Bay Colony Millis Line

Looks like the 1701 may get fired up Friday...

D

Looks like another job for the 1701 Friday....6 more loads...

D

Update 21 May 2016:

Busy Week on the Millis Spur.

(5) Empties spotted by the Secondary switch:

NAHX 93593
NAHX 93891
NAHX 94349
NAHX 93428
NAHX 94723

(6) Full Spotted by Island Road

NAHX 320203
NAHX 93393
NAHX 94682
NAHX 320319
NAHX 94010
DPCX 336

The 1701 in her nest beaming with pride.

It would seem that Tresca is no longer dependent on the barge service for its cement and is quite happy receiving it by rail. Keep the reports coming gentlemen.

Understand the soon-to-be empty cars will be moved out to the CSX interchange Friday...

D

Update May 28th:

(10) Empties spotted by the Secondary switch:

NAHX 320203
NAHX 93393
NAHX 94682
NAHX 320319
NAHX 94010
DPCX 336
NAHX 93891
NAHX 94349
NAHX 93428
NAHX 94723

Island Road is Clear of any cars

Update Sun. 04 June 2016

The Spur is clear of cars.

The 1701 in her nest by the Medfield Waste Water Treatment Plant/Animal Shelter looking for work.

I see from the NERAILs photo archive that some track work is taking place in and around Medfield Junction. Am I correct to assume that this work is being done by BCLR to support the cement hopper business? Anyone know just what the work involves?

Thank you in advance.

The track work is not BCLR's handywork. This is Mass Coastal, who now maintains the
line between Framingham and Mansfield now owned by MASS DOT. Track rehab started
last year.

D

...think as part of the deal of CSX selling the Framingham Secondary to Massachusetts is that CSX had to upgrade/repair the line...presently underway with work now continuing toward Walpole and presumably on to Mansfield...an interesting question is...when the line is upgraded/repaired to Mansfield, will this give the idea of commuter service from Gillette thru Walpole [the Lewis Wye has already been upgraded] to Boston a boost?

charding wrote:...think as part of the deal of CSX selling the Framingham Secondary to Massachusetts is that CSX had to upgrade/repair the line...presently underway with work now continuing toward Walpole and presumably on to Mansfield...an interesting question is...when the line is upgraded/repaired to Mansfield, will this give the idea of commuter service from Gillette thru Walpole [the Lewis Wye has already been upgraded] to Boston a boost?

Yes and no. Prospects for Foxboro CR are not as optimistic a fast-start project as originally envisioned. It's still a very tasty bit of low-hanging fruit, just not something they think they can rip out in 3-5 years on short money like they were thinking just a couple years ago. Still looks bullish overall, but more patience required before they're ready to bite. Several reasons:

-- East Walpole NIMBY's are being cranky about the increase in train traffic on the Secondary, though the concerns are mostly baseless. It slows down the community input process considerably, but doesn't throw up any real blockers.

-- Bigger issue right now is that the T is in such tough shape racing to meet the extended PTC deadline that signaling expansion territory just isn't something they can occupy their time with. Franklin Line needs to have an end-to-end cab signal installation over its 20+ passenger miles before the ACSES PTC layer can be installed, and that's a more time-consuming project than PTC'ing the other southside lines like the Old Colony, Stoughton, and outer Worcester Line that already have cab signals.

-- If they want the service to really generate good ROI, they need to take their time and load up for the "Option C" full build in the feasibility study that outright doubles the train schedule on all mainline stops Endicott-Walpole. Stops like Dedham Corporate and the two Norwoods in particular would explode in ridership if they had 32 trains per day instead of 16 make the fare recovery worlds better than the leaner alternatives that omitted some mainline stops for faster project starts at lower price point. Walpole, which would have a lot of its park-and-ride load shifted to Foxboro, would then re-fill right up with new riders from a wider catchment area attracted by the doubled frequencies. Including (Millis relevance!) possibility of some prior MPO-studied recommendations for transfer buses on Routes 27 and 109 scooping up riders from Medfield, Millis, and Medway to the nearest Franklin Line stations. Send those buses to a Walpole that has 2x the train frequencies and Boston transit access from those 3 towns starts getting pretty useful.

-- To increase mainline service for "Option C", they've got to first eat their peas on the ADA backlog at the existing stations. Endicott, Islington, and Windsor Gardens need to get their long-overdue makeovers for mini-high ADA platforms (this being a freight clearance route preventing full-highs), platforms lengthened to full regulation-length, egresses improved, lighting improved, etc. May even want to entertain re-centering Islington's platforms to span the block so egresses from East St. can substantially increase walk-up access. Those are going to start running afoul of ADA laws if they linger as non-compliants while getting their service levels doubled. Then there's Walpole, which is a brutally-difficult ADA fix with the historic depot building and platform being pinched into the wye. That's going to take a very intensive design and community input process, with lots of $$$, to perma-fix.


This state-of-repair work on the Framingham Sec. does a lot of good knocking off some to-do's for Foxboro CR. The commuter rail build will no longer be tasked with replacing the rail, replacing some of the ties, re-doing the Summer St. grade crossing, or repairing the West St. overpasses to settle up the most acute SGR needs on the 5 miles from Walpole to Foxboro. That's a big relief. The CWR will already be there, so uprating the track class from the Class 1-2 freight they're currently maintaining to Class 3/60 MPH passenger standard will only involve doing another burst of tie replacement to meet the allowable good vs. bad tie ratios that meet the definition of Class 3 maint standards. More money freed up to apply to the mainline bucket list, which is good because they'll need all the down payments they can scrape up to ADA those non-compliant mainline stops for the big service increases.


It's all good, we just have to be patient. The over-optimism of a fast start has come back to earth, but it'll happen when it happens. Still a very inexpensive project with straightforward construction unlikely to succumb to cost bloat, sky-high return on investment if doubled service on the inner mainline makes some already hefty-ridership stops become mega-ridership stops. So it's always going to be near the top of the list for highly-desireable, eminently-feasible service expansions to go for. All in due time.

I was in Millis today. At the Auburn Road crossing there was a track panel that looked fresh on the west side of the crossing.
John, the guy in the white car with the wing on back.

I don't understand the fascination about commuter rail Foxboro to anywhere on the secondary?

craven wrote:I don't understand the fascination about commuter rail Foxboro to anywhere on the secondary?

Large ridership bump, double the service on the Franklin main to Walpole with reciprocal ridership explosions in Norwood, only 5 miles of new track to rehab + plunk a layover on, and $63M upper-bound price tag with one of the lowest per-rider subsidies of any potential CR service expansion.

It's legitimately tasty low-hanging fruit, sez the feasibility study. Not imminent by any means while the T is in its current budget emergency, but a near-certainty to happen in somewhat less than 10 years.

Where is the old spur to the abandoned Medfield State Hospital?
Did it get coal deliveries in NH etc days?