Very Rare Video of Huge Freight heading to CP Yard

Stumbled onto this super rare video today after looking around for some info after I saw a bunch of autoracks (and gondolas) in CP Yard Framingham when doing a recent search on Google Earth.

Hard to believe it was even going to fit. I would guess the yards are even more full today with the new C&D business and the upcoming additional business being planned at the end of the line in Leominster. Crazy seeing this on a track that I thought was pretty much dead. Maybe this is going to happen even more in the future?

This video on YouTube is from 2014, 7 years ago.

I know but my recent Google Earth search shows many autoracks and gondolas in the yard recently so although the yard was officially "closed" 5 years before this video was taken, it apparently is still being used now and at the time of the video. I think many of us never expected to see a train on that track again and to see such a monster train there was pretty remarkable.

A couple of things of interest:

Sometime between 2015-2016 the yard tracks were reduced from 13 tracks to 6 tracks. So there was major work done there but although the yard was "closed" they didn't remove all of it. Also they could have used some of those rails to make the double track continuous since it now appears any long train would get its engines trapped by the short one-track section between the auto yard and the lower CP yard.

It looks like the yard can take a 11,000 foot long train which would absolutely max out the trackage from the end of track at Whitney Street to the last crossing at Waushakum Street. Looks like the CP "bowl" would allow a train of about 4800 feet max that would allow the engines to run around. Again due to the short single track section in the middle, that monster shown in the video would have had its engines trapped and yarding that long a train would be impossible. I guess they must send engines down from the North Yard and pull out cars piecemeal to switch them in the other yards?

The cars in the CP Yard all look like they are derelicts and stored there.

Not derelicts. Recently pulled out of there for service:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmaW9z ... RailVideos

tonyschul wrote: ↑Mon Sep 06, 2021 9:58 am This video on YouTube is from 2014, 7 years ago.

Must of been the 1st time the guy ever saw a train....................

videobruce wrote: ↑Thu Sep 23, 2021 4:20 am

tonyschul wrote: ↑Mon Sep 06, 2021 9:58 am This video on YouTube is from 2014, 7 years ago.

Must of been the 1st time the guy ever saw a train....................

What he saw was a massive train on an "out-of-service" track heading to a "closed" yard. And he was capturing it all on video! I think I would have been excited too after a serious bout of incredulity. To see any action on that track is very rare but to see that monster . . . . . totally justified!

bostontrainguy wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 9:32 am Stumbled onto this super rare video today after looking around for some info after I saw a bunch of autoracks (and gondolas) in CP Yard Framingham when doing a recent search on Google Earth.

Hard to believe it was even going to fit. I would guess the yards are even more full today with the new C&D business and the upcoming additional business being planned at the end of the line in Leominster. Crazy seeing this on a track that I thought was pretty much dead. Maybe this is going to happen even more in the future?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy4cBBm ... ostello105

What new business is planned for end of line in Leominster??

Mass 2020 IRAP grant:

• Leominster Packaging and Warehousing, $348,798, for the installation of a new siding track and equipment to unload plastic pellets.

That business on Nashua St. is presently on the PAS main line , not a CSX line.

AH! Okay. Many of us thought that it was going to be the resumption of service at the end of the line shown here:

Too bad. I was hoping for the old yard in downtown Leominster to be reactivated.
Google maps, date unknown, does show work on a turnout to the spur at the Nashua st business. The spur at that time still looked overgrown

F74265A wrote: ↑Sat Sep 25, 2021 6:08 pm Google maps, date unknown, does show work on a turnout to the spur at the Nashua st business. The spur at that time still looked overgrown

Overgrown siding it may be , but there are at least 2 tank cars on that siding, and if you zoom in a bit you can see what looks like a hose running to the northern-most tank car.

Could be. It is hard for me to tell what is in those tree shadows.