Loaded Autorack Burns in Gardner MA

I love how the news says the "train" was on fire, instead of saying a "railcar" was on fire.  Also, I have read that 10, around 15, and 20 vehicles were burned!  Now THAT is getting all the details!  Not to mention the fact Pan Am hauls Fords and one other, Japanese make (which escapes me at the moment) on those trains.  I'd like to know what caused the fire... arson, "hot box", or possibly a hybrid car who's batteries caught fire.  For now, here's all we know:

https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Train-Car-Carrying-a-Dozen-Vehicles-Destroyed-in-Fire-Gardner-Massachusetts-559913731.html

https://www.telegram.com/news/20190910/train-fire-in-gardner-destroys-new-cars

www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/09/10/alarm-fire-gardner-damages-rail-car-carrying-new-vehicles/2xmevKLcCk4UUNa4h7NeNK/story.html

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2019/09/10/gardner-train-car-carrier-fire

Name That Photo Location: 1947 Ayer MA Boston & Maine Photo Location FOUND!

The Photo.

In December of 2017, I posted a photograph dated 2/28/47 of a B&M train somewhere in Ayer Massachusetts.  Last week, I accidentally figured out exactly what that building was, and after some online research, where it was as well!

I was doing some organizing of my digital
railroad photo files, then noticed an Ayer postcard that seemed very familiar.  It showed a NYNH&HRR boxcar on a siding.  All of a sudden, a lightbulb went off in my head.

"That looks like the building in the background of that Ayer photo I have!"

Postcard view of the Chandler Machine building

I can now say for sure my photo was taken next to the Chandler Machine Company, whose address was listed as simply "West St, Ayer MA".  They manufactured industrial sewing and stitching machines.  The business was founded in 1899 and closed in September 2002.  The building appears to have been torn down some time between 2003 and 2005, replaced by (as usual) some condos.

Knowing this, the rail siding in the photo was off of the Worcester & Nashua line, which is now a paved rail trail north of Ayer Center.

Newspaper articles in 2002 stated that Chandler's closing was due to the proliferation of cheaper machinery being sold by countries like China.  This is a story repeated over and over in America.

Name That Photo Location: Boston & Maine Wreck at Lynn MA

I have managed to figure out the location of another vintage B&M photograph in my collection, and am sharing my findings with YOU!

The image shows B&M locomotive #827 on its side, with B&M crane #3359 hooked up to a baggage car.  The area has multiple tracks and a signal, which helped confirm the location of Lynn Massachusetts, just west of the West Lynn station.   (The Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn RR also had a West Lynn station)

The only real lead I had to go by was the sign in the distance atop a commercial building.  It appeared to read "Hoag & Wald_n", which I assumed was "Walden" or "Waldon".  After much web searching, I found a reference to a shoe manufacturer in Lynn named "Hoag & Walden". 

I then started looking at old maps and aerial photos to see if I could find the building in the middle-background, as it had an easy-to-spot roof style.  I finally found the exact building, which in 1916 belonged to Fred M. Page & Company, "manufacturers of cotton and paper specialties"and was located on 29 Bennett Street.  Amazingly, this building was still standing as of 2014, though partially re-sided and in tatty condition.  There was also a building to its left that may possibly be the one in the photo with a water tower on the roof.   If so, it has been altered quite a bit.

As for the key Hoag & Walden building, it was located on Commercial Street in an area that appears to now be a playing field. 

Now that I had located the location of the photo, I needed to figure out the date it was taken.  I used an online newspaper archive to search for Lynn train accidents that made the news.  I knew that locomotive #827 had been scrapped in 1913.  I used that date, along with the style of automobiles in the photo, to narrow down my search.  I finally found a short article in the March 29, 1910 issue of The Lowell Sun newspaper which said that just before noon, the "Portland express... Train 44" derailed while traveling on the Eastern Division toward Boston.  The train consisted of "a couple of baggage cars, a Pullman, and three regular coaches, the latter being in the rear".  The passenger cars being in the rear explains the baggage car being present behind the locomotive. 

The train was not scheduled to stop at West Lynn, and left the track "a hundred yards beyond that station", followed by all but two coaches.  The article states that an open switch had caused the accident, which also confirms the photo's location, as even today there is a track that curves off the main.  This is the now abandoned Saugus Branch. 

No one died in the accident.

CSX Rules Out Sale of Former Boston & Albany Line

SOURCE:  Times Union - Friday, January 26, 2018 

CSX Transportation, responding to a report earlier this week from trade publication trains.com, said Friday afternoon that a list of lines under review for possible sale was "inaccurate." The list included the former Boston & Albany line between Albany and Worcester, Mass., now operated by CSX.

"I can definitively say that this line is not for sale," a CSX spokesman told the Times Union. The trains.com report had led to speculation about potential purchasers and the continued operation of Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited over the line.

CSX has undertaken a review of its network "to be sure our assets are maximized for efficiency and add value to the company's long-term business needs," the spokesman said. But he added that the list published by trains.com "did not originate from anyone authorized to speak on behalf of the company and is not right."

CSX operates a major rail yard and auto distribution terminal in Selkirk. It had planned to close its hump yard there, used to sort individual rail cars into new trains, as it sought to reduce transit times, then Chief Operating Officer Cindy Sanborn told analysts at an investment conference last May.

Sanborn was replaced by James Foote as COO last autumn. Foote became CEO, succeeding E. Hunter Harrison, who was in the midst of rolling out his "precision scheduled railroading" concept at CSX, died in December.

Meanwhile, CSX  reversed course and the Selkirk hump operation remains.

Last autumn, CSX planned to consolidate train dispatching operations in Jacksonville, Fla., where the railroad is headquartered. But that move apparently has been delayed.

Foote plans to continue Harrison's efforts, which include precision railroading where trains operate on set schedules. Foote told regulators at the beginning of January that assets are better utilized, transit times and customer service have improved, and costs have been reduced.

CSX Freight Train Derails in Taunton MA, Spills 1,800 Gallons of Fuel

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/csx_train_derails_in_taunton_c.html

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/12/13/csx-freight-train-derails-taunton-leaking-gallons-fuel/vKMkCqDJFQx1lKbIloHhXI/story.html

http://whdh.com/news/cargo-train-derails-spills-fuel-in-taunton/

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/train-derailment-in-taunton-causes-fuel-spill/article_f37a7399-310a-5366-b2fc-d938149189ff.html

1947 Boston & Maine RR Photo Location... Where in Ayer (MA)??

I recently added a 2/28/47 image of Boston & Maine locomotive #1783 at Ayer Massachusetts to my little collection, and am trying to figure out the exact location in the photo.

I took a peek at the town over at HistoricAerials.com , which is a VERY addictive website, and the only possible location I could find was just north of the depot area, and it wasn't exactly a perfect match. Their oldest aerial photo was from 1963, so it is very possible the building in the photo had already been torn down.

Then I started to think perhaps the location was the Ames Plow Company, but it appears the company was gone by 1889, so that rules Ames out.  Was it the tannery, once located on Tannery Street?   I have not been able to find an image of the building, though there is footage of when the complex burned in 1961.  As you can see in the photo, there was a section of windows very low to the ground.  In the footage, there is a similar looking thing but the windows are a different style.  Had they been changed in the 14 years since the photo was taken?  Take a look at the screen-shot of the video below and ponder as I have...

Perhaps the photo was marked incorrectly and it wasn't even taken in Ayer! 

2018 UPDATE:  I have figured out the location of the photo!

Note the low section with the windows

I adjusted this scan so you can see how the building was long and at a right-angle to the tracks

Low windows of the tannery, which burned in 1961 and was located near the tracks (see video link above)

Tannery location on 1875 map, showing proximity to tracks... note it is indeed a long building at an angle to the tracks, but what about that low area with the locomotive-level windows?

Enfield MA Depot... Now Under the Quabbin Reservior

This is a photograph of the Enfield MA depot.  Enfield was served by the Springfield, Athol & North Eastern, which later became a branch of the Boston & Albany railroad.  Trains stopped in 1935, and the official end of the Swift River Valley towns to be flooded was April 28, 1938.

POSTCARD VIEW: Dual Depots, Ayer MA circa 1905

 

In this view, we are looking east, with the B&M's Fitchburg line toward Boston at right, and the Worcester & Nashua heading north/south.  Note the ball signal, and the current tower near the site today has yet to be built.  There is also a building behind what is now Carlin's, along the line to Greenville NH.

Pan Am Derailment in Shelburne Falls MA 12/19/16

http://wwlp.com/2016/12/18/train-derailment-in-shelburne-falls/ 
http://www.recorder.com/train-derailment-in-shelburne-falls-6962122

Name That Photo Location: Bradford MA LOCATION FOUND!

Back in 2011, I posted about a set of photographs I have that didn't have a location noted.  I ended up finding out they are of the Boston & Maine bridge connecting Bradford to Haverhill MA.  

The other day, while pondering selling or donating the photos, I decided to try once again to identify the business who's name was painted on the brick building to the right of the bridge.  This time, I actually had some luck!

The name is F.N. Livingston Co, one of many businesses in the area involved in the shoe industry.  At left is a page from an 1889 business directory of Haverhill MA.  At that time, they were located at 12 Porter Place, which was near 74 Washington St.  That is the road directly behind the buildings in the photo.  

In 1905, F.N. Livingston was located at 17 Sanders Place, which was from 130 Washington St. 

Another bit of info I found was that the building with the painted sign ALSO once housed Perley A. Stone's company, also a shoe related business.  There is a drawing of the building in the same 1889 directory.    So it appears these companies moved around a lot!

From a 1914 map of Haverhill MA

This view looks south toward Bradford, away from our buildings.

 

I also found out that the existing railroad bridge was opened in 1920.  It sits on piers from "the 1880 bridge", which is the bridge in the photos!  Therefore, the photos I was wondering about were taken most likely in 1879-1880!  

Lastly, I noticed in one photo an ornate tower/cupola.  Sure enough, that belonged to the B&M railroad station that stood right near the shore.  

Tower of B&M station at Haverhill

Chester MA: 25th Chester On Track Event Along CSX - May 21, 2016

May 21, 2016

CHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

25th Anniversary Chester On Track

... located on the Boston & Albany (CSX)

Massive parade, Civil War, Blacksmith demos, CCC Camp, and early Irish railroad re-enactors. Train show & craft fair,1840 railroad station museum, in Historically Listed downtown. Garden tractor pulls; call to participate, 'one-lung' steam & gas engine demos, classic cars, duck race, petting zoo, bounce house, a number of 1920's-era freight cars, including wooden caboose, and 'Children's Boxcar' on display. Hike to the first American series of stone arch RR bridges on MA first Wild & Scenic River, tour a working granite quarry and archeological stone works, historic displays, food & more! FREE (donations accepted)

Berkshire Scenic Railways Clears Key Hurdle, Christmas Rides Uncertain

(SOURCE: Berkshire Eagle - Adam Shanks)


NORTH ADAMS — A federal green light has raised hopes that the Berkshire Scenic Railway's Hoosac Valley Service could be up and running before Christmas. 

A decision issued by the Surface Transportation Board last week should allow the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to acquire the 4.6 miles of railroad between Adams and downtown North Adams from privately owned rail company PanAm Southern.

Scenic Railway operators and state and local officials are working feverishly to close the deal before the holidays, a prime time for theme rides that could attract customers.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Hoosac Valley Service stated that, despite the federal ruling, PanAm and MassDOT still must close on the sale.

"We remain hopeful this can be accomplished before the weekend of Dec. 19, but at this time we are not able to offer Christmas trains," the post stated. "If that should change, we will immediately announce a schedule."

The state is purchasing the stretch of railroad, which had exclusively been used for freight, to allow the Stockbridge-based Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum to run its Hoosac Valley Service scenic train rides between Adams and North Adams.

Unveiled in 2013, the Hoosac Valley Service is expected to draw thousands of train enthusiasts, tourists, and locals to take a slow ride between neighboring towns in the Berkshire Scenic Railway's restored rail cars.

The proposed agreement between PanAm and MassDOT provides the private company with an easement for continued use of the rails, and the planned weekend Scenic Railway rides would not conflict with ongoing freight transportation.

MassDOT first applied for approval of the transaction with PanAm on Aug. 14, according to the decision by the Surface Transportation Board, which oversees railroad sales in the United States. However, MassDOT later filed a motion to dismiss that application, claiming that the board's approval was not actually necessary because MassDOT "would acquire neither the right nor the ability to provide railroad common carrier service over the railroad assets, and it would be contractually precluded from interfering with [PanAm's] operations."

In its decision, the Surface Transportation Board agreed with MassDOT, stating that the transaction did not require its approval.

Initially, the train will operate between American Legion Drive in North Adams and Renfrew Street in Adams. The state also has plans to extend the rail further, less than one mile, from Renfrew Street to a newly constructed Adams Station on Hoosac Street in Adams.

The state-backed project got off to a well-received, but temporary, start over Columbus Day weekend thanks to a one-time agreement for use of the railway. Since then, the railway has been waiting for a permanent agreement to begin rides again.

Providence & Worcester Rail Yard in Line for $450K from State

(SOURCE:  Telegram.com -By Lisa Eckelbecker - Telegram & Gazette Staff )

BOSTON - State grants worth more than $2 million will go to industrial railroad projects in Massachusetts, including a grant of almost $456,000 to Providence and Worcester Railroad Co. in Worcester.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation said it awarded five grants as part of the state's Industrial Rail Access Program, which gives money to businesses and municipalities to boost economic growth by improving rail networks.

In Worcester, the state grant will go toward work at the Providence and Worcester Southbridge Street railroad yard, the state reported. The railroad is a freight carrier.

Catania Spagna Corp. of Ayer, which processes and sells oils, was awarded $500,000 for rail siding track expansion and unloading improvements in Ayer, DOT said in a news release.

The state reported other grants were awarded to Borden & Remington Corp. of Fall River, $383,910; Pioneer Valley Railroad of Westfield, $175,045; and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and Fore River Railroad Corp. of Quincy, $500,000.

POSTCARD VIEW: Head-on Collision at West Brookfield, MA on the Boston & Albany - 1907

Vintage View: Belmont MA Boston & Maine Station

Construction Equipment Falls Through Bridge onto Revere MBTA Tracks

(SOURCE:  WCVB.com)

REVERE, Mass. A piece of construction equipment fell from a Revere bridge onto nearby train tracks on Saturday morning.

An excavator fell from a bridge on Route 145 westbound at Route 16 in Revere onto nearby train tracks during scheduled demolition at around 6:25 a.m, according to Massachusetts Department of Transportation officials.

During demolition a floor beam of the bridge shifted and caused the excavator to tip, according to MassDOT officials.

Crews used cranes to stabilize the side of the bridge being demolished and removed the excavator by about 12:30 p.m., according to MassDOT.

The operator of the excavator was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with a laceration to the head, according to police. The injury is not considered serious.

Police identified the operator as a 50-year-old man from West Bridgewater, but did not release his name.

Commuter rail officials said service would not be impacted by the incident, as buses were set to replace trains between Lynn and Boston on the Newburyport line this weekend due to construction.

MassDOT officials said they do not expect the incident to affect the bridge's reopening on Monday

Massachusetts Senate Agrees to State Study of Boston-Springfield Rail

(SOURCE:  MassLive - By Shira Schoenberg) 

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Senate has adopted an amendment that would require the state to study the feasibility of developing high-speed rail between Boston and Springfield.

"This study will be a first step toward establishing a rail link between Boston and Springfield," said State Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, who sponsored the amendment. "For our economy in the Pioneer Valley to grow, we need to connect ourselves to the red-hot growth we've seen in other parts of the state. Rail will help make that happen."

The amendment was adopted on voice vote on Thursday as the Senate finished debating its $38.1 billion budget. The budget must still go through a committee of House and Senate negotiators.

The amendment would require the Department of Transportation to look at the costs and economic opportunities related to developing high-speed rail between Springfield and Boston. The study must look at capital costs, operating costs and revenue estimates, projected ridership, required upgrades, environmental impacts, availability of outside funding sources and general benefits to Springfield and the state. The report would be due Dec. 1, 2016.

The amendment was based on a similar bill that Lesser sponsored, which was backed by several Western Massachusetts lawmakers.

MBTA Union Vows Fight Over Baker’s Plan for Agency

(SOURCE:  Boston Globe - By David Scharfenberg)

The MBTA’s largest employee union is vowing to sue the state, or petition the federal government to cut off millions of dollars in aid for the agency, if state lawmakers approve a key provision of Governor Charlie Baker’s T overhaul plan.

Union officials argue the proposal, which would give a new Baker-appointed board final approval of labor contracts, runs afoul of a federal law designed to protect the collective bargaining rights of the nation’s public transit employees.

Specifically, the governor’s board would be able to reject the binding ruling of a neutral arbitrator, an arrangement used for decades to decide MBTA contract disputes.

James M. O’Brien, president of the Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589, said he does not relish the idea of choking off federal transportation funds. But the governor’s plan, he said, amounts to a reckless and fundamentally unfair shift in the bargaining process.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he said, of Baker’s push. “You’re [risking] hundreds of millions of dollars in grants.”

State official lobbies for changes at MBTA

Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack asked lawmakers for a range of changes at the MBTA.

Baker administration officials play down the risk. They note the courts have given states wide latitude to alter public transit labor policy and they argue their proposed change is a modest, procedural one rather than a substantial blow to collective bargaining.

Tim Buckley, a spokesman for the governor, said the administration “is confident that the limited changes that we have proposed” will be approved by the federal government. And he hinted that the state, after passage of the law, could simply rewrite it if the federal government moved to withhold funds and the courts upheld the move.

“The administration will not forfeit any available federal dollars under any circumstances,” he said.

The conflict, if it comes to a head, would be the latest in a string of high-stakes fights over workers’ rights and federal funding for mass transit — some breaking for labor and some for management.

Wisconsin lawmakers, fearing losing millions in federal funding, exempted certain transit workers from Governor Scott Walker’s high-profile push to roll back public employees’ collective bargaining rights four years ago.

But in California, a federal judge ruled in February that US Labor Secretary Thomas Perez had gone too far in cutting off funds for transit agencies in that state after the Legislature passed a pension reform law that trimmed benefits for transit employees, among others.

The disputes here and elsewhere turn on a transportation law signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 that launched an era of substantial federal funding for the nation’s transit system.

One section of the legislation requires the US labor secretary to certify that a public transit agency is protecting its employees’ collective bargaining rights before the federal government disburses funds.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and its unions came to a 20-page agreement in 1974 meant to satisfy the requirements of the law. The secretary has repeatedly cited it, in the decades since, to authorize federal grants for the agency.

The agreement, among other things, mandates that labor disputes should be settled by arbitration procedures set out in any “then-applicable collective bargaining agreement.”

The current Carmen’s agreement mandates binding arbitration when the union and the T come to an impasse in contract negotiations — allowing a neutral arbitrator to impose changes in wages and benefits.

Baker’s legislation, now before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation, would give a new MBTA fiscal and management control board the right to approve or deny any arbitrator’s award.

Douglas Taylor, a lawyer representing the Carmen’s union, said the move would make the arbitration no longer binding, giving veto power to management and fundamentally altering the balance of power between the T and its workers.

“Collective bargaining means co-determination,” he said. “Co-determination means that both sides have a say. . . . Binding arbitration accomplishes that. It does it in an imperfect way. . . . But at least each side’s got an equal shot.”

Baker officials maintain they are not doing away with binding arbitration but merely adding another step to the process. They point out that, under state law, city councils, town councils, and town meetings have the right to vote up or down on arbitrators’ awards for police and fire contracts.

Harold Lichten, a labor lawyer who represents unions, said the police and fire system works “relatively well.” But he said there is a difference between giving a representative body such as a city council veto power and handing that authority to an arm of the executive branch.

“I think by giving the governor veto power, it really does render fairly meaningless the whole process,” said Lichten, who has represented a union of mid-level managers at the T.

Joseph E. Slater, a professor at the University of Toledo College of Law who has written about public sector labor law, said in an e-mail that he has “never heard of a body that is that directly involved in day-to-day managing having the power to reject a contract ordered by an . . . arbitrator.”

A spokesman for the US Department of Labor declined to comment on the debate in Massachusetts.

Supporters of Baker’s proposal say binding arbitration has long favored the T’s unions. In their view, the changes would help rein in costs.

“There is no chance that the state government will be able to bring T costs under control unless they address this question of binding arbitration,” said Gregory Sullivan, research director for the conservative-leaning Pioneer Institute, who testified before the Legislature in favor of the measure.

Sullivan and administration officials add that the courts have given states broad discretion to alter transit labor policy. But Taylor said effectively eliminating binding arbitration — particularly for a union that does not have the right to strike — would be such a blow to collective bargaining that the courts would be compelled to side with the union.

And whatever the legality of the move, he noted, the union could go to the US secretary of labor and attempt to block federal grants for the T, arguing the state is not protecting workers’ collective bargaining rights.

The federal Labor Department does not always side with the unions. In the 1980s it sided with the state in a dispute over management rights such as the power to hire part-time workers. But when T unions objected to a 2009 state attempt to change workers’ health care plan, federal officials sided with labor and directed both sides to negotiate a resolution.

Vintage View: B&M Steam at FitchburgMA Station

B&M Steam at Fitchburg MA Station

50th Annual Railfair & Open House - Shirley MA

NVRRA’s 50th Rail Fair will be held from 10AM to 4PM on March 29th, 2015 at the Ayer / Shirley Regional Middle School in Shirley, MA. There will also be a club Open House that will run concurrently with RailFair.

SHOW FLIER:  http://nvrra.com/wp-content/uploads/...lyer-FINAL.pdf