Mass Coastal Railroad (MC) Discussion

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

The Cape Cod Central Dinner Train ran last night departing North Falmouth, MA and was great to see running on the rehabilitated Falmouth Secondary line !

[Safetee]

Well it looks like it was an interesting job from a qc point of view if the rehab is actually finished. I see five foot wide shoulders but the cribs are half empty.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

Getting close to being finished as Tie replacement has been completed / ROW has been cleaned up of old ties / spikes & metal debris. Ballast regulator has been run down the line to prep it for ballast. From what I hear ballast should be put down in another week or two, then Railworks can finish up what's left to complete the project. Then going forward there are 2 crossing's on the Falmouth Secondary that are supposed to be replaced by a different contractor sometime before winter.

[malbojah]

Then going forward there are 2 crossing's on the Falmouth Secondary that are supposed to be replaced by a different contractor sometime before winter.

I'm assuming that would be Red Brook Harbor Rd @ Parker Boat Yard and County Rd by the Shining Sea Bikeway parking lot?

Red Brook shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully they do a better paving job than Barlows Landing. County Rd will end up being a ****show in terms of traffic and detours.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

The crossings on the Falmouth Secondary that are to be replaced this year are Monument Neck Rd in Gray Gables at MP 0.82 and Red Brook Harbor Road in Cataumet at MP 4.87. The Monument Neck Rd crossing is supposed to have a temporary road crossing built through the small park next to it. This is so First responders / residents can access the neighborhood while it's under construction because there is only one road into the area. The Rails have already been delivered and have been sitting on the side of the ROW for quite a while now waiting for the crossing work to be done sometime before the end of this year. The Signals / Controls were already replaced last fall at these 2 locations as well. I have seen other crossings already being replaced on Cape this summer at other locations, so time will tell.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

This afternoon Ballast stone started to be dropped on the Falmouth Secondary beginning at Canal Junction going empty somewhere in between MP 0.40 / MP 0.82 Will be looking to catch up with it tomorrow along the line.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

Was at the Back River road bridge by the Lobster Trap Restaurant in Monument Beach MA today at around 2 pm waiting to get a photo of the MC 2008 Otis outbound this afternoon. As I looked across Back River I see 2 kids hanging out on the Back River RR bridge who were probably fishing and of course trespassing as well. I hear the train approaching sounding his horn at the crossing before the bridge and the kids are still there ! The Engineer see's them sounding his horn continuously to get them to move when one of them moves off down the banking while the other just stands there off to the side of the bridge while MC 2008 goes by with 4 loaded C&D cars. As soon as the end car clears the bridge the 2 kids just go back up to the bridge and continue to do whatever they were doing. I guess some people have a death wish from the looks of it ! It was a busy day on the Falmouth Secondary as Railworks crews were out working on ballast that was dumped from the day before, MC 2008 brought down a new load of ballast stone around noon time to be dumped at the next area and returned around 2 pm with 4 loaded C&D cars from Otis while dealing with kids on the bridge at Back river.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

Railworks has been running 2 Ballast Regulators up to MP 4.58 the last 3 days on the Falmouth Secondary in between scheduled traffic to continue work on the line.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

Great shot. Would be interesting to see the exact same shot when they are done, for comparison purposes.

Here's the before and after photo of Cataumet Station track work

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

Manafort Brothers Construction crew started work on the MP 0.82 Monument Neck Rd RR crossing replacement project in Gray Gables, MA on the Falmouth Secondary this morning. Today they are building a temporary road to one side of the crossing to allow for traffic access during construction which is scheduled to begin Monday 9/14/2020

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

Railworks is back at work on the Falmouth Secondary line doing ballast regulating at the North Falmouth, MA siding tracks with fresh ballast just dropped on the Otis Industrial track as well, waiting to be regulated / tamped next. Big improvement on the Otis line with new ties / ballast, which has been sitting mostly in sand for decades.

[BandA]

Bridge is for single track; how wide is the ROW? Sand should have given good drainage and a nice soft ride, lol.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

Manafort crew started cutting / pulling the RR Crossing this morning on the Falmouth Secondary line at MP 0.82 Monument Neck Rd in Gray Gables, MA . Should be a smooth ride when completed

[malbojah]

Any word on the Red Brook Harbor Rd crossing? I have business to do on Wednesdays at the boatyard every week and I don't want to do a four and a half mile detour

[Train60]

Railworks is back at work on the Falmouth Secondary line doing ballast regulating at the North Falmouth, MA siding tracks with fresh ballast just dropped on the Otis Industrial track as well, waiting to be regulated / tamped next. Big improvement on the Otis line with new ties / ballast, which has been sitting mostly in sand for decades.

And to think, it was only a few years ago that you could see small trees growing though these tracks when crossing the Route 151 bridge over the Otis line. Thank you MassDOT for getting this line back in shape.