Freight and General New England RR News


The number of freight railroads in Massachusetts decreases by one. Mass Coastal Railroad acquires the trackage rights and line assets of Bay Colony Railroad: the MassDOT-owned Wattupa Branch from New Bedford to Westport, and the MBTA-owned Millis Industrial Track from Medfield to Millis. Bay Colony began 41 years ago operating a fairly sizeable network in Eastern MA (Millis-Medfield-Needham-Newton, Wattupa, Cape Cod Main Middleboro-Hyannis and South Dennis stub, Falmouth Branch to Falmouth Depot, Plymouth Line, Hanover Branch, Greenbush Line to Cohasset, Taunton's Dean St. Industrial Track, the Framingham & Lowell from West Concord to Acton). But inability to hold onto customers led to mass abandonments, and Mass Coastal outbid them for the Cape Trash Train 15 years ago. They were whittled down to just a couple of customers on the Wattupa and on-again/off-again (for the last 2-1/2 years, off-again) activity in Millis. Now they're extinct.

Mass Coastal gains a beneficial extension of their contiguous network, eliminating the BC interchange at New Bedford for direct service to Westport (primarily scrap business) with opportunities at a Dartmouth industrial park to pick up a couple more customers. They probably have little to no interest in Millis since the intermittent cement sand transloading operation doesn't look like it's ever coming back. It's likely that BC told them "take it all, or take none of it" for its inclusion in the sale. This may end up finally pushing that line towards abandonment.

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Sort of bittersweet for me. A lot of us were wondering why they stuck around for as long as they did. Maybe it was for two of their "legacy" employees to retire ( done in 2022/23) or to see if Mass Coastal made a go it. If it weren't for BCLR, there would've been a lot less trackage in S.E. Massachusetts today.

I agree that the Millis was a take it or leave it thing. Don't see much hope for it, even with the trestle work BCLR did a few years ago. The irony here is that Mass Coastal's owner originally attempted to get this line when it still was active to Needham many years ago!

Dartmouth is brighter. There are rumors the Mid-City Scrap will be ramping things up in 2024. Ironically, they are located on MC track and BCLR did the switching! DBS was the only true BCLR customer on the line! As far as potential for the Watuppa, I think its stuck with what is there. Maybe if they can extend/reopen the line to Sanford St in Westport where Mid-City Steel is located (old Westport Drive-In). Don't see the beer traffic coming back. Colonial doesn't seem interested.

BTW, Watuppa is spelled with one "t"! Ha!
 
So, admittedly it's a little weird to put this in the Freight thread--but given that it involves activities of the Genessee & Wyoming RR, it really seems like the most logical thread to add this to.

Anywho... my wife had the foresight to buy tickets for her and our 6-yr-old, months in advance, for the G&W's upcoming Polar Express Christmas train ride that starts/ends in Downtown Woonsocket. (Apparently these tickets are HOT.)

The page says it's a 45-minute trip to "the North Pole"--I'm guessing said magical fantasyland destination is NOT located 25 miles uptrack at the switchyard terminus south of Downtown Worcester (though going that distance in 45 minutes would equate to a 33 mph pace, which strikes me as sedate enough for the kiddies).

Am I jealous I'm not going? Heck yes! (At least, jealous I'm missing the train experience--I can 100% skip the "Polar Express" branding of the journey). I suppose there will be more opportunities down the road for me to check-out the Blackstone Heritage Corridor, which I've heard is quite remarkable.
 
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DBM said:
The page says it's a 45-minute trip to "the North Pole"--I'm guessing said magical fantasyland destination is NOT located 25 miles uptrack at the switchyard terminus south of Downtown Worcester (though going that distance in 45 minutes would equate to a 33 mph pace, which strikes me as sedate enough for the kiddies).
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The P&W main is good for 60 MPH passenger, so they probably do make it to the yards in Worcester (they don't have trackage rights into Worcester Union Station).
 
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F-Line to Dudley said:
The P&W main is good for 60 MPH passenger, so they probably do make it to the yards in Worcester (they don't have trackage rights into Worcester Union Station).
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I would not have guessed that! Informative as always, thanks [and I presume ample photographic documentation will brought home for me to scrutinize vis-a-vis how far uptrack they end up going...]
 
DBM said:
So, admittedly it's a little weird to put this in the Freight thread--but given that it involves activities of the Genessee & Wyoming RR, it really seems like the most logical read to add this to.

Anywho... my wife had the foresight to buy tickets for her and our 6-yr-old, months in advance, for the G&W's upcoming Polar Express Christmas train ride that starts/ends in Downtown Woonsocket. (Apparently these tickets are HOT.)

The page says it's a 45-minute trip to "the North Pole"--I'm guessing said magical fantasyland destination is NOT located 25 miles uptrack at the switchyard terminus south of Downtown Worcester (though going that distance in 45 minutes would equate to a 33 mph pace, which strikes me as sedate enough for the kiddies).

Am I jealous I'm not going? Heck yes! (At least, jealous I'm missing the train experience--I can 100% skip the "Polar Express" branding of the journey). I suppose there will be more opportunities down the road for me to check-out the Blackstone Heritage Corridor, which I've heard is quite remarkable.
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So Santa delivers presents by sleigh, but raw materials get to the workshop by freight rail? Seems obvious once you bring it up, logistics-wise.
 
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ritchiew said:
So Santa delivers presents by sleigh, but raw materials get to the workshop by freight rail? Seems obvious once you bring it up, logistics-wise.
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I just love the fact that there's surely some accounting honcho/comptroller type at the Genesee & Wyoming RR, and, for 99.7% of the year, they're reviewing unforeseen/incidental expenses relating to the continuous conveyance of bulk commodities.

This freight car got unexpectedly bashed a bit when the coal it was carrying shifted unusually and thus it needs refurbishment; that locomotive got dinged in the switchyard by a careless decoupling, so it needs an unexpected repainting. Etc., ad infinitum.

... and, then, buried in those thousands of invoices to review/dispute/approve, etc., there are the unforeseen expenses relating to this Polar Express thingy: the Santa impersonator's car broke down, driving to the Woonsocket Depot, so they need to pay-off Acme Towing Co. in Woonsocket. One of the illuminated reindeer displays along the tracks in Downtown Uxbridge got knocked over and smashed by a gust of wind, so it needs refurbishment, etc., etc...
 
DBM said:
I just love the fact that there's surely some accounting honcho/comptroller type at the Genesee & Wyoming RR, and, for 99.7% of the year, they're reviewing unforeseen/incidental expenses relating to the continuous conveyance of bulk commodities.

This freight car got unexpectedly bashed a bit when the coal it was carrying shifted unusually and thus it needs refurbishment; that locomotive got dinged in the switchyard by a careless decoupling, so it needs an unexpected repainting. Etc., ad infinitum.

... and, then, buried in those thousands of invoices to review/dispute/approve, etc., there are the unforeseen expenses relating to this Polar Express thingy: the Santa impersonator's car broke down, driving to the Woonsocket Depot, so they need to pay-off Acme Towing Co. in Woonsocket. One of the illuminated reindeer displays along the tracks in Downtown Uxbridge got knocked over and smashed by a gust of wind, so it needs refurbishment, etc., etc...
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P&W has been doing passenger excursions for all 50 years of their existence. They do more than just the Santa train, although most of their biz tends to be special event one-off and not anything regularly-scheduled. They've got a very nice excursion fleet that the Worcester shop lovingly takes care of.
 
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F-Line to Dudley said:
P&W has been doing passenger excursions for all 50 years of their existence. They do more than just the Santa train, although most of their biz tends to be special event one-off and not anything regularly-scheduled. They've got a very nice excursion fleet that the Worcester shop lovingly takes care of.
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The wife and I took a ride from Woonsocket up through Worcester and back down to Putnam, CT for a Halloween/Fall Festival several years back before we had a kid. Was a nice little ride, even if it felt weird to drive from Grafton to Woonsocket to then take a train back through Grafton to get to Putnam.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
P&W has been doing passenger excursions for all 50 years of their existence. They do more than just the Santa train, although most of their biz tends to be special event one-off and not anything regularly-scheduled. They've got a very nice excursion fleet that the Worcester shop lovingly takes care of.
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Great to hear! You also answered one of the questions that came immediately to mind--where are these G&W tourist trains kept sheltered from the elements and kept in handsome condition suitable for these types of fun excursions?
 
DBM said:
Great to hear! You also answered one of the questions that came immediately to mind--where are these G&W tourist trains kept sheltered from the elements and kept in handsome condition suitable for these types of fun excursions?
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Right here on Google, on the track immediately left of the shop building.

And from Southbridge St. on Street View.

7 cars total...a generator car at the front (to supply electricity for the coaches, since freight locomotives don't have HEP hookups like passenger locos do), 5 coaches, and an observation car (at the rear with the rounded end seen in the overhead view).
 
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