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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

 #1352510  by nomis
 
Noticed this morning that the first level besides the tower was starting to be bulldozed.
 #1352654  by Otto Vondrak
 
deathtopumpkins wrote:I believe the old heavyweight baggage car that used to reside in Beacon Park is now parked on the freight track under the Lowell Line bridge near BET - anyone know what's up with it?
The baggage car now resides in North Adams, Mass., and will become a workshop car for Berskhire Scenic Railway Museum's new Hoosac Valley Service operating on old NYC branch line between North Adams and Adams.

-otto-
 #1352936  by BandA
 
nomis wrote:Noticed this morning that the first level besides the tower was starting to be bulldozed.
Work was continuing to demolish that "tower" building.

Also the Ringling Bros. Circus train cars were parked next to the pike eastbound tolls.
 #1353090  by nomis
 
This morning the tower roof was being demolished.
 #1353654  by BandA
 
At 9AM today, the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus Train was lined up behind two (at least one running) CSX locos pointing west. The locomotives were just behind the control box at Boston Landing where it goes from four tracks to two. Like they were hiding behind the control box! The train was on the track nearest the Mass Pike and stretched all the way to the other end of Beacon Park, about where the Beacon Barrier tolls are. The cars appeared to be arranged in numerical order, and sported a long number (five digit?) and a three digit number. They appeared to all be sleepers, with 5 windows, and self heated/powered. Followed by trailers on flatbeds. And one pickup truck. Didn't notice any cages with lions in them.

The tower at the west end appears to be reduced to a pile of twisted metal. I didn't see where the cement bits went.

Opposite the two engines, construction folks were assembling interlocking cement blocks, apparently for a retaining wall. Is this the start of construction of "Boston Landing" Station?

I've never seen a train with that many passenger cars. I've never seen a mixed passenger & freight train (other than maybe Amtrak thing in the 80s). I haven't seen any CSX freight on this line in a couple of years. But I couldn't take pics and drive!
 #1353663  by GP40MC1118
 
There were three units on the circus train. They didn't leave until 1:25pm behind the ill-fated MBTA Train 519.
519 broke down in Wellesley. It was quite the mess!

D
 #1366062  by neman2
 
Today driving by Beacon Park on Storrow I saw that the demolition of the former engine house has begun.All the outside walls were gone.
 #1395895  by neman2
 
In the past week I've noticed some what appear to be empty gondola cars on the Houghton Chemical end of the yard. Maybe a dozen or so. I couldn't get a good look. I would guess they would be for the removal of the yard tracks.
 #1395902  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Wynn Everett Casino. They're shipping out contaminated soil from the ex-Monsato site so they can begin casino construction. CSX will handle cars via the Everett Terminal lead and ex-Monsato siding that forks off the back of the lead.
 #1395906  by BostonUrbEx
 
Pan Am is handling the Everett Dirty Dirt, not CSX. Also, they definitely look like scrap cars or tie/materials cars and not like dirty dirt cars.

I had the same thought that they might load them up with materials from scrapping Beacon Park.
 #1396056  by CRail
 
There's definitely track removal going on at Beacon Park. From what I could see from the pike (at interstate speeds, at night) it appeared the yard tracks were intact but the inner loading track (typically for Trailers as opposed to Containers from what I could tell) is torn up. All of the structures, including the massive loading equipment shed, are now gone.
 #1396070  by GP40MC1118
 
Keolis is rebuilding the second main track between CP4 and CP3. Most of the work is down
at CP3 for now. There's also track removal going on at Beacon Park too.

D
 #1396075  by b&m 1566
 
Are any yard tracks being kept or is everything coming out?
 #1396079  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Houghton Chemical siding is still active, so access to the engine yard lead must be preserved for now. Access to the Grand Junction obviously must be preserved until the T reconfigures CP3/CP4 to tie it straight into the mainline. T will do whatever it is it wants to do with the westerly lead tracks off CP4 whenever construction of the 2nd mainline track and New Balance station are done. Other than that, CSX is responsible for dismantling the main yard and MassDOT is responsible for dismantling the engine yard. Barring any requests from the T to leave something alone, CSX has carte blanche to scrap what they want. Engine yard loop and tail tracks offer up enough storage for the rare times they need to park something in BP, and probably won't be going anywhere until the City and Harvard can work out a relocation deal with Houghton.

Only non-track structure still remaining in the engine yard as of last drive-by is this blue tank.


EDIT: The T is guaranteed a passenger storage yard easement next to the mainline after the Mass Pike straightening project is built. However, it won't be a preservation of any current yard tracks because the big highway project will temporarily obliterate any remaining non-mainline tracks @ BP for necessary staging space. Any rail for that passenger yard-to-be would will ultimately be laid fresh on reshaped clean space.
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