Q437

I read an article about Ashland and CSX in which Q437 was triggering the Main st. grade crossing while they were building their train and after the town met with CSX, Q437 no longer pulls that far down the line to build their train. If they aren't pulling that far down to build their sometimes massive train, how are they putting it together? I have never seen the Main St. crossing activate while they were putting their train together. They must have had a huge train train that day

Ashland vs. CSX

They pull up to MP 24 to get the conductor. The conductor doubles up the train in Nevins Yard and then the jitney drives him to the head-end. The spot where we pick up the conductor is east of the "CC" boards and shouldn't shunt the crossing. However something's screwed-up with the motion sensors or something. The last time I took 437 west an Ashland cop came to us just as we were about to pull. When doubling up you never come close to this spot, not even with 120 cars. The company might start having one of the yard crews double the train up in the North Yard or have a utility person put the train together so that the train won't have to stop to pick up the conductor by having him already on the head-end.

I went up to Ashland Center today to see if I could catch Q437, using CSX Conductor's advice that it usually comes through after the outbound Lake Shore. This strategy worked like a charm-I got to Ashland around 12:20, the Lake Shore was through at 12:38, and Q437 followed not long thereafter. It made my day to see a mainline road train for the first time in ages. I might go for it again later this week, to get some pictures when it's not raining.

Thanks for the tip-off CSX!

The Town of Ashland has always been anti-railroad to some degree as long as I can remember. I recall an incident many years ago during the CONRAIL era, where the Ashland PD issued speeding tickets to some freights as they were "speeding dangerously through the center of town".

JoeF

Ok, how the heck did they issue tickets? And to whom?

If the train won't stop for a ticket the police they will use spike strips.

Hi,
It seems as though we have had a problem with the traffic control system and the gates system at Ashland center for some time. Although the the gates are not activated when we stop at MP 24 the traffic control system has the traffic light on red while we are at the mile post. The traffic control system is tripped further East to allow the lights to go red sooner to clear the intersection before the gates go down. Our new procedure is to double the train up and held in Nevin yard until the conductor is brought up to the headend by driving along the right-of-way. This can be a problem for our coffee runs also will be fun in the winter as the right-of way is not always plowed out.
Regards,
Railman

railman616 wrote:. This can be a problem for our coffee runs also will be fun in the winter as the right-of way is not always plowed out.
Regards,
Railman

That's the first thing I thought of, no more subs from Ashland Pizza. I'll miss some of my usual trackside eateries.

Hi Buddy,
Are you going to change your nickname soon? Still can stop at Ashland Pizza but Crazy Larry has to be drven in from the west end.

Yes, possibly. But then again, I never changed it when we went to engineer school. LOL.

CSX Conductor wrote:Ok, how the heck did they issue tickets? And to whom?

I heard about the issue 15 years ago when I resided in Framingham. There was an article in the local newspaper about "dangerously speeding trains". Not sure how the Ashland PD did anything about it.

JoeF

They can't issue the engineers a speeding ticket because it's not a motor vehicle, and one doesn't need a drivers license to operate a locomotive. What's next, I show him my engineer certificate and he writes an additional ticket for not having a motor vehicle drivers license? LOL

Hi Buddy,
Your Licence now will only be good for those little kiddy trains. Real men move the REAL BIG freight trains.
Regards,
Railman

I have another question regarding Q437. I often go to Framingham to catch the train setup, then to Ashland to see them take off. One Saturday in July however, 437 came straight out of the North Yard with 8 units and a decent amount of cars. They made no pick-ups at Nevins. I was lucky to get a shot of them at Ashland since they took off so fast. Was there any reason for a consist made up of cars from the North Yard only?

Josh

They're probably trying to build the train in North Yard so they don't have problems with activating the crossings in Ashland. There was a problem with the gates being activated even with the train back aways.