Railroad Forums 

  • detour routes

  • Discussion relating to the pre-1983 B&M and MEC railroads. For current operations, please see the Pan Am Railways Forum.
Discussion relating to the pre-1983 B&M and MEC railroads. For current operations, please see the Pan Am Railways Forum.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1464435  by NRGeep
 
What were the preferred detour routes if there was a derailment somewhere between Waltham and South Acton on the Fitchburg?
 #1464517  by TomNelligan
 
I don't recall any serious derailments in that rather short stretch of the Fitchburg in the 1960s or 70s (although I could be forgetting one; there were plenty farther west during the B&M's bad track years of the late 60s), but as noted above the detour route would have been via Lowell. If you were thinking of the Central Mass, that had no practical western outlet after it was abandoned into Clinton, plus the track was in bad shape and could barely accommodate the daily local freight and Budd car trip, much less mainline freights
 #1464522  by edbear
 
There were a couple of bad derailments at the beginning of double track (eastbound) at South Acton. Detours went via the Stony Brook Branch and Lowell. One was in December 1970. It happened early in the morning and some Budds were trapped at South Acton. They were retrieved by a crew using the Ayer Budds and coming through a siding by the South Acton freight house, bringing them to Willows, then the whole outfit ran via Lowell to Boston. This was a very bad period. While clean-up work was going on at South Acton with 120-ton wrecker (Boston) and 250-ton wrecker (E. Dfld) working from both sides of the wreck, a freight piled up at Wachusett and some cars damaged a trackside industrial building. East-west main was thoroughly tied up. A second detour was set up Gardner-Barber-Ayer-Lowell and then either Boston or Rigby. Clean-up at South Acton was delayed as 250-ton wrecker and 200-ton (McVille) were sent to Wachusett. The Berlin job derailed at Bath, NH and that couldn't be cleared as all resources were at South Acton and Wachusett. Then Christmas came. All the clean-up crews got a few days off. When they returned to work, all three wrecks were cleaned up and the lines restored rather quickly. When I started with the B & M in 1968, Gardner-Barber was still served by WM-1/MW-2 but they had been discontinued by this time and the branch was virtually dormant. This was the only time I knew of any detours on this route.
 #1464573  by Rockingham Racer
 
I remember a derailment south of Manchester way back. They used the M&L t o run trains
South complete with crossing tenders. Another time there was one south
Of Lowell so trains ran Lowell Branch over to the west age now gone, &
down the Western Route.
 #1464720  by b&m 1566
 
The M&L might have been used as a detour when they had the derailment in Nashua in 1952? A passenger train rear ended a freight train or something like that.
 #1465382  by newpylong
 
NRGeep wrote:Thanks. Did B&M ever use the B&A for detours?
I do not know the answer to this question but I know that Conrail used the B&M before.
 #1465397  by Rockingham Racer
 
b&m 1566 wrote:The M&L might have been used as a detour when they had the derailment in Nashua in 1952? A passenger train rear ended a freight train or something like that.
Sounds about right. I biked over to the M&L and hung around Cluffs Crossing Rd. in Salem.
 #1465529  by e7401
 
As far as the NYC detouring Fitchburg div. trains, it happen a few time, in the 60's, when there was a wreck east of E. Deerfield,
I saw a couple B&M jobs com through Wilbraham Ma {east of Springfield}. When the wreck in the Hoosac tunnel happen the trains came to Springfield then west over the NYC.
 #1465585  by Engineer Spike
 
Didn’t some detours from the Hoosac wreck go via D&H to Rutland, then GMRC to Bellows Falls? I seem to remember seeing a picture of it in a book.
 #1471080  by CRail
 
newpylong wrote:I do not know the answer to this question but I know that Conrail used the B&M before.
That's basically what happens when the Grand Junction is out.
 #1471790  by jbvb
 
I believe Somerville Jct - Lowell couldn't clear piggybacks until it was rebuilt so the MBTA could take the Freight Cutoff for the Red Line. I don't know where the tightest point was, maybe Billerica.