Ethanol Trains to Revere

Well, there isn't anything any of the towns can do about it so I think they will chose the best routing operational, and that is the Fitchburg obviously...

Oh the humanity of chugging right by Walden Pond. What would Henry David Thoreau say!
Add sarcasm here.

The plan is to run the job at night time, so in all honesty, it doesn't matter which route it takes.

This train will be run through Everett, East Boston and Revere during the night when no commuter traffic would interfere with the operation and be headed back west the same.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:I wonder if there'll be a push to (re?)connect the Everett Terminal turnout stub tracks back to the mainline before the 2nd St. grade crossing. That thing is already a mile long and would keep the full consist from fouling a commuter slot on the main while it's in-transit.

I don't see that happening. That track is 80-90 year old 105# rail, and would require going through the reverse side of two #10 turnouts. I would think that running on the main with 132# rail, and through the straight side of turnouts as much as possible would be the preferred course. And, as was stated above, this train will only run at night avoiding any commuter conflicts.

As a complete aside, what right does Pan Am have on that track as it is the former Grand Jct. Branch which the state has purchased from CSX with PA having no previous running rights?

Basically the track from Everett Jct in is "joint" trackage between CSX/PAR. It's a very
weird setup as you go from MBTA to PAR to CSX between there and NEP. And its probably
a moot point since PAR is now switching for CSX at NEP and the coke works. That
runaround or former B&A Grand Jct mainline to 2nd Street now belongs to the state
and actually would make a good staging track for loaded trains waiting for room. The
one problem with that would it takes away the option of the locals of running around
their cars.

While the ethanol trains may only run at night during the week, there is talk of a larger
window of operation on weekends. The FRML wouldn't be too bad after inbound 1412/2412,
but there still close slots on the ERML/WRML side of things. Remember this train would
not be breaking any land-speed records rounding the horn at BET and out and over the
Mystic River Bridge.

Another issue still being pondered is the clearances on the FRML for the new power like
the ES44's and SD70ACE's. Porter Square is the primary issue.

D

I have been told once this thing is a done deal they are going to take various 6 packs over to Porter to see what they might be able to get away with there. PAR Crews have been qualifying on the Fitchburg for a year now.

Heard the same thing too about testing out six-axles once its a done deal.

And yes, there has been a plane-load of PAR crews qualifying in the commuter
zone - riding commuter trains and also newbies on DOBO and the LA's...

D

Why would Porter be the primary issue? By the time ethanol trains would actually be running, both Littleton/495 and South Acton will have full highs.

The clearances at the station (I.E. the "tunnel" at the west end). And possibly
some issues down at McGrath.

Also, there's a restrictive height bridge in Chelsea - either Washington or
Broadway (can't remember which one).

D

The EGE wrote:Why would Porter be the primary issue? By the time ethanol trains would actually be running, both Littleton/495 and South Acton will have full highs.

Tankers don't have any issues with full-highs. CSX hauls a long consist of Fore River sludge tanks every night out of Braintree down the all-highs Old Colony. It *might* be an issue if some of the inner non-ADA stops or Porter itself went full-high, for the ones that are on slight (but not highs-prohibitive) curves. I believe all of the southside full-highs CSX runs freight through plus Lynn, Malden Ctr., and Oak Grove on the northside are on fully tangent track. Salem might be a little interesting when that goes high, but I don't think that's enough of a curve to affect Peabody freights.

Porter tunnel has always been the tightest fit on the Fitchburg. There's still an ancient telltale fully intact right before the Walden St. bridge. Pre-1984 before the Red Line extension rebuilt the Mass Ave. overpass that was the constriction that forced most thru freight to use the Fitchburg Cutoff. It was one of the structures raised as a trade-off for cannibalizing the Cutoff. It's tall enough to fit MBTA bi-levels just fine, but tall and beefy power would be a tight fit.

No one is talking about the height of freight cars or platform issues.
It's an issue of NEWER power like the ES44's fitting due to AC or other roof
mounted appliances. I never said anything about platforms.

We already went through this with newer power on a Bow Coal train during
the 2011 detour trains when PAR was flooded out in Littleton.

D

Rooftop air conditioners shouldn't be an issue with newer power. They're all tucked away in other locations. Rooftop ACs tend to be more common as retrofits on older locos that weren't originally delivered with air conditioners. The only items you'll find on the cab roof of an ES44AC, ES44DC, AC4400CW, or Dash 9-44CW are radio/GPS antennae and a couple of small grab irons. Same deal with SD70ACes and SD70M-2s.

Some example heights:

ES44AC/ES44DC/AC4400/Dash 9-44CW are 15'6".

SD70ACe/SD70M-2 are 16'1".

Typical GP38/GP38-2/GP40/GP40-2 (without retrofit air conditioner) range from 15'3" to 15'5".

SD60 (without retrofit air conditioner) is 15'7.5".

SD40-2 (without retrofit air conditioner) is 15'7.5".


Geeps or GEs are going to be the best bet!

Okay a quick question and then back in lurk mode,How tall are F40's and K-cars? That's
probably close to the warning track in this ballpark

MIKEMOXIEMAINE wrote:Okay a quick question and then back in lurk mode,How tall are F40's and K-cars? That's
probably close to the warning track in this ballpark

F40: 15' 6"
K-cars 15' 6-1/4"