Bay Colony Millis Line

Flyash is also available from Dana's yard in Oxford, MA on the PW which is a competitor to the Hopedale operation.

Stopped by to see the 1701... still looking for work. The spur vegetation is coming alive.

Of note, there are gondola cars parked on the Framingham secondary siding by West Mill St.. Tall piles of stick rail from the re-hab waiting to be hauled away from the staging area, Thought the Bay Colony might purchase some to spruce up their line.

Looks like the transformer went via the G&U today to Hopedale instead, unless that is a separate, unrelated move.

Is the ultimate destination for this transformer the Exelon Power generating station in West Medway?

Two transformer loads on the Grafton & Upton this week according to posts on Facebook. Looks like a quiet summer
for the 1701.

How long can 1701 sit before getting her moving becomes a major undertaking?

They occasionally drive up there to start it up, inspect it. Speaking of which, the 1701 may actually have something to do come the first week of July. No guarantees!

Never mind! Apparently a well-played rumor...

Stopped by to see the 1701 today.. The tracks are covered with vegetation 2-4 ft high. Going to require some maintenance before anything rolls on this spur. Of note, track MOW was working the switch area of the Millis spur and the secondary siding. They replaced a bridge there a number of years ago when the B723 went on the ground.

While looking on Google Earth, I found the image from 10/17/2020 had captured MOW equipment just north of the switch.

1701 getting a nest upgrade this week. Brush cutting going on again...mostly down at Island Pond Rd.

Must be a project of the MOW Workers Full Employment Act.

You got to respect their optimism.

https://youtu.be/bs7l4g0jfaU

Does Bay Colony get compensated by the state for routine maintenance? Or is this the minimum work required to keep their contract? I assume they are losing some money speculating that some customer will show up eventually.

South (west?) of the Millis/Medway border, BCLR has the freight rights as granted by Penn Central/CSX.