Franklin Line Discussion

As of noon on Saturday, 11/9/23, piles of ties have been staged in the location I mentioned in the above post, along with 2 lengths of rail for the approach to the crossing.
interestingly, there are two track panels built and staged, one East and one West of the crossing.
The old signal box is still in the ROW just east of Rockwood St. and is still linked physically to the new cabinet which sits clear of the future track.
Also, there's some kind of equipment sitting East of where the track ends at Park St. OGB on the new track that extends up from Franklin. Could be a regulator, but I couldn't et close enough to see.
Looks like the track from Franklin is just about service ready all the way past the Acorn Lane UGB close to a mile North from that bridge.
I'm downright excited to see what changes next!

subject to change, but there have been several references to the new INT at Norfolk will be called "WALSH"

Out of curiosity, how did they arrive at that name.

Anyone know why no inbound franklin trains stop at Hyde, but numerous outbounds do? Is it so they can easily route them onto Track 3 thru Hyde and down the SWC if it would conflict with an Amtrak/Providence train?

I believe it’s because it’s easier to have the forge and foxboro ones stop outbound because they need to go on track 5 via track 3 and it’s easier to have them do that than use track 1 to go on track 5 during rushour. There’s no need for them to stop at Hyde park going inbound since the stoughton trains have always stopped there. You don’t need more than 1 line stopping at Hyde park per direction. It’s also easier to have the stoughton and providence/wickford trains express through Hyde park since they have higher ridership than forge park does during the evening rushour heading outbound. I could be wrong. Please correct me if I am, but this is just my opinion.