Commuter Rail Delay Discussion

octr202 wrote:Beat me to it!

I suspect they're holding 212 to cover 356's schedule.

I guess Tuesday is now the day 352 doesn't run...this is either two or three weeks in a row now. Last month, Thursday was it's "off day." If a train breaks down anywhere on the North side, 352 will be canceled.

Anyone notice the trend LOL! I don't have the delays but no one posted that 158 died yesterday as well and ran 30-45 mins late. 1010 was the culprit.

A little bird told me that train 152 went dead near Ipswich yesterday because the loco (1001) ran out of fuel. Apparently that unit has a problem with the fuel gauge and it didn't get properly refueled at the house during the day on Monday. I guess the only good news is that it didn't have a mechanical failure - it just ran dry.

Don't know if anyone has noticed yet but a protect engine is sent out every morning to Beverly yard to protect the morning rush.

AEM7AC920 wrote:Don't know if anyone has noticed yet but a protect engine is sent out every morning to Beverly yard to protect the morning rush.

What's Beverly Yard? Is that the MOW siding just north of Beverly Depot?

East of the Depot is a two track yard on the inbound side of the Junction. It is used to store MOW equipment and also to turn the Beverly trains. Although with the recent signal upgrades, some trains may(and can) turn right in the Depot now without having to go to the yard.

The evening rush hour Fitchburg Route was a mess last night (3/4). I was on train #425 the 4:40 "Superexpress" outbound departure from North Station. We left North Station a few minutes late, but did not encounter real trouble until west of CPF-WL. Seems like Pan Am's POSE (Portland, ME- Selkirk, NY) through freight went into emergency just east of the Ayer Wye. We were held on the freight main for approximately 25 minutes while POSE tried to pump up its air. In the interim, MBCR train #427, the 4:50 "local" out of North Station pulled along side of us. Listening on my portable scanner, District 3 asked for a passenger count for both trains. 425 had approxmately 275 people on board, 427 had approximately 75. I was wondering if they were going to either try and combine passenger loads or bus people from Ayer. It didn't come to pass as shortly thereafter, POSE got going again and then we were able to proceed west at track speed. #425 arrived in Fitchburg at 6:45, approxmately :45 late. Not sure how long it took 427 to get there. I had to wait about :20 minutes at the Fitchburg station for my ride and it still hadn't arrived there by 7:05 when I left...

-Mike

Dunno the effect it had keeping on the advertised, but while I was listening between 0500 and 1030 on 03-06-2013, D-3 had to give pretty much every train between 404 and 417 a 241 for the CPF-GL/Station Track move.

jaymac wrote:Dunno the effect it had keeping on the advertised, but while I was listening between 0500 and 1030 on 03-06-2013, D-3 had to give pretty much every train between 404 and 417 a 241 for the CPF-GL/Station Track move.

For the innocents (maybe only me), by D-3 you mean Form D line 3? By "a 241" do you mean NORAC Rule 241 (Passing a Stop Signal)?

D-3 in this case means Pan Am District 3 Dispatcher. They control from Fitchburg to a point between Ayer and Littleton. There was a signal failure this morning outside of Fitchburg Station, and the Dispatcher needed to give Rule 241s(verbal permission by a stop signal) there.

Thank you sery.

So far the commuter rail is in pretty good shape. 7News reported that the Kingston/Plymouth line has a 10-15min delay.
As a side note take the tobin bridge if u want to save some cash, the tolls lost power and are waving people through for free.
Stay safe out there, stay home if u can.

Several Haverhill Line trains were delayed approx 10-15 minutes throughout the day. At one point, a train was delayed due to multiple autos on the tracks. I don't know how that happened. It could have been a typo, but definitely said "autos" in the alert.

After an unsuccessful attempt to navigate Route 18, I rode today and there seemed to be about a 10-minute lag on my trains (040 inbound, 045 outbound to/from South Weymouth), but otherwise ride was just fine.

The commute out if north side is going to take extra long tonight with Lowell and Newburyport/Rockport experiencing long delays or cancellation due to mechanical failure.

Cancellations on the Western route as well. Reports of busses running and an inbound express will be making all stops which it usually skips.