Mass Coastal Railroad (MC) Discussion

According to the MassDOT bid for the Red Brook Harbor RR crossing project new 115RE rails on new ties with pandrol fastening system and rubber rail seal were to be used along with new signal conduits to be installed. The crossing signals / controls already were replaced in October of 2019 and the existing rail weight on the Falmouth Secondary is currently 107 Lb. dated 1915

Thanks for that. Looks like the crossings on this branch are being rebuild at a higher standard than what was done last time they did this work in the 1980s(?). That's a good thing.

I would say they are planning for the future so if they want to upgrade the rails from the existing 107 Lbs. to 115 there will be no crossing replacements needed at those locations just worked on.

Falmouth Secondary to Otis wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:44 pm Good Idea as I e-mailed Chalita Belfield, Director of MA Railroad Properties to see if she would answer the question of who owns the Otis Industrial track. Who knows maybe she will reply ?

The answer is in as I just received a reply from Chalita Belfield and the land swap did not occur and the Otis Industrial Track is still owned by the Federal Government. She said the Otis line was not in good condition and to avoid a potential derailment ties and ballast were added to the Otis track. These safety improvements that took place on the Otis line were funded by Mass Coastal Railroad

Manafort Construction finished paving the Red Brook Harbor Rd RR Crossing today and is open to traffic. However this morning National Grid was fabricating a new gas line to be installed under the Rail line to the other side but not sure if it was completed yet, so there possibly may be some delays still.

Falmouth Secondary to Otis wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:18 pm The answer is in as I just received a reply from Chalita Belfield and the land swap did not occur and the Otis Industrial Track is still owned by the Federal Government. She said the Otis line was not in good condition and to avoid a potential derailment ties and ballast were added to the Otis track. These safety improvements that took place on the Otis line were funded by Mass Coastal Railroad

Thanks for chasing this detail down.

I keep seeing pictures of the MBTA gensets on mass coastal. Does anyone know why they are operating down there?

Both are down there testing or "to work out the bugs".

Are the refugees from Seaview boneyard?

No...they came out of Readville to Middleboro/Rochester back on August 28th. Whether they were stored at Readville or BET prior to that, I don't know.
I do know that last time they went to Davisville, it was last year in October.

Anybody have any pictures and location of the washout on the Hyannis / Yarmouth branch?

Did some driving around and found the breach just east of the Old County Rd overpass in Sandwich, right at the cranberry bog. Robert B Our is doing the dirt work, after that I'm unsure.

https://goo.gl/maps/fS1tVkQWZon34Y4D9

Thanks for the location and photo. Oddly enough, there's been no discussion/mention at all of this on the Cape Cod Railfan Facebook page.

D

Was in North Falmouth, MA today and see that Railworks still has it's equipment sitting on the siding after finishing up the Falmouth Secondary / Otis Industrial track tie project back in mid September. Haven't read or heard about any further track work in the area so I'm guessing they are just storing it there for the time being as we had our first Cape snowfall today. Any news out there about it ?

malbojah wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2020 3:58 pm Did some driving around and found the breach just east of the Old County Rd overpass in Sandwich, right at the cranberry bog. Robert B Our is doing the dirt work, after that I'm unsure.

https://goo.gl/maps/fS1tVkQWZon34Y4D9

20201029_161534[1].jpg

Article in Cape Cod Times / Sandwich Enterprise today about the RR washout in Sandwich. Was very fortunate that neighbors in the area called in that morning as Mass Coastal was headed to the Yarmouth transfer station and would have resulted in a serious derailment with the loss of the crew most likely if it had not been stopped.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news ... 178913002/

https://www.capenews.net/regional_news/ ... 1e79d.html