by Screamer 1000
I heard a beautiful P5 horn last night (5/16) at about 11:10 pm either at Reading or Anderson (I sort of live in between them and hear horns from both). Can anyone tell me if that was the 904 or something else?
Railroad Forums
Moderators: sery2831, CRail
Ryanontherails wrote:Today at about 2:30pm I saw what I assume to be some sort of test train heading southbound on the Framingham Secondary through Foxborough. It was mostly your standard MBTA commuter train but with an Amtrak coach in between. Does anyone know why it was there? I know that the line is being upgraded north of Walpole. I assume it went Boston-Walpole-Mansfield-Boston.That would be the Amtrak Corridor Clipper track geometry car. It makes periodic rounds on MassDOT trackage lashed up to commuter rail equipment when it's time for a scheduled inspection of particular line(s). They may be doing the lower Framingham Sec. now to itemize the task list for the repair work on the branch when the rail replacement currently ongoing Framingham to Walpole advances to the Walpole-Mansfield section.
MBTA F40PH-2C 1050 wrote:Also of note, MassDOT is planning for a massive Tie replacement job on the Middleboro Secondary between Attleboro and Middleboro scheduled to start this fall. This line is planned on getting the works, new ties and stone, to upgrade it to decent speeds...the current numbers are planed on replacing roughly 1300 ties a mileThis goes hand-in-hand with the Framingham Sec. upgrades. CSX is getting 286K loading weight extended from Medfield Jct., where it currently ends, to Mansfield Jct. That's good enough for heavier carloads on the NEC local that trawls the industrial spur a little bit north of Mansfield Jct. to South Attleboro, since the NEC Shoreline got rated 286 pretty much all spots where the extant freight jobs roam when Amtrak did the Acela/electrification rebuild 15 years ago. But CSX doesn't really gain any revenue increase from the uprate unless the Middleboro Sec. gets upgraded to Taunton where it can eventually accept 286K loads out of Fall River and New Bedford when those lines get the last of their (NON- South Coast FAIL -related) repairs. MassDOT has settled on a default Class 2 maintenance standard for any such secondaries or branches prioritized for this scope of freight investment, with the freight carriers obligated to pay to keep it that way for any self-contributed costs for wear and tear their trains put on the state's infrastructure.
diburning wrote:Some MassDOT ballast cars were spotted near Selkirk, NY. They appear to be brand new. Are these coming to the MBTA? Or will these be used on other projects such as the Knowledge corridor?The T gets borrowed for inspections and engineering on out-of-district MassDOT lines on a 1:1 reimbursement basis, so those cars will probably spend most of their time attached to T work details regardless of where they roam. The MassDOT ownership makes them transactionally a lot easier to loan out to private contractors doing work on state lines (e.g. Iowa Pacific/Mass Coastal for the Framingham Secondary upgrades closeout + 3 full-funded upcoming construction seasons of Middleboro Secondary + Cape upgrades).
Photo credit: William Sternitzke