Enjoy the view from high up in the Pilgrim Candle factory at Westfield, Massachusetts USA.
This a Boston and Maine Live camera:    / bostonandmainelive  
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Use by permission only

Westfield Track Plan: http://www.zekedev.com/sites/boston_l...
Pioneer valley RR website: https://pinsly.com

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NEW: Train Log (as of 1/29/24)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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** NEW **
Rail Schedule: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g...

Frequently Asked Questions:

Where is Westfield and what am I looking at? Westfield is located in western Massachusetts, USA about 100 miles west of Boston, MA. This rail line is part of the CSX Berkshire Subdivision. This camera is located near Mile Post (MP) 108 and looks west. The black RR bridge off in the distance was formerly part of the now defunct New York, New Haven and Hartford RR. It is now a rail trail. Westfield River is to the left of the image.

How many trains go by daily? Roughly 1520 trains pass in a 24hour period. Your best bet to see a train is to view early or late in the day. Monday through Thursday are the busiest days; Friday through Sunday are slower. Note that many trains pass in the night and can be hard to see.

What kind of trains pass by? The majority are CSX freight trains. These include General Manifest (GM) mixed freight, Intermodal (IM/stack), Autoracks or Tank loads. Sometimes these trains are mixed and often have a midtrain locomotive called a Distributed Power Unit (DPU) or rearend DPU to help the train over the steep 1.5% grade of the Berkshires. The only passenger train on this line is the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited between Boston and Chicago, which ran daily (1EB, 1 WB) in the late afternoon prior to COVID19.

Where are these trains going? Most WB trains are headed for the yard at Selkirk, NY, while IM’s are usually headed to Bedford Park, IL, outside of Chicago. Some autoracks are destined to Louisville, KY or other midwest destinations. The tank ethanol load trains are heading to Proviso, IL to be interchanged on Union Pacific. Most east bounds are headed to West Springfield, MA on their way to Worcester, MA. Some keep going to Framingham, MA. Most break up and are routed to other New England destinations by local rail companies like PanAm, Providence&Worcester, NECR, CSO, PVRR and others. Intermodals are offloaded in Worcester to trucks. The tank loads are routed to Providence, RI.

Why is the train stopped here? This part of the Berkshire sub is double tracked, but between Chester and Westfield (QB123 and QB109) there are 14 miles of single track. A stopped train is likely waiting for another to pass. Sometimes a train lets a higher priority train pass from behind, but that is less common. No passenger or freight trains are off loaded here.

Why are there trucks driving on the track? These are CSX’s MaintenanceofWay (MOW) inspection trucks that routinely monitor and maintain the track and roadbed.

What are all these railroading terms being discussed in the chat? Wikipedia has a good summation of all the railroading terms.

Are there other rail cams nearby? Boston and Maine Live operates another camera 18 miles west in Chester, MA at QB126. More information is located at http://westfieldwebcam.com.

Is there a scanner I can listen to nearby? There is a local scanner that is in Westfield that you can hear communication with the trains and West Springfield yard activity. It it located on Broadcastify.com at https://www.broadcastify.com/webPlaye...

Can I see the train I just missed? Youtube has rewind ability, so rewind to see the action over the last 12 hours (arrow keys can also be used). The Chester cam has a snapshot of the last train that passed by, in the lower right of the image. The Westfield cam has trainpass snapshots for the last 5 days. Scroll down and click on the date on http://www.westfieldwebcam.com/index.... . In addition, you can move over to the other cam to see it pass. Trains typically take about 3040 mins to travel between Westfield and Chester.

What train just passed? Is there a schedule? The train schedule is very fluid, and varies widely.
Rail Schedule: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g...