CSX Framingham, MA

Supposedly sold to the Delaware & Ulster RR.

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The Russell plow ran into a bit of misfortune while traveling through West Boylston, according to WBPD's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/46892386982317 ... 037869306/

I question why would they be going through West Boylston enroute from Framingham to New York, and especially choosing that particular road. As a resident of West Boylston who uses Franklin Street several times a week, I agree that on a map it appears to be very convenient shortcut from Route 140 to Route 12, saving one a hairpin left turn at the intersection of these two routes a few hundred feet north. However, "on the ground" Franklin Street is a narrow and twisting road with an abrupt crest at the intersection with Route 12, barely suitable for anything requiring a CDL to operate and COMPLETELY unsuitable for lowboys, as these clowns found out. Don't these companies check their routes? And why wouldn't they just take the Pike west? If someone was trying to save a buck, they sure didn't here...

From the FB post you just linked ...

The convoy, which was led by the Mass State Police, had to take back roads, as it was too tall for the Mass Pike.

Yup, I just caught that (I hate Facebook and try to spend as little time there as possible, so OK, I missed that).

I maintain, however, that whomever chose that convoluted routing, especially Franklin Street in particular, did it from a map and never once reviewed the route on the ground.

May 17, 2020 - CSX is operating a freight on the line to Leominster, whatever it is called. Engs. 6152/6209, 20 cars, 6 bulkhead flats with lumber and the rest some kind of hoppers, some weathered and some either brand new or freshly painted. I saw them in Framingham late morning and he was on the move through Southboro at 1 pm.

Fitchburg Branch.

Does anyone know if there ever was a discussion to develop Framingham's CP yard, along with Nevins and North Yard, when the options for Beacon Park were being developed? I know there was probably local opposition but perhaps the Commonwealth had enough clout to bring that enormous deal together. Using the ruler on Google Maps it looks about the same length as Worcester (about 5,700 feet with the Adesa loading area) but probably has additional capacity when combined with Nevins and North yards.

Update: After asking the above question I found this interesting info by the Town of Framingham:
https://www.framinghamma.gov/DocumentCe ... ion?bidId=

I don't think Framingham wanted all those trucks going through downtown, plus not very good highway access and the facility really needed to be more centrally located on our outside of 495 (not much freight going into the city these days).

When GM's Framingham Assembly Division was still contributing to Framingham's economy, the inbound parts and outbound cars -- both on rail and asphalt -- were seen as a necessary cost of GM's presence. When FAD shut down, its yard was used to offload from inbound racks to local/regional delivery trailers, still seen as a necessary cost. When the mighty East Brookfield & Spencer took all non-Ford Massachusetts auto transloads to the west and the bulk transload terminal moved from just west of the old station to Worcester, Framingham South Side got to enjoy better traffic.
Mebbe this is all covered in bostontrainguy's download, but my current ADHD and hypercaffeination are working against me investigating it just now, and the above narrative comes from having worked in Framingham from 1982 to 1990.

bostontrainguy wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 5:24 pm Does anyone know if there ever was a discussion to develop Framingham's CP yard, along with Nevins and North Yard, when the options for Beacon Park were being developed? I know there was probably local opposition but perhaps the Commonwealth had enough clout to bring that enormous deal together. Using the ruler on Google Maps it looks about the same length as Worcester (about 5,700 feet with the Adesa loading area) but probably has additional capacity when combined with Nevins and North yards.

Within New York Central's plan and Conrail and CSX's desire and plans to close Beacon Park, Framingham was never considered an option. Most importantly, their customer base wants to be in Central Mass, not Metrowest; importantly, there was/is plenty of Framingham community and political activism against rail freight activity; and, lastly, replacing and re-building elsewhere the on-going important role North and Nevins yards play would have made no financial sense.

QB 52.32 wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 6:01 am Within New York Central's plan and Conrail and CSX's desire and plans to close Beacon Park, Framingham was never considered an option. Most importantly, their customer base wants to be in Central Mass, not Metrowest; importantly, there was/is plenty of Framingham community and political activism against rail freight activity; and, lastly, replacing and re-building elsewhere the on-going important role North and Nevins yards play would have made no financial sense.

I would think that there was the opportunity to present a positive big picture plan that might have worked. Framingham would have been promised:

No more freight trains to Boston through downtown,
More frequent commuter rail service,
More reliable commuter rail service,
Good high paying jobs at the railyard,
Increase tax revenues,
The long promised underpass at 126/135

And if necessary to sell the deal . . . moving all freight activity and facilities from the North Yard to CP/Adesa and giving the town some really valuable waterfront property for future development while moving much of the rail activity far out of sight.

You need go no further than what was most important when Conrail and CSX wanted to close Beacon Park: their customers did not want to be in Framingham. And, really, what transpired not only meets the critical demands of their customers, but, gives no less than what you propose and more: you remove freight train activity between Worcester and Framingham, important to the Commonwealth in their goal to increase Worcester-Boston commuter rail frequency and at a lower cost. And, a 126/135 underpass is a very unlikely if even feasible.

The reason CSX sold Beacon Park was the big bag of money from Harvard University. All this talk about the customers wanting to be served out of Worcester doesn't make sense; Beacon Park yard was pretty full until they started shutting it down, customers that wanted Worcester could have chosen it anytime they wanted.

As for Framingham, they've had inferior highway access compared to Worcester since I-290 was built circa 1968

As far back as the New York Central, plans were in place for the eventual closure of Beacon Park. At the time the land under Beacon Park was sold by the Commonwealth, for which Conrail held a lease into perpetuity, their largest customer using the yard was already neutral Worcester vs. Beacon Park with rapidly accelerating changes underway quickly driving the market's demand away from Beacon Park to Central Massachusetts. However, to your point of not making sense, you couldn't just snap a finger and move the traffic to Worcester until a new facility with capacity to handle all the traffic was built. And, that required a grand bargain with the Commonwealth.

Worthy of note, New York Central's planning included the purchase of land in Westborough for Beacon Park's replacement, but by the time the Commonwealth sold the land under Beacon Park, environmental laws protecting the Great Cedar Swamp at that location made Conrail's first choice option a non-starter.

Boston is no different than New York City/Long Island or any other metropolitan area. Railroad freight activity in this day and age derives demand from distribution. Distribution as an economic activity generates much less than housing, retail, high-tech, higher education, financial services, etc., so, when land demand for those activities rises, as it has in metropolitan Boston, distribution moves to places where land is cheaper, and that is away from the growing urban area. Not only does I-290 offer a reason for customers wanting Worcester, but more broadly it is the central access to the Pike, I-495, I-190, I-395, and Rt 146.

Q436 q437 These come directly from Sherklink? Anyone know the approx times they come to and from Framingham (id like to take some pictures, I live near Framingham thank you).

And how many cars are typical?