CSX Conductor wrote:Now, as for the MBTA's Franklin Main Line there were two sidings between Franklin & Forge Park both of which I forget the names. One of these wasn't used at all when I was with CSXT, but I do re-call a very sporadic car into or out of the other siding.
Just west of the Forge park platform you have Garelick Farms which has a short stub track which holds 3-4 covered hoppers which deliver plastic pellets for making plastic bottles. Next wood be Georgia Pacific / Blue Links which has it's own run-around in the building. Just west of here on the opposite side there is an old siding which was only used by MBTA track department to store equipment. Further west there is a siding into an old power plant, which in about 2005 started being used as an unloading spot by BOC Gases for unloading Liquid Nitrogen from railcars.
Further west is Saint Gobain (formerly Foster/Forbes), which receives covered hoppers of industrial sand for manufacturing glass. Just past Saint Gobain the Grafton & Upton Railroad is supposed to be tying into the mainline.
Lastly there is a short sidng which I never saw used, it's right at the beginning of the runaround. The runaround is the end of the Franklin Branch.
The siding between Franklin and Forge Park was just west of Fisher St. crossing, and was called Clark-Cutler. There weren't any other sidings between those two points (at least since it was rebuilt in the early '90's). Though the Franklin Industrial with its sidings connects with the main between those two points.
The old siding in Bellingham is called Vadnais Lumber. If it is still named that I don't know.
The siding at Bellingham Jct. is Westinghouse. It is a relatively new power plant - built in the mid-90's. In fact, a lot of the transformers for the plant came in by rail. But, as was said, it has seen very few cars since then.
The siding at the Milford Runaround is Barney Coal Yard. They used to get a car of coal a year, but it's been a while since that happened.
There is another switch just east of S. Cedar St. that was a rush job -- "It's gotta go in!" -- that was to connect to new tracks to be built for the Boston Terminal RR, but apparently, they got a better offer; and the switch sits unused and not connected to anything. I suppose that the G&U could connect with it, but their line originally connected west of the crossing.
DAW