Work Trains / Equipment Moves

[Screamer 1000]

I heard a beautiful P5 horn last night (5/16) at about 11:10 pm either at Reading or Anderson (I sort of live in between them and hear horns from both). Can anyone tell me if that was the 904 or something else?

[Komarovsky]

3247 came through Back Bay on Track 5 at around 1 today, assuming it was coming back from Northside and the rail train.

Also saw what looked like a rail heater on track 1 at Newtonville at around 1:30, I thought that the remaining work was out west of Framingham.

[BandA]

At 9:13, saw a gang of about 10 workers, about 6 wielding old-school sledgehammers on the track next to the MP 10.13 box. Highrail truck towing a rail-cart with a porta-potty next to them. Couple blocks east was another MOW vehicle with tanks - I ahhsume used for welding. Unrelated, further east at about Faneuil was a long ribbon of rail resting next to track 1.

[Screamer 1000]

I saw a photo of a work train tied down in Reading. Is it still there?

[GP40MC1118]

No....train came to Boston Saturday. Should be on the Grand Jct siding in Cambridge, but
not sure if it made it there...

D

[Ryanontherails]

Today at about 2:30pm I saw what I assume to be some sort of test train heading southbound on the Framingham Secondary through Foxborough. It was mostly your standard MBTA commuter train but with an Amtrak coach in between. Does anyone know why it was there? I know that the line is being upgraded north of Walpole. I assume it went Boston-Walpole-Mansfield-Boston.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Today at about 2:30pm I saw what I assume to be some sort of test train heading southbound on the Framingham Secondary through Foxborough. It was mostly your standard MBTA commuter train but with an Amtrak coach in between. Does anyone know why it was there? I know that the line is being upgraded north of Walpole. I assume it went Boston-Walpole-Mansfield-Boston.

That would be the Amtrak Corridor Clipper track geometry car. It makes periodic rounds on MassDOT trackage lashed up to commuter rail equipment when it's time for a scheduled inspection of particular line(s). They may be doing the lower Framingham Sec. now to itemize the task list for the repair work on the branch when the rail replacement currently ongoing Framingham to Walpole advances to the Walpole-Mansfield section.

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

Tis indeed the Geo train 1034-5**-5**-Clipper-1511....Tested the Framingham Secondary....Framingham-Mansfield....ran to Attleboro, tested Track 3 and 4 and then ran on the Middleboro Secondary from BORO to Middleboro, where it is putting up in the facility tonight. The rest of the week testing as planned:

6/07 Tuesday - OD7AM Middleboro
Run Middleboro to Cotely Jct. Run Cotely to Fall River. Test Fall River to
Myricks, then run to New Bedford. Test New Bedford to Cotley, then run
back to Middleboro and put up.

6/08 Wednesday - OD7AM Middleboro
Run Middleboro to Hyannis, Test Hyannis to Bay. Run to Readville Yard and put up.

6/09 Thursday - OD6AM Readville
Test ML7, single & No.1 Track Cove to CP45. Test station track at Worcester. Test
back to Cove. Run to CP3, test Grand Jct to BET. Put up BET.

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

Also of note, MassDOT is planning for a massive Tie replacement job on the Middleboro Secondary between Attleboro and Middleboro scheduled to start this fall. This line is planned on getting the works, new ties and stone, to upgrade it to decent speeds...the current numbers are planed on replacing roughly 1300 ties a mile

[Backshophoss]

Is Corridor Clipper still in phIV scheme,or repainted as ph IIIb ???

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Also of note, MassDOT is planning for a massive Tie replacement job on the Middleboro Secondary between Attleboro and Middleboro scheduled to start this fall. This line is planned on getting the works, new ties and stone, to upgrade it to decent speeds...the current numbers are planed on replacing roughly 1300 ties a mile

This goes hand-in-hand with the Framingham Sec. upgrades. CSX is getting 286K loading weight extended from Medfield Jct., where it currently ends, to Mansfield Jct. That's good enough for heavier carloads on the NEC local that trawls the industrial spur a little bit north of Mansfield Jct. to South Attleboro, since the NEC Shoreline got rated 286 pretty much all spots where the extant freight jobs roam when Amtrak did the Acela/electrification rebuild 15 years ago. But CSX doesn't really gain any revenue increase from the uprate unless the Middleboro Sec. gets upgraded to Taunton where it can eventually accept 286K loads out of Fall River and New Bedford when those lines get the last of their (NON- South Coast FAIL -related) repairs. MassDOT has settled on a default Class 2 maintenance standard for any such secondaries or branches prioritized for this scope of freight investment, with the freight carriers obligated to pay to keep it that way for any self-contributed costs for wear and tear their trains put on the state's infrastructure.

It's all itemized in the MA State Rail Plan filed with the FRA, so all of this work has been ID'd as a freight priority for years now. Nothing surprising...and it is a MassDOT, not MBTA, budget that's paying for this. These would just be the first couple installments of that long-anticipated work finally grinding into gear. With later installments to come when they do more freight-only work on the South Coast branches. The only immediate passenger relevance for this is that by speccing a Class 2 maint standard it becomes way easier to reach for Class 3 or 4 when it's time to enact commuter rail to Foxboro, a Providence-flank Cape Flyer funded by RIDOT, or a fond return of the Amtrak Cape Codder. If the rail replacement is done and the bridges are brought up to state-of-repair for 286K weight, then the difference between Class 2 and the next two speed tiers is simply the ratio of good ties to bad for every several dozen ties on a tangent or curved stretch of track. Meaning, further uprates are mostly self-contained in additional funding rounds of tie replacement to increase the "good" tie ratio to what's required of the higher track class (and obviously signalization if you want Class 4 instead of the Class 3 ceiling for dark territory).

[diburning]

Some MassDOT ballast cars were spotted near Selkirk, NY. They appear to be brand new. Are these coming to the MBTA? Or will these be used on other projects such as the Knowledge corridor?



Photo credit: William Sternitzke

[RenegadeMonster]

Those are sharp looking.

Hopefully no one decides to tag them with graffiti right away.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Some MassDOT ballast cars were spotted near Selkirk, NY. They appear to be brand new. Are these coming to the MBTA? Or will these be used on other projects such as the Knowledge corridor?



Photo credit: William Sternitzke

The T gets borrowed for inspections and engineering on out-of-district MassDOT lines on a 1:1 reimbursement basis, so those cars will probably spend most of their time attached to T work details regardless of where they roam. The MassDOT ownership makes them transactionally a lot easier to loan out to private contractors doing work on state lines (e.g. Iowa Pacific/Mass Coastal for the Framingham Secondary upgrades closeout + 3 full-funded upcoming construction seasons of Middleboro Secondary + Cape upgrades).

[deathtopumpkins]

What is that thing mounted on the car sides to the left of the massDOT text?