Fitchburg Line Upgrade Discussion

Just heard that the King St. crossing in Littleton will be closed from Oct 27-31 for "railroad construction".

I don't cross there any more so I don't know if I'll get a look.

caduceus wrote:Just heard that the King St. crossing in Littleton will be closed from Oct 27-31 for "railroad construction".

I don't cross there any more so I don't know if I'll get a look.

Hi folks
Long time listener, first time caller. This crossing is right down the street from me, I go over it every day. Its been quiet for a while except work in the signal boxes there; most of the work has been on the crossovers at the Littleton/495 Station. They threatened to close this crossing for work in June, but it never happened. It'll have to be soon, I think, since there are only a couple of Acton crossings left, and the one at the station.

-=Bob

rmccown wrote:This crossing is right down the street from me, I go over it every day.

Same here. They've put out notices to close the crossing three times prior now, and never followed up on it. Most of the work has been electrical, and the signal between King St. and the 110 overpass is now working full time.

Speaking of the 110 overpass, does anyone know what the gantry next to the bridge is for? It looks like a signal bridge, yet it seems too close to the previous signal to even be called for. Is it a hotbox detector?

Mcoov wrote:Speaking of the 110 overpass, does anyone know what the gantry next to the bridge is for? It looks like a signal bridge, yet it seems too close to the previous signal to even be called for. Is it a hotbox detector?

It is, or will be, a high-wide detector.

DAW

130MM-
For loose appliances and dome lids on the future ethanol service?
Thanks.

Lots more ballast dumped yesterday, and a whole mess of workers attaching rails to ties. Signs up spreading the gospel about the closed road for the upcoming weekend, and heavy equipment is moving in.

jaymac wrote:130MM-
For loose appliances and dome lids on the future ethanol service?
Thanks.

More than likely for Littleton Station.

Yet more taxpayer cash added to the bottomless pit of a project with minimal added value:

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/lo ... -wachusett

Just got back from dropping someone off at the Littleton station. There was a big sign at the end of Foster St saying they're doing the crossing work 10/20-10/24. They also have both ramps on the piers, but not the bridge over where the second track is going.

I just found this presentation from early this year which has renderings of Littleton and South Acton, as well as a site plan for Wachusett:

http://www.mbta.com/uploadedfiles/About ... -13-12.pdf

Heard from a neighbor that the Town of Westminster is still concerned over the noise issue.

J

sery2831 wrote:

jaymac wrote:130MM-
For loose appliances and dome lids on the future ethanol service?
Thanks.

More than likely for Littleton Station.

There actually was quite a discussion on what height to set the detector to transmit an exception. In other words, when the signal is displayed as "Clear" how far is the train cleared to travel? Littleton Station? South Acton Station? Boston? Salem? It was decided to set it for two overhead bridges, one in Somerville, and one in Chelsea.

DAW

One of the workers for the South Street project was looking for someone to tell him if it's ok to put up a generator/light tower, and he stumbled up to my office, somehow. I got him to the right people, but did find out it takes 600 tons of ballast ("probably 100 tons too much, but better too much than too little") to do this job.

Drove by the Littleton station today, and pulled into the parking lot. Here's a shot of the progress on the ramps



and a view down the tracks toward the new platforms

I was driving down Willow rd today and noticed that they had a construction sign displaying that they will be closing the RR Crossing on 10/14/2012 at 6am and reopening on 10/15/2012 at 4pm. looks like they are installing the 2nd track.