Rarely used rail line to be revitalized? CSOR taking over CNZR Griffins Line - 2/2026

Описание: Late last year we found out that the Central New England Railroad was no longer going to be operating the state owned Armory Branch from Scantic, CT north to the Massachusetts border at East Longmeadow and now we have another update. G&W’s Connecticut Southern Railroad took over the Armory this year and has since been operating trains to serve the active customers. Railfans speculate that CSOR will be rehabilitating the active trackage and restoring the out of use track to the state line but there had yet to be word on the Griffins Line until now. CNZR also operated the Griffins Line that runs from Hartford, CT to Bloomfield, CT. At one point it was a very busy operation serving the Home Depot Distribution Center in Bloomfield. Unfortunately Home Depot moved their rail distribution center to CSOR about 5 years ago but they retained the original warehouse for other uses. Despite holding onto the warehouse there hasn’t been any regular rail service to it. CNZR had some other business on the Griffins Line but it didn’t last and the line has been basically dormant since. Just recently the CSOR filed with the Surface Transportation Board to take over the Griffins Line despite there being no active customers. If the board approves it will be effective March 1, 2026.

I can only speculate what G&W will do with a rail line with no active customers so here’s my guesses. They could use the line for car storage, perhaps set up some sort of transload or new business, or they could very well find a way to get Home Depot shipping out of the old warehouse again. Time will tell what will actually happen on the line but one thing is for sure, CNZR will have to be moving their equipment elsewhere soon.

My last visit in late December 2025 showed various pieces of equipment stored here at Bloomfield including several locomotives. Of note former New Haven GP9 1229 is stored here but it doesn’t look all that original at this point. It was rebuilt into a GP10 and saw service with SEMTA before finding its way to the MBTA. It later came to the CNZR but has been in storage and I’ve never seen any evidence that it ran on CNZR. With it is another MBTA unit GP9 1922 and CNZR 3006 a former Santa Fe GP20. Other equipment is stored on the Armory Branch but there’s no word on what is happening with any of it so we’ll wait and see what happens.

At some point I hope to catch CSOR on their new lines so stay tuned for future videos on that. Thanks for watching!

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