Cape Flyer

Their Facebook page, I think.

There are three main issues with two potential organizations "not cooperating".
1 - Getting slots at the canal bridge and cooperation from the Army Corp
2 - Interfacing with existing MBTA service to run what is essentially an extra service. MBTA is in the middle of some changes to how they schedule trains, and their regular service is going to take priority over what the CCRTA wants to do.
3 - Reality of cost for added service and availability of resources to run that service from the MBTA. Again, their focus is their regular service.

I guess Mass Coastal could be an outlier as an issue, but I sincerely doubt it.

EDIT: Based on the Facebook comments it looks like #1 is the issue. They were looking to move to 2 round-trips on the weekend instead of a down morning/back evening. Would allow a day trip from the Cape to Boston.

Didnt they used to stop at Brockton?

when the canal bridge was constructed back in the 1930s, the new haven, which gave up property for the canal construction, was given total control of the bridge for the benefit of their movements. this railroad control extended from the new haven to the penn central to conrail to the EOTC/MBTA aka Mass dot these days.

In the 1990s, the army corp of engineers which owns the canal and the bridge, said to mass dot, this bridge needs a lot of work. we figure 30 million dollars. if you want us to rebuild the bridge you have to give up those railroad bridge control rights. Since Mass Dot wasnt running any trains in the area at the time, they signed off on what they considered to be a great deal, and the bridge was rehabbed in 2002.

So here they have this nicely repaired bridge in 2002 and ever since that time if a sailboat captain wants to go to a cocktail party in plymouth or newport, the sail boat sails before the bridge comes down. For the 20 odd years since the fantastic deal was consumated, the army corp and its bridge has been screwing the mbta and mass coastal just about every day and there's not a damn thing that mass dot can do about it.

Funny, in a way, that a mostly obsolete and underused canal is getting in the way of an underused railroad. (I mean, it's not like there is a busy coastwise cargo traffic, or passenger steamers to NYC from Boston, or whatever. At least back in the 80s you got maybe one or two small freighters or freight barges a day, tops. Not the traffic they dug the canal for. And, similarly, no one has tried to run frequent year-round trains for quite a while.

Sounds like a good case for the state's congressional delegation to try to get the deal reversed by federal law.

actually, the canal is an important commerce route and does see a lot of freight, container ships, barges, automobile carriers, tankers, etc.. and the case can be made that when you have one of the jumbo ships going through once it's in the canal you really need to let the thing go through. no sense having a suez style blockage because of a tourist train operation. but the majority of the moves in the canal from may 1 through october 1 are pleasure boats, and many of these pleasure boats just happen to be tall mast sail boats.

it's unfortunate that the bridge can't just do a short lift up and down for a sailboat as opposed to the lengthy ride to the top and back for jumbo cargo ships. but what is most unfortunate is the fact that massdot in order to save a few bucks, effectively tore up the rails rule the canal bridge agreements and turned the operational kit and caboodle over to the army corps of engineers. the railroads are left effectively having to pay for the mass dot lunch. .

Safetee wrote:actually, the canal is an important commerce route and does see a lot of freight, container ships, barges, automobile carriers, tankers, etc.. and the case can be made that when you have one of the jumbo ships going through once it's in the canal you really need to let the thing go through. no sense having a suez style blockage because of a tourist train operation. but the majority of the moves in the canal from may 1 through october 1 are pleasure boats, and many of these pleasure boats just happen to be tall mast sail boats.

it's unfortunate that the bridge can't just do a short lift up and down for a sailboat

I stand corrected. Serves me right for making a claim based on 30+ year old memories of a time when I wasn't exactly sitting there with a clipboard counting...

Also, I know I remember the bridge being raised halfway sometimes, between lowerings when the CC&H train was going to sit in Buzzards Bay for a while. Do you mean it's too bad it can't be down most of the time and opened just as far as needed, as opposed to open most of the time and closed only when needed, or maybe halfway down most of the time, and just raised for the big ships?

Then again, the Bay Colony, Cape Cod & Hyannis era had many more openings than now and things seem to go okay.

I am unclear of the date of actual canal control change but i have been told that the bay colony actually controlled and operated the bridge right up to the change over. the mass coastal never got to control the bridge.

What will the First Class cars look like? Inside, specifically.

Capeflyer starts next Friday. It’s leaving though at 3:55 instead of 5:55 on fridays which is different than the previous years.

Also new this year is a First-Class club car. The new car will feature larger leather reclining seats with footrests and seat-side food and beverage service with an upscale menu, the CCRTA said.
...
Ticket prices range from $5 to $40, depending on one’s destination. Seating in the First-Class club car carries a $10 upcharge from the regular ticket price.

https://www.capenews.net/bourne/news/ea ... d5f20.html

Honestly might have to make a special trip from CT for this. I've never ridden the Cape Flyer.

Where did the 1st class car come from ?

More importantly. What type of car is the 1st class car. Is it standard MBTA equipment or something new or customized?