Work Going on in Chicopee?

For the past couple days, crews have been clearing the tracks between Granby Rd and Memorial Dr in Chicopee. I'm guessing (sadly) in preparation to finally tear the tracks out of the line? Considering the grade crossings have been cut in two places on the line.. Anyone know more?

Could it be that PAR/PAS is doing some upgrade work on the line in preparation for increased traffic in the area?

Let's get our hopes up.

John

The line was embargoed due to poor track conditions in 1999, and was formally abandonded, I believe, in 2004. To the best of my knowledge, the track OUTSIDE of the industrial park still belongs to Pan Am Railways (Springfield Terminal). After doing a bit of research yesterday, I identified three possible customers, and found two more that I couldn't identify. They all have rail spurs going to them already, and they all look to be in pretty good shape (probably because they haven't been used in years).
The potential customers I identified:
Sweeney Transport 2073 Westover Road
Biy Y Distribution Center 2189 Westover Road (may have originally been the Stop 'n Shop Distribution Center; Anybody know?)
Engineered Polymers 2323 Westover Road
Unidentified Logistics Drive
Unidentified Champion Drive
I'm just guessing here (and maybe engaging in some wishful thinking), but there are a number of reasons why I think the Westover Branch is going to be Rehabilitated rather than torn up.
1)Rebuilding of the Conn. River Line is due to begin this year. The project (Springfield to East Northfield) is projected to take two years.

2)The interchange with NECR at Miller's Falls in almost rebuilt, while the connection with the PVRR here in Holyoke is due to be done this year. There is also the possibility that the old B&M freight yard at the end of Dwight Street will be partially rebuilt this year.

3)Forestville Lumber in Plainville, CT. Unless I'm mistaken, this customer stopped receiving rail shipments for at least a year. I base this on the fact that I moved to Holyoke in May of 2009, and saw no centerbeam cars on Pl-1 until January of this year. If I'm wrong about this, or if anyone has more details I'd like to know.

4)Norfolk Southern. It seems incredible to me that NS would go into the PanAm Southern venture with the ONLY object being reaching Boston. It makes sense that the NS influence on PAS will cause them to aggressively go after new business (and getting back old Customers).

5)The only reason that Guilford lost so many customers during the 90s, was due to things like late shipments, damaged product, etc. which was generally due to deteriorating track conditions due to lack of maintinence. With the exception of branches like the one in Chicopee (which from my inspection of it will need to be entirely rebuilt), PAS is getting their mainline track rebuilt for free. This can't help but attract old customers back (C&S Grocery Warehouse in Hatfield), or gain possible new customers(Coca-Cola in Northampton, which wanted a spur built to their new facility in the mi-90s, but the City of Northampton wouldn't let GTI build the spur unless they ALSO (at GTI's expense) build a tunnel under the tracks to connect the two bike paths). This wouldn't be a factor, as a tunnel will be constructed as part of the rebuild.

For more info on the Wesover Industrial Track, I would suggest referring to http://www.atlanticnortheast.com. You''l be looking for issue 99:22 (22 November 1999)

It was abandoned in 2004. The railroad no longer owns it. Ownership was transferred to the Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation, which tried unsuccessfully before the STB to get Guilford to restore the track to Class 1 status and repair grade crossings. Efforts to get customers failed as well. A Pan Am official is quoted in 2009 as saying the railroad worked with the developers to increase traffic, but that the community only wanted "white collar workers", so they abandoned the line. An official of the WMDC is quoted in 2006 as saying that there was no point of keeping the track outside the Air Park if there were no customers there. At that time there was concern about deteriorating track conditions and grade crossings, so perhaps now the situation has been resolved in favor of removing the entire line.
(Source, various articles in Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports Newsletter)

cpf354 wrote:It was abandoned in 2004. The railroad no longer owns it. Ownership was transferred to the Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation, which tried unsuccessfully before the STB to get Guilford to restore the track to Class 1 status and repair grade crossings. Efforts to get customers failed as well. A Pan Am official is quoted in 2009 as saying the railroad worked with the developers to increase traffic, but that the community only wanted "white collar workers", so they abandoned the line. An official of the WMDC is quoted in 2006 as saying that there was no point of keeping the track outside the Air Park if there were no customers there. At that time there was concern about deteriorating track conditions and grade crossings, so perhaps now the situation has been resolved in favor of removing the entire line.
(Source, various articles in Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports Newsletter)

Sadly you are probably right. The city did want the line restored into the industrial park. Guilford did not want to. Now the grade crossing across Memorial Drive/ RT33 is in such bad shape there was an article in the paper a few months ago that it was getting torn out when the roads repaving project commenced. I figured this was just prep for that, sadly. There was talk that something would develop from the ethanol company opening, but nope. Just more politics from all involved.

And the "White Collar" comment? Not sure who made it but the city has been looking for industrial companies to fill in all the airparks for years. I can only think of a handful of "white collar" companies in all of the parks. I work in Airpark East and there is a printing company and book bindery and a marble company near our warehouses, but thats it. The rest are more "blue collar" companies.

Well it was nice to have high hopes. This is sad news, and what else is new for PAR.

John

Took a ride around the Airpark today. I think its safe to say the line is officially dead, and all the work is to tear the tracks out:

Fear not, fellow railfans! I too, took a ride to Chicopee today, but instead of just taking photos, I actually spoke with a local resident who lives next to the line.
The Bad News: The Westover Industrial Track will not be rehabilitated anytime soon.

The Good News: The line will not be torn up anytime soon, and there are no plans for a bike path.

Here's the story: The City of Chicopee is doing a sewer project that only calls for ripping up PARTS if the line, all east of Granby Road. This isn't so bad, as parts of the right-of-way will be cleared, and we all know that ALL the rails & ties will need to be replaced anyhow.

Hope this helped!

whatelyrailfan wrote:Fear not, fellow railfans! I too, took a ride to Chicopee today, but instead of just taking photos, I actually spoke with a local resident who lives next to the line.
The Bad News: The Westover Industrial Track will not be rehabilitated anytime soon.

The Good News: The line will not be torn up anytime soon, and there are no plans for a bike path.

Here's the story: The City of Chicopee is doing a sewer project that only calls for ripping up PARTS if the line, all east of Granby Road. This isn't so bad, as parts of the right-of-way will be cleared, and we all know that ALL the rails & ties will need to be replaced anyhow.

Hope this helped!

Well, its encouraging to know that they aren't tearing the line out, however King... err, Mayor Bissonette here in Chicopee has already slated that the Memorial Drive crossing and signals are coming down when the road is paved. To me that really seals the deal for the rest of the line. Not to mention the condition most of the tracks are in.

It's really too bad this Pan Am Southern deal didn't happen about 11 years ago. Back then the PVRR wanted to operate the Westover Branch pretty badly, but could get absolutely no interest in Guilford in selling / leasing the line or granting trackage rights.

Jedijk88 wrote:It's really too bad this Pan Am Southern deal didn't happen about 11 years ago. Back then the PVRR wanted to operate the Westover Branch pretty badly, but could get absolutely no interest in Guilford in selling / leasing the line or granting trackage rights.

PVRR would have been perfect. Not only do they run a great rr in Westfield and Holyoke, they have a great relationship with CSX. Would have been great for all involved. A real shame.

A PVRR Westover operation would have been nice. Back then the branch was generating about 300 cars a year. (Too little to entice Guilford to maintain service, but enough to interest the PV) . PVRR still operated to the ST yard then.

New member here.
I went by the Westover section today on Granby Rd, being ripped up with tons of fill pilled up on the right of way leading toward Rt 33. Granby Rd is being completely re-done between Montgomery Street interesction and Rt 33. Did not have a chance to look at any other section.

Rich

lexon wrote:New member here.
I went by the Westover section today on Granby Rd, being ripped up with tons of fill pilled up on the right of way leading toward Rt 33. Granby Rd is being completely re-done between Montgomery Street interesction and Rt 33. Did not have a chance to look at any other section.

Rich

Yup. They took all the tracks out from 33 to Granby Road. I knew that would happen. Suffice to say the line is dead.