Grafton & Upton Railroad (G&U) Discussion

The suspense of waiting for the locals' reaction...

Hello G&U fans! Spent the last three days reading this string, yes all 200+ pages and I am glad to see all the support for a line that was such a big part of my childhood. Some of my fondest memories are riding my bike all the way up North Street just to watch the train pass through the Common and I was able to share that love with my son when a friendly operator gave us a ride around the N. Grafton yard in the ALCO. I just retired from the Army and have been living in the south for the last 20 years and reading this tread has really made me feel like I was home again. Please keep the updates and pictures coming. Speaking of pictures, I have a lot of shots I took in the early 90's when I was a photography student including some nice shots of #9 when she was still at Washington Mills. If anyone is interested I will share them here. Sorry about the long post.

Oh yea, this is for Ken

I get the feeling that part of this rail move from Hopedale is convenience... Then the rest is rubbing it in the face of the town. Not that they haven't been asking for it...

daylight4449 wrote:I get the feeling that part of this rail move from Hopedale is convenience... Then the rest is rubbing it in the face of the town. Not that they haven't been asking for it...

Also precludes any town "interference" on things like bridge weight limits etc.

papabarn wrote:

daylight4449 wrote:I get the feeling that part of this rail move from Hopedale is convenience... Then the rest is rubbing it in the face of the town. Not that they haven't been asking for it...

Also precludes any town "interference" on things like bridge weight limits etc.

True... Although I'm waiting to see if the town parks one of their trucks on the tracks (like what happened up on the Catskill Mountain Railroad last year)... Assuming some nudnick tries that, might it be a good idea to have Direnzo's ready? Maybe some cameras to record as it gets towed off to impound?

I just took a drive by Hopedale at 11am Saturday - the flat cars are there (as Wilfred reported earlier), but no tanks yet. Apologies for the crummy image quality - I took it from a distance (Hopedale town property).

I think they should drape an American flag on it as a slaute to Flag day as it rolls thru the towns.
Ted

Narrowgauger wrote:I think they should drape an American flag on it as a slaute to Flag day as it rolls thru the towns.
Ted

or a parade...

Went by Hopedale yard about a half hour ago, the flat cars are still there, but no tanks, no engines, no cranes, or any other sign of human activity. I don't suppose the tanks were already delivered and taken on their way up to Grafton?

File this under "Ooooops!".

[quote="On June 14, 2015 In an article entitled "Grafton Upton RR hits snag in moving Giant Tanks", Jennifer Doyle of the UPTON DAILY staff"]

Grafton Upton RR hits snag in moving Giant Tanks
June 14, 2015 by Jennifer Doyle


The Grafton and Upton Railroad (GURR) are in the process of moving two of their LPG tanks to from from Fall River to the GURR LP Terminal located on Westborough Road in Grafton. Each tank is approximately 120 feet long (distance of a 40 yard field goal kick) and 34 feet in circumference. Each tank has the capacity to hold 80,000 gallons of propane.

GURR hit snag mid day on Sunday when the tankers being moved by tractor trailers got stuck on Congress Street. The tankers were headed towards the Railroad Co in Hopedale and were not able to navigate the turn onto West Street. The tankers/trucks will be parked overnight in Milford on Park St and on Congress St opposite Post Office.

[/quote]

Read more at UPTON DAILY's web site

Now to try to find out why they chose to turn on to West Street.. Thanks Friends of The Grafton and Upton Railroad's facebook page for the alert.

♪♪♫ No, No, No It ain't me babe.. ♫♫

Press release regarding the shipping miscue.
Thanks Friends of The Grafton and Upton Railroad's facebook page.

Bringing the tanks up to Hopedale and loading them on flatcars makes sense since, given the size of the loads, there is no way that they could get into the N. Grafton yard area on the surface roads. If they are stuck with the turns in Milford, then there are no good options in N. Grafton. All require sharp left turns regardless of the approach taken.

Sorry, sharp right turns(the other left).

I had thought they'd come straight up 146 N. to 146A to 122 N. then pick up 16 E. in Uxbridge. The worst corner being South Main St. (122)) to Mendon St. (16)...

I couldn't resist stopping by Milford center today to rubberneck and take a photo or two... there was a Milford police officer stationed there keeping an eye on the tanks. As you can imagine, it sounds like they'll have to keep an eye on them until they're moved. I chatted with him for a minute... he mentioned that the reason they didn't take Route 16 to Hopedale was that they'd be over the weight limit of at least one bridge.