Eastern Railroad Discussion > A Change of Pace: Railfanning Connecticut

I always joke when a friend of mine from Connecticut comes to visit here in northeastern Ohio because the "Welcome to Ohio" sign we pass on the highway is an exciting time for him - he's SO happy to be here! And I know why, because CT only has so much to offer, especially in the railroad world. So for him, it's a different world coming to visit Ohio (and other mainline action) but for me, it's different going over east to CT to see what they have to offer. 

Well... I had the opportunity to head over to CT and visit his side of the world the week of May 11. Tuesday May 12 he took me over to see some of the regional and local action around central CT. We caught two Connecticut Southern jobs and Providence & Worcester servicing a quarry around the Wallingford, CT area. It's nothing like railfanning an active mainline, but it's definitely cool to see the other side of railroading!



1) CSO at Wallingford, CT
2) CSO crossing the CT River in Windsor Locks, CT
3) Same CSO from Wallingford. Since it was the same train we saw earlier, I framed the pic a little bit on the "creative" side 
 

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4) P&W pulling first cut of stone cars out of the quarry
5) P&W with some leasing power on the front end of the train
6) P&W on the move
 

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7) Stone train continuing south
8) Meet in the yard

Thanks for looking! Hope you all enjoy!
~Craig Z

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NS62590 Wrote:
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> 4) P&W pulling first cut of stone cars out of the
> quarry
> 5) P&W with some leasing power on the front end of
> the train
> 6) P&W on the move
How tall is that bridge over the road in photo 6? Earl is out...  

Nice pictures. Nice to have some decent weather on your visit.
John

Nice collection of shots!

GREAT pics!! Thanks for sharing.

Great shots Craig (:

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Nice job weatherman!

I am planning a photo trip to shoot the Connecticut Southern this coming week (6/25-6/27/2017).
Can you give me any insights as to their NB/SB schedules around Windsor Locks/ Enfield, CT?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Usually the window for the CSO trains operating over Amtraks Springfield Line is between 3pm-7pm SB. Cann't say for sure about the Hartford train (CSO-1)?. The CSO-4? to Cedar Hill, North Haven, Ct usually comes south around 4pm ish (Meriden,Ct) after the SB Amtrak and can be a long train. N/B he can be just as long too with alot of scrape loaded gons, tanks and lumber (empties)etc, or run back north lite. Again depends on Amtrak when they can get out of Cedar. I like to catch him in the northend of Meriden at Quarry Jct N/B. Their notching it up to get out of town through Meriden.

The P&W stone drag arrives at Tilcon's Wallingford plant mornings between 10am-noon and will shove empty ballast hoppers into the plant and if theirs cars for Middletown, Ct they will leave half the power there and make the run to Middletown with one or two units.

Loads either go to Tilcon's Danbury plant or down to Long Island, NY via the Met.

Later when work is done in Middletown they'll run south to wait for the hoppers to be loaded or pull loads from the day before that were in the plant. Power is generlly 2 or 3 motors on the headend and 2/3 on the rear. Usually they're pulling S/B around 3-4pm. This operates Mon-Fri, Sometimes in the fall they've operated on a Sat as a extra and will wait until the hoppers r loaded.

Their's another stone job off Amtraks NEC at Pine Orohard in Branford,Ct that the P&W pulls loads out of from Tilcon's North Branford large quarry. Loads come down via a short line (Conn Trolley)?? Not sure about this job though, maybe someone else knows better.

Fred



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/17 10:52 by railnuts.

That would be the Branford Steam Railroad, which is a diesel powered industrial.

Haven't been there in 10 years but they used to be super secure. Very boundary conscious.

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