Noel Weaver wrote:The easiest and best to handle the train at Burlington would be to continue to Essex Junction and turn it on the wye there. If they continue to run via Saratoga then they will most likely use either a locomotive or a cab car to accomplish the reverse at Rutland as it would take too much time to do the turn at Rutland and as far as the turntable at Burlington is concerned this would be totally impractical because you would have to have someone pull the 480 lines and this sort of operation would take longer than the move to Essex Junction to turn the whole thing. It would be even more difficult to turn the engine at Burlington in the winter with ice and snow. It is a possible alternative but only in an emergency.
Noel Weaver
That's why it's "work in progress". The NECR Burlington Branch today isn't in any shape for continuing service. That branch is poor condition Class 1 track, while the Western Corridor was Class 2 in easy/economical reach of Class 3. It's a virtual certainty that they'll turn their attention next to the Burlington Branch and Essex Jct. It opens up too many attractive options to pass up, and is a short enough length of track to upgrade on short money. But all in due time...they only had so many resources to devote to getting this extension up and running in < 5 years. So there's going to be a "please pardon our appearance" interregnum for those first few years where the ops on the turnback are going to be a little ham-fisted. And when those late-breaking/newly-proposed infill flag stops are going to have to get by on single-door waiting areas and portable wheelchair lifts for minimum-most ADA compliance until they can appropriate $$$ for permanent station structures. But they're in good position to
quickly play catch-up on those tasks once this thing is operating. If 2017-18 is the start date, I wouldn't be surprised if Burlington Branch rehab and a +1 to Essex Jct. gets fast-tracked for a 2021 opening date. That's, what, 3 years to get by on temporary turnback procedure before they gain acceptable-speed access to a proper wye? Yeah, they'll happily take that since their funding chances for these extra to-do's gets vastly better when they're add-ons to an already revenue-generating route instead of a delay that pushes the project back another 4-5 years. Vermont's not in a position to swing this any other way, so they're playing it smart stepping this out in quick strikes for short money and
immediately fast-tracking the next step one foot in front of the other.