Middletown CT

[duckpin]

Instead of going through 148 pages when I do a search for Middletown ... I have some questions about the line that parallels Route 9 in the center of Middletown.

a) If the line is abandoned, how long has it been so? I feel like I've seen cars on that line within the last couple of years (though I only pass through there maybe 6-8 times a year).
b) Does that line connect with the same one that Connecticut Valley Railroad uses? If so, where does that happen?
c) About a year or two ago I noticed they were pulling up some tracks to repave the road that goes to Harbor Park. Was this just a spur that went to a factory?
d) Does this line connect with the P&W swing bridge? Perhaps I'm not paying attention when I'm driving through, but I was trying to orient myself to that bridge and the one that goes over Route 9, but it seems like it would be too sharp of a turn.

Thanks,
-Brian

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Instead of going through 148 pages when I do a search for Middletown ... I have some questions about the line that parallels Route 9 in the center of Middletown.

a) If the line is abandoned, how long has it been so? I feel like I've seen cars on that line within the last couple of years (though I only pass through there maybe 6-8 times a year).
b) Does that line connect with the same one that Connecticut Valley Railroad uses? If so, where does that happen?
c) About a year or two ago I noticed they were pulling up some tracks to repave the road that goes to Harbor Park. Was this just a spur that went to a factory?
d) Does this line connect with the P&W swing bridge? Perhaps I'm not paying attention when I'm driving through, but I was trying to orient myself to that bridge and the one that goes over Route 9, but it seems like it would be too sharp of a turn.

Thanks,
-Brian

a) It's quite very active. P&W comes up from New Haven almost daily via the Air Line and runs around at the junction just before the swing bridge. Its customers are just across the river in Portland, on the stub of the former Berlin Branch, and up the Valley Line into Rocky Hill. Occasionally (but not often) they run all the way through to Hartford. They're committed to developing more business here, and have been successful at signing on new customers in Portland and increasing their carloads in Rocky Hill.

b) Yes. P&W's rights end at the Pratt & Whitney plant on River Rd. I don't believe there are any active customers in Middletown south of the junction, but that is maintained as active track. The out-of-service portion is from Pratt & Whitney through Haddam. And then it becomes active again for the Valley RR's tourist operation. Valley RR also holds freight rights for all of the line south of P&W territory, though they serve no current customers. The Valley is all one contiguous line from Hartford Yard to Old Saybrook. Should the state ever find enough money to repair the out-of-service tracks Valley RR would be able to send excursions straight up to Hartford and potentially pick up some trash hauling business.

c) Temporary construction. Several crossings along Route 9 got ripped out for some fairly extensive pipeline project. All have since been restored. That's the Valley mainline itself...it squeezes between Route 9 and deKoven Dr., crosses Harbor Dr. underneath 9, crosses River Rd., and then hugs the river the whole rest of the way to Old Saybrook.

d) The swing bridge is on the Air Line, so to serve its Portland customers P&W goes straight through the junction onto the bridge. To go north on the Valley they pull a reverse move at the junction, since the cemetery blocks any northbound leg to the wye. You can see in that overhead shot I linked to how it works (and also see the Berlin Branch peeling off to the northwest just past the Hartford Ave. bridge).

[CVRA7]

Excellent post F-line!
As far as I know, currently there are no active customers in Portland.
Heading east across the bridge, on the right (south of the main) is the location of a former construction & demolition customer, closed when the building collapsed under a heavy snow load several years ago. Across the line was once our second busiest Conn. Central customer, Estech Fertilizer. Switch timbers for their siding remain visible on the main line. Next, also on the north side is a new double ended siding which was supposed to serve a contaminated soil loading facility - although a gondola shows in the photo haven't heard about it being used. This was once the location of the Brazos spur, almost a branch in itself as it ran almost a mile north to the brownstone quarries and oil tank farms, very busy during WW II when oil moved by rail due to U-Boat activity in the Atlantic. Later it was cut back to the Gordon scrapyard, which used the "Brazos Main" as their siding. Up the hill further east, again on the north side of the Air Line is the former Stone Container plant, the most active customer we had on the Conn. Central. This plant was closed several years ago. It had an inside loading dock that could hold four cars. Eastward to the current end of the track is the restored freight house - we had a few miscellaneous carloads there over the years IIRC there were a few carloads of brick for a school construction project. Before our (Conn Central) time Anderson Feeds used to get boxcars of feed there.

[duckpin]

Thanks guys, really informative posts. I think I need to take a drive down River Road; I didn't realize it went that far down.

The part that I noticed that looked abandoned was just south of the junction, right near where cars cross from Route 9 to head west to Route 66. That's the section that goes toward River Road and Pratt & Whitney, so I guess that makes sense if the Valley holds the freight rights up to that point so it appears abandoned. Has there ever been any discussion of the Valley excursions running all the way to Middletown? I'm actually kind of surprised it doesn't. My girlfriend and I took the dinner train from Essex in August and it went up as high as the Haddam swing bridge before coming right back down. I didn't expect it to be a two-plus hour round trip, but it was, and it was excellent. It is my hope that they extend it further north (though from what I recall, the tracks that go through near the Blue Oar restaurant above the Haddam swing bridge have pretty much disappeared under dirt, though the tracks around Higganum seem to be in good shape, along Route 154).

Just curious ... are we allowed to walk the line that is on River Road on south? I didn't know if that's still considered private property, etc. And I'd be lying if I didn't wish I had a rail speeder to take on that abandoned section down to Haddam

Have to say I'm really impressed with the knowledge of the folks on this board. I already enjoy having the NECR run 500 feet or so behind my house in Yantic; now thanks to you I've learned quite a bit more about the area lines. My grandfather worked close to 50 years in Stamford on the NYNH line, so perhaps the railroad is ingrained.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Thanks guys, really informative posts. I think I need to take a drive down River Road; I didn't realize it went that far down.

The part that I noticed that looked abandoned was just south of the junction, right near where cars cross from Route 9 to head west to Route 66. That's the section that goes toward River Road and Pratt & Whitney, so I guess that makes sense if the Valley holds the freight rights up to that point so it appears abandoned. Has there ever been any discussion of the Valley excursions running all the way to Middletown? I'm actually kind of surprised it doesn't. My girlfriend and I took the dinner train from Essex in August and it went up as high as the Haddam swing bridge before coming right back down. I didn't expect it to be a two-plus hour round trip, but it was, and it was excellent. It is my hope that they extend it further north (though from what I recall, the tracks that go through near the Blue Oar restaurant above the Haddam swing bridge have pretty much disappeared under dirt, though the tracks around Higganum seem to be in good shape, along Route 154).

Just curious ... are we allowed to walk the line that is on River Road on south? I didn't know if that's still considered private property, etc. And I'd be lying if I didn't wish I had a rail speeder to take on that abandoned section down to Haddam

Have to say I'm really impressed with the knowledge of the folks on this board. I already enjoy having the NECR run 500 feet or so behind my house in Yantic; now thanks to you I've learned quite a bit more about the area lines. My grandfather worked close to 50 years in Stamford on the NYNH line, so perhaps the railroad is ingrained.

Active P&W territory goes to the Pratt & Whitney plant. It only looks abandoned because there are no current customers there and because those pipeline projects temporarily disrupted the grade crossings. But that is an active RR with active maintenance and occasional active work trains...and active efforts by P&W to secure new business.

The Haddam section is not abandoned. It's officially designated out-of-service and "railbanked", which means the state can reactivate it at-will with due notice without needing to jump through all the legal hoops of a de-abandonment proceeding. The rails are intact except for I think one private driveway where a former bridge over the tracks had to be temporarily landfilled in due to (flood damage?). Band-aid job where the land owner will get the driveway reshaped over to an adjacent grade crossing should the line ever need to be reactivated. It's also got some bad washouts along the way, also due to prior flood damage. But most of it is accessible by hi-rail truck, and CDOT does do regular brush control work.

The main reason it hasn't been reactivated is that it's too far down the priority pile. Would take a considerable sum to rebuild the track, especially with the amount of roadbed stabilization required after decades of gradual washouts in such a flood-prone area. Valley RR also isn't in a great position to make money on Middletown or Hartford excursions right now because their own active track is pretty slow. Adding the extra mileage would be a very long trip. The P&W portion of the Valley is itself in rickety shape, and was only reopened to Hartford a couple years ago after a long period of it too being out-of-service. Lots of work to be done before trip times are crisp enough to draw excursion patronage further north. Biggest help would simply be getting the Essex-Old Saybrook track up to consistent Class 2 (40 MPH passenger) speed; they can absorb some of the sluggishness up north if the most oft-used portion of their mainline were a little zippier. Would also help if they had some freight business to capitalize on before the state spends the money to reopen that connection. Trash haul is the most oft-cited use, but there needs to be an opportunity to exploit before track restoration looks like a halfway decent prospect.


CT's State Rail Plan has lots of detail on the Valley, and the list of repair needs and future considerations for it. Also extensive write-ups of P&W's entire in-state operations: http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents ... -24-12.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Check the chapter on the Freight Rail Network

[H.F.Malone]

F-line, a couple of minor corrections to your post, if I may... (and you are usually very spot-on, almost amazingly so with your analysis of the railroad scene in the region)...

FRA Class 2 track speeds are 25 freight, 30 passenger. Next class is Class 3, 40 freight/60 passenger. Yes, it jumps that much in the "next" class. One of the things required for Class 3 is annual internal ("Sperry car") rail inspections. The steam power would not need these things, but any of the diesels would, if operated at more than 25 mph.

There are a number of current and future mandates coming along to affect speeds: event recorders required at speeds over 30 mph, and alertors at speeds over 25 mph (2017). These two long predate Spyuten Duyvil.

VRR does not have brush work performed by CDOT; CDOT does no brush work on any of the freight/tourist short lines to my knowledge. Also, unlike other State-owned rail lines CDOT Rail has little if anything to do with VRR, as VRR is actually a State Park and is under the ownership and jurisdiction of DEC/DEP.

VRR track between Saybrook and Essex is almost completely the original 74-78# light rail, with sand/gravel ballast, basically a Class 1 railroad. Probably Class 2 as for tie count, but basically a 10 freight/15 passenger railroad south of Essex.

Much, if not most of the VRR between Essex and Deep River has been re-laid with NH 107# and better ballast. That improved track structure also extends north of DR in many areas.

[Plate C]

This seemed like an appropriate place to post this question so......many years ago I remember I would see a red engine, pretty sure it was Army or some other military branch, that would come up the line parallel to Rt9. I can't recall seeing it after maybe 1998, what was that to/from and what became of it?

[RonM]

deleted

[Brendan]

All good stuff written here, just a couple more clarifications on the Essex steam train portion from Old Saybrook to Middletown. None of it is "abandoned or out-of-service". The steam trains and their cars are vintage, some near 100 years old, they are in excellent condition but limited to 20 mph by FRA as antique equipment. Much of the track is 30 MPH. The track is class 1 Old Saybrook to Essex, class 2( almost class 3) Essex to north Chester, and then class one to almost MP13 north of Goodspeed in Haddam and the remainder in now considered Haddam yard limits to pratt in Middletown. All of it under maintenance by Valley RR and in the new time table. Hundreds of ties have been installed though Haddam in the last couple years and thousands on the Old Saybrook to Goodspeed sections. This past summer Haddam yard from Goodspeed to Pratt got a over all track inspection and needed tie and joint work. The Haddam yard will continue to shrink as the class one track extends north, as it has for the last 2 years. This coming year (fall 2014) will see the most extensive stone and lazer aliment of the track in Valley history. All track work is financed by the steam train from their ridership. And as for those track car rides, join the Saturday track gang of the Friends of the Valley RR, we are on those rails all the time!

[Dick H]

US Army Geeps and yard in Middletown in 1997.
Thanks to Mark Beebe for the photos,

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... mbeebe6956" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... mbeebe6956" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... mbeebe6956" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here are the USA Geeps in 2001 at Westfield.
Thanks to Henry Kosmider for the photo.
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20010 ... 1&BOOL=ALL" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dispostion of the two USA units.
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 11&t=28165" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here they are at Selkirk yard enroute to the TVA
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... x?id=95499" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[duckpin]

All good stuff written here, just a couple more clarifications on the Essex steam train portion from Old Saybrook to Middletown. None of it is "abandoned or out-of-service". The steam trains and their cars are vintage, some near 100 years old, they are in excellent condition but limited to 20 mph by FRA as antique equipment. Much of the track is 30 MPH. The track is class 1 Old Saybrook to Essex, class 2( almost class 3) Essex to north Chester, and then class one to almost MP13 north of Goodspeed in Haddam and the remainder in now considered Haddam yard limits to pratt in Middletown. All of it under maintenance by Valley RR and in the new time table. Hundreds of ties have been installed though Haddam in the last couple years and thousands on the Old Saybrook to Goodspeed sections. This past summer Haddam yard from Goodspeed to Pratt got a over all track inspection and needed tie and joint work. The Haddam yard will continue to shrink as the class one track extends north, as it has for the last 2 years. This coming year (fall 2014) will see the most extensive stone and lazer aliment of the track in Valley history. All track work is financed by the steam train from their ridership. And as for those track car rides, join the Saturday track gang of the Friends of the Valley RR, we are on those rails all the time!

Brendan, that's great to hear. How has the track held up north of Haddam? I would suspect that there hasn't been a train run on those rails in decades.

I love the bridge in Higganum that looks a good 50 feet or more above Route 154.

[Brendan]

Recently I saw an old picture of gondolas being loaded at Higganum in '68. I believe that was the last freight coming down from Middletown. I have also heard the NH ran a fan trip down the whole line in '68 just before the PC took control.
PC and Conrail ran coal down as far at the power plant in Maromas from Middletown until the mid 80s. When I worked on track for CCCL in the mid 90's we did tie work from the diamond 5 miles south to Pratt to start shipments with them, but only one shipment ever happened. NH freight trains went as far north as Goodspeed from the shoreline until '68 too. The track we are now installing ties on heading up to the Marina in Haddam has seen the least trains in the end of the NH days. The Valley has run the whole track with equipment weighing upwards of 40,000 lbs, so the track is getting better all the time, but that is still not ready for a 100 ton locomotive. Although I think I have seen Gilford run on less The Bridge you refer to, we call the high bridge, it goes over mill River by the old shad shack, that is in Haddam section, not Higganum. In fact there was a station and 4 track rail yard just north of that bridge called Arnolds. Granite was loaded there and sent to NY. there are still remnants of switches derails, interlocking and loading docks in there. that is about 1 1/2 miles up from are now Class 1 track.

[CVRA7]

If I remember correctly the last freight train between south of Maromas was March 31 1968. Ties were loaded at Higganum, think they came from Rossi's sawmill. They were probably going to the tie plant at Cedar Hill Yard if that was still operating that late.
The last freight operations were from Middletown to Deep River as required and from Saybrook Jct. to Essex by a New London based local freight. There was a very short run around track at Deep River that was lengthened twice by the VRR, no runaround remained at Essex and cars were dropped by on the AMF / Essex Lumber track at Essex. I heard that an occasional car for Essex Sash & Door (now Essex Hardware) was unloaded right on the main line as it wasn't used north of Essex during the last months of service. The Essex runaround was rebuilt in 1972 - it had been gone for many years.
Regarding fan trips on the line - I don't think there was any in 1968. There was one Hartford - Saybrook Jct - Groton and return on Sept 15 1963 (eng 0775, 1 baggage car and 2 86xx series coaches) and then one around April 1964 that ran Hazardville - Hartford- Saybrook Jct - Mystic - New Haven - Hartford - Hazardville with a pair of Budd cars. I'm not aware of anything after that.
By 1966 F W Zaiser and Steve Bogen had examined the lower Valley for a future tourist railroad and that was the start of the VRR. #97 was in Hartford by the fall of 1966 and ran several trips over the next few years on various lines of the New Haven and the volunteers who staffed those trips formed most of the original Valley RR staff when it began in July 1971.

[bwparker1]

This seemed like an appropriate place to post this question so......many years ago I remember I would see a red engine, pretty sure it was Army or some other military branch, that would come up the line parallel to Rt9. I can't recall seeing it after maybe 1998, what was that to/from and what became of it?

Not sure if this was directly answered but you are referring to the former 1205th transportation railway operating battalion, which was deactivated with the BRAC decision in 2005. They had operations in Middletown,CT and then later Westfield, MA

Per the web: "The 1205th was deactivated in the last round of base/unit closings in 2006. Both locos,USA 4601&4602, were seen white lined, without number boards in the Pioneer Valley yard , Westfield MA this spring and disappeared around a month ago."

- BWP

EDIT: A lot of additional info at this post.... http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... ?2,1430284" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[red baron]

PC and Conrail ran coal down as far at the power plant in Maromas from Middletown until the mid 80s.

Just another minor clarification, the coal trains were long gone prior to the mid-1980s and even prior to the formation of Conrail if I'm correct. Best I recall is them ending during the PC era, with the conversion of the power plant to oil. Middletown Plate Glass had a siding in that era as well.
However, the feldspar quarry in Maromas lasted longer than the coal traffic. CCCL veterans will have to add to that, but I recall feldspar loadings into the CCCL era.
Deep River Feed and Grain, with it's own siding in Deep River was still receiving carloads until abandonment. I "think" that was the southernmost customer served by the local running south. As previously noted by CVRA, there was a "void" in service between Deep River and Essex during the last months, if not few years of Valley branch NH operations. Amazing how many customers were served by team tracks even right up until the end of service. Quite a different era.