The Berkshire and Eastern was created shortly after CSX purchased Pan Am Railways. The BERX is a G&W operated joint operation with Norfolk Southern and is operated on behalf of CSX. CSX didn't want the line west of Ayer MA to Mechanicville, NY because they already have the former Boston and Albany, but there's a catch. Due to the contractual agreement between Pan Am and Norfolk Southern when they created Pan Am Southern in 2008. To get around this, they brought in G&W to run this part for them. We've heard that eventually CSX will sell off their part of the agreement outright and rid itself of the former western mainline through the Hoosac Tunnel.
The BERX operates former Pan Am Railways C40-8s along with locomotives from Norfolk Southern. It's not uncommon to see other G&W road names such as the Buffalo and Pittsburg, or Providence and Worcester lettered locomotives. Due to the height limitations in the Hoosac Tunnel, there are no large double-stacks on this line. If NS runs containers, they have to be unstacked in order to pass through the tunnel at Mechanicville where NS's Crescent line terminates and was once the eastern end of the former Delaware and Hudson.
Currently, CSX operates the Worcester mainline to Ayer MA and then the rest of the former B&M and MEC. The Worcester mainline is one of the still remaining portions of the former Worcester, Nashua, Rochester and Portland that the B&M purchased outright in the early 1900s and tore most of it up by the 1920s. CSX had to rebuild this line because PAR and its predecessor Guilford had left the line in deplorable condition. Like the rest of the GTI/PAR system, this line was down to less than 20 mph in most places and this line in particular crossed over a reservoir and this line was one of the first that CSX dumped money and maintenance into. They had construction crews out there literally just as the ink had dried on the purchase agreement.
Ayer MA has always been a busy railroad junction. There's the Worcester mainline, the B&M Fitchburg division mainline to Mechanicville, NY, and once a number of smaller branches that went into Southern New Hampshire. The last remaining segment of the former Greenville Branch terminates in Groton, MA at a paper company. This branch ran to Greenville, NH right up through the late 80s when Guilford killed it. This line passed through Groton, Townsend, Townsend Harbor and Dunstable before it terminated in Greenville. The other branch once ran up as far as Pepperell, MA. That line once ran to Milford, NH but had long been terminated in Pepperell. Like the former Greenville Branch, this line was also abandoned by Guilford in the 80s and both lines are now rail trails never to see any rails again. Located in Ayer is a grain processing mill which makes flour for pasta products, and other industries and distribution centers including an auto distributor. At one time, Fort Devens was active but that closed in the early 2000s and there's not much business at the former military base. In addition to frequent freight operations, there are frequent commuter trains to Fitchburg, and there have been discussions about operating passenger trains to North Adams once again via the former B&M.