New Fitchburg Customer

Read more: http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ed ... z2aqsaHJDH" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The re-establishment of a freight rail spur to a Fitchburg factory might not seem like a big deal to most people, but to us it's another sign that the city's efforts to do better are, ahem, on the right track........

The private investment comes in the form of about $152,000 from Omnova Solutions, the polymer and specialty chemical company that the spur will reach and allow it to re-establish freight rail service. Pan Am Railways helped put together the grant and will do some of the work on the project.

Great news. If you pull up this company on Google Earth it's impossible to see where any trackage used to be.

That plant used to be supplied from the ex Transflo, now Seaway Bulk Services transload facility in Ogdensburg, NY. A wacky set-up, to say the least. Too bad we lost the business, but it is good to see they are going rail direct.

This is right at the location of the new Wachusett station. It'll be interesting to see exactly where the spur connects to the mainline - it may connect to the MBTA platform track west of the platform, rather than directly to the mainline.

The siding is not new (cue the rim-shot) news. It was part of the horse-trading for the extension and appeared in the TIGER application. Omnova was supposedly going to shut down because of the economies of scale of trucking, leveraging inclusion of the siding against the loss of taxes and payroll for Fitchburg as part of MART wanting access and parking on Omnova property off Authority Drive. I'm guessing that all concerned just wanted to remind people that although the project is out of sight, it shouldn't be out of mind, regardless of the efforts of certain people in Westminster.

newpylong wrote:Great news. If you pull up this company on Google Earth it's impossible to see where any trackage used to be.

That's true.
From this Sentinel Article from a day earlier than the one cited in the OP:

Curley said the Redevelopment Authority's contribution will come from scrapping the existing rail siding at 231 Industrial Park on Authority Drive, which was put in place in the 1970s when FRA developed the park. He said the siding was never used and never connected to the rail line, and that it is no longer adequate to meet today's railway standards, so it will be replaced

As written that address makes no sense - there is an Industrial Park, and Google claims there is a 231 Authority Drive (so perhaps "in the Industrial Park" was meant), but either way no siding seems visible to me (the Utility ROW, on the other hand...).
BTW, 1970s rail is no longer adequate to meet today's rail standards?!? I realize we've gone up from 263K to 286K loading, but we're not talking 1870s standard rail here - unless it was 3rd hand relay on that original siding...

A number of observations from a former-frequent-flyer of Fifth Mass. Turnpike and current frequent viewer of the Scott Whitney B&M track-chart disk:
-Omnova may never have had service, but there was service off both mains at Wachusett. The now-Newark facility had rail service via a trailing-point connection off the WB. Just east of that there was an EB-WB crossover. Then there was a trailing-point connection off the EB for the area of the industrial, all of this per the track charts and in place as of a 1957 resurfacing.
-As for the "today's railway standards" comment, the last time I drove by on Fifth Mass. Turnpike, the trackage that would have served the industrial area made the pre-repairs Heywood IT look good. The steel might have some utility, but there were many ties missing or still rotting, and standing water was a problem after heavy rain.
-As far as seeing evidence from aerial views goes, the ghost of the ROW off the WB to the current Newark facility is visible, but the deciduous-tree canopy is too great over the tracks for Authority Drive. What is not visible is any ghost for the connection off the EB. Fifth Mass. Turpike has both paved and dirt surfaces, so I'm guessing that when service ended, the connection was lifted and/or buried without being paved to bring the road grade level and preclude any of the water problems.

Time to get the camera out for us jaymac for some before and after

It's too late for the before, too early for the after, I have an aversion to be engaging in conversations with F, T, or any other PDs that might result from my being between the barriers, and I also have no camera. Other than that...

newpylong wrote:Great news. If you pull up this company on Google Earth it's impossible to see where any trackage used to be.

Use Bing Maps (the only time I use Bing). Aside from the annoying overlay, you can make out former trackage when you zoom in.

look close and you will see

Link just went to the main Bing page.

Is this it?
http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NDIuMzM3M ... MlMjUyMG1h" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like there were a few tracks in there at one point.

newpylong wrote:Link just went to the main Bing page.

Is this it?
http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NDIuMzM3M ... MlMjUyMG1h" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like there were a few tracks in there at one point.

That's strange, your link has the address marked but also zooms out to the entire East Coast US.

Let's try this link - on Preview that view (North facing down) works, and shows the siding looping on the south side of a drainage pond, and a siding off of that heading East past a few industries. However, rotating around, the East and West views look like the trackage has already been salvaged, while in the North facing up view, the trackage seems to still be visible (these views appear to be done at different periods, since the drainage poind is full in the N and S views, and dry in the E and W views.

There we go. Yup, that's where I was looking. What is that huge mill across the mainline with the long spur down to it?

Normally, I don't quote myself, but what the heck:

jaymac » Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:11 pm
A number of observations from a former-frequent-flyer of Fifth Mass. Turnpike and current frequent viewer of the Scott Whitney B&M track-chart disk:
-Omnova may never have had service, but there was service off both mains at Wachusett. The now-Newark facility had rail service via a trailing-point connection off the WB. Just east of that there was an EB-WB crossover. Then there was a trailing-point connection off the EB for the area of the industrial, all of this per the track charts and in place as of a 1957 resurfacing.

How long ago the connection to the now-Newark-then-probably-Crocker facility (the one off the WB) was torn up, I don't know. The one for the industrial area along Authority Drive was only a trailing-point off the EB, the Bing map to the contrary. Given the obsession for accuracy by the B&M engineering office, the track charts might be more reliable than Bing. The NW quadrant of the 1954 USGS Fitchburg topo at UNH and other sites shows the siding off the WB. There is also a siding further east on the WB, also on the track charts. The foundation for what was there is still visible just before the NW bridge abutment for the Rte. 31/Princeton Road UGB. The topo does not have Authority drive at all, but does show a siding off the EB that extends down towards what is now the crew-change area, which was earlier more built up. It appears on the topo to be a leading point off the EB, but given -- again -- the engineer's office penchant for accuracy and some of the field-reporting problems that can creep into maps, the track charts are probably the better source.
It would appear the long-gone job of the Hill Switcher had more than enough to do.

(Note to self: Get a life!)