Bay Colony/Cape Cod rail line

[fogg1703]

Is the engine for Dean St still kept at Ventura Grain, or is it shuttled south to the old Rand Whitney building to be stored with the NB/FR engines? If business is to pick up on either branch, I would imagine switching would be pretty tight at Cotley.

[GP40MC1118]

Power is kept at Cotely Jct now...

D

[jscola30]

I remember seeing in a book on Cape Cod Railroads in the Chatham RR Museum, a picture of a NH RS3 or similar loco with a single caboose, I think sometime in the early 60s, somewhere on the outercape, the tracks were so overgrown, you couldn't even see the rails.

[Pacobell73]

But with the "commonwealth" having danced around the issue for the better part of a decade, it remains to be seen whether the extension will happen soon. Although ultimately it's up to us to speak up (preaching to the choir). Hopefully, we can hold the state's proverbial feet to the fire and common sense will prevail, but in this state, politics usually trump logic.

You are right on the money with your comments. I am in Pennsy and it is the same issue. We the people can speak up all we want, but those who are politially connected really get the results. Case in point: the Shining Sea Bikeway was extended north 8 miles from Falmouth to North Falmouth. This was because former Massachusetts House of Representatives Member Eric Turkington made sure the line remained dead until his last few months in office. Then he signed legislation that allowed the extension of the RT. A little parting gift. I wrote to him and he gave me the politcal smoke screen of "extension of passenger rail is good and many will benefit from it." He concluded with "but not in Falmouth." The rail trail folks vs. the pro-rail folks...guess who was in Turkington's pocket? Pay to play...

And let's not forget the publically-funded wasted train station in Falmouth that was never used.

Rail trail extension in West Falmouth. Seeing some photos of bumper-to-bumper traffic alongside the trail would be good.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... uth_MA.jpg

[atlantis]

I couldn't have said it better, PacoBell 73: That the wasted Falmouth RR station gets almost no attention in the media and is ignored by the apathetic public as well. I should also add that former state representative Tom Cahir and others paid lip-service to the idea of rail service without actually doing anything.

While I hate to harshly critcize Mr. Cahir, his so-called support of rail service consisted of mainly platitudes on how the state was "working on it", while in the past decade not only nothing was done, the Falmouth branch was lost from the wasted Falmouth station to North Falmouth in order to cater to the elitists and their bike path. Also, I must add the Mr. Cahir did not say one word of objection to destroying the rail line for the bike path. To me, he is no friend of rail. (IMO, of course)

The latest propaganda by the state, (As of March, 2011) was that there was hope of getting some kind of weekend rail service to the Cape by 2012.
the train would run from Middleboro to Hyannis on weekends with eventual daily service.
According to the Cape News article in March, objection was raised by Plymouth and Brockton bus, which ironically started as a rail line. The state also made an indirect (Freudian?) admission it was protecting the bus monopoly by saying that it was concerned the rail service would affect P&B's business. Never mind that the two services ran side-by-side for decades.
John Kennedy has told me on several occasions it is probably better to start incrementally at first and worry about Falmouth at a later date. The Falmouth Branch AFAIK is rail-banked so that rail servce could return at least in theory.

Maybe it's better if Falmouth choked on its traffic and air pollution. That might be the wake-up call.
just a thought.

[Pacobell73]

Just to note that the Dennis Register reported last week that the South Dennis to Station Ave. (S.Yarmouth) rail trail extension is more a less a done deal,and that there's quite a bit of private funding to go along with whatever they get from the state. Old Bass River Rail Bridge has been gone since at least last fall too.

Full story here:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/capecod/tops ... z1GRPqAWel


Trail link may include Dennis depot - Funding on schedule for 2012

By Nicole Muller
The Register
Posted Mar 11, 2011 @ 04:00 PM


SOUTH DENNIS — Dennis Town Engineer Joe Rodricks is a mighty patient man.

Tuesday night Rodricks brought Dennis selectmen good news: “The Cape Cod Rail Trail, which has been in development 20-plus years, will soon see completion through Dennis and into Yarmouth.”

The Dennis component is due to receive Transportation Incentive Program funding in 2012 and 2013. A 25 percent design plan has been submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. A public hearing will be scheduled in three to six months, at which time the design engineer will present the entire project.

The trail will pick up at the present terminus near Barb’s Bike Shop on Route 134, cross the four-lane road via a bicycle bridge and continue across Main Street, South Dennis, north of the Town Hall parking lot.

“There’s been a lot of concern about the Main Street crossing because of the traffic and speed in that area,” Rodricks said. “The designer included a separation island with a granite curb and speed bumps to force cars to slow to 30 mph. This road could use some traffic calming.”

The project proposes a 49-space parking lot for trail access, lighting and plenty of “green screening,” landscaping to ensure neighbors’ privacy.

The crowning touch, Rodricks said, is a proposed train depot building that would be an exact replica of the one that existed at that location in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rodricks said the replica depot would be, “a town building used seasonally for beach sticker sales.”

The depot plan, said Burt Derick of South Dennis, would provide a gateway into Dennis for walkers and bikers on the rail trail. “In addition, the security of Town Hall is compromised on summer weekends when it’s open for sticker sales,” said Derick, who showed selectmen the original footprint drawing of the 20x40 foot depot, which he bought for $20 on eBay.

Derick’s proposal includes restrooms at either end of the building, a small utility room, a “ticket cage” and a waiting room. The exterior will be an exact replica of the original. “We have innumerable details on the depot, its doors, windows,” Derick said. “We also have the original depot sign at Jericho [Historical House in West Dennis] so we can duplicate it.”

A chamber of commerce kiosk and an archaeological display introducing visitors to the Indian lands behind Town Hall could also be housed in the depot.

“I want to tell you, if the state won’t build it, the people in this town will,” Derick said. “There are a lot of eager benefactors for this project with their checkbooks open.”

Rodricks said the state would probably provide the foundation if townspeople commit to funding it and selectmen endorse the plan. “Burt, you got me fired up,” said Selectman Alan Tuttle. “I think it would be great if a non-profit group would get it off the ground.”

Selectwoman Heidi Schadt suggested a meeting with neighbors. Rodricks said the state requires a public hearing on the rail trail and the depot project could be included. “The state will build the parking lot and all that’s associated with the rail trail. Since the parking lot will be on town land and the depot on both town and state property, this would be a joint project that promotes tourism.”



Selectmen unanimously agreed to “conceptually adopt” the depot proposal.

[rwsdog]

My relatives had a cabin in North Eastham MA.
Started going there in 1959, when the mid cape highway was two lanes, with traffic circles.
Anyway, I distinctly remember being at Great Pond in July 1981.
To my surprise, I heard a Hancock Whistle, and a NH switcher going north
with gondolas to the sand pit. I am quite certain of the year. Those who
think the line was closed by then, I have to disagree.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

If you can locate a copy of Cape Cod Railroads by Robert H. Farson go to page 263, which has a picture of New Haven's locomotive # 517 in Eastham pulling gondolas of sand in late June of 1965. Then go to page 284 which has a picture from the early fall of 1966 taken in Wellfleet with workers taking a break, while removing the rails from the line down to South Dennis. The original Rail line route from Rte. 134 in South Dennis to Wellfleet was replaced in 1976 with the Cape Cod Rail trail for recreational use managed by Mass DOCR. The CCRT is currently being extended to Station Ave in Yarmouth where it runs along the Rail line at the Yarmouth Rail Transfer station for waste shipments off Cape. The remaining Rail lines on the Cape remain intact and in active use as they should be, with possible future expansion as traffic congestion continues to grow as the years go by.

[GP40MC1118]

Article in the Cape Cod Times yesterday about the impending placement of the new Bass River Bridge for the hikers/bikers/etc.

[Falmouth Secondary to Otis]

Saw that article and from what I have read from various sources the last time a train crossed Bass river was in 1996/1997 delivering to Mid Cape lumber in South Dennis. Mid Cape lumber switched to trucks for delivery ending the use of the line, as there were no other customers to keep it in active use unfortunately. The Bass river bridge was removed in 2010 but the tracks were still in place up to the fall of 2015 when the bike path construction started, but will end at Station Ave in Yarmouth and connect to other paths to reach Hyannis. The rail line to Hyannis and the Yarmouth transfer station is in daily use as is the Falmouth secondary to Otis /JBCC, so any more rail removal on Cape Cod is a dead issue. Added link to show a rare photo of the Bass river bridge when it was still in use.


http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20140 ... ODE=&POYE=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;