bostontrainguy wrote:Lot's of wishful chatter on here about NS eventually taking over PAR (at least to Portland). I just have to wonder if NS would have liked to keep some sort of yard in Boston and would have fought harder to retain these assets.
The timing seems just off enough that Boston will have lost its northside railyards just before NS eventually comes in. All speculation of course, but seems that shortsightedness might be the case here. NS would have certainly enhanced the freight possibilities for the Boston market.
Virtually nowhere it could go in Somerville. I suppose these could be possibilities, though:
-- Reactivating East Boston Branch and its yard. After all, it almost happened before the NIMBY's torpedoed Global Petroleum's ethanol-mixing operation.
-- Rearranging space inside Everett Terminal for more storage tracks. Land use in the terminal is not exactly what you'd call efficient.
-- Lengthen out Montvale Yard to the north of Tighe Warehouse. There's more derelict sidings up and space along the embankment for fair amount of storage out to Nashua St. They can stage some of the Boston jobs from there. Maybe reconnect the other end of the West Medford MOW siding and/or the Winchester/Swanton St. siding into running tracks to replace the cannibalized Somerville runner for shooting into town quickly.
-- The power line ROW abutting the south property line of Anderson RTC station. This used to be an industrial track for some old customers and save for a small stream crossing immediately next to the Lowell Line tracks is basically just a gravel/asphalt pit from bulldozed former businesses. You could easily set up an I-93/Route 128 small transload here with 2000 ft. storage tracks stubbing out by Commerce Way.
-- *Maybe* some tight-fitting storage space on the Mystic Wharf Branch-proper. If they got permission to close the driveway grade crossings on D Street there's about 1000 ft. of storage before the Rutherford Ave. grade crossing. And also derelict disconnected tracks running under and along I-93 on the north side of the decks all the way down to the Bunker Hill Community College rear lot. Might need some abutter permission, but there's maybe two 2000 ft. storage tracks worth of space back there next to the 93 girders. That's almost enough to compensate for Yard 8's loss. I just don't know if it's possible to install a diamond from the Yard 10 leads crossing all tracks (i.e. sort of how the Marine Terminal buildout specs installing a diamond from the Fairmount Line straight onto Track 61) to get there in one fluid motion without fouling things with any backup moves. Not sure which point the Orange Line viaduct sinks too low to pass under.
None of those options are all that palatable because the storage space is so small any which way. Though if those derelict tracks on the other side of 93 are reachable, don't foul too much, and don't cause a revolt from the abutters that's the one that comes closest to approximating Yard 8's lost capacity in the same vicinity.