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  • New England Central Railroad (NECR)

  • For discussion of the various Class II and III Lines of the Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Railroad Holding Co. short-lines which do not have their own forums as noted:

    Their website is here: GWRR.com
    A list of their holdings is here: Wikipedia List
For discussion of the various Class II and III Lines of the Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Railroad Holding Co. short-lines which do not have their own forums as noted:

Their website is here: GWRR.com
A list of their holdings is here: Wikipedia List
 #1471400  by johnpbarlow
 
johnpbarlow wrote:Apparently a CWR train has been delivered by NS/PAS to NECR at Brattleboro and the rail fan buzz is the rail is headed for Willimantic. Anyone have any confirmation and details what work is being done? Is the NECR-P&W interchange track being upgraded perhaps? Thanks.
OK so here's the story wrt that NS/PAS CWR train from Train Magazine on-line:
Genesee & Wyoming officials announced Friday that the heavier cars [286K] will be allowed over the entire route by year’s end.The 7.5 miles of new continuous welded rail [115-pound] will replace existing 100-pound jointed rail, mostly near Stafford, Conn., and south of Willimantic. The project will include the installation of 15,400 new ties, replacement of 11 turnouts , 166 replacement welds on existing welded rail, and extensive ballasting and surfacing of track. The upgrade will allow increased speeds over the 23 miles north of Willimantic, requiring the extension of 19 highway crossing circuits.
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... nt-project
 #1471456  by Jeff Smith
 
More: https://patch.com/connecticut/stafford- ... t-commence" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Eastern Connecticut Freight Track Improvements Set to Commence

WILLIMANTIC/STAFFORD, CT — U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) on Thursday joined officials from the New England Central Railroad for a ceremonial unloading of steel rails that will be used to upgrade the freight rail line running through Willimantic and eventually into Stafford.

NECR is a subsidiary of Darien-based Genesee & Wyoming Inc.

The sections of continuously welded rail will be used to upgrade a 9-mile-long section of track across eastern Connecticut. The work will create about 100 construction jobs around the area.

Funded in part by a 2014 U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER Grant that Courtney helped secure, this project will upgrade rail infrastructure to accommodate modern freight rail carloads up to 286,000 lbs. from New London to Stafford.
...
Pretty much the same article:
http://www.rtands.com/index.php/freight ... ticut.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1483194  by NHV 669
 
Caught the Wednesday night 323 heading north through BF with three six axles, tunnel motor 3317 in the lead. Was thrown off a bit, as BF-1 had come on duty just minutes before, and pulled to a stop before the diamond, with 323 passing through just after. What is the horn on this unit? It sounds so awful, it's great.
Attachments:
crashing the gates
crashing the gates
necr.jpg (1.65 MiB) Viewed 5830 times
 #1490195  by oibu
 
Nice video, thanks for posting!

Where is the photo location (from last location in video)- I'm guessing btw. Millers Falls and Northfield or Vernon someplace?
 #1496437  by johnpbarlow
 
In mid-December 2018, it was announced that NECR is getting $10.8M of Federal BUILD (successor to the TIGER program) grant money to upgrade track structure (bridges and rail) between Monson/Palmer and Northfield to handle 286K cars.

https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/ha ... 1654084658

And here are two snippets from Progressive Railroading articles with additional details:
- Western Massachusetts Freight-Rail Upgrade, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, $10.8 million grant , $30 million project, located from Monson to Northfield, Massachusetts. The project calls for upgrading a section of New England Central Railroad track to meet the 286,000-pound national standard for rail cars and to allow trains to travel at a higher speed on the line.
Meanwhile, the democratic contingent of U.S. congresspeople from Massachusetts — Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and Reps. Richard Neal and Jim McGovern — announced the New England Central Railroad (NECR) will receive a $10.8 million BUILD grant to upgrade its mainline through western Massachusetts.

Owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc., NECR will replace 31 miles of rail and 20,000 ties, and strengthen 20 bridges on the mainline. The grant will be combined with $9.6 million in state funding through the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and $9.6 million from NECR.

"The grant will help fund much needed improvements to allow the railroad to handle modern, heavier freight cars," said NECR President Len Wagner in a press release.
 #1496596  by johnpbarlow
 
Pan Am's Weight Limit routing map indicates the NECR owned portion of the Conn River line from Northfield to White River Junction, over which PAS enjoys trackage rights, accommodates 286K pound cars.

The Mass State Rail plan edition of May 2018 shows the Monson to Northfield stretch of NECR as the needing upgrade to 286K weight limit.

ConnDOT's November 2017 Freight Program has this tidbit:
A TIGER grant-funded project to upgrade the NECR line to 286k compliance in Connecticut is
scheduled for completion by 2019. With the completion of this project, only one section of the
line (in Massachusetts), which connects New London, CT to Montreal, Canada, will not be
286k- capable.
Attachments:
MA RR Weight Limit map May 2018.JPG
MA RR Weight Limit map May 2018.JPG (76.51 KiB) Viewed 4633 times
 #1509584  by NHV 669
 
Caught a first in my 30 years this morning, live movement in the Westboro Yard. After a quick detour to LaValley's to discuss a home project (and accidently stumble upon an amazing model RR), it was off to Hartford Cemetery for a family service via NH 12A over the old Northern stub.

Hot day, windows down, moderate traffic, and the unmistakable sound of a running locomotive could be heard. 437 was just south of the bridge with a long cut of hoppers, at least 10-15, with a good handful of Rymes tanks on the next track. Nice to see so much tonnage moving through the transload there.
B&P 3000 was canned behind Tip Top in the southern end of North WRJ yard with a small cut of cars.
 #1513405  by Allouette
 
There's some local opposition - on the other hand two local landfills have stopped taking construction debris. The site is in what is mostly an industrial area.
 #1518882  by Allouette
 
After a few weeks of Hartford VT and Lebanon NH landfills not taking construction debris, both towns relented and started accepting it again (at higher rates). The re-opening made the transfer station project a lot less viable.
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