CSX Fitchburg Secondary Discussion

[Knucklehead]

Better do it sooner rather than later before they drive ALL of the customers away and totally devalue the line.

[leviramsey]

Why would they even shop it? There's only one buyer who'll seriously think of cutting a check, and they're headquartered in Boston.

[Tallguy]

Are there any customers east of 495? Ken's? Is the track still Class I?

[arcadia terminal]

New industry going in, in Leominster. last week a new pre-fab turnout was dropped at the site from the looks of the survay stakes and grading it looks like it will be a 2 track siding long enough for 6 cars each, no idea as to who the customer is. New building going in also. This was an empty lot.

PL

[FatNoah]

I wonder if it's this: https://eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/EEA/e ... %20LLC.pdf

[ccutler]

That sounds like a large new customer, generating 10 carloads of trash per day, and enough to sustain a branchline.

[arcadia terminal]

FatNoah,
Thank you for the lead this is the exact location. I will be great to see more than 2 trains a week in my back yard. My apt complex is adjacent to the tracks.

Thanks
Peter

[Knucklehead]

Why would they even shop it? There's only one buyer who'll seriously think of cutting a check, and they're headquartered in Boston.

I am not so sure...rumor mill has it a certain short line operator may have an interest in it.

[Knucklehead]

Are there any customers east of 495? Ken's? Is the track still Class I?

Still Class I. They did two tie and slight resurfacing projects one each in 2018 and 2019, but they didn't seem to go much farther north than Marlborough on the last one.

CSXT has changed its status to a running track from a subdivision handing control over the North Framingham Yard Master.

Safety Kleen is the only customer east of I-495, but I am not sure how often they are switched. There have been a lot of box cars for NewCorr in Northborough as of late. Mass Container has not seen a box car in over a year now, and Suburban Propane (both in Marlborough within a stone's throw of Ken's foods) dropped rail service more than a decade ago.

[bostontrainguy]

Does CSX still own the track into the old GM plant/CP Yard? What about the old good-sized yard just south of the auto facility? Are they both considered one yard? Which one is called "CP" or are they both considered "CP" yard?

Checking Google Earth, there appears to be coal cars in the North Yard. Where could these be going?

Thanks for any info.

[johnpbarlow]

Given MassDOT/MBTA purchased only the CSX mainline through Framingham and the Framingham Secondary, the Ag Branch and the remains of the Holliston Secondary are presumably CSX owned but don't hold me to that! Re: the 2 "CP" yards I'm guessing the southerly yard was used for holding inbound autoparts cars when the plant was in use by GM while the northerly yard was the autorack unloading area, which was used for several years following the GM;s closure of the plant.

As to why there were loaded coal hoppers shown in N Framingham yard in the Google Earth aerial, I've read that Stiles & Hart in Bridgewater MA get occasional coal deliveries for their brick making process.

[roberttosh]

So it sounds like there’s currently only 5 active customers on the line, those being, Safety Kleen, Kens, Newcorr, the lumber customer and Teknor Apex. How times have changed, I can remember back in the 80’s and even into the 90’s there being a lot more customers than that and trains frequently running 30-40 cars in length.

[Safetee]

Most of the Fitch missing traffic is the plastic pellets business. I believe that with a couple of exceptions, much of this traffic continues to ride the rails for the most part by CSX to the P&W, G&U, or Mass Central for final truck delivery.

[roberttosh]

Some of the non-plastics business that has dried up is IP at Framingham, Reisner scrap at Clinton, Mass Container & Suburban Propane to name a few. There were others at the Framingham Industrial Park where IP was and definitely more that I’ve missed further on up the line.

[arcadia terminal]

Quick math the new indusrty will process 1,000 tons a day and using 100 ton cars that's 10 cars a day 70 cars a week if they run 24/7 that is one big uptick on the line.
That is if all the product goes out by rail, I would think the plastics would go out by truck for reprocessing.