GLX Impact on NH Route (Lowell Line)

demolition is supposed to conclude soon in Gilman square and a supposed to start soon in ball square are there any signs of that?

They've well and thoroughly gutted the Homans building in Gilman Square and it's supposed to be demolished by year's end, if I recall correctly. The former garage and bowling alley in Ball Square are being remediated now (probably all kinds of horrible stuff from the garage) and are supposed to come down in January.

Today (Sat Dec 15) the ROW between Tufts and Gilman had a lot of (what looked like) activity of laying & grooming ballast, as if there was another "drag to one side" movement of the CR tracks coming up.

The ballast is looking all fresh, new, and 4-tracks wide, such that they could drag the CR tracks to one side or the other. Anyone privy to what's actually coming up?

Just as a matter of record (or "FWIW" since this is just what I've observed from weekly trips on the LL)

The LL has been operating on the SW side of the ROW (the future GLX slots) from roughly Washington St in Somerville to Ball Sq (where it can't be moved until the Broadway Bridge closes and its abutments are "unpinched") I'd say it has been this way since late December '18 or early January '19

Midday trips seem to be a single track operation (entirely operating on the "inbound" track), which puts the trains even farther from the most intense construction through Somerville, and the LL-side retaining wall work at College Ave.

I would not be surprised to see midday single tracking go on this way until the demolition at the Hohman's site (Gilman Sq) is done. When demoltion at Hohman's is complete, the demolition work will move two GLX stops out to the 3 buildings at Balls Sq (do you think the single track ops would move to the outbound track at that point to stay a bit further away from the Ball Sq demo work?)

In Somerville, they are doing a lot of drainage work under the future/final LL, and in many places are making the width by excavating back to the "original" driven sheet pile wall. Running in this location allows them to have jersey barriers between the CR and the ongoing ROW construction and upcoming demolition of the Hohman's building in Gilman Sq.

Out beyond Ball Sq, the tracks shift back to either their final location or something of a "down the middle" (thanks to the "Construction Phase 1" work done in Tufts' neighborhood), which puts them away from the up coming demolition of 3 buildings on the future Ball Sq GLX station.

At College Ave, they continue to move slowly in building the retaining wall on the future LL side.

Q: will the GLX RoW in Somerville afford the unprecedented opportunity to take photos/videos of Green line trolleys running adjacent to MBTA, Amtrak, and Pan Am trains?

Unprecedented for those particular companies and authorities, I assume you mean. Salt Lake City Central Station and Dallas Union station has the same basic combination of light rail commuter rail, Amtrak, and freight; Dallas even has all the pax modes at parallel platforms right next to each other.

This is probably quite common. There is also a surface light rail line at Union Station in LA, which stops alongside Metrolink and Amtrak platforms.

Yard 8 was permanently and forever retired at some point over the weekend. It will not be coming back this time. Yard 10 should see new life and be back in service when the first half of the Washington St UGB is replaced (somewhere towards the end of this year?).

they are actively demolishing the Broadway Street bridge in Somerville today so the inner Lowell line has been bustituted for the weekend

Does anyone know if the Somerville bridge demolition work has caused any overnight Lowell Line equipment moves to be shifted to the Fitchburg Line? My neighbors and I in Cambridge have noticed a fair bit of train activity during the normally quiet 1AM to 5AM period over the past several days, and we got wondering what might be behind it. Thanks for any tips or pointers to other possibilities.

Dan

No, it has not. Any shift from the Lowell Line goes to the Haverhill Line via the Wildcat branch. Lowell to Ayer via Pan Am trackage is a VERY long way around since the Pan Am track is only good for 10mph.

What you're noticing is the PTC test train which is running on the Fitchburg Line after being on the Lowell Line most of last year.

Thanks, yes, we got word through the City of Cambridge also that it was PTC testing.

Trinnau wrote:Lowell to Ayer via Pan Am trackage is a VERY long way around since the Pan Am track is only good for 10mph.

And this is interesting...I knew the trip via Ayer was a long distance, but had no idea about the speed limitation on the PanAm stretch. Wow.

Dan

There are track panels staged at West Medford, and during the midday single-tracking, there is very often a Herzog train sitting in Somerville with shallow hoppers (gondolas?) full of gravel or refuse.

Are they upgrading the siding at West Medford itself so that more of the GLX can be done via (longer) work trains? Or is all this staging, for now, in support of midday trackwork?

Anyone know what was happening on the Lowell line in West Medford last night? (Fri - Sat April 26 - 27)?

in the afternoon there had been a variable message sign diverting trucks away from West Medford.

At 9 p.m. a lot of vehicles had been staged on the rail siding just north of the West Medford station.

At around midnight after I was in bed, the world's a lot of unusual train horn blowing.

They are fully rebuilding the street crossing at Rt 60 this weekend (sorely needed). Appears to be an opportunistic process taking advantage of the GLX / PTC weekend closure(s).