Grafton & Upton Railroad (G&U) Discussion

sir ray; thanks for the post. a volume-based bulk system that maximizes both rail & truck weights and uses a gravity restraint system on both trailer and flatcar gave us the luxury of using the total railcar floor, i.e. 21' . there was no need to conform to 20' since our 5 sided container was bulk materials only and didn't use the iso restraints. the container simply sat in a pocket on both railcar and chassis. the flatcar solid deck gave us a friction benefit since most of the bottom rested on the deck. the container was used for msw, ash, sludge,sludge cake, c&d and hudson river dredge spoils( about 80% water pumped from a barge into the containe). 21' effectively used the available car deck. i started with 85' flats and 20' .ken patrick

HUH??? Im sorry but thats about as boring as anything ive heard of in my life. Who gives a monkeys right one about any of that. Now lets get back to the reason your all up in the G&U rear about why they are expanding the physical plant and why you have a problem with it. I care less about 21 or 20 or 11 foot containers. Means nothing to the discussion about the G&U. Tell me, with all that double talk to you sell used cars on the side?

Narrow don't feed the troll he is. Tadman flipped on him over in the Amtrak forum yesterday

I took photos at all the rail crossings between Hopedale and the CSX branch in Milford on Mon Nov 11. Pictures show the story on where things stand.
Here is a link to a Flickr photo sharing site that I put the photos on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/108601106@ ... 633795225/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hope this works (my first time trying this).\cheers

johnhenry wrote:I took photos at all the rail crossings between Hopedale and the CSX branch in Milford on Mon Nov 11. Pictures show the story on where things stand.
Here is a link to a Flickr photo sharing site that I put the photos on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/108601106@ ... 633795225/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hope this works (my first time trying this).\cheers

I was hoping to see that Green St driveway in this set. I want to see what the final configuration ended up as.

Very nice photos, thank you!
I was out there a few months ago,... warmer weather. The crossings I saw looked good. I believe I saw the driveway on Greene St. Not much to look at, just a driveway with a track across it.

Does the GU have a wye?

Tracer wrote:Does the GU have a wye?

No. N. Grafton Jct. points eastbound on the B&A. Milford Jct. points northbound onto the Milford runaround.


N. Grafton doesn't need one because CSX scoops them up to/from Westborough. Milford has wetlands, a cemetery, and power line poles to dance around to add a SB leg. It could be done if warranted, but it would be kind of tight and probably take awhile to get permitted. And they don't really need to with the runaround right there and Hopedale Yard so close.

Tracer » Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:29 am
Does the GU have a wye?

Not now and probably not ever, as the following older post probably supports:

Re: Official Grafton & Upton Thread - (G&U)
by jaymac » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:56 am
What's being called the west wye at North Grafton was described to me 20+ years ago by a then-aging G&U engineer as a stub for trolleys at the B&A station. The Ronald Dale Karr book states trolley service on the G&U ended in 1928 and that freight motors continued in use until 1946. The zekedev.com 1950 B&A track chart shows what could look like a G&U wye at North Grafton, but a closer look shows no turnout from the B&A eastbound main, now Track 2, and the stub ending at the western platform of the B&A station.

A certain amount of distrust is helpful with maps. USGS topos sometimes suffered from questionable field reports or interpretation thereof, and commercial maps have had deliberate errors sometimes included as a means of checking if other map companies are copying.

moth wrote:

johnhenry wrote:I took photos at all the rail crossings between Hopedale and the CSX branch in Milford on Mon Nov 11. Pictures show the story on where things stand.
Here is a link to a Flickr photo sharing site that I put the photos on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/108601106@ ... 633795225/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hope this works (my first time trying this).\cheers

I was hoping to see that Green St driveway in this set. I want to see what the final configuration ended up as.

The infamous Green St driveway was cut back on either side of the right of way, a dip created down to the rail height and is currently left as dirt where the pavement was removed. There has been no rehab progress between Rte 140 and Rte 16 other than the Green St crossing.

Was in Hopedale this weekend and the G & U Caboose #100 is sitting in the yard.

Was also in Milford and notices that some of the rail has been removed. My guess is where the Hopedale yard is being rebuilt and is larger, all the Milford yard would be used for is to stage cars while the engine disconnects, runs around and reconnects to pull into the Hopedale yard.

craven wrote:Was in Hopedale this weekend and the G & U Caboose #100 is sitting in the yard.

Was also in Milford and notices that some of the rail has been removed. My guess is where the Hopedale yard is being rebuilt and is larger, all the Milford yard would be used for is to stage cars while the engine disconnects, runs around and reconnects to pull into the Hopedale yard.

Milford's pretty much only been used as a runaround by CSX. From the looks of Google Maps most of that non-runaround rail was ripped up a long time ago with the yard space used to store piles of ties and stick. G&U certainly doesn't have any need for any reason other than turning power. Any team track potential it might have had for trackside truck pickups is going to be much better served out of Hopedale Yard the very short distance down Route 16.

F-Line you are correct. CSX removed the "yard" rails quite some time ago when they also took up the last of the rail that went across Central Street and dead ended shortly after. The Coal/Oil dealer on Depot Street also stopped receiving coal shipments around the same time (late 90s?) The only rail industry in Milford now is the bottle plant.

Drove by the North Grafton yard Saturday early afternoon, and all power was in the yard. The mother-slug set was painted and numbered. Interestingly, both appeared to be labeled as GP-18s, with the mother as 1801 and the"slug" as 1800.

Construction of the propane facility has the unloading rack up, with the tracks up to the switches laid.

HustleMuscle6430 wrote:Construction of the propane facility has the unloading rack up, with the tracks up to the switches laid.

I assume all the road blocks have been taken care of with construction moving forward? I ask as I haven't noticed any recent updates on the propane facility...