Lewis Wye in Walpole being rebuilt

MBCR crews are currently rebuilding the entire stretch of the wye with all brand new ties and new rail.

I guess krafty is serious about getting passenger trains down to his stores(i am assuming thats the reason its being rebuilt).

That's awesome news!! But, forgive my ignorance, but who's "krafty" and what stores?

Strong possibility is Bob Kraft, owner of the Patriots and the relatively new and associated shopping complex.

Aaaahh, yes. Now it all makes sense. Thanks

This certainly will make it easier for trains heading to the stadium. Its been many years since stadium trains were allowed on this wye.

Tom Coughlin
Stow, MA

Forgive me but where is Lewis Wye in Walpole?

Lewis Wye is the southeast leg of the wye at Walpole. It is the track that you drive over as you enter the parking lot of the Walpole Station. The Patriot Football Trains usually use the Northeast leg of the wye and make a reverse move over the diamond so the dispatcher can do all of the switches as the Lewis Wye is hand-thrown at each end. To add to this, Lewis Wye ties into the Franklin commuter main via a handthrown which is within Walpole Interlocking which means there is a time delay (probably about 7 minutes) to unlock when coming from the Framingham Sercondary to the CR main. Also, in years past the derail at the east end of Lewis Wye has gotten frozen under ice in the winter months as water sits there and then freezes. Another headache, which was the main problem, is that after the Wye was used a track circuit was left after the move was made and the derail and switch were normaled and locked. Oh, and one more problem with using Lewis Wye was they'd need protection on the crossing.

Thanks. So do we know if Kraft is in fact paying for this?

fogg1703 wrote:Thanks. So do we know if Kraft is in fact paying for this?

I doubt that they are, in fact, paying for it themselves,... however...

fogg1703 wrote:Thanks. So do we know if Kraft is in fact paying for this?

Ha! Kraft demand the MBTA to have full service to Foxboro and made it very clear he won't pitch in a penny of his money. He probably wants them to build a really nice new station for his stadium, too, all at the T's expense.

Is there a CSX angle to this? Like, Readville temporarily getting more load shifted to it while the yard relocation/construction is underway. Fewer than 10 football trains a year...on weekends...is not going to merit reconstructing the wye when the reverse move onto 10 MPH track has been adequate for years. It would make quite a bit of sense if more stuff has to get diverted to Readville while they're juggling yard space until construction's done in a couple years.

I always figured csx owned the track but mbcr crews were doing the work. Does the mbta own the wye?

Over the last couple of years i've caught CSX B732 maybe 10 times coming from readville-walpole-foxboro. Because they weren't using the wye at walpole it would sometimes take over 45min by the time they arrived at walpole and actually crossed the diamond to head south on the framingham line(alot of this was because the dispatcher held them for the cr trains). I always wondered why csx never fixed the wye for this reason. B732 started working out of framingham a few months ago so I dont think they need to make the readville-walpole-foxboro move anymore, so it seems even less likely csx would rebuild the wye but who knows. Will any of the current locals have a use for the wye?

didnt the mbta buy all of csx's track in the boston area? theyve been upgrading most of the lines (grand junction, etc.) this is probably the same thing.

tom18287 wrote:didnt the mbta buy all of csx's track in the boston area? theyve been upgrading most of the lines (grand junction, etc.) this is probably the same thing.

CSX still owns the Framingham Secondary. They only sold off the Worcester Line + Grand Junction and the South Coast lines in the last bundle of sales. The wye crosses over T-owned Walpole station property, so they might just be paying MBCR to do work they ordered. The wye doesn't really serve any other full-time service, so it's probably their bag to arrange for any fixes.

Tracer wrote:I always figured csx owned the track but mbcr crews were doing the work. Does the mbta own the wye?

Over the last couple of years i've caught CSX B732 maybe 10 times coming from readville-walpole-foxboro. Because they weren't using the wye at walpole it would sometimes take over 45min by the time they arrived at walpole and actually crossed the diamond to head south on the framingham line(alot of this was because the dispatcher held them for the cr trains). I always wondered why csx never fixed the wye for this reason. B732 started working out of framingham a few months ago so I dont think they need to make the readville-walpole-foxboro move anymore, so it seems even less likely csx would rebuild the wye but who knows. Will any of the current locals have a use for the wye?

The two Walpole jobs were moved to Readville. Before that B732 used to lock in the clear in the yard and pick-up empties left the night before by the night Walpole job before shoving onto the FRamingham secondary. Also, verbal permission of the NA dispatcher is needed prior to occupying or fouling the main line. As mentioned, the Branch Line has to hold them for MBCR trains as well.

Utilizing the Lewis Wye instead of the East Leg and changing ends would speed things up for the football trains because you wouldn't need to change ends and do a brake test....but this of course is if they can eliminate the headaches which I altready posted.