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  • Fore River Transportation (FRVT) / Braintree Yard

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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

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 #1381122  by boatsmate
 
drive by Check yesterday (April, 18 and 19) not much happened other then getting the empties and spotting loads, one of the B-23's was out side beside the engine house, the 1750 was outside in front of the engine house and on Tuesday the front door was open and the 17 was sitting on he other side of the door. there was also no sign that a train had gone to Braintree in a few days rails where beyond rusty and dirt has built up in between the rails on the roadway .

Bill
 #1415267  by Garrett
 
I was there watching many years ago and one of the brakeman struck up a conversation with me. I asked why 17 and 18 were over on the other side of the fence. One of them had a cracked block (or liner, my memory has faded) because they used the wrong coolant or just straight water - something along those lines.
The other one melted the electric (traction?) motor in a snow storm behind the old Burger King by the crossing, now it's a bank I believe. He said smoke starting pouring out from under it and the crew jumped into the snow.

I cannot recall which incident happened to which locomotive so I'm unsure what 17 needs to be operational again.
 #1415382  by GP40MC1118
 
17 S6 Alco BN: 82285 Blt: 11/56 (Stored out of service by early 1999). Still there as the MWRA's sole power.
18 S4 Alco BN: 78239 Blt: 9/50 (Stored out of service by early 1999. Sold 9/02 to the Old Colony & Fall River
RR Museum. Unclaimed as of Summer 2006. Scrapped 4/20/11).
D
 #1415387  by boatsmate
 
17 spent most of the fall in side the engine house. unknown what was done or why. as of last Tuesday DEC 27 she was back outside on the RIP track. could not tell which engine was outside near the front door. I would assume plugged in. the other 2 where inside.
 #1415823  by boatsmate
 
the tank cars go to Proctor and Gamble the covered gons and the other cars go to the MWRA. Most of the yard has tanks. Proctor and Gamble gets at least 10-15 cars a day M-F. Fridays they get more than normal to get them through the weekend.
 #1416914  by djimpact1
 
Garrett wrote:I cannot recall which incident happened to which locomotive so I'm unsure what 17 needs to be operational again.
INVESTMENT. If I remember correctly, I believe the MWRA only owns #17, so funds to repair it would be MWRA's responsibility (and I was given the impression the MWRA is in no hurry to do so). I can't remember if FRVT outright owns the B23s & Geep, or if Twin River Tech does...but I was once told Twin River is usually great with investment towards maintenance costs for the 101 & 102.
boatsmate wrote:17 spent most of the fall in side the engine house. unknown what was done or why. as of last Tuesday DEC 27 she was back outside on the RIP track. could not tell which engine was outside near the front door. I would assume plugged in. the other 2 where inside.
The 17 moves around from in-to-out (& vice versa) mostly to accommodate more room inside the engine house, for current projects. There's only so much room in there, so if you need to get both B23s in there for work, the 17 needs to be temporarily moved out. Since the MWRA still owns it & doesn't really invest in it/isn't scrapping it, it's really just a "space taker" for now.
 #1417118  by fogg1703
 
djimpact1 wrote:I can't remember if FRVT outright owns the B23s & Geep, or if Twin River Tech does...but I was once told Twin River is usually great with investment towards maintenance costs for the 101 & 102.
Twin Rivers Technologies owns and operates the FRVT. Everything other than the 17 is owned by Twin Rivers Technologies.
 #1417143  by djimpact1
 
fogg1703 wrote:Twin Rivers Technologies owns and operates the FRVT. Everything other than the 17 is owned by Twin Rivers Technologies.
Thanks fogg for the clarification!

A few tidbits...their Geep, 7750 is on active duty with 102, as the 101 is undergoing some body work. The 17 has been temporarily moved to the active track, right outside the engine house (some components oiled, sand removed from the sand box). I was informed there's still been no rumblings from the MWRA regarding any funding being allocated for work on it.
 #1417744  by fogg1703
 
Shame they had no part in hauling scrap from the multiple buildings recently town down in the shipyard. It was nice however to see the few loads of bridge structural members over the summer. Those 89' flats squealed on the tight S curve just before W Howard St. One has to wonder if they have no real interest in going after any other traffic (Clean Harbors) other than what they have.

CSX has made the switching in South Braintree yard easier by pulling all the empty C+D gons out and stuffing them on the Randolph Industrial now that Burke has stopped using rail. There has been a steady 20-25 stuffed in there the last month or two.
 #1417753  by Safetee
 
before forer rive transportation, the QBT was a privately held very profitable shortline. something like 3000 cars per year on five miles or so of track. MWRA, who occasionally ships sludge from the hahbah owns all the physical assets of the railroad and in order to keep the cost to the taxpayers down puts the operation of the railroad up to bid every so often. back in 2006 ?? when the operation came up for bid, Twin River Technologies being the primary on line shipper shipper concluded that their cost per car would come way down if they operated the railroad themselves without a shortline siphoning profits out of the deal. the rest is history as they say. and no they do not go chasing after other traffic. operating as a common carrier they do have to respond if someone comes knocking. however, fore river transportation for all intensive purposes is a private industrial switching company whos service is predicated on pleasing themselves.
 #1418101  by GP40MC1118
 
This is what I have from my notes of Fore River/QBT/FRT:

Ownership was transferred to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) in 1987. The MWRA contracted the railroad
operations out in 2/92 to the New England Southern RR (NEGS)(N.H.). NEGS operated the FRR as the Quincy Bay
Terminal. (QBT). In mid-1997, control of QBT was bought out by two other parties. The QBT name was retained for the
remainder of the contract (6/01).

On July 1, 2001, the FRR contract was awarded to Fore River Transportation (FRT). FRT is owned and operated by Twin
River Technology (Quincy, Ma.). Last day of QBT operation was 6/30/01. First day of operation for FRT was 7/05/01.
Contract renewed 9/2011.

[/i]
Dave
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