Will Reading, MA ever see freights trains again?

[quote="jbvb"]You aren't going to see much local freight on Guilford in general unless they start seriously soliciting carload traffic to customer spurs. That said, the Reading line isn't going to be the first choice for freight between Lawrence and Boston due to the road crossings and grades crossing the Mystic River. The Boston - Lowell line also got rebuilt for higher overhead clearances. I don't know how tight the bridges in Reading are, but I'm pretty sure you can't run TOFC equipment from Wyoming to Sullivan Sq.

No through freights regularly used the line after it was single-tracked in 1959.[/quot

chench1536 wrote:I used to live in Reading (until I was 5). I lived right across the street from the tracks on High Street. I remember watching a 21 car freight on the line, when I was 3 or 4. Now, 10 years later, there is nothing. Guilford doesn't use the old Newburyport Branch, Deering Lumber doesn't use Guilford, and there are no other companies, that I know of, along the line. The only way I see freight returning to the Haverhill Line is if there is a derailment or problem between Lowell Jct. and Willows (and even that isn't likely because we are taking about Guilford). Other than that, I don't see freight coming back any thime soon.

i personally know the owners of deering lumber.


i know they used to distribute brick for a brick company, but they dont do that anymore. i can find out what the deal is.

Freight to/from Boston was rerouted off of Fitchburg line when the Lexington Branch through North Cambridge and Somerville was abandoned to make way for the Red Line Alewife extension in the early '80s. This route was used by the B&M east of Alewife for freight due to clearance restrictions around Porter Square on the Fitchburg main. Since then the T has reconstructed Porter station with high level platforms on a curve that further preclude freight cars passing. A Pan Am local from Ayer works the line to West Cambridge most days.

Dave

i know this is not going to sound right but you have a better chance of getting a large cheese pizza delivered to your house and/or seeing God go by on a motorcycle than ever seeing a freight train run through Reading again. They should put the 2nd track back but that isn't happening anytime soon.

I am just as disappointed as everyone else about this .....

When track #2 existed .. I was only like 2 or 3 .. I had no interest in trains then .. so install it back!!!!!!! :D

why did they remove the 2nd track?

tom18287 wrote:why did they remove the 2nd track?

To save money. The B&M single tracked a lot of formerly double-tracked lines in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was a combination of reduced traffic levels and (in some cases) installation of CTC signalling, under which controlled sidings replaced double track as the means by which trains could travel in both directions. Also, in this case a lot of commuter trains went only as far as Reading, so there was less need for double track capacity north of there.

ok, i see



this may be dumb...but how old are the rails on the haverhill line? are they still the same ones from 20 years ago? in some places in wakefield it looks like they relayed new trakc over old track.

Well I can say this with happiness .. an MBTA work train went by .. sort of a rare sight for the Reading/Haverhill line .. pretty cool.

Guilford would've made me happier though!


Dave

When the B&M still ran steam-powered passenger service through Reading, the main line used to be triple-tracked. I'm not sure when this ended, or how far north/south of Reading the triple-track territory extended, but nonetheless it is a testament to how far we have come since then. Or, for mourning railfans, how far we have fallen.

I especially like the "God on a motorcycle" comment.

Finch wrote:When the B&M still ran steam-powered passenger service through Reading, the main line used to be triple-tracked. I'm not sure when this ended, or how far north/south of Reading the triple-track territory extended, but nonetheless it is a testament to how far we have come since then. Or, for mourning railfans, how far we have fallen.

I especially like the "God on a motorcycle" comment.

I think you're talking about the Reading "Middle", a passing siding that ran from Ash St towards Wakefield. B&M had several of these "middle" passing tracks around the system in double track territory, among them Lincoln, MA, West Acton, Graniteville, and many more.

davidp wrote:Freight to/from Boston was rerouted off of Fitchburg line when the Lexington Branch through North Cambridge and Somerville was abandoned to make way for the Red Line Alewife extension in the early '80s. This route was used by the B&M east of Alewife for freight due to clearance restrictions around Porter Square on the Fitchburg main. Since then the T has reconstructed Porter station with high level platforms on a curve that further preclude freight cars passing. A Pan Am local from Ayer works the line to West Cambridge most days.

Dave

It has been awhile since I have seen or heard of any of the Ayer locals venturing east to West Cambridge. The only reason for them to do so now would be to go down the Watertown Branch to Newlyweds Foods, and judging from the rust on the rails, nothing has moved over the branch for some time. The last move to Newlyweds I heard about was out of Boston. But, all that could change.

cpf354 wrote: I think you're talking about the Reading "Middle", a passing siding that ran from Ash St towards Wakefield. B&M had several of these "middle" passing tracks around the system in double track territory, among them Lincoln, MA, West Acton, Graniteville, and many more.

According to Reading's "At Wood End" bicentennial history book, there were three tracks crossing Woburn street (north of Ash). I guess one of these could have been a siding though, maybe not the main line. It depends on how you interpret the caption (the corresponding picture shows three tracks). I guess I interpreted it in the most "optimistic" way.

As Mr. Cpf has written, the middle track at Reading was just a siding, not a third main track. It lasted into the 1970s.

Tom-

The Reading Middle still exists, although rarely used anymore.
Two of the four switches providing access to it were retired
years ago. The remaining two are trailing point switches off
their respective mains.

Dave