Whither Housatonic (HRRC) Railroad? (no TIGER for HRRC)

Maybe Pan Am will take it over. That might actually be an improvement!

P+W is the better option,they "play well" with Amtk and MNR. They seem to care about customer service.
P+W would take care of the Maybrook route, and let BSRY run again.

Backshophoss wrote:P+W is the better option,they "play well" with Amtk and MNR. They seem to care about customer service.
P+W would take care of the Maybrook route, and let BSRY run again.

While I have no doubt that the P&W could handle such an operation there are two points that I should note:
1) The Providence and Worcester is in no position to take over the Maybrook route. They're running off the cuff with the power currently avalible, and although they are doing well, getting more power would take time and money.You'd also need more personnel.
2) If something breaks (like a prime mover goes, or a cooling system fails), you need to go the long way around to get the busted equipment to one of the main shops to avoid the costs of a direct move over CSX to Worcester or another interchange point that has adequate repair facilities available.
3) Last I checked, the connection between the Houastonic and the Providence and Worcester in Derby is in-service (not a world-ending problem, but an impediment).
Not only that, but would the Providence and Worcester let the Berkshire Scenic crews run on their own? There hasn't really been anything in the past that would set precedent. Just my thought, so I'll find that bunker now...

Reorg'd some topics due to my own error in a post.

My opinion is there'd be a few looking for to provide freight here. P&W is logical as they actually have trackage rights over the Maybrook and they'd rather use this branch. Right now they use the Danbury branch, over which they have freight rights but no customers I believe. Pan Am, outside of the Waterbury-Berlin corridor they hope CDOT will rehab for them, does not have much use for western CT, although how this might tie in with the "Patriot Corridor" who knows. There's ample customers as I understand it from Newtown up to Pittsfield to continue service.

If P&W were to take over, switching power would be easy. stone train to Danbury has at least 4 units, two at each side.
on return they could easely use one less, switching a engine of ex housy for servicing, after all a empty stonetrain does not need same as full stone train.

Now that's funny!

They are not just burning every bridge they have.....they are planting dinomite on the abutments and blowing those up too......


This has got to be some of the worst P.R. I have seen in 15 years in the business. Couldn't have happened to a nicer railroad.

Frankly I just don't get it. They pi$$ off politico's in MA, and CDOT can't hold that high of an opinion of them given their shenanigans with P&W and road crossing maintenance. I think they just don't give a crap anymore.

This is an old tactic used by the guilford types when they want to get rid of customers and service in an area. They did this on the Conn River north. They did the exact same thing. That's how the NECR (Central Vermont at the time(which was part of CNs GTW)) got full ownership from White River South.

They think that they can get more out of the property than the railroad, so they are trying to kill it. They did it to almost all of their lines in Northern New England (that have been abandoned). It's easier to justify the abandonment claim to the STB if there is reduced traffic, and a need for major infistructure investment. These bozos never change, and are very predictable. They are trying to suck every last thing they can out of the railroad before they abandon or sell. By the time they are done with it, no one will want it as a railroad, and they'll be able to sell the fiber optic and underground utility rights for more than the scrap value of the railroad.

Hate to say I told ya so....but I seem to remember telling you so. Right about the time they started messing with and lying about Berkshire Scenic I told ya so....

The to time has come for the state(ConnDOT) to ACT NOW! Get the "Directed Service Order" to allow P+W to
tend to the remaining customers.
It's time to clean house at HRRC,and send the ex-Guilford crew to the Dump!(NO more recycling!)
It's a shame to see the entire area go to waste and rust away!

ConnDot can not legally do that, they had option to buy the railroad from Conrail, yet choose not to.
They can not now , choose Emminate Domain or other legal action to intervene in a private held corporation or property.
The State of Massachusets and Connecticut can however stop, with financial or material help, and let the private company fend for itself.

Actually, they can use eminent Domain to take private property. They have every right to do so if they can prove that it is for the public good, and they negociate first for "fair market value" which in this case is not much.

no, eminent domain does not apply when a state tries to take federal controlled property (railroad). private or otherwise.
Don't forget that State of Connecticut had right of first refusal when Conrail sold the Danbury cluster.
and State of Connecticut declined.
as for current customers none is important enough to really force any issue in court, and second question is, can connecticut afford the just compensation ??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_do ... th_America

Interesting they ended up with Maybrook W to state line, E to Derby, and N to New Milford, while state got New Milford north to MA (and naturally Danbury South to Norwalk since it retained passenger service). I'll have to research Conrail's disposition. It was Danbury Terminal Railroad back then, right?

your right, but state got Berkshire line from Boardman bridge to Stateline (Ma) from Penn Central, all the Conrail tracks in Danbury Cluster went to Danbury Terminal Railroad, a paper railroad created by HRRC so Conrail people could not gain employ at HRRC by rights.
The Danbury Branch was state owned long before Conrail vacated the Danbury freight service.

DutchRailnut wrote:no, eminent domain does not apply when a state tries to take federal controlled property (railroad). private or otherwise.

I respectfully disagree with you and your assertion. Railroad rights of way, while regulated by the Federal Government AND state government are PRIVATE property, and subject to eminent domain. For proof of this I would send you to

Missouri Pacific Railway Company vs. the State of Nebraska (1905)

where after deciding that (a) The right of way for a railway IS PRIVATE PROPERTY; (b) the people who wanted to use part of the private property were NOT the state, but private owners (hence no eminent domain), and other issues, the SUPREME COURT held (last paragraph of order) that the state cannot compel a private company to surrender private property to another private person. If however the land being private property had been sought by the state for the public good, eminent domain would apply.


Private property can be seised under eminent domain per the following cases;

Rindge Co. v. County of Los Angeles (1923)- Where the cort ruled that the state could take private land (Upholding Eminent Domain)for the betterment of public good to build a scenic Highway

Poletown decision (1981)- The Courts said that the whole economic vitality of the Detroit region was based on the ability of General Motors to build a Cadillac assembly plant on an existing neighborhood with hundreds of homes, and they were allowed to do that.



If the state can prove that the way that Boozeatonic is rapeing....er I mean running the railroad, they have every right to claim eminent domain before the crackheads there drive it any farther into the ground.......