Newburyport Branch

ma

The Wickedlocal paper in Wakefield reports that as part of the Governor Patrick's $2.9 billion transportation bond bill — the state-funded portion of his $4.8 billion transportation plan over the next 20 years — Wakefield may receive a $500,000 earmark to fund the design of its long-awaited rail-to-trail project.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/wakefield/ho ... 2031286261

Here's hoping it doesn't happen.
I'd rather see rusted rail choked with weeds than a bunch of NIMBYs on bikes frolicking on top of the old roadbed.
Bah humbug.

As Charlie Brown would say: Auuuggghhh! I can't stand it!

Here we have a local politician with a bee in his bonnet to build a trail from nowhere to noplace that nobody wants other than him and his cronies for some unimaginable reason, for which Daddy Commonwealth may cough up half a mil - that's half a mil, folks, think about it - not to build a trail, but only to do an engineering study! At this rate, what do you think building the actual trail would cost? You gotta admire the willingness of Massachusetts citizens to pony up ever-greater taxes for ill-conceived projects like this.

No problem, I guess - all the millions in new business that the trail, which is mostly through a blue collar neighborhood and a swamp, will attract will more than cover it.

I know this is a borderline flame, but I used to live in this area for more than twenty years and I can claim legitimate familiarity with it. Some rail trails are beneficial in that at least they preserve the ROW for possible future use (following 10 - 15 years of lawsuits) even though the main purpose seems to be providing a venue for weekend recreation for the beautiful people. I hope the engineering study includes parking places for their hybrids.

PBM

Ed Canney wrote:The Wickedlocal paper in Wakefield reports that as part of the Governor Patrick's $2.9 billion transportation bond bill — the state-funded portion of his $4.8 billion transportation plan over the next 20 years — Wakefield may receive a $500,000 earmark to fund the design of its long-awaited rail-to-trail project.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/wakefield/ho ... 2031286261

Confused on the statement that the rail trail will "bring business to the area". In all the rail trails I've seen, there are no business's sprouting up...

I always thought a CR line from Wakefield to RT 1 in Peabody would serve lots of people. There appears to be plenty of space at both RT 1 (near old Golden Banana) and RT 128 (near Smurfit Box) for very large CR parking lots. Anyone coming from the North on Rt 95 has to jump off in Newburyport and wind their way over to the CR station near the Newbury line. People coming down Rt 128 from Gloucester don't have easy CR access after Bevely. Rt 93 has Andersen in Woburn but Rt 95/Rt 1 has almost nothing.

near the concrete factory it looks like theyve cleared alot of brush.

Rail-to-Trail project in Wakefield got a boost last week when the Massachusetts State
Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation included $500,000 for design and engineering on the project in the state Transportation Bond Bill.

More information on the project can be found in the Wakefield Wicked Local newspaper article:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/wakefield/ho ... 1379331302

Like I said in the B&M form,

KEEP THIS BRANCH OPEN .. FIX THE RAILS AND BRING THE GUILFORD/PAN AM TRAINS THROUGH .. GAS COST TOO MUCH FOR TRUCKS.

I WANT TO SEE FREIGHT TRAINS

The last one I saw run on this line was in April 2001.

Freight trains need customers. No customers means no trains!

Gerry6309 wrote:Freight trains need customers. No customers means no trains!

guilford had customers, they just didnt want to maintain.

tom18287 wrote:

Gerry6309 wrote:Freight trains need customers. No customers means no trains!

guilford had customers, they just didnt want to maintain.

The went through great lengths to discourage the business on the line, let it rot, and then used the excuse that it was in too poor a condition to service customers on it. They did the same thing to the M&L branch to Salem, NH. They have no interest in small branch lines and seem to focus their energy on a through route of some sort. They run the branch lines only when the customers are worthwhile to them, and then I don't think they really treat the customers well. You would think that in this economy, they'd try to keep as much business as they can rather than drive it away.

John

JCitron wrote:
The went through great lengths to discourage the business on the line, let it rot, and then used the excuse that it was in too poor a condition to service customers on it. They did the same thing to the M&L branch to Salem, NH. They have no interest in small branch lines and seem to focus their energy on a through route of some sort. They run the branch lines only when the customers are worthwhile to them, and then I don't think they really treat the customers well. You would think that in this economy, they'd try to keep as much business as they can rather than drive it away.

John

Did Pan Am break even on a single plastic customer in Salem? That's how many miles of track from Lawrence?

As of the NH Rail Plan of 2001 the line was listed as active. No federal aid was in place for this stretch like there was for the state-owned branch in northern NH that serves a plastic customer. So, the Mellon Group hasn't had the chance to embezzle aid money for the M&L. Perhaps they have real estate ambitions along Route 28?

NEWanderer wrote:Did Pan Am break even on a single plastic customer in Salem? That's how many miles of track from Lawrence?

As of the NH Rail Plan of 2001 the line was listed as active. No federal aid was in place for this stretch like there was for the state-owned branch in northern NH that serves a plastic customer. So, the Mellon Group hasn't had the chance to embezzle aid money for the M&L. Perhaps they have real estate ambitions along Route 28?

They got out of the real estate bussiness when they put Northpoint up for sale. The M&L was just a strip of land, so what are they going to do there, build the world's narrowest condo project or retail store? They abandon branches for what they consider good bussiness reasons, not to fleece the government.

Hey much like everything .. theres no money in the economy .. all business are going out of business .. by these signs of branches closing .. freight will be obsolete soon .l. just as CDs are to digital downloads .. no hope.. All you train lovers will see no more trains..