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

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 #1327856  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Yard 21 lead tracks go right up to the fence at the southernmost Assembly Square parcel. Maybe 20-30 feet south of where the rear entrance to Home Depot dumps out on Assembly Square Dr., and 350 ft. past the still intact runaround switch. So they could gain another 800 ft. of operable track and a runaround with brush-cutting from the Maffa Way overpass to end of track, since that's all on the strip of land too narrow to ever build anything Assembly-related on.
 #1328305  by bostontrainguy
 
What the hell is the thought process here? You can't use Yard 8 for your GLX storage yard so it could remain the best option for a freight yard in the area . . . but no, it's going to be deactivation for what? What is that space going to be used for?

And Yard 10? What is that? A couple of tracks with two grade crossings going through the middle of it? How is that a yard?

This is kinda crazy.
 #1328328  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
bostontrainguy wrote:What the hell is the thought process here? You can't use Yard 8 for your GLX storage yard so it could remain the best option for a freight yard in the area . . . but no, it's going to be deactivation for what? What is that space going to be used for?

And Yard 10? What is that? A couple of tracks with two grade crossings going through the middle of it? How is that a yard?

This is kinda crazy.
10 (or what's left of it...because most of its historical footprint is now the Holiday Inn and Cobble Hill Apartments) is the one with the grade crossings, wrapping around to the north into the Yard 21 leads next to Sullivan station. To-be double-tracked, but only east of the crossings. And forcing that giant pile of rail and ties in the MOW yard to have to get moved...somewhere?


Your guess is as good as anyone else's why an a simple design change to the GL junction's overpass can't keep Yard 8 connected. It's absolutely senseless.
 #1328337  by GP40MC1118
 
Actually all the way from the New Hampshire Route mainline to Washington Street was
Yard 9 & 10. Tower C once stood within the wye (now the T-Pad). There was even a
Yardmasters tower - Tower 5, that stood hard against the NHRML where it crosses
the yard tracks near BET. Was on the Yard 9/10 side of the embankment.

F-Line is right. If you have to close the T-Pad with all its track materials and the like -
where does it go? We have enough problems finding space for MW cars, let alone materials.
With GLX, it seems like its "it's not our problem"!

D
 #1331518  by rr503
 
I apologize in advance for my ignorance, but I'm new, and in the time I've been reading these (i have been reading rr.net for a year before I got an account) forums, I can't figure out what line goes where.
If anyone could point me towards a map with all these branches, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
 #1332331  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
BostonUrbEx wrote:Does anyone know what the last customer(s) on the Charlestown branch was/were? Also, what's the actual name of this line?
Mystic Wharf Branch. Hasn't been used since Moran Terminal last handled intermodal. Don't know what other customers were there.
 #1332379  by bostontrainguy
 
I was very surprised one day when I saw a lone box car heading for the brick building at the far end off the track. It was probably more than 10 years ago. After some online chit-chat I think I found out it was a load of sheetrock but I can't guarantee it. I also think it just might have been the last load ever to run on that branch.

Check out Google maps if you are interested. It was the brick building with the "200" and "suffolk" on it. The train went into the building through the white section where the loading dock is now located.
 #1332387  by bostontrainguy
 
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.
 #1332423  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
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.
 #1332424  by bostontrainguy
 
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:
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.
I thought about Mystic Wharf too especially if NS/Massport can get the piers working again. Then that whole area could become a functioning logistics park (more like the Marine Industrial Terminal original plans) but maybe handling more bulk and specialty cargos.

A better functioning Everett Terminal might have kept Eimskip in Boston.

The unused track area on the east side of Route 93 was going to be used for a Rutherford Avenue bypass road. Don't know the status of that now.
 #1332445  by BostonUrbEx
 
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:-- Reactivating East Boston Branch and its yard. After all, it almost happened before the NIMBY's torpedoed Global Petroleum's ethanol-mixing operation.
Did they really? Or did Global just not want to fight it and put the plans away?

IIRC, all the NIMBYs "accomplished" was a state law about moving ethanol/petroleum products in the urban core, which the state has no legal right to do. Unless I'm missing something here.


I'm still shocked that MassPort doesn't push activating the Mystic Wharf Branch. Meanwhile they have all this big talk of expanding Track 61 at a higher cost. Mystic Wharf is already functioning as an autoport and salt off-load operation. But the Fid Kennedy Wharf is going to suck up all their money and time?
 #1332565  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
BostonUrbEx wrote:
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:-- Reactivating East Boston Branch and its yard. After all, it almost happened before the NIMBY's torpedoed Global Petroleum's ethanol-mixing operation.
Did they really? Or did Global just not want to fight it and put the plans away?

IIRC, all the NIMBYs "accomplished" was a state law about moving ethanol/petroleum products in the urban core, which the state has no legal right to do. Unless I'm missing something here.


I'm still shocked that MassPort doesn't push activating the Mystic Wharf Branch. Meanwhile they have all this big talk of expanding Track 61 at a higher cost. Mystic Wharf is already functioning as an autoport and salt off-load operation. But the Fid Kennedy Wharf is going to suck up all their money and time?
They want to stimulate the land use at Marine Terminal first, since it isn't making anyone much revenue at present. And that plan hinges on taking containers to rail there. You can quibble with the upside of that, but the decision to proceed was made years and years ago so their choice of priority is not exactly news. It was all funded for construction starts awhile ago.


Problem with Boston Autoport is that every freight carrier uses tri-level autoracks these days and only bi-levels will fit down the Lowell Line to the Autoport. There'd have to be a ready supply of bi-levels circulating somewhere on the NS system in easy reach of New England to make those economics wash. And it probably doesn't when they take regular-old tri-levels from P&W out of Davisville, and bring regular old tri-levels themselves to Ayer. CSX bailed on Framingham in favor of East Brookfield for the same reason: tri-levels make good money, bi-levels don't. It would take a considerable amount of Massport subsidy to entice autorack rail transloads at the Autoport, and that's probably not a good use of their money either.

Now...it's not that there aren't other uses for the Mystic Wharf Branch. There's so much sub-optimal land usage out there that they can come up with all kinds of other uses to expand the port with, and clearly Massport sees the Mystic Wharf Branch as a linchpin for that. It's just not top of the list because they've got a lot of projects on their plate in Southie and Eastie at the moment.

Unfortunately Massport's plans for Charlestown also suffered a setback with the neighborhood rejecting that Haul Road proposal for extending Terminal St. next to the tracks into the Sullivan Square rotary. Which I'm not sure why was controversial since it would've taken a ton of truck traffic off Medford St. in a residential area and quickly distributed it up Mystic Ave. to 93. I think Massport's presentation to the neighborhood may have just been flawed, and the owners of the Schraffts complex threw a big-money blocker to the road passing in front of their building.
 #1332593  by bostontrainguy
 
BostonUrbEx wrote:
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:-- Reactivating East Boston Branch and its yard. After all, it almost happened before the NIMBY's torpedoed Global Petroleum's ethanol-mixing operation.
Did they really? Or did Global just not want to fight it and put the plans away?

IIRC, all the NIMBYs "accomplished" was a state law about moving ethanol/petroleum products in the urban core, which the state has no legal right to do. Unless I'm missing something here.


I'm still shocked that MassPort doesn't push activating the Mystic Wharf Branch. Meanwhile they have all this big talk of expanding Track 61 at a higher cost. Mystic Wharf is already functioning as an autoport and salt off-load operation. But the Fid Kennedy Wharf is going to suck up all their money and time?
What is the deal with that "new" secured building that Massport built at the end of track 61? It seems to be capable of loading or unloading ships through the 15 pipe-like things on the roof. Is that the purpose of those things? Have they actually ever been used?

I thought it was weird that Massport was going to build a cement facility at the new Marine Terminal (plans now scraped) when there was this unused facility also on Track 61.

And I wonder if Massport made a play to retain Eimskip at this spot since there is an actual ship-to-rail ability at this location with never used (?) pier trackage.

With these existing relatively new unused facilities at the end of a useable rail line, it would seem that Massport isn't really all that serious about getting freight rail to the Port. What incentive is there to reactivate Mystic Piers when they aren't even using facilities that have been sitting there dormant for years?