PL-1 Job Central Connecticut PAS Pan Am Southern

Hi Tom! Thanks for chiming in with the info!

-otto-

I'm curious to know how many cars Firestone receives per week. Satellite images show 10-12+ cars in their yard, but YouTube videos only show 3-4 cars going in at a time.

Also, is this chemical customer in Waterbury still active:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&F ... &encType=1

Seems like they could do a lot in the Waterbury area with C&D if they wanted to. I read about a new metals customer coming online in central CT...any news about that?

Firestone probably does only recieve 3-4 cars per week since the other cars in the yard are probably the LP cars for AmeriGas in Southington. I'm fairly sure that the chemical customer (Hubbard Hall?) in Waterbury is still active, and the steel plant you mentioned is located on the Firestone spur in Bristol and should start receiving service soon. There have been reports of a GE 25-tonner on the site.

Also, we may see the new Pan Am colors down in CT at some point in the future as the recently-repainted MEC 350 is one of the four units that can make the run over Amtrak to Berlin.

Thanks, Ian. I specifically meant that I had seen 10+ cars at Firestone. Check this out: http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe= ... 9&t=h&z=18

...and also http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&F ... &encType=1

There are about 16 cars there in the Windows Live shots.

Do we know what kinds of cars the steel place will be receiving? Having their own switcher seems to indicate that the place will be getting considerable traffic.

For those who have not seen it, there is a relatively new YouTube channel that documents happenings on the line: http://www.youtube.com/user/GuilfordRailJoe

Is the steel place up and running yet?

By sheer dumb luck I stumbled on a PAR GP40 at Waterbury Yard this afternoon, #352 in nice Pan Am dark blue. He was running around a train that appeared to be scrap metal gons, couldn't tell whether they were empty or loaded. Was this PL-1?

Does anyone know the frequency of service to Waterbury? The train left Waterbury headed north around 3:15 p.m., I assume headed back to Plainville. I'd love to chase it one of these days when the days are longer but if it's infrequent service chances of me catching it again aren't great since I don't pass through Waterbury on a regular basis. It hasn't snowed in several weeks, but the crew had some trouble digging through a big mound of ice that I assume was leftover from the snowplows above on the I-84 bridge.

The line back to Plainville is the old New Haven Highland Line, right?

JohnJ wrote: The line back to Plainville is the old New Haven Highland Line, right?

Yes, and until the 1955 flood took out a major bridge there was Waterbury-Boston passenger service (one train a day) via Plainville, Hartford, Willimantic, and Putnam.

Thanks. The plan for tomorrow, since this line is uncharted territory, is to follow it from Waterbury to Plainville. I'm not expecting to see any trains, but I would like to check out the tunnel entrances and generally get a feel for the line. Following Google Earth, it looks like there's a giant horseshoe in the line around the Terryville area, which would have come in handy today. The lighting would have been best for a westbound, but the train I saw was headed east toward Plainville. If I'd positioned myself near this loop, the train would have actually headed due south then slightly west, and the lighting would have been excellent (although the clouds were an issue, not to mention the late hour and an early sunset).

If you can (or got to it), check out Terryville station off RT72. Is the 25Tonner and ballast car stil there?

RonM wrote:If you can (or got to it), check out Terryville station off RT72. Is the 25Tonner and ballast car stil there?

We 'fanned the line from Waterbury to Plainville on Saturday but somehow managed to miss the Terryville station. We did see the tunnel, though, which was quite cool. There's a big loop track just east of the east portal that we didn't follow, but there were faint signs of use. Any idea what business this serves?

So, I saw the PL-1 local at Waterbury on Friday afternoon. On Saturday there was no sign of any Pan Am activity, even at Plainville Yard. I assume the PLED must make a Saturday morning departure for East Deerfield, or was the unit out on local work? We visited Plainville around 3:30 Saturday afternoon.

Probably the line to Bristol Industrial area, It crosses US6 around the Bristol / Plymouth border and serves Firestone and a steel (?) facility. The quarter pounder is CNZR / AJB RR construction who did the track work in the area.

Did the steel place ever open?

I don't get down that way enough to notice.

I will say that - that area and Terryville Station are worthy of a visit (as long as you stay off the private property).

Hello all,
Does anyone in the know what PAS plans are for this line? It is part of the PAS system map. But the tracks are downright horrible and they lost some customers (Tilcon being one). Either PAS should step up to the plate and fix it up and try to win back Tilcon , etc or sell it to someone that will.
All for now
Mike Scholz-LIRR