Railroad Forums 

  • CSX Fitchburg Secondary Discussion

  • Discussion of the operations of CSX Transportation, from 1980 to the present. Official site can be found here: CSXT.COM.
Discussion of the operations of CSX Transportation, from 1980 to the present. Official site can be found here: CSXT.COM.

Moderator: MBTA F40PH-2C 1050

 #1540501  by arcadia terminal
 
They are doing prep-work for a tie job the have dropped new ties all the way to the Leominster yard, don't know were they are starting but the ties go all the way thru Leominister
 #1541654  by roberttosh
 
That’s great news as that local was getting rather short in length due to all the loss of business on that line. I remember 20-30 years ago that train would often run with 30-40 cars.
 #1542249  by Knucklehead
 
arcadia terminal wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 5:16 pm The new C&D customer looks like it is shipping 10 to 12 cars every other day, they are now doing drop offs and pick ups on Sunday.
B724 north through Northborough at 1345 on Sunday (Mother's Day) with six lumber loads and four empties for C&D.
 #1543251  by arcadia terminal
 
Production track gang started work Monday 5/18 Leominster yard and are working towards Framingham, they are doing approx 24 miles this season. Replacing every 3 to 4 ties and more if needed. one of the workers stated even with all this work the branch may still be limited to 10mph. Grade crossings are being redone also. They should be down to Prat Junction by 5/20
 #1543351  by Knucklehead
 
arcadia terminal wrote: Tue May 19, 2020 5:07 pm Production track gang started work Monday 5/18 Leominster yard and are working towards Framingham, they are doing approx 24 miles this season. Replacing every 3 to 4 ties and more if needed. one of the workers stated even with all this work the branch may still be limited to 10mph. Grade crossings are being redone also. They should be down to Prat Junction by 5/20
I am not surprised it will still be at 10 MPH - a lot of the rail is old, and lightweight, and joint bars are in bad shape all over the place. When Conrail redid the line in the late 1970s, it was rated at 25 MPH and they maintained that speed for many years until the CSXT error (era) where they have deferred a lot of maintenance on the line since assuming ownership.

CSXT dropped rails and ties for crossings along the line nearly 7-8 years ago...looks like they are finally getting to install them.

I assume B724 is running overnight while the production gang is working during the day?
 #1543352  by arcadia terminal
 
The local "B724" just went by my place in Leominster heading down town at 7:05 they must have stuffed the track gang in the unused siding just east of the east end of Prat Junction Rd. That is was where they work working this afternoon. The last grade crossing before the Leominster yard had a prefab section "Conrail" in the weeds but they did not use it they just added new ties and paved it over.
 #1543438  by Knucklehead
 
arcadia terminal wrote: Tue May 19, 2020 5:07 pm Production track gang started work Monday 5/18 Leominster yard and are working towards Framingham, they are doing approx 24 miles this season. Replacing every 3 to 4 ties and more if needed. one of the workers stated even with all this work the branch may still be limited to 10mph. Grade crossings are being redone also. They should be down to Prat Junction by 5/20
Perhaps another reason the line may be kept at 10 MPH is that several years ago, CSXT shortened the grade crossing circuits to a length that activated the warning devices for the required time of no less than 20 seconds prior to the train occupying the crossing at a speed of 10 MPH. If they brought the line up to 25 MPH standards again, they would have to lengthen each crossing circuit to provide the warning time at 25 MPH. Saves on bonding, maintenance, etc., although I would imaging it is less expensive over the long haul to do that than paying a crew to retrieve an outlawed train over and over again. Then again, we are dealing with CSXT logic!
 #1543484  by arcadia terminal
 
Some times I don't get their logic, the local ran out of time and yesterday in Leominster yard then they sent a light engine yesterday in the pm to bring the train back to Framingham. Does it cost less to send a light engine out here than it would to cab a crew out? This same thing took place around 2 weeks ago. I talked to a signal maintainer yesterday and they are keeping the branch at 10mph.
 #1543597  by QB 52.32
 
Good to see CSX spending some money on the Fitchburg Secondary.

Besides the initial post-Penn Central Conrail investment, their next big late-1980's investment was only made for the safety of handling Inhalation Hazard traffic moving at the time. Once that traffic was gone, I have little doubt Conrail would have managed investment much as CSX has. There's just no financial justification, given a variety of factors in this situation, to spend the kind of money needed to have kept/make this a 25 mph railroad --- that could only be done with taxpayer money.
 #1543639  by Knucklehead
 
QB 52.32 wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 10:36 am Good to see CSX spending some money on the Fitchburg Secondary.

Besides the initial post-Penn Central Conrail investment, their next big late-1980's investment was only made for the safety of handling Inhalation Hazard traffic moving at the time. Once that traffic was gone, I have little doubt Conrail would have managed investment much as CSX has. There's just no financial justification, given a variety of factors in this situation, to spend the kind of money needed to have kept/make this a 25 mph railroad --- that could only be done with taxpayer money.
QB 52.32, they HAD to spend some money on the line. Although there was a significant tie replacement and resurfacing project through Southborough last year, but I don't believe it went much further north than Ken's foods in Marlborough. There are many sections through Northborough and Berlin where there are numerous ties in a row that are disintegrated, tie plates broken in two, joint bars cracked through right at the rail joint, and track that looks like the back of a camel. Given the amount of heavy loads carried north of the welded rail section of track that ends at Lyman Street in Northborough (lumber loads for Bestway, and now the new recycle customer in Leominster), I am surprised that there have not been more derailments on the line.
 #1544021  by SpiderHill
 
I think I heard B724 go by overnight sometime after 1am last night. I was in Lancaster and Sterling today. The train with empty centerbeams, several tank cars, and several empty C&Ds was tied down on the line near Sterling Country Club. Work crews were on the tracks in that area near the grade crossings. Additionally, two crossings south of the train both in Lancaster were closed and being reconstructed. I think the tie replacement equipment was working between the Route 62 crossing and Clinton. I didn't see them but did see the piles of old ties.
  • 1
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 21