Misplaced Pages

#931068

47-560: The Nicholson Cutoff (also known as Clark's Summit–Hallstead Cutoff ) is a rail line segment of the Sunbury Line rail line and formerly a rail line segment of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad main line and the Delaware and Hudson Railway South Line. The Nicholson Cutoff and the rest of the Sunbury Line is owned by Norfolk Southern Railway . The Nicholson Cutoff was built by

94-609: A $ 2-million grant to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for preliminary engineering on removing 19 obstacles to allow double stack container trains to use the Patriot Corridor route. The project included raising clearance by two feet in the 4.75-mile (7.64 km) Hoosac Tunnel . The company was criticized for dumping used railroad ties that contain creosote rather than sending them for safe disposal or recycling. Pan Am Railways parent Pan Am Systems

141-512: A $ 40-million payroll. The company continued to operate with subsidiary entities bearing the names of former railroads which over time formed the company. The company's assets were housed separately in these various subsidiaries for various reasons. For example, the Boston and Maine Corporation owned the railroad property itself while the Springfield Terminal branch operated the railroad (most of

188-473: A 478-page plan of purchase outlining a broad range of topics, from implementations of track upgrades to the controversial issue of Norfolk Southern intermodal routing, as well as the fate of Pan Am's hodgepodge fleet of aging motive power, which is made up of EMD and GE locomotives from railroads such as Conrail, NS, CSX, the Milwaukee Road, and Kansas City Southern. On May 26, 2021, the federal regulators of

235-645: A bid to buy the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). The paper industry provides the largest source of business, with chemicals, clay and pulp inbound, and finished paper outbound. But the railroad has been losing ground to other forms of transportation - particularly trucking. A 2008 report issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers rated Maine at 48th of the 50 states in volume of freight traffic that moves by rail. Guilford completed its acquisition of Delaware and Hudson Railway in 1984, purchasing

282-406: A deadline for a final Surface Transportation Board decision. On April 14, 2022, The Surface Transportation Board fully accepted the purchase by CSX Transportation of Pan Am Railways and 50% of Pan Am Southern. According to the board; CSX's control of Pan Am and subsequent merger of six of Pan Am's subsidiary railroads into CSX, subject to the voluntary commitments and settlement agreements to which

329-580: A definitive agreement to purchase Pan Am Systems. The sale of Pan Am Systems to CSX underwent regulatory review by the Surface Transportation Board , which approved the sale on April 14, 2022. At midnight on June 1, 2022, CSX Corp began operating Pan Am Railways as a subsidiary of CSX Transportation; Pan Am Systems ceased operations. The company was founded in May 1981 as Guilford Transportation Industries by Timothy Mellon , who quickly looked to form

376-572: A railroad company in the Northeast through purchasing some of the area's bankrupt railroads. The company began by purchasing the Maine Central Railroad that same year, and also announced it was interested in purchasing the bankrupt Boston and Maine , making an offer that year. The company's purchase of the B&;M was approved in 1983, adding it to Guilford's network. Even as the B&M purchase

423-577: Is a subsidiary of CSX Corporation under rail subsidiary CSX Transportation since June 1, 2022, Pan Am Railways former parent company was Portsmouth, New Hampshire -based Pan Am Systems . It was headquartered in Iron Horse Park in North Billerica, Massachusetts . Pan Am Railways parent Pan Am Systems was put up for sale in July 2020. On November 30, 2020, CSX Corporation announced that it had signed

470-609: Is now an NS rail corridor consisting of the Sunbury Line and the Freight Line, which travels from Binghamton to Schenectady. The Sunbury Line's trackage consists of former trackage that belonged to the rail systems of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad . The Sunbury Line contains the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western's well-known Nicholson Cutoff railroad segment. The Tunkhannock Viaduct

517-536: Is one of the components of the Nicholson Cutoff/Sunbury Line. The Sunbury Line is a former Pennsylvania Railroad property connecting its core system with the other anthracite rail lines in and around Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania ; the line's Pennsylvania Railroad trackage was once the Wilkes-Barre Branch . It is a former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad property and was once part of

SECTION 10

#1732851899932

564-409: Is primarily made up of former Class II regional railroads such as Boston and Maine Corporation , Maine Central Railroad Company , Portland Terminal Company , and Springfield Terminal Railway Company. It was formerly known as Guilford Transportation Industries and was also known as Guilford Rail System . Guilford bought the name, colors, and logo of Pan American World Airways in 1998. The company

611-605: Is the only tunnel on the cutoff, and the only brick-lined tunnel ever constructed by the Lackawanna. Nevertheless, the most significant structures on the line, the viaducts at Nicholson, Pennsylvania and Martins Creek, Pennsylvania , were built of reinforced concrete. The Tunkhannock Viaduct at Nicholson, the line's namesake, is considered to be the world's largest concrete structure. Built with approximately 700,000,000 pounds (320,000,000 kg) of concrete, its ten spans go 60 feet (18.29 m) below ground-level to bedrock, making

658-412: The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to replace the original Lackawanna line between Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania , and Hallstead, Pennsylvania . In surveying potential routes for the new line, the Lackawanna investigated the possibility of building a line directly from Clarks Summit to Nichols, New York, bypassing Binghamton, New York . This alignment would have shaved 20 miles (32 km) off

705-564: The Heber Valley Railroad in May 2018. On May 15, 2008, NS announced that it had come to an agreement with PAR to "create an improved rail route between Albany, New York , and the Boston, Massachusetts , region, named the Patriot Corridor. The STB approved the deal on March 10, 2009, with each railroad owning 50% of a new company known as Pan Am Southern (PAS). PAR's trackage between Ayer, Massachusetts , and Mechanicville, New York ,

752-616: The D&;H included the D&H South Line, and Canadian Pacific then broke it into two new rail lines. The D&H South Line from Sunbury to Binghamton, made up of the PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line trackage, including the Nicholson Cutoff, became the new 'Sunbury Line, and the D&H South Line from Binghamton to Schenectady, once part of the D&H main line, became its own individual line and

799-607: The D&H's directors and Norfolk and Western accepted the offer, in part to remove a potential obstacle to the pending merger between the N&;W and the Southern Railway . In 1985, Guilford entered into an agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) to run trains to St. Louis . NS was attempting to win approval of a plan to purchase Conrail from the U.S. government and proposed allowing Guilford to lease Conrail lines to St. Louis in order to restore competition that would be lost in

846-740: The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line. This part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line which is now part of the Sunbury Line contains the Nicholson Cutoff and former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad trackage. The PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch ran from the downtown Wilkes-Barre rail cluster southwest to Sunbury along tracks on the east (left) shore of the North Branch Susquehanna River . The Danville, Hazelton and Wilkes-Barre Railroad opened from Sunbury to South Danville in 1869 and past Catawissa to Tomhicken in 1871. The North and West Branch Railway opened

893-470: The Lackawanna's (and later, the Erie Lackawanna's as well) Phoebe Snow , Owl and New York Mail. However, the named trains did not stop at the towns en route, except, in some instances, Hallstead and New Milford. The Nicholson Cutoff was opened as a rail line, however it became a rail line segment when it became part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line. Currently as a rail line segment,

940-700: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Vermont Rail System, as well as many other local political figures and community leaders from other New England states, the Surface Transportation Board ruled the acquisition as "Significant" meaning that a more rigorous review process would be necessary. On April 30, 2021, CSX submitted

987-409: The Nicholson Cutoff served as part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line, the Delaware and Hudson South Line and now the Sunbury Line . In 2015, the Nicholson Cutoff and the rest of the Sunbury Line became a Norfolk Southern property. Sunbury Line The rail line was once part of the former Delaware and Hudson Railway South Line that ran from Sunbury to Schenectady, New York . It

SECTION 20

#1732851899932

1034-411: The Nicholson Cutoff started in May 1912 and the first revenue train to run over the line was on November 6, 1915. While the new 39.6-mile (63.7 km) line resulted in only a modest savings in travel distance (3.6 miles or 5.8 km) the cutoff saved a significant amount of travel time between Scranton, Pennsylvania , and Binghamton, New York , especially for freight trains. Before the building of

1081-556: The Pan Am Southern (the Northern Route), used by NS prior to this agreement, is too low for double-stack trains. Berkshire & Eastern Railroad (B&E), a wholly owned subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming (G&W), will replace Springfield Terminal as the operator of Pan Am Southern. CSX made specific commitments in its filings and entered into settlement agreements with numerous parties that had initially raised concerns about

1128-523: The Surface Transportation Board rejected CSX's purchase application, deeming it "incomplete." The board cited "contradictions" and "lack of necessary information" to properly judge the acquisition, and therefore could not rule on the matter. The STB accepted a revised merger application for consideration on July 30, allowing CSX to move forward with the acquisition. The decision determined that an environmental and historic review are unnecessary and establishes criteria for additional filings, public comments, and

1175-552: The applicants have agreed, would not likely cause a substantial lessening of competition or create a monopoly or restraint of trade. "The Board found several key benefits flowing from the merger. It would result in much-needed capital investments in the Pan Am network, as well as more consistent maintenance. Also, the Board found that shippers would have additional marketing opportunities and more efficient single-line service, and CSX would have

1222-453: The assets from Norfolk and Western Railway . When their planned western expansion fell through, with few prospects for growing freight traffic, and two intense labor strikes, Guilford filed the D&H for bankruptcy and disbanded the company, in June 1988. By an Interstate Commerce Commission emergency order, New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway provided service under subsidy until the line

1269-523: The bankruptcy, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway ran its trains on the D&H South Line and the rest of the D&H. The New York, Susquehanna and Western was ordered to operate the D&H until a new buyer was found for the D&H. The Canadian Pacific Railway then took over the D&H, but kept the D&H corporation in existence instead of absorbing it into the CPR. Canadian Pacific's takeover of

1316-648: The center span of the bridge effectively 300 feet (91 m) tall. Over the years, Nicholson Viaduct would become a symbol of the engineering accomplishments of the Lackawanna. The Nicholson Cutoff was used for freight and passenger trains of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and later used for trains of the Erie Lackawanna Railway , Conrail , Delaware and Hudson Railway , Guilford Rail System (now CSX Corporation ), New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway , Canadian Pacific Railway and Norfolk Southern Railway . Noteworthy passenger trains included

1363-499: The company's employees were under the Springfield Terminal umbrella.) Meanwhile, the Maine Central entity owns rolling stock. In 2011, PAR repainted two EMD GP9 locomotives into heritage schemes commemorating the company's predecessors; GP9s number 77 and 52 were repainted into the Boston and Maine maroon and gold " Minuteman " paint scheme and the Maine Central "Pine Tree Route" green and gold livery, respectively. Both were sold to

1410-408: The cutoff, heavy westbound coal trains, bringing anthracite coal from Scranton, required pushers to be added in three different locations—LaPlume, Nicholson, and Hallstead—once they got past the top of the grade at Clarks Summit. The new line eliminated the need for these additional engines and crews, not to mention that these trains no longer needed to stop for the pushers to be added. The Cutoff

1457-508: The cutoff, would ultimately eliminate two-thirds of this curvature, 2400 degrees, the equivalent of more than six and a half circles. Nearly all the remaining curves would be 2° (2,864.75 ft or 873.18 m radius) or less, permitting 70 mph (113 km/h) or greater for passenger trains. This was a decided improvement over the curves on the old route, some of which exceeded 6° (955.37 ft or 291.20 m radius, restricting trains to 35 mph or 56 km/h). Construction on

Nicholson Cutoff - Misplaced Pages Continue

1504-401: The existing route between these two points but was deemed impractical not only because it would have bypassed a major junction point on the railroad, but also because of the amount of cutting and filling that would have been needed to build this route. As about half of the old line was curved track, a major rationale for building the new line would be to "straighten-out" the route. The new route,

1551-426: The former D&H main line and D&H South Line from Binghamton to Schenectady, New York . Norfolk Southern labeled this D&H trackage as its "freight line". Guilford Rail System Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR) is a subsidiary of CSX Corporation that operates Class II regional railroads covering northern New England from Mattawamkeag, Maine , to Rotterdam Junction, New York . Pan Am Railways

1598-573: The former Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad that extended from Hanover Township to Hudson, Pennsylvania . In 1976, the Pennsylvania Railroad Wilkes-Barre Branch and the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad main line were taken over by Conrail due to Penn Central and the Erie Lackawanna Railway being absorbed into Conrail, with trackage rights assigned to the Delaware and Hudson Railway. The D&H acquired

1645-558: The line from Catawissa to Wilkes-Barre in the early 1880s, completing the line soon to be called Wilkes-Barre Branch. In 1960, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western later merged with the Erie Railroad in 1960 to form the Erie Lackawanna Railway . The line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad and became known as the Wilkes-Barre Branch under PRR ownership. The PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch was passed to Penn Central in 1968, which

1692-473: The majority of the PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch and the Scranton to Binghamton track of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line, which includes the Nicholson Cutoff , in 1980, and combined it with part of its main line from Binghamton to Schenectady, New York , to form the new Delaware and Hudson South Line. The D&H main line continues in existence, now running from Schenectady to Montreal . The D&H

1739-510: The merger. The plan would have allowed Guilford to use the Conrail mainline from Toledo to Ridgeway, Ohio , and from Crestline, Ohio , to St. Louis. Guilford would also purchase 955 miles (1,537 km) of Conrail track and 1,300 freight cars from Norfolk Southern for $ 53M. NS did not prevail in its attempt to purchase Conrail in 1985, and the Guilford plan was dropped. In 1987, Guilford also placed

1786-621: The operating party. This means the track will be owned by CSX but CSX will not dispatch it. Also, Norfolk Southern will keep its 49% stake in Pan Am Southern (PAS). With the sale, the intermodal traffic between Mechanicville and Ayer will be re-routed over Boston and Albany Railroad (B&A) to Worcester, MA. From there the traffic will come up the Worcester main and into Ayer Yard. On March 25, 2021, after numerous letters questioning CSX's acquisition of Pan Am Railways parent Pan Am Systems from

1833-626: The opportunity to better compete for traffic moving via long-haul trucking. The Board also noted environmental benefits in the form of fuel efficiency and lower emissions resulting from CSX’s use of newer line-haul and switching locomotives, compared to Pan Am’s locomotives." The combination of several trackage rights agreements in the approved plan will create a new route allowing Norfolk Southern to move double-stack intermodal trains and automobile trains from Voorheesville, New York to Ayer, Massachusetts (the Southern Route). The Hoosac Tunnel on

1880-756: Was built in a manner similar to that of the Lackawanna Cut-Off in New Jersey that had opened in December 1911. This is not surprising as the chief civil engineer on both projects was George J. Ray. But unlike the New Jersey Cut-Off, which used reinforced concrete in all its structures, the Pennsylvania Cutoff used other materials (such as bricks) as well. Indeed, the brick-lined Nicholson Tunnel (3,629 feet or 1,106 m long, located at Milepost 160)

1927-597: Was created by the merger between the PRR and the New York Central Railroad . The former PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch from Wilkes-Barre to Hanover Township is owned by Luzerne County and operated by the Luzerne Susquehanna Railway . The remainder of the PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch that is now part of the Sunbury Line runs from Sunbury to Hanover Township, to what was PRR's Buttonwood Yard, where it connected with

Nicholson Cutoff - Misplaced Pages Continue

1974-517: Was not added back to the D&H main line; the Sunbury Line was later renamed Sunbury Subdivision . In 2015, Norfolk Southern purchased the Sunbury Subdivision from Canadian Pacific in a direct transaction from the Delaware and Hudson and not from Canadian Pacific directly. After the purchase, Norfolk Southern renamed the line back to Sunbury Line. Norfolk Southern's purchase of the rail line took effect on September 19, 2015, and included

2021-416: Was put up for sale in July 2020. On November 30, 2020, an agreement was announced for CSX Corporation (parent company for CSX Transportation ) to acquire Pan Am Systems. Norfolk Southern has expressed concern about possible impacts on competition. The sale was proposed as follows: CSX will own and operate between Mattawamkeag, ME and Ayer, MA. Between Ayer and Rotterdam, NY, Genesee & Wyoming will be

2068-648: Was sold to Canadian Pacific in 1991. In 1998, Guilford bought the name, colors, and logo of Pan American World Airways . In March 2006, Guilford Transportation Industries changed its name to Pan Am Railways (PAR). Then in March 2009, PAR was ordered to pay the largest corporate criminal fine in Massachusetts history — $ 500,000 — due to the company's negligence to report a spill of hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel in violation of state and federal environmental laws and regulations. As of 2011, PAR employed 750 people and had

2115-457: Was still pending, Guilford announced it intended to purchase the Delaware and Hudson Railway from its then owner Norfolk and Western Railway on September 1, 1981, marking the company's third acquisition. The next month, Timothy Mellon made an offer of $ 500,000 for the entirety of the D&H's stock, which was identical to the amount the Norfolk and Western had paid to buy the D&H in 1968. Both

2162-483: Was then acquired by the Guilford Rail System , now Norfolk Southern , a railroad owned by Guilford Transportation Industries , now CSX Corporation . The corporate structure was Guilford Transportation as the parent company, Guilford Rail as direct subsidiary and owner of the D&H and the D&H as indirect subsidiary. The D&H went bankrupt while owned by Guilford Transportation's Guilford Rail and, during

2209-528: Was transferred to PAS, while its operations and maintenance were handled by PAR's ST subsidiary. NS transferred to PAS cash and property valued at $ 140 million. Improvements to the route included track and signal upgrades, and expansion of terminals, including construction of new automotive and intermodal terminals in Ayer and Mechanicville. In March 2012, the Federal Railroad Administration awarded

#931068