Boston Yard 8 Closer To The End

[GP40MC1118]

At some point Friday/Saturday night, the crossover at Walnut Street, which gave the
last access to the former B&M Yard 8, will be retired and removed. This means, for
the time being, PAR freights like DOBO/BODO will have to come down to Tower A.

There is talk of a temporary connection being established just south of Washington
Street, but cannot be confirmed. Washington Street itself is going to be rebuilt in
two phases and this initial one prevents the new (still unfinished) Yard 9/10 lead
from being used. The MBTA mainline will get moved over to the west side of
Washington Street, so the east side can get done. Once that is completed, the final
alignment for the MBTA Lowell main reverts back to the east side. Then the west
side of Washington St gets done for GLX.

As for the new Yard 9/10 connector track, Keolis dumped ballast between Innerbelt
Rd and New Washington St with GMTX 2608 and three MDOT ballast hoppers.

D

[newpylong]

The power will need to get pretty close to the station for a full size DOBO to be able to cut off and run around right?

[Trinnau]

I expect DOBO to run Western Route, provides a much longer/easier runaround. But it creates a challenge with roller coaster of Wellington Tunnel and Draw 8. I'm also hearing a Yard 8 connection will be restored by the end of the year due to the long-term nature of the track shifts around Washington St.

[GP40MC1118]

The most recent DOBO had three units and 28 cars, which brings the power on to the drawbridge to clear the back ladder.
They shove the train to Mainline 2, then runaround around it and do their work. BODO will likely go out the Western Route.
DOBO has been doing this on occasion for years if there are issues with Yard 8.

As mentioned, a loaded sand train down the Western Route is a challenge due to Wellington Tunnel and the Mystic River
Bridge.

Yard 8 will be gone forever. You might see a temporary reprieve like I said, but its history unless the monster known as GLX
relents along with the Community Bike Path folks.

D

[BostonUrbEx]

The power will need to get pretty close to the station for a full size DOBO to be able to cut off and run around right?

DOBO (and LA-2) will be capped at 30 cars when operating via the NH Route. That's the most that will fit between clearing the Back Ladder of Tower A and not putting an axle on the Charles River Draw. DOBO seems to typically be somewhere around 25 cars anyway, and LA-2 doesn't usually exceed 30 cars unless the outbound empties start to really pile up in Woburn and Boston. Also for LA-2, Plate F's won't be able to tag a ride along into Boston anymore. They should fit under the new Cross St Bridge (even though the restriction still exists on paper), but I don't think they'll fit under the High Line Bridge's steel superstructure nor under the Prison Point Bridge.

I expect DOBO to run Western Route, provides a much longer/easier runaround. But it creates a challenge with roller coaster of Wellington Tunnel and Draw 8.

The Western Route is certainly open as an option and will probably see a lot more inbound freight than usual, if for no other reason than upcoming work schedules potentially single tracking the NH Route and/or complete shutdowns overnight. They're supposed to eliminate that Medford Jct underpass to both reduce slack action and allow a running start toward "Draw 8." But that project, along with cutting in Ash St and Reading Highlands interlockings, keeps getting put off.

[BostonUrbEx]

Yard 8 was once again pulled OOS over the weekend for GLX work, but this time marking its permanent and final retirement. Yard 10 will see new life and be in service upon the completion of the first half of the Washington St UGB replacement.

[bostontrainguy]

The Western Route is certainly open as an option and will probably see a lot more inbound freight than usual, if for no other reason than upcoming work schedules potentially single tracking the NH Route and/or complete shutdowns overnight. They're supposed to eliminate that Medford Jct underpass to both reduce slack action and allow a running start toward "Draw 8." But that project, along with cutting in Ash St and Reading Highlands interlockings, keeps getting put off.

Looks finished at least on Google Maps. Interestingly they kept the switch to the Medford spur. Optimistic maybe but good to see.

P.S. I always wondered why they even put the tracks through that tunnel. Seemed totally unnecessary. Certainly the Medford trackage wasn't ever that busy.

[Tallguy]

How much freight actually goes through the Inner Belt/Sullivan Sq?
I know the gravel train from NH
The Peabody bone train once a week or so....
Produce to Chelsea?

[bostontrainguy]

Cement, produce and scrap cars to/from Chelsea at the end of the line and an occasional boxcar to Boston Paperboard located in the Innerbelt area.

[Rockingham Racer]

Maybe it's just me, but I find it pretty surprising at the little amount of freight traffic that goes to Boston proper. I guess Guilford / ST got rid of as much business as they could?

[Safetee]

Guilford got into the absolutely best business in the Boston metro region: selling tons of real estate. And they made tons of money in the process.

[gokeefe]

... and an occasional boxcar to Boston Paperboard located in the Innerbelt area.

Possibly the most unlikely rail customer to still have service in 2020.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[GP40MC1118]

Boston Paperboard has not been served for a few years now. I believe they
get their cars elsewhere and truck it to the plant.

D

[Tallguy]

So the BO-1 does Chelsea AND the Rousselot jello run together? Does it also do CSXs old produce deliveries?
So DOBO and BO-1 are the only regular consists?
How much irregular traffic? Werent a lot of the GLX materials coming in by train?

[bostontrainguy]

Yeah know after checking Google Earth and Zoom, I don't see any produce cars in the Chelsea Market (except for what looks like one bad-ordered car sitting on a siding). Are they even using rail anymore?