Grafton & Upton Railroad (G&U) Discussion

http://www.thedailygrafton.com/Articles ... lroad.html

Santa Claus is arriving this weekend via the Grafton & Upton Railroad.
December 08, 2010 - GRAFTON, Mass. - Santa Claus is coming to town -- and he's hitching a ride on the Grafton & Upton Railroad. The jolly old elf is making a special trip to Upton and Grafton on Saturday, Dec. 11. He's leaving the reindeer behind, however, choosing instead to make a whistle stop tour of both towns aboard a Grafton & Upton Railroad train. G&U owner Jon Delli Priscoli said the train will make two stops for about an hour each in Upton and in Grafton so that kids of all ages may visit with Santa, receive some candy and have a photo taken with him aboard the G&U caboose.

*You should be able to purchase hats & shirts at these events*

No line improvements past Upton.

Gasp! Cutting trees!

http://www.thedailygrafton.com/Articles ... ments.html

Delli Priscoli: Tree clearing was needed for railroad improvements
By Jennifer Lord Paluzzi
December 11, 2010 - GRAFTON, Mass. - Recent tree cutting near the Grafton & Upton Railroad tracks in North Grafton is part of ongoing efforts to improve the rail line, according to owner Jon Delli Priscoli. The clearing of trees and brush has been the subject of several calls by concerned residents to the Municipal Center, Town Administrator Tim McInerney told the Board of Selectmen this week.

OH NO THEY'RE CUTTING TREES, LETS CALL THE COPS!

psshhhhhhh... haha!!

Very interesting comments attached to the article, mostly NIMBY issues. Imagine the "horror" when the line to Hopedale is eventually opened up...

Hello all. I'm relatively new to this G&U Forum. I've got a pretty extensive collection of photographs of the G&U since its new ownership. I've complied my G&U photos broken down into several categories on my web page, Grafton Yard, Upton Yard, individual locomotives, equipment etc. Passing along the link to share my G&U photos, should anyone care to take a look, if you haven't come across them before. (Photos best viewed in Orginal Size).

http://www.photographybydmwenc.com/gurr

Thanks for looking! Enjoy.
Dan

I examined the 3 locomotives at the North Grafton yard today and noticed the small " F's " on the ends of the locomotives. I was wondering why the 1751 and 1500 are marked on the short-nose ends and the 1750 is marked on the long-hood end. Is this just a paperwork-reporting thing for each unit or is there an operational reason for this? Thanks, Mike

g-u-rr wrote:I examined the 3 locomotives at the North Grafton yard today and noticed the small " F's " on the ends of the locomotives. I was wondering why the 1751 and 1500 are marked on the short-nose ends and the 1750 is marked on the long-hood end. Is this just a paperwork-reporting thing for each unit or is there an operational reason for this? Thanks, Mike

The controls on 1750 face the long hood. Some might remember that the early Geeps were the first diesels to replace steam locos, who had the cabin in the rear with the long hood forward.

SkiScorcher88 wrote:

g-u-rr wrote:I examined the 3 locomotives at the North Grafton yard today and noticed the small " F's " on the ends of the locomotives. I was wondering why the 1751 and 1500 are marked on the short-nose ends and the 1750 is marked on the long-hood end. Is this just a paperwork-reporting thing for each unit or is there an operational reason for this? Thanks, Mike

The controls on 1750 face the long hood. Some might remember that the early Geeps were the first diesels to replace steam locos, who had the cabin in the rear with the long hood forward.

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't know that the engineer controls were " reversed " on the 1750 . Now it makes sense why I've seen the head-end flag crewmember riding the long-end visible to the engineer on what normally would be the firemans side.

SkiScorcher88 wrote:

g-u-rr wrote:I examined the 3 locomotives at the North Grafton yard today and noticed the small " F's " on the ends of the locomotives. I was wondering why the 1751 and 1500 are marked on the short-nose ends and the 1750 is marked on the long-hood end. Is this just a paperwork-reporting thing for each unit or is there an operational reason for this? Thanks, Mike

The controls on 1750 face the long hood. Some might remember that the early Geeps were the first diesels to replace steam locos, who had the cabin in the rear with the long hood forward.

The F-Unit was among the first diesels that replaced steam and the Geeps came later. Since the F units had the control stands in the front the 1500 is run short hood forward since it is a CF7 (rebodied F7). The GP9s were more than likely ordered as they are by the original railroads. Some prefered, and some still prefer, to run long hood forward.

Jeff

frrc wrote:Very interesting comments attached to the article, mostly NIMBY issues. Imagine the "horror" when the line to Hopedale is eventually opened up...

I especially enjoy the multiple comments about how, without the tree branches, there will nothing to keep derailed railcars from rolling over.

My friend Chris and I made my first visit to the G&U on Monday, Jan. 17. Explored a few spots along the line, and saw the engines and other equipment, including about a half dozen cars in the yard.
Is there a set schedule for operations on the G&U? How frequently do they run? I assume that CSX must go into the yard to set out/pick up interchange traffic, as there appears no place to do it closer to the junction. When does CSX normally come by?

I know there are a lot of questions here, but being a 2-hour drive to get there, I'd really like to maximize my opportunity
to see some operations. Any help along these lines would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Lee Carlson

Hi folks, Today, I was able to monitor snow-clearing operations on the G&U at North Grafton using the OLD G&U administrative frequency of 160.245. Conversations included items concerning switch-clearing, "scaring-off" snowmobiles coming up the track and calling CSX at Framingham to see whether 2 cars expected were actually going to arrive today.
I've made these monitorings kind-of vague so I don't run afoul of the rules regarding transmission of information heard. The GOOD NEWS is that the old G&U RR 160.245 frequency is ACTIVE !

g-u-rr wrote:Hi folks, Today, I was able to monitor snow-clearing operations on the G&U at North Grafton using the OLD G&U administrative frequency of 160.245. Conversations included items concerning switch-clearing, "scaring-off" snowmobiles coming up the track and calling CSX at Framingham to see whether 2 cars expected were actually going to arrive today.
I've made these monitorings kind-of vague so I don't run afoul of the rules regarding transmission of information heard. The GOOD NEWS is that the old G&U RR 160.245 frequency is ACTIVE !

Nice, how far away from the yard were you when you did this? I'm wondering how much range you can get.

ebtmikado wrote:My friend Chris and I made my first visit to the G&U on Monday, Jan. 17. Explored a few spots along the line, and saw the engines and other equipment, including about a half dozen cars in the yard.
Is there a set schedule for operations on the G&U? How frequently do they run? I assume that CSX must go into the yard to set out/pick up interchange traffic, as there appears no place to do it closer to the junction. When does CSX normally come by?

I know there are a lot of questions here, but being a 2-hour drive to get there, I'd really like to maximize my opportunity
to see some operations. Any help along these lines would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Lee Carlson

I think the G & U starts very early in the morning, and CSX typically backs in close to the end of the day,