Mountain Railroading...In Connecticut!
The grade is accentuated here just uphill (railroad west) of the Minor Road grade crossing on the Terryville Loop track that climbs to the highest point reached by rails in the state at around 775 ft in elevation. The tracks dipping down to the left are the runaround while at right is the Loop Track continuing up hill to Firestone and ClarkDeitrich in the massive former New Departures building. I calculated the grade on the loop track at around 1.3% though it certainly looks steeper here because of the way the runaround falls while the branch rises.
At left are the 6 empty tanks and 1 empty coil car they pulled on their initial trip up. And here is Pan Am local PL-1 coupling up to seven loads to shove uphill to Firestone. Alas they will never make it as a rail will roll and a joint will snap a half dozen car lengths before the gate ending their day with a few axles on the ground and ending chance at a sunny afternoon chase back to Plainville. Sadly this is nothing unusual on this job and is just PAR for the course as one wag put it!
To learn more about this branch and Pan Am's Connecticut lines check out the long form captions with these earlier posts:
Bristol, Connecticut
Thursday March 5, 2021
Mountain Railroading...In Connecticut!
The grade is accentuated here just uphill (railroad west) of the Minor Road grade crossing on the Terryville Loop track that climbs to the highest point reached by rails in the state at around 775 ft in elevation. The tracks dipping down to the left are the runaround while at right is the Loop Track continuing up hill to Firestone and ClarkDeitrich in the massive former New Departures building. I calculated the grade on the loop track at around 1.3% though it certainly looks steeper here because of the way the runaround falls while the branch rises.
At left are the 6 empty tanks and 1 empty coil car they pulled on their initial trip up. And here is Pan Am local PL-1 coupling up to seven loads to shove uphill to Firestone. Alas they will never make it as a rail will roll and a joint will snap a half dozen car lengths before the gate ending their day with a few axles on the ground and ending chance at a sunny afternoon chase back to Plainville. Sadly this is nothing unusual on this job and is just PAR for the course as one wag put it!
To learn more about this branch and Pan Am's Connecticut lines check out the long form captions with these earlier posts:
Bristol, Connecticut
Thursday March 5, 2021