Freight through Medford

tom18287 wrote:thats probably it, i just wasn't sure. maybe they were inspecting the track for that budweiser thing

They're gonna have to get a brushcutter down there next to BJ's before they can do anything resembling thorough track inspection. Which in turn requires removing all the tree branches that crashed onto the ROW near the junction this winter. Which in turn means testing the grade crossing protection that hasn't been triggered by so much as a hi-rail in a few years.

If a line's nominally active, stuff like this is non-optional even if no movements are imminent. They do it on the Southington part of the Canal Line past AmeriGas too...brush cut, test the 2 crossings that still have active protection, etc. And no train has even run around that far past AmeriGas in probably 15 years. Hell, they had NEGS do this for them on Penacook until they got booted off the property...and it's been 25+ years since that "active" line saw a real train. FRA's got requirements for retaining active status that necessitate lifting a finger every once in a blue moon.

Except for the token reefers to Crystal Cold Storage on occasion, what was the last customer around the Medford Branch/Medford Junction? Piantedosi?

Anyone know what made them drop rail? ie: was it the cost? ....or was it the service?

BostonUrbEx wrote:Except for the token reefers to Crystal Cold Storage on occasion, what was the last customer around the Medford Branch/Medford Junction? Piantedosi?

Anyone know what made them drop rail? ie: was it the cost? ....or was it the service?

Piantedosi. Their loads were so small it was probably cost-neutral for them to switch to truck, much like it was for Newlyweds in Watertown when they would play hard-to-get with a switch to truck for months at a time. Throw in bad-old-days Guilford service not exactly knocking anyone's socks off, and that was that.

No idea when Hoff's (or the previous tenant) on 7th St. in Medford stopped receiving loads on that weed-choked siding that's a reverse move off the Med Branch semi-connected to the Orange Line carhouse leads. Or the old mills past Oak Grove. Or the lumber yard next to Cedar Park station. Or the Reading-area factories. Or the warehouse on Route 62 a couple hundred feet south of North Wilmington station currently occupied by Horizon Bradco. Definitely a long long time ago for the other Medford/Malden stuff.

the lumber yard in melrose stopped receiving rail about 10 years ago. deering was actually a lumber yard and mason yard, they received brick by rail and distributed it for the manufacturers.

there was a customer in medford whos spur connected with the orange line?!

tom18287 wrote:the lumber yard in melrose stopped receiving rail about 10 years ago. deering was actually a lumber yard and mason yard, they received brick by rail and distributed it for the manufacturers.

there was a customer in medford whos spur connected with the orange line?!

The Medford Branch has a connection to the Orange Line. A section of this connection is abutted by pavement and has a fence at either end (one end being the track to the Medford Branch, the other having third rail on the other side of the fence and going to Wellington Yard). I'm guessing the customer could unload product from within this fenced area and bring it across the parking lot to their facility?

As for the Medford Branch, the last customer was the cold storage warehouse. (There's
a thread somewhere on RR.Net about these moves).

Piantedosi, as pointed out, hasn't taken rail deliveries in over 10 years.

From what I understand in regards to Budweiser, they want to ship in Plate F boxcars so
its economically viable. This is a big problem due to the clearance restrictions that
pretty much bar these moves:
-Via Reading...nothing over Plate E
-Plate F's now restricted on both tracks at Sullivan Square between Reading Jct & FX.
-Unintended consequences of the GLXess Project killing Yard 8. No Plate F's south of
Cross Street in Somerville on either track.

D

GP40MC1118 wrote: -Via Reading...nothing over Plate E

According to Pan Am's clearance map, Plate F is acceptable down the Reading Branch all the way to Reading Jct. The Medford Branch is, however, Plate E (presumable because of the Fellsway, which is the only bridge on the line). http://www.panamrailways.com/includes/t ... rances.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

GP40MC1118 wrote: -Plate F's now restricted on both tracks at Sullivan Square between Reading Jct & FX.

"Now" -- is this new? Why the change?

BostonUrbEx wrote:

tom18287 wrote:the lumber yard in melrose stopped receiving rail about 10 years ago. deering was actually a lumber yard and mason yard, they received brick by rail and distributed it for the manufacturers.

there was a customer in medford whos spur connected with the orange line?!

The Medford Branch has a connection to the Orange Line. A section of this connection is abutted by pavement and has a fence at either end (one end being the track to the Medford Branch, the other having third rail on the other side of the fence and going to Wellington Yard). I'm guessing the customer could unload product from within this fenced area and bring it across the parking lot to their facility?

There's actually one track panel sitting on top of that siding to block the OL connection for the FRA fine print. Just like the T bolts a single tie on top of the Riverside connector to keep that one technically separated while in actuality it's still as connected as it ever was.

There used to be another such spur running on the west surface side of the tunnel incline that's got some buried rail in the weeds up behind that warehouse on Pearl St. But that was severed much much earlier and no longer has an extant switch off the Med Branch curve or a couple hundred feet's worth of track on that end. There's still some ruins visible of it from the way back of the Blast Fitness rear parking lot.

1) Special Instruction 41-W1 (Keolis)
Freight cars or loads exceeding Plate E clearances will not clear Washington St OH Bridge
MP 5.0 and Mineral Street OH Bridge 12.6

2) The Sullivan Square restrictions came about when an astute Train Dispatcher a few years
back questioned a PAR local attempting to take several Plate F boxcars to Everett for
scrapping (Ex-Finger Lakes cars from storage in Seneca, NY). The move was cancelled
and later measurements found that one of mainline tracks wouldn't clear. That restriction
stood for a year or so, then all of a sudden the other track was restricted too.
As to why, I am not sure.

D

I'm sure there will nimby cry babies in the neighborhood behind the warehouse if service returns. The tracks are close to those houses. Love it.

Trainman101 wrote:I'm sure there will nimby cry babies in the neighborhood behind the warehouse if service returns. The tracks are close to those houses. Love it.

Why would it matter? There's literally nothing they can do. Same as Winchester.

I know it won't matter.

BostonUrbEx wrote:

Trainman101 wrote:I'm sure there will nimby cry babies in the neighborhood behind the warehouse if service returns. The tracks are close to those houses. Love it.

Why would it matter? There's literally nothing they can do. Same as Winchester.

Would they even notice if 2 fridge cars moved a half-mile through one grade crossing in the middle of the afternoon twice a year? The abutters aren't even home the time of day those rare jobs used to run.