Lowell activity.

[mulfreak]

Great stuff JB. Ah the summer of 77. Don't remember. Kidding That would be great. I walked many of those tracks back then. I have yet to ask my sister about Clark but will soon. As for Lowell activity the 612 & HLCX 7842? and the Maroon MEC 600 Series were holding @ the Concord Bridge this morning. Then I seen them again crusing thru the the depot area round noon. I think they picked up a train eastbound and then headed east past Wigginville. Nothing at all thru here since 3:30 today.

[mulfreak]

Train came thru about 2 AM last night and did not stop. Might have been 4+ engines and there was no horn approaching Meadowcroft St. One small two engine headed east,empty lumber cars and such thru past the depot. Commuter rail in the way no numbers and that also cleared Wigginville. Right now engines idling by the river bridge picked up a cut of cars that were dropped off here earlier. Should have walked the track's home today it would have been quicker. The tractor trailer roll over on 495 at Rt 38 had traffic almost gridlocked thru Lowell.

[TPR37777]

Did the tower have (or does it still have) an interlocking machine? Did it control the Chelmsford wye?

[mulfreak]

Clearing here last night west bound at least one around two AM. This morning on my way to work there were two hanging just before theConcord bridge. Both westbound. The Norfolk Southern 7840? and the PAN-AM 611 had a nose on two CSX blues all idling at the river crossing. Some thing dropped a cut of cars along the depot mid morning. Then the NS and the 611 passed by solo heading westbound under the parking garage @ 12:30. The two CSX finally cleared Wigginville @ 4:00 this afternoon /w Lot's of lumber and empty TTX flats taking up the rear. The 310 just hiballed thru westbound with a catch up of about 10 cars. Yes my sister remembers Clark Shay very well.

[Rockingham Racer]

Did the tower have (or does it still have) an interlocking machine? Did it control the Chelmsford wye?

Yes, the tower [BO tower] controlled North Chelmsford and part of the Stony Brook. There was even a "gates down" indicator on the board for a crossing some where on the part of the Stony that they controlled. I believed it also had control of the Western Route from WJ to LJ.

[GP40MC1118]

When I first worked Lowell Tower it controlled Willows East to Lowell Jct, N. Chelmsford to south Nashua,
the New Hampshire Route mainline south to S.Lowell on No.1/northbound track and Lowell Jct to Wilmington
Junction.

Also had a high car detector at Lowell.

D

[mulfreak]

A high cars detector? I remember there was a cable strung across the tracks at the both sides of the Lundberg St bridge. It had metal rods hanging from it that were at about the height of the bridge. Real hi-tech back then. There were no excess height cars back then that I remember. Every car had all sorts of weight and height measurements on the sides. For a while they had these heavy duty plastic things attached to the side of the cars that the clerks would scan.
Walked the yards with my sister a few times while she did this. Not much activity here today. There was one headed westbound about 9:45 this morning that cleared the depot. When I got home from work there was track maintenance going on here in Wigginville. Couple of machines on the tracks and a couple of support trucks with welders and the such.

[GP40MC1118]

Yep, and it was generally disliked by the towermen which like hotbox detectors of old
was somewhat of a judgement call.

I don't remember the year, but a southbound Boston bound freight got by the detector somehow
and damaged several bridges between S. Lowell and Wilmington.

D

[mulfreak]

I remember taking the old B & M Budliners from Lowell to Boston and back when I was a kid. There were a series of bridges that seemed like they were a foot away from the car. The trains ran faster back then. One time the engineer let me watch the speedometer. Yesterday I did see 2 PAN-AMS with the 7192 HCLX head east with about 40+ cars. Today there was more track maintenance here in Wigginville. A train pulled in on the north track and stopped at the river bridge while I was away for a while. Funny I thought the track machine was on the same track earlier. As that sat,they were now working on the south track. I heard hammering and the machine. Then as soon as they left this afternoon a train cleared eastbond thru Wigginville and then about 45 min later there was one headed eastbound on the same south track that cleared here. Finally the train on the north track cleared here and then shortly thereafter the PAM-AN 609 & 618and HCLX 7102 cleared here eastbound. Not allot of cars though on any of them.

[jbvb]

The dangling rods (or ropes in an earlier era) were known as a "telltale". They were there to warn employees working on the roofs of cars that a low bridge was coming up, and were set so the ends were just below the point that would clear the bridge. Most telltales are long gone, as the RRs stopped maintaining them after roofwalks were removed from boxcars and employees were forbidden from riding on top of moving cars (1960s).

The high car detector was probably optical, and not installed until the 1960s.

[mulfreak]

Thanks JB. Roofwalks. There were two string of cars they all were old B & M that streached from just north of the six arch bridge to the Lundberg St. bridge. We would always walk on top from the Terrace to the field on Meadowcroft St. The view was much better. I never rode on a moving freight(hopping as it was called back then). Jimmy Oliver who was killed hopping during Febuary vacation was in my 2nd grade class in the Shaunessy School. I'll never forget the empty desk or Mrs. Coles crying the day we came back.

[mulfreak]

What did I see when I looked out the dock doors today just before lunch??? A Kaboose; YEA A KABOOSE sitting there at the depot. It's a MEC REPX671 with an inspection date of 9-13. In real decent shape. Painted in The MEC colors of gold with the Pine tree logo. It still was there when I left @ 4 and there were 5 or 6 engines idleing at the Gorham St. bridge eastbound. Nothing thru Wiggenville here as of yet. My guess is the kaboose is headed east also.

[mulfreak]

When I drove to work today there was no sighting of the Kaboose. I figured it had just moved on. Yesterday it was at the end of a cut of maybe 20 cars. Mostly empty wood cars and slurry tankers on a siding but dead smack in the middle of the Lowell train station. Where it was in plain view. Smart. When I got back from lunch today there it was again. In the same exact spot. I don't know where they hid it last night,but it is still clean today. Last I seen it was not in the rear anymore, there were more empty wood cars and mixed running under the garage. Eastbound 3 pak of solo engines. The same with mixed just passed thru Wigginville westbound and are holding at the river bridge.

[jaymac]

In case there were buggy doubters: http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=212357" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .
Thanks, Bob!

[mulfreak]

Thanks jaymac. I don't take my camera to work or own a cell phone. Yea that was something I had not seen since??? Glad you caught it. In fact I wondered if devulging it's location was a good idea on this site the second day. I hate the graphitti that I see every day on trains. There should be a somekind of overcoat that could be used on railcars that would just turn the taggers spray paint into a runny mess. Also H2O soluble that the rain washes it off eventually. I have been talking to a few of the track maintenance crews lately. They have been,currently are and plan on being busy for the forseeable future. 2 HCLX and 1 PAN-AM headed east thru Wigginville about 1 today. The Caboose was not. I would think it's headed north to Maime?