Mass Coastal Railroad (MC) Discussion

Ive always wondered, do the train crews have to have like a security clearance to access the on base tracks or do they have say a military pilot for the move while they're on base?

Hiked out through the woods to the Otis Industrial track today as Railworks was on the siding in North Falmouth so Mass Coastal could do a run out to the transfer station. A first pass on tie replacement past the golf course then to the station looks done with many more to change out next to stabilize the line. The Otis Wye is slowly being over taken by weeds / small pines once again after being cleaned out in November of 2017. All it would take is a brush out pass again along with yearly weed maintenance to keep it clear. The double track siding which needs tie work also is back in use out by the golf course as 10 empty cars were stored on it today to supply the transfer station. Also found a disconnected siding from the line still in place running parallel to the double track siding towards the transfer station and totally overgrown with trees So still lots of work to be done but progress is being made while waiting for the Military to do something with there tracks onto the base.

Falmouth Secondary to Otis wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:04 am Now that the Otis spur is having new ties installed maybe the Military will wake up and do there section. Had heard that the Military was planning on doing some equipment moves but obviously that can't happen until they clear / rehab there own tracks to do so. Last time I saw a photo of a Military move was in September 2008 as per this Nerail Photo.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... ex=3&key2=

They are actually doing pavement work next to the rail line in this photo right now on the base. Maybe subgrade reinforcement?

It's not a good idea to spray chemicals for weeds onto a groundwater aquifer, especially when it is 100% porous sand.

The state announced a bunch of trail grants today. One is for the first two phases of the Bourne Rail Trail, which will connect the Shining Sea Bikeway to the canal trail. It's specifically designated as "rail with trail", which I interpret as a good thing: if the trail is built along the active rail line, then NIMBYs can't dangle the promise of a trail to attempt to get the line abandoned.

It's not unusual to have a decent size right of way. And keeping in mind that rail can be far more energy efficient and help local business save money and avoid traffic, or you can run commuters on it, etc., it's often a good idea to preserve it - and with proper separation from the trail, you can have both. Takes effort and planning - and money, but potentially well worth it.

Too bad they didn't also announce rail beside the trail to Falmouth.

The EGE wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 5:54 pm The state announced a bunch of trail grants today. One is for the first two phases of the Bourne Rail Trail, which will connect the Shining Sea Bikeway to the canal trail. It's specifically designated as "rail with trail", which I interpret as a good thing: if the trail is built along the active rail line, then NIMBYs can't dangle the promise of a trail to attempt to get the line abandoned.

This Rail with Trail concept for the Cape Rail Lines were first considered in the 1995 MA State Bike Plan presented at the Dennis Senior Center in April of 1995. The CCRT was recently extended from Dennis to the Yarmouth transfer Rail station at Station Ave and will not follow the tracks from there to the Canal due too wetlands which would require numerous bridges making it cost prohibitive to build, according to the study which was done. An alternate route was laid out and is planned to be built over the next 10 - 20 years. The Bourne Rail trail group's agenda from the start was to stop the reopening of the transfer station while saying Military use was no longer needed and supported removing the rails, despite being in active use. They were told many times the Rail line would stay in place and improvements were planned for it's continued operation and a trail would be allowed to built along side of the line if possible. The first almost 3/4 mile section is planned for construction in 2024 starting at the Canal and haven't seen any design plans at the State level which have been approved yet from the Falmouth end so far. The problem is the middle sections which are in solid wetlands are protected by Mass DEP designation of areas of critical concern. There is no land available in these areas for trail construction and doubt Mass DEP would even allow bridges to be built. This means the Rail trail group will continue to try and get rid of the Rails to take over the ROW to get through the wetlands. But since 2018 the Falmouth Secondary line Rail improvements have been in process as laid out in the State Rail plan with the Tie improvement project currently underway all the way out to the Otis transfer station, which has been back in operation since 2017. This will ensure Rail use will continue well into the future no matter what trail supporters say and will have to make due with what alternatives are decided upon by MassDOT.

Railworks continuing to clean up the Falmouth Secondary / Otis rail line today with ballast to follow when ready. Hiked out to the Otis Industrial Track today and saw used ties being stacked by the Golf course ready to be picked up for disposal and a few cars staged on the line to the Transfer station for the next trip outbound. The first car is a Mass Coastal MSW car that has some sort of a metal frame modification attached to the top of it which I haven't seen before, followed by several C&D cars. Does anyone know what this attached frame is for on Mass Coastal's car ?

That framework on the MSW car is the adapter that goes from the lifting cables to the lid on the car. If they leave it on the MSW car, they have more room inside the building to use an excavator to load up the C/D cars

Was in Hyannis last week and saw that Mass Coastal has restored the former CN Russell snowplow which has been sitting on the siding next to the engine shop since last year. Is it Mass Coastal's or did they restore it for someone else ? There are more plow pictures on Mass Coastal's Facebook page to view.

Looks like you'll have to wait for the reporting marks to show up before you can be sure.

Last week I saw that the Hyannis Yard North End switch installation and track alignment project is partially completed ready to be connected to the South side Yard, which was rebuilt a couple of years ago. You can look at the plan details on the bid below.

https://www.commbuys.com/bso/external/b ... entUrl=bid

Thanks for the pixs.

Your pictures made me wonder why the state found it necessary to extend additional yard tracks north to the other side of Route 28. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is no freight traffic in Hyannis and the only rail service at the moment is a tourist train and the summer-only CapeFlyer. Seem like a lot of work and capital dollars for this level of rail service.

Train60 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 11, 2020 12:58 pm Thanks for the pixs.

Your pictures made me wonder why the state found it necessary to extend additional yard tracks north to the other side of Route 28. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is no freight traffic in Hyannis and the only rail service at the moment is a tourist train and the summer-only CapeFlyer. Seem like a lot of work and capital dollars for this level of rail service.

I haven't read or heard of the reasoning for the entire Hyannis Rail yard reconstruction starting a couple of years ago. The State must have plans in mind for increased passenger / freight use for the area in the future. The only Hyannis freight move this year I saw was a large transformer move to the South yard area probably for Eversource per link below. Also by looking at the plans it looks like the propane company on the South Side off to the right will get it's Rail siding reconnected which leads me to believe they would be getting deliveries by Rail once again. Anything beyond that only time will tell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLsXZdDEHAg