Salem Action Alert

highrail wrote:Nope, looks like a quick repair...has only been out of service a few days. Took this shot this morning:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20130 ... 315911.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

4 sections of panel track are ready to be installed.

Steve

It would be a shame if they didn't do a little drainage work to get rid of the obvious problem there.Brand new ties and rail don't do well sitting in a bathtub!

i'm just glad service is still ongoing, it's all we have left. all of the branches on the north shore are all gone but this little bit.

Monday am: crews are on site working on the connection/repair. Water was removed from the hole

tom18287 wrote:i'm just glad service is still ongoing, it's all we have left. all of the branches on the north shore are all gone but this little bit.

Very much doubt it'll be going away the way Rousselot is growing post-Kodak. Don't forget, PAR has never abandoned the OOS section to the industrial park either, and it abandons everything it isn't using save for conspicuous holds of unusual importance like the East Boston Branch. There's still potential to attract some new customers out there since the siting is excellent and the town is committed to trying to lure somebody. They're keeping it intact as a strategic hold.

The only real issue of contention on this line is the drainage situation, but given the infamous flooding issues in that stretch of Peabody and Salem it's a fix that'll probably require sharing a pot of flood mitigation funding between the towns, MassDOT for the roads, and the branch for the T to get anything substantial done. For playing their funding cards right the stakeholders need to plot for a bigger strike on disaster prevention grounds and keep the piecemeal work to a minimum so it's not wasted. It's a far-ranging problem that's going to bite everyone in the ass the next time a storm parks itself for too long over the area and it goes underwater in yet another 50-year flood event.

Would be nice if they finally got crossing gates installed everywhere to Peabody Sq. Frequency and time of day it usually runs merits that much investment, and lesser lines in the state haven't had issues getting small grants for cheap protection. G&U got itself gifted some flashers recently. Hell...go cannibalize some working spare flashers if that does anything in a pinch. They made good use of all the old Saugus Branch crossing protection that way. I'm sure they could find a home for these still-working high-mast signals protecting the Housy-casualty Coltsville Industrial before they fall into disrepair.

MBTA work train is there this afternoon with two open hopper cars of ballast. New sections of rail are installed.

LA-4 just crossed over the track repair area with the T track crew
still there. PAR leasor 3001 and 3 loads backed through the repair
area and continued to connect to the load that was left there last
Fri. The engine then swapped ends and started the journey to
Peabody where 4 empties are waiting to be picked up.This is
happening now at 4:30 PM. Andy

Photo of the completed repair:

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20130 ... 344951.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Steve

Yesterday I saw the Peabody train and/or Everett scrap run near Sullivan Square. The train had two flatbeds with it. Any idea what the flatbeds were for?

Badandy wrote:LA-4 just crossed over the track repair area with the T track crew
still there. PAR leasor 3001 and 3 loads backed through the repair
area and continued to connect to the load that was left there last
Fri. The engine then swapped ends and started the journey to
Peabody where 4 empties are waiting to be picked up.This is
happening now at 4:30 PM. Andy

Looking at the before and after photos,the no parking signs, and google map images this looks like some sort of illegal crossing that commuter rail parking lot users have created. A few jersey barriers would help.Is the parking that bad at that lot?

regarding the flats: I wonder if that is how the panel tracks were delivered.

Regarding the "illegal crossing": I am not sure what you mean...there is no inappropriate vehicle crossing. Pedestrains do cross the freight line at a couple points, but frankly that has never been an issue. Parking is crowded at the station, but a new garage is slated to go up very soon...after over 30 years of discussion! A bit of trivia...as you look toward Peabody (away from the station) there was planned to be a connector road following the right of way through Peabody all the way toward Rt. 128. There was to be a second link in the opposite direction toward Beverly and a modified version of that was recently completed. The obstacle on the Peabody link related to trying to figure out how to get through Peabody square as there was no support for the road to get through at grade. The mayor at that time was also apposed to the plan. The road would have followed the old right of way beyond Peabody Square straight toward Rout 128, where it would have tied in at about Lowell Street.

Steve

When I saw the no parking signs in the picture along the tracks and not next to the road I thought cars were crossing over the tracks and parking along the dirt road running parallel to the right of way.

BostonUrbEx wrote:Yesterday I saw the Peabody train and/or Everett scrap run near Sullivan Square. The train had two flatbeds with it. Any idea what the flatbeds were for?

Probably spacer cars for when Pan Am delivers new coaches to the MBTA, Served their purpose and headed back.

Trinnau wrote:

BostonUrbEx wrote:Yesterday I saw the Peabody train and/or Everett scrap run near Sullivan Square. The train had two flatbeds with it. Any idea what the flatbeds were for?

Probably spacer cars for when Pan Am delivers new coaches to the MBTA, Served their purpose and headed back.

Pan Am isn't delivering the new coaches...CSX is.

A private contractor is at the RT1 crossing in Peabody looking at the lights. Looks like they are putting a plan together for taking them down.

Madjack wrote:A private contractor is at the RT1 crossing in Peabody looking at the lights. Looks like they are putting a plan together for taking them down.

Surprised they waited that long on the N'port Branch. They didn't waste any time salvaging the crossing protection on the Saugus Branch when that abandonment went into effect.

Those high masts look like they're in decent condition. Wonder if they're thinking of moving them east onto the active branch.