Mass Coastal Railroad (MC) Discussion

News blurb from Taunton Gazette about MC's big summer blitz of crossing upgrades on the Middleboro Secondary:

http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/2017 ... ing-summer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Four antiquated crossings were removed and replaced, three of them in September alone.

And despite new tracks and freshly paved roadways, one major component has yet to be implemented at the busiest of the three located not far from downtown.

That final project piece for the Winthrop Street/Route 44 crossing near Walnut Street will be the installation of a new vehicular warning gate and, for the first time, a pedestrian warning gate, according to Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad company.

Per the article, they're still waiting for new crossing protection parts on-order before being able to upgrade the signals at a couple crossings like Route 140/County Rd., and that more crossing renewals are on-tap for downtown Taunton in FY2018.

Upper Cape Regional Transfer station on Joint Base Cape Cod reopened yesterday 10/17/17 for rail traffic. Photo's taken today on Otis spur with Mass Coastal 2008 for some reason backing down the spur towards the station, as it used the siding in North Falmouth to switch the positon of the Locomotive to the other end of the rail cars. Probably working on the siding out there at the station perhaps.

Was talking to Mass Coastal flagman this morning at North Falmouth runaround and said they have to push cars out to the UCRTS on Otis due too that the WYE past the station is overgrown and out of service along with the sidings nearby the station. They are just getting the line functional to use and will improve as time goes by. Looked like they were traveling at about 10 MPH tops along the Falmouth Secondary line out to Otis, as a lot of track work needs to be done for sure.

Nice Photos. It was also cool that you got the scoop on the backing move. It's great to see the Falmouth Secondary in operation again. When the wye and the rest of the repairs are done it will only get better.

No doubt the best benefit is the fact that freight rails in service take away any possibility of removal much to the chagrin of a small but very vocal group of bicycle enthusiasts.

Per Colonel Keefe's letter of intent, we also can look forward to seeing military use of this line.

It is nice to know that at least some people have abandoned the 20th century mentality regarding ripping up every rail line that goes unused for more than a day and replacing it with a taxpayer burden called a rail trail while at the same time complaining at how over congested the roadways are and, how high their taxes are!. Go figure.

It is still possible to re-lay the tracks back to Falmouth! Like F-line states a lot of transportation activity happens all around Falmouth calling for it. Hey I can dream.

New photo's on brush clearing of Otis spur posted on Mass Coastal right of way facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MCRRMOW/?hc_re ... r6rcaCfs_c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another photo dump of Otis spur work from MCMOW Facebook. . .

Before: https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5AA1E17B" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
After: https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5AA15ADD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5AA8F008" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Initial clearing of wye track: https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5AA02D43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Would be nice to see some drone shots, especially on the wye.

Drone shots over a military installation. Good luck with that.

You can see the entire Otis rail spur, wye and Transfer station on Google earth. All I have found so far is outdated images not showing current views to look at.

Saw Mass Coastal 2009 on the Falmouth Secondary @ 9:18 am this morning at Red Brook Harbor Rd in Cataumet and noticed a increase in speed today as the line condition is getting better, at least in this section from what I can see.

It'll be nice when the Barlows Landing crossing is repaired. Going over the rails there several times on Wednesday gets old very quickly.

Was viewing the updated MassDOT 2018-2022 CIP Plan vs. 2017-2021 CIP Plan and it shows reduced funding for Grade crossing repairs & improvements on the Falmouth secondary. Hopefully they will at least do repairs on the Barlows landing Rd crossing as I use it daily as well and needs to be rebuilt, as it is like a speed bump as present.

Contacted Town of Bourne Administrator regarding Barlow's landing RR crossing condition and he has been in contact with MassDOT to get repairs done. Sooner the better for sure.

Walked a section of the Otis spur today and Mass Coastal has cleared the line and is replacing ties. As you can see it 's shaping up and will only get better as time moves forward.

Now that Taunton Scrap is open on the Dean St branch, any plans for using rail? I know the location was sought for its proximity to rail when bought by Speigel.