I think you meant to say fifty years ago, not fifteen years ago, because it was 1972 or 1973 when Penn Central abandoned it. I was 10 or 11 years old. This line goes through the middle of my farm!
Hopefully they are upgrading to heavier pound rail as well as ties, most of the line looks like very light rail. That’s fine for sidings, but not continuous traffic. Lighter rail means a lot more maintenance
Most if not all of the other CNZR branch from Hartford to Windsor Locks has had heavy welded relay rail installed. May happen here as well@@bradfordthompson8326
I see on Google Maps where the new facility is going to be. Looks like existing track ends not too far south of there. The rail trail people have already grabbed the ROW going through East Longmeadow from Denslow Road (just north of the new customer location) to Maple Street, with development taking over the abandoned route the rest of the way through town. Looks like there's potential for additional customers along the route in the form of currently unused industrial spurs and sidings.
This country and their desire to abandon railroads and go towards an interstate system that costs billions each year, with billions in backlogged repairs, was boneheaded. Glad to see some effort to restore this line is underway.
I have been interested in this for years wondering what the reason for the rebuilding. I couldn't understand what was going on until I saw one of your older videos. Thanks for the information on this interesting line.
I’ve always believed that the state of a local / regional economy can often be measured by the amount of railroad activity that’s taking place within that area. That’s how it seems to work around here in WV, anyways So to a once abandoned line being fully restored should be a sign of economic improvement within that region, possibly spanning further No railroad would go through the trouble of a complete restoration if not
Glad to see the line gonna be restored and also seen a few prospects for rail service the sidings would probably need to be rebuilt and must be a government job cause it looks like there in no rush to finish it 😂 😂
We all Appreciate South Coast videos on Showcasing these Wonder Transportation transloads facilities Grants Opportunities...We feel it does help to show to rail Customers these lines....It be Wonderful if you organize these Wonderful videos ɓy State and sell in your store as a Service for railway shippers and Receivers to find locations to ship their products etc.Many God prayers for inspiration of rail Customers around "THE UNITED STATES 🇺🇸 *" LETS INCREASE THOSE CAR LOADINGS🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Nice video documenting the current situation for this section of the Armory Branch. I work at the fertilizer plant where the base of operations is. Just a small correction; it’s geographically Windsorville, not Scantic. Where the washout has been repaired, the work was for the stability of the oil pipeline that uses this ROW and goes to Ludlow, MA, to supply Westover, AFB, as well as others along the way. As of now, it’s uncertain who is going to be responsible for getting it back to railroad grade. I also own farmland that fronts this line for a large share of the distance in East Windsor where this video takes place. I would love to have it back in action. A trail would create a trespass nightmare. As part of my work at the fertilizer company, I provide services in many of the fields up and down the line all the way to Massachusetts, and I can confirm that the rails absolutely end at the state line. I was about 10 yo when Penn Central abandoned this line in the early 1970’s, and it’s time to bring it back as the freight line from Hartford to Springfield.
Railroad companies have shot themselves in the foot over the years. They didn't want to service smaller community which gave birth of major trucking industry. There's abandoned tracks and bedding throughout America all the way back to the 30s. This would increase dependable with new customers from east to west.
Those must be old concrete ties, because I can’t think of any short line that has the money for concrete ties. Judging from how the MBTA doesn’t even want them after the old colony line issues. But hey, I’m sure the line will last for quite a while now
Boy ...If South Coast videos can't videos this great Rail opportunity 😊😊😊😊😊.. ( due to all those no trespassing signs ..)and Showcase this line for Future rail shippersand receivers. Yes WE all agree the State should give unlimited access to Film .....to SOUTH COAST....WELL can hardly wait to see the first cars inbound 😊😊😊😊❤❤❤many God prayers 😊😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks. I'd been wondering if CNZR had goosed the tracks across the Mass State line yet. For some reason, this line continues to fascinate me, maybe due to the stockpiles of concrete ties. Ed in Albuquerque.
It would be nice to see through trains (freight) on the branch. The Hartford Line should be used for passenger trains, with freight on the Armory line. Central New England should try to get the CSO Manchester/Armory branch, because I'd love to see the East Hartford yard busy.
@@acprimus631C I remember freights going through East Hartford to Willimantic in the 1960s. Manchester doesn't want any trains and they have many railserved companies. Hartford Distributors, JC warehouse complex, the Georgia Pacific warehouse (near BJs, which used to be the Purity Supreme Supermarket site) and bricks. The old South Manchester branch had a furniture warehouse at the end and Grossman Lumber. I guess in 15 years they will reopen it. Maybe high speed through the town.
I like the viedos but a voice narration would be great for those of us who live in other parts of the country. This would help us understand better of whats happening.
Rail transport really needs to make a comeback in the US. It's sad that during the history of rail lines, the numerous smaller companies built all the smaller rail lines (did the work), then the successful ones bought out the companies smaller than them while growing and consolidating, then buying out the next they could afford. Eventually, the biggest rail companies managed to make cross-country routes available ( perhaps not through the most equitable and ethical means) and have been abandoning and/or downsizing smaller rail systems since. It's nice to see smaller rail companies starting up and trying to use these old pathways again. I just fear some other bigger rail company is gonna be like " Oh, I see you put all that money in to making these tracks viable again and now there's customers easily connected. Plus, we see you've now depleted all your funds getting this operational but now you have no money to actually operate the line.. We'd like to talk to you about how we can help. Would you be willing to sell your rights or rail lines to us?" Ah, Capitalism..
Are you sure it actually being restored? From my understanding they have had materials to restore for years but haven’t used them because there are no potential customers up that way at the moment. I think they began to do some restoration maybe eight years ago but it came to a halt and nothing came of it.
I wonder ,Do you thick they are using used Concrete tiies from North Carolina. THere was a tie supplier in North Carolina selling Concrete ties for 30 cents apiece??😅😊😊😊😊😊
Good grief the branch is STILL being refurbished? I think it was over a decade ago when they got those superfluous ex-MBTA or Metro-North “bad order” concrete ties dropped off.
