What's with Watertown?

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:http://watertown.patch.com/articles/unu ... iking-path

In late June, Pan Am Railways informed Watertown officials of their plan to abandon 1.72 miles of the former Boston & Maine Railroad track known as the Watertown Branch.They requested input from town officials.

Is this saga finally drawing to a close? I haven't seen an STB filing yet, but if they're requesting comment from the town a settlement with Newlyweds must be imminent.

The Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports newsletter reports Pan Am formally applied to abandon the Watertown Branch on August 15,
http://www.stb.dot.gov/ filings page, Docket Nos.AB 1083X, AB 1084X.

I haven't been able to get to the STB's website all weekend. Anyone able to get through and see the filings?

The STB site is working now. Probably shut down because of Hurricane Irene.

Filings are there, 1 each from B&M and ST

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 230828.PDF

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 230826.PDF

from 8/17/11.

Let's hope they actually settled with Newlyweds this time. Didn't the last STB filing get spiked and withdrawn because of that?


Hurricane Irene did a little more drainage damage to it. More ballast is washed out under the Waterworks overpass, and there's standing water down there for close to a week after every single substantial rain. Nice new ties on the patch job they did 5 years ago...you can tell because they're pretty much resting level on the surface now.

I guess they did come to some agreement as Newly Weds made no comment on the filing, though I can see that they have recently opposed another abandonment in another part of the country.


Here is a document reopening the proceeding to impose conditions on the abandonment, though it is very confusing. The branch is noted as the "Waterloo" branch and the STB imposes a condition that BNSF (yes, BNSF) must consult with the National Geodetic Survey before salvaging rail on the line due to possible disturbance of geodetic station makers.

http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readin ... enDocument

FatNoah wrote:I guess they did come to some agreement as Newly Weds made no comment on the filing, though I can see that they have recently opposed another abandonment in another part of the country.


Here is a document reopening the proceeding to impose conditions on the abandonment, though it is very confusing. The branch is noted as the "Waterloo" branch and the STB imposes a condition that BNSF (yes, BNSF) must consult with the National Geodetic Survey before salvaging rail on the line due to possible disturbance of geodetic station makers.

http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readin ... enDocument

That was the eyebrow-raiser, because the filings has attachment letters from pretty much every affected party EXCEPT Newlyweds commenting on the record they have no opposition. Which they all did on the last aborted filing. Logic would dictate if they want to avoid another aggravating pullback they'd throw in a letter from Newlyweds into the package to at least state that they're not going to legally challenge it this time. Who knows. Every party in this saga has acted like a fully sane, reasonable, well-intentioned adult except for Newlyweds. Can't fault PAR for going the extra mile to try to make them any reasonable offer to relocate their services OR fix up the track if they got some guarantee of regular traffic. It's not a reasonable expectation for Newlyweds to hold customer rights in perpetuity and then be THAT coy as to what they want to do or not do with them. They're not big enough or have anywhere near the political pull to wag the dog like this for their own amusement.

A spokesman for Newlyweds told Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports on August 25th he was "pretty sure" they would not oppose abandonment. He told the publication that they get five loads a week from Transflo in Allston (CSX, Beacon Park) and the rest of their flour direct from the mills (via truck, I presume).

cpf354 wrote:A spokesman for Newlyweds told Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports on August 25th he was "pretty sure" they would not oppose abandonment. He told the publication that they get five loads a week from Transflo in Allston (CSX, Beacon Park) and the rest of their flour direct from the mills (via truck, I presume).

If I was the RR, for 5 loads a week I definitely would not want to keep that branch in service...

Newpy!....The last time I was up that branch, the engine was leaning so bad that it shut down...The AY-1 engine had to push me untill I was level enough to restart!

lol. Luckily I never had to work this far east, but I used to drive by there all the time heading home on 2, I can only imagine!

Tim Mullins wrote:Newpy!....The last time I was up that branch, the engine was leaning so bad that it shut down...The AY-1 engine had to push me untill I was level enough to restart!

Did the thought ever cross your mind about the engine rolling? I know it’s not something one wants to think about.

Well....AHHH...Ya!...I was rolling cause AY-1 was pushing and we had cars in between us and we were all hooked together.
Other wise, I don't understand the question!!

OHHH!...I get it!...You mean tipping over?...Ya, I thought about it when I saw the track gang running up the hill away from us!

I should've worded that differently, my mind wasn't thinking to clearly after dealing with something on another thread.