The Worcester and Southern Railroad

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Derektrainman03
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The Worcester and Southern Railroad

Unread post by Derektrainman03 »

The Worcester and Southern Railroad (Reporting marks W&S) was a fallen flag class 2 railroad that was (in my alternate universe) the successor to the Providence and Worcester railroad. In 2016, a new railroad operator under the company knowns as New England Rails Associate, had purchased the Providence and Worcester railroad for $126 Million dollars, which after the purchase, old lines were rehabilitated, and battle after battle with the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the towns within the former P&W’s Southbridge branch, had the line put back into place after some businesses in Southbridge, MA had interest in rail services with the W&S. Excursions on the W&S was also a money maker for the railroad at the time as well. The locomotives on the W&S were pretty much the locomotives of the P&W but with the P&W names and logos patched over with the words Worcester and Southern with a simple W&S lettering for the front and rear of the locomotives. On April 2nd, 2017, train GRWO (Gardner to Worcester) was making its way back to Worcester with loads when it unfortunately hit a car and caused sever cab damage on 4001. 4001 was repaired and put back into service a day later, but little did the people working on the railroad know, it would actually begin the downfall of the W&S. About four days later, the MOW department went on strike because the Southbridge line fell into deteriorating conditions making it risky for even a small local to do operations on. The town of Southbridge demanded the W&S to do track work on the line or else the railroad would abandon the line yet again like what the P&W did back in the early 2000s. At this point the W&S were looking for ways to not only fix the track infrastructure, but also enlist more help for the project known as “Project: New Rails”. The Moxie Corp Railroad donated 20 Million dollars in equipment and other supplies to help contribute to the project which ended the strike. But, even with the Southbridge branch back into class 2 standards, the downfall of the railroad still went down the drain. On May 24th, 2019 the Worcester and Southern Railroad declared bankruptcy and started to sell the locomotives, equipment, and other things to various buyers. The Moxie Corp then purchased the railroad for a small price of $30,000. Today, the Moxie Corp continues to serve the former W&S mainlines and branch lines with customers as of 2020.

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AARR
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Re: The Worcester and Southern Railroad

Unread post by AARR »

I liked the story but some details about customers and operations would be nice too. For example, did they operate the auto ramps and intermodal terminals like P&W? How about the unit aggregate trains?
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

Derektrainman03
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 31
Joined: Wed May 13, 2020 4:01 pm
Location: Dudley, MA
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Re: The Worcester and Southern Railroad

Unread post by Derektrainman03 »

AARR wrote:
Fri Jul 01, 2022 2:23 pm
I liked the story but some details about customers and operations would be nice too. For example, did they operate the auto ramps and intermodal terminals like P&W? How about the unit aggregate trains?
Well The W&S did operate the Auto Ramps and Intermodal terminals like the P&W. For the unit Aggregate trains, it was ethanol trains, the rock trains, and manifest trains.

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