarter of 1965. In 1966 the ICC required them to replace these with a daytime Boston-Albany train which ran with one engine and one coach. This didn't last long.

This is not quite accurate, trains 404 and 405 were restored by order as
stated but they lasted into the Penn Central era and did not come off
until September 1, 1969 by timetable general order.
Two mail trains were still operating in early 1969 but trains 406 and 413
came off by timetable general order on June 19, 1969, this left one mail
train remaining and that one remained past the Amtrak start up on
May 1, 1971 although shortly after the Amtrak start up, the last mail train
was changed to a van train and rerouted through Selkirk. This resulted in
the temporary abandonment of the line between CP-187 and Rensselaer.
Noel Weaver

These comments are recollections from after 04-64 when I established seniority at West Springfield (on the west end) in Engine Service where I remained until going west to the Mohawk Division in supervision 06-69.

The XB trains were heavy on weekends and holidays. Usually 3000 tons more than usual arranged freight train tonnage. Five units on head-end and two behind cab Selkirk to Washington...never recall road helpers thru to Worchester. Arranged freights (BA Trains) always had Alco power in four or five unit consists on weekdays; not uncommon to get five EMD's on the weekend XB's.

Never recall seeing CB&Q power on LS-3; always four or five FA/FB's on head end and two RS-3 on rear out of West Springfield to Washington, sometimes North Adams. LS-3 was hottest WB on the road & took two blocks of cars @ West Springfield. Yard engine on rear handled the change of cabs (we didn't have pool cabs in '64) and the second block on the rear; at the same time a second yard engine was working thru a middle cross-over to put the first block up in the middle of the train after it had been pulled back to clear the x-over. Rear yard engine shoved everything together with the "Dutch" (Selkirk) cab & then two RS-3 helpers tied on the rear. This was all frequently done in 40" with the perscribed Air Brake Tests without radios. It would not be uncommon during this operation to have the Division Superintendent getting a switch or an angle cock to speed the switching. Everyone took pride in our performance then. The B&A was a great place to be then; it was NYC and the General Manager was at Midtown Plaza (Syracuse) but the division was run by the Superintendent in Springfield...lots of local color.

Question on that "BV extra" designation - was that Boston Various, or Boston-Selkirk? Selkirk's symbol was "V".

I don't know where the CB&Q power was swapped out, perhaps Selkirk if urr never saw it on the B&A, but it DID run frequently on LS-3 up to and perhaps just past PC start-up. Can't recall which "NY" train it came east on but LS-3 did have it westbound at Rochester. (in addition to the models NYC27 lists, I have a shot of high-hood SD24 number 504 taken in September 67).

And yes, LS3 was hot - it had to be into and out of the yard with their pickup fast. It was usually followed an hour or so later by SLX-1, another hot one. Once those two had departed, things could take on a less pressured pace.

The CB&Q power definitely ran through on the B&A. I may have gotten the trains wrong. I have photos of GP30s in West Springfield and have seen similar shots elsewhere on the the B&A. I have heard of SD24s in this service as well. The period of the pooling arrangement was 1967-1969. Because of ATS they couldn't lead.

I had never heard of "V" for Selkirk, so you are probably right about that.

Where did SLX-1 run between?

SLX-1 was the hot St Louis counterpart. If I recall correctly, it originated out of Dewitt. LS3 went to Elkhart.

NYC used 1-letter symbols for many of their locations. VB-1 was Selkirk to Buffalo, VNF7 was Selkirk to Niagara Falls, OV-8 was Buckeye (Ohio) to Selkirk, MB-1 Massena to Buffalo, etc. Some Buffalo origins also used "F", for Frontier - such as FD-2 and FD-4 to Dewitt.

SLX-1 (St. Louis Express) originated at 72nd Street New York when it began service. In summer of 1960, when I was the second trick yard clerk at Yonkers, BF-1 picked up all the westbounds there in the late afternoon. When I returned in 1961, BF-1 had become SLX-1, doing the same thing.

In 1966, when I was Assistant Track Supervisor at Collinwood, SLX 1 was still running just about the same way, if I remember correctly. There it was known as "the Silex."

Gordon Davids