Pan Am Worcester Main Line

My buddy just caught it headed east through Durham NH at 6:45 this morning!!

jwhite07 wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 4:39 pm I can’t drop everything and run out to see (in the middle of grilling dinner) but from the sound of it maybe there is a rail grinder working the Worcester Sub right now? Heard unusual horns and sounds around Shrewsbury Street in West Boylston about 20 minutes ago and was able to deduce they were headed west, now the same sounds are back and perhaps headed east again. LORAM was on the B&A earlier this week.

Confirmed. I saw the LORAM on the east end of Clinton siding this morning. Several CSX trucks and an unmarked crew van were up by the Regency Warehouse. Several workers were around. Not sure where it went, but was not there at 7:30pm tonight.

Here is Ayer-bound loaded CWR train W024 descending Washington Hill on the B&A at sunset Sunday evening 5/28/23 at 2035. There are about 24 cars of general freight (including an empty ex-Sealand 5 pack well car) behind the CWR payload.

Todays M427 has MEC 507 as a leader. It was supposed to be dropped at Ayer but something changed and at about 18:30 D-1 told them to drop it at Clinton. CSX seems to juggle things around to get ACSES equipment leading on the trains where they are needed.

I just saw a loaded rail train being backed onto Clinton west siding. Train came down from Ayer.

I noticed new tie plates dropped in the middle of the rails in the Lancaster area. I have not seen any equipment mobilized in Clinton like last year. Perhaps they are mobilizing and working out of Ayer? It seems to me Clinton would still make sense as a base to work from for the northern section of the line.

CSX currently has a track crew working the B&A around Westfield - Chester area imposing daytime traffic curfews. According to Amtrak alerts, 448/449 trains are bustituted Sunday/Monday through Thursday until June 29. Perhaps this CSX gang will be headed toward the Worcester Main and points north after that?

Has the rail been dropped yet? Need that before any track gangs

Today I took a field/ radio tour of the north side of Worcester Main, west to east about 15:00:

1) At Clinton the end of the rail train(dropping end) is on the siding behind Advance Auto Parts in Clinton.
2) At the west side of Mill St crossing in Lancaster is the current end of CWR drop, no new rail to the east, new plates dropped in the gage both sides.
3) At the #517 Neck Rd. crossing in Lancaster (there are two Neck Rd. crossings) a RJ Corman ten wheel hi-rail grapple truck was parking next to the crossing, apparent CSX supervisor on scene. Again new tie plates in the gage.
4) M426 got a Form D from D1 Burncoat to WOR 11, later additional WOR 11 to WOR 1.

Once again the "CSX Track Upgrades of Infrastructure of Pan Am" thread has gone off topic to ops and labor issues so I post this here---- today on a non -railroad related trip I passed over Center Bridge Rd. crossing in Lancaster and observed CWR laid out both east and west of the crossing, no idea how far it extends toward Ayer.

Thank you for the reports from Lancaster

At one time I lived just down the hill from the mill st crossing at carter st intersection

Lancaster has many grade crossings. When barbers to Clinton was rebuilt last year, were the crossings done before or after the cwr went in? I think after but cannot recall for sure

From my observations, the crossings were done before the welded rail was put in place.

Noon today the rail cars parked on the Clinton siding are empty of rail. Looks like rail placed east at least until the Rt 117 crossing and maybe who knows how far beyond. Maybe due to the June construction blitz on the Boston line, rail won't begin to be changed out until July?

I didn't have time this weekend to look at different areas but did notice the following.

1. A new track panel has been built for the Mill St. Lancaster crossing.
2. Corman equipment is mobilizing in Clinton again. I saw three trucks parked near the depot and some pieces of track equipment on the west end of the Clinton siding.

I think there has only been one rail train this year for the Worcester main. Does anyone know how far rail has been dropped toward Ayer?

New CWR and prefab crossing track panel have been dropped at Still River Depot Rd. And a pile of tie plates has been deposited at Depot Rd at Harvard. Not sure about CWR there though.