Pan Am Worcester Main Line

New mileposts on the Worcester Main Line are up, though still bagged. Look for an unveiling around 5/1.

New locations, or just new numbering?

Are they going to tie nown at New Bond or Burncoat anymore? It seems like the trains are going right through. At least the M426 pretty much does.

Hopefully now that it's one RR they get rid of those silly yard limits down there and get issued paper for the whole thing.

Going west, csx trains will still need clearance from G&w I understand to transit downtown Worcester on their track so I believe that could cause an occasional need to stop at new bond st

Your right, the train will have to stop at New Bond for permission before proceeding on G&W branch back to CSX tracks at cp45.

Yep
See jaymac’s report from this AM

For some reason, I can't find jaymac's report. What was the content or could you copy and paste what he reported please?

Gardner Gawking entry for 3/29 by jaymac

Nothing has changed, the train is not going through. There is an order to clear the P&W ASAP, so 426 goes right to Greendale siding if it's small enough or to Burncoat St. No more swapping the 426 at New Bond St.

427 still swaps at New Bond, either with the Worcester yard crew, which works under a local symbol for PSR reasons, or the Selkirk crew.

newpylong wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:50 am Hopefully now that it's one RR they get rid of those silly yard limits down there and get issued paper for the whole thing.

It used to be Form D from just after the Barber station switch. I think, if I remember, the actual block station was called Shay.

They changed like 15 years ago, it just caused confusion.

Yep. They did that all over unfortunately because they were too lazy to issue paper or cancel it. They also extended Ayer yard limits south, Rotterdam yard limits east, etc. Nothing like making the crews run further at restricted speed.

Pretty sure the right of way is still owned by Boston and Maine (i.e. now CSX)... now might be a good opportunity to lay a second track between Garden Street and Barbers. The ROW is certainly wide enough even with the power pole line, and there are even remnants of sidings and second track along a good part of the line. One track for P&W, one track for CSX, no more messing around letting a competitor control the first 3 miles of your new railroad to Maine.

If that's true, they'd be crazy to not do it!

According to Worcester's property lines GIS viewer, the land under the tracks between Barbers and the north portal of the Lincoln Square tunnel is, in fact, owned by the B&M. The same is true between the south portal of the tunnel and CP45.

However, I don't know what the arrangement is between the B&M and P&W that gives P&W control of the tracks (and, I believe, the right to lease part of the land to Eversource for a power line). CSX might be able to at least put down an additional track between Barbers and Garden St if they wanted to. South of Garden St there isn't any room, so they would need to tie into the existing track. That would also (potentially) require a new interlocking. Since at this point, it's only a couple of trains a day, it's probably not worth spending the money when there are more important things to spend it on.