MBTA Old Colony Line

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

Cape Flyer qualifying runs....

D

This was actually a train for the press conference held in Hyannis yesterday.

and qualifying runs...#1 reason for the runs to Hyannis

[The ViRoCo]

The Sperry Car is currently on the Old Colony line now, southbound to the Cape. Proceeding from MP26 to Mid and Pilgrim and then I would think Bay.

[The ViRoCo]

There is a snow flanger train on the Middleboro line now. It is about to turn in Middleboro and head north.

[The ViRoCo]

Are there any maps on the internet that show the different points on the Middleboro/Lakeville line with mileposts? (points like "Stanley" or "Westdale")

[dbperry]

http://www.dbperry.net/mbtacommuterrailnetwork.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
is from September 1993 so it is really out-of-date. Has some interlocking points on it.


http://www.oxfordjunction.com/csx001.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
is from 2004, so it is also quite dated, but the track charts (click on the sample page) are really handy even if the schedules are no longer accurate. I still use my copy quite a bit to look up interlocking names. And yes, it has "Stanley" and "Westdale" interlockings listed.

[The EGE]

MBTA and Keolis are finally looking at the weird Kingston - Plymouth trains. On weekdays there are three daily trains that run outbound to Kingston, run in to Seaside interlocking and out to Plymouth (simultaneously an inbound and outbound train on the schedule!), and then finally run inbound to Boston. That leaves a large swath of the day that it takes two hours rather than one to get from Kingston to Boston. Weekend service is similar, though two of those three run Boston-Plymouth-Kingston-Boston instead.

Running an equal number of trains from each terminus is probably not likely. My crazy solution is to run all trains to Kingston, then build a real basic transfer station at Seaside interlocking (similar to the temporary Devon Transfer that MNRR used) and run a Seaside-Plymouth dinky with a single RDC or something. Perhaps Plymouth could be convinced to re-extend rails to downtown if it was a much smaller train.

[dowlingm]

There seem to be some possible alternative dispositions for the Plymouth branch but given the length and ferocity the Princeton Dinky thread exploded into... (Plymouth station wasn't featured on Family Ties too, was it?)

[RRCOMM]

The NIMBY's killed the chance of the line serving down-town Plymouth with all it's potential tourist patronage. The "Plymouth" station consists of a platform behind an abandoned Walmart several miles from Plymouth center. It's a 5 minute drive from there to Kingston station. There is already a local transit bus. Logic would dictate mothballing the Plymouth station until or if it gets extended to down-town. If you really want trains to go from Plymouth to Kingston stations efficiently a WYE track would be needed

The situation was a politically driven compromise that gets no one the service that should be expected.

[MBTA3247]

Installing a wye at Seaside is impossible without grabbing some land through eminent domain.

[The EGE]

You could do it without taking anything more than the Budweiser warehouse. That's movable to elsewhere near 3 and 3A. The abutters probably wouldn't mind trading a dozen or so trains a day for getting trucks off their neighborhood streets.

[RRCOMM]

The Budweiser warehouse was the proposed site for the park and ride. When I worked on the project the rumour was that the T would not take the property because it was a minority owned business. That's how we wound up in the Kingston gravel pit. Combined with the NIMBY's squatting on the ROW on the way to Plymouth gets us today's dysfunction. Note: if you want to squat on or near a T owned ROW make sure you build an expensive house and have political connections. I also seem to remember part of the deal is legislation that "protects" the the remaining ROW from being used for a railroad. Sorry if anyone remembers me posting this previously.

[BostonUrbEx]

So you're saying the MBTA cannot evict and demolish a residence on its own right-of-way? That sounds pathetic. I imagine it more a case of being lazy and not bothering than actual law.

[The EGE]

No, the warehouse is on privately owned land that is not and never was on the right-of-way. Would eminent domain have been a viable option? Yes - the business could have been relocated for the public good. But political connections won out over common sense.

[YamaOfParadise]

I imagine he's talking about the encroachment in towards Plymouth. But at the end of the day, the end-game is still the same: with enough money, power, and connections, anything is possible. Moreover, going into Plymouth, it doesn't help that it isn't just that the track was inactive... it was/is completely gone and abandoned.

[BandA]

I imagine he's talking about the encroachment in towards Plymouth. But at the end of the day, the end-game is still the same: with enough money, power, and connections, anything is possible. Moreover, going into Plymouth, it doesn't help that it isn't just that the track was inactive... it was/is completely gone and abandoned.

If it's no longer a railroad, it wasn't railbanked, and if it is privately owned, someone can squat on it for 20 years and they own it by adverse possession, I think.