Grafton & Upton Railroad (G&U) Discussion

MickD wrote:Actually 1501 spent all winter down here..
Kinda' wonder what the pont was..

Well, birds go south, so maybe F units go east

Actually the 1501 did go (south)east Friday morning, moving through Grafton Center at 9:30 AM.

The F-Unit (1501) and one of the GPs were switching the W. Upton yard today around lunchtime. Once they moved a couple of cars around, they returned north running light.

I will see if I can attach a cellphone pic of the pair in Grafton at Old Upton Rd. crossing

Tony

Look what crossed Freedom Street Hopedale this a.m. They were pulling out rotten ties.

'pulling out rotten ties'. where did these go? tossed aside on the row? ken patrick

KEN PATRICK wrote:'pulling out rotten ties'. where did these go? tossed aside on the row? ken patrick

What do you care? Do you live next to those tracks?

KEN PATRICK wrote:'pulling out rotten ties'. where did these go? tossed aside on the row? ken patrick

If you followed the previous renevation efforts you will find that unlike many Railroads the G&U actually picked up the old ties along the ROW. They picked them up after they were able to run trains over the tracks and loaded them into hopper cars.

There are a number of hopper cars full of them in Upton as well as a large pile at the Hopedale yard. There were piles of removed ties at the N. Grafton yard which were later removed elsewhere.

There is clearly an effort to keep the ROW and yard areas clean.

Don't know where the GU ties are going, but I have heard of old ties being used for fuel in wood-burning power plants so that is a possibility.

railroad ties will not be accepted at mass burn plants. they must be landfilled at $55-$65/ton ( $3 tie). look at the 'pile' and gons and project the total costs of disposal. i don't live near a railroad but have run across this practice in bidding on a rail removal project. i projected tie disposal costs to be equal to the value of rail and otm only to be laughed out of the room by folk who routinely discarded ties on the row. i notice that pwrr has been told by the epa to clean up old ties. g&u is avoiding tie disposal costs. it should be forced by the epa and towns to dispose of these properly. ken patrick

who said they were avoiding disposal costs? who said they were leaving them by the r-o-w? who said anything to draw your conclusions except your own assumptions? for the record, where i photographed them working i did not see any discarded ties other than those that have been there for years already. there is a huge old tie pile in the hopedale yard however.

my point. why is there a 'huge pile etc' anywhere? g&u doesn't want to pay for proper disposal. the towns should file a complaint with epa. ties do present an environmental problem. ken patrick

KEN PATRICK wrote:my point. why is there a 'huge pile etc' anywhere? g&u doesn't want to pay for proper disposal. the towns should file a complaint with epa. ties do present an environmental problem. ken patrick

Ok then, Kenny, since you're so concerned, why don;t you contact Ms Paul and her screaming NIMBY circus?
Oh wait... you don't LIVE there! So again, why is it such a concern to you?

See,... here's what gets me, Kenny-ol'-pal....
..you're making a big stink about something miles away from where you live, yet even though you admit you don/t live anywhere near there and haven't even BEEN around there to see, you want to make some argument, suggestion, whatever as to whom should do what about it when clearly you DON'T know all the facts involved.
I would surmise that, despite not having been by there in over 6 months, I've got you beat on who's been on-site there to see firsthand what's-the-what more recently, and that the now infamous Upton Planning committee has 1) more of a stake, 2) more of a leg to stand on and 3) more INFORMATION than you do on this subject.

Ken, what exactly is this environmental problem from ties? Especially well weathered ones. There are more environmentally dangerous things in your house and car.

griffs20soccer wrote:Ken, what exactly is this environmental problem from ties? Especially well weathered ones. There are more environmentally dangerous things in your house and car.

I think it may have something to do with creosote, if there is any left after all these years anyway.

kenny sounds disgruntled for getting laughed out of the room that one time when he added tie disposal costs to whatever proposal he wrote. EPA calling ties hazardous material is one more example of liberal environmentalism run amock...how can you calssify the tie as hazardous when the entire rail line is comprised of ties, under the rail, on the ground, etc etc!? what about telephone poles and high voltage lines? Cripes.