Grafton & Upton Railroad (G&U) Discussion

An update(4/24) on Hopedale:

The large pile of decrepit used Ties that were piled high Noth of the large green building off of Depot St. have moved ~ 300 yards South of this said building.

There is an Komotsu excavator and (2) small earth moving tractors parked along side. Also, there are a number of stacks of used Rail behind the white shed.

Anyone know what's going on???

craven wrote:An update(4/24) on Hopedale:

The large pile of decrepit used Ties that were piled high Noth of the large green building off of Depot St. have moved ~ 300 yards South of this said building.

There is an Komotsu excavator and (2) small earth moving tractors parked along side. Also, there are a number of stacks of used Rail behind the white shed.

Anyone know what's going on???

The old ties could have been removed during track matinence, or maybe the G&U is gearing up to continue expansion?

Hello all, I have heard news that the track will be futher rehabed in the coming months. Also does anyone know what the G&U palns on doing with the old grade crossing lights.

I know some lines activate them and they have an auto shut off when the train has cleared.

G&U Future wrote:Hello all, I have heard news that the track will be futher rehabed in the coming months. Also does anyone know what the G&U palns on doing with the old grade crossing lights.

I know some lines activate them and they have an auto shut off when the train has cleared.

I would not expect to see the lights activated in the near future. When I talked to the employees last year during the Grafton Celebration they said that the problem with activation is the need for a full time technician to respond to problems 24/7.

This would seem difficult and expensive for a RR with only two full time employees at this time. I suppose they could contract the work out but a flagman on the train seems much more cost effective for one or two runs a day.

In the future, they may be forced to re-activate signals in Milford since they will have to get permits to re-etablish the grade crossings which were paved over (such as at Rte. 140).

I noticed near the end of the week that there was a new? freshly-painted and transparent-plastic wrapped silver box in the yard near the freight house. It looked like the standard kind of box that you would find near a grade crossing or signal. I didn't see it there this morning so I don't know where it went.

Also, if you like older vehicles, there is an older Jeep type of vehicle parked next to the observation car. It has the Edaville engine #7 decal on the door. The hood emblem is WO which I think might be Willys-Overland. The best light for photos would be in the afternoon and on a weekend when there are no other vehicles parked next to it.

Also II, I caught the ballast "critter" that the G&U is using while it was parked next to the Cumberland Farms in Grafton Center. It skittered off down the line toward W.Upton.

Don't recall - may have posted this months ago, but in case I haven't, I thought some of you would be interested in knowing that in addition to the short Gordon Hopper history of the G&U that's online, he wrote one that's about 160 pages. It's typewritten with photocopier pictures, but lots of good info. It was given to me a couple of years ago by Milford history guy, Paul Curran. I've made copies and given them to the Bancroft Library in Hopedale and the Upton History Museum.
danm41 http://www.hope1842.com

So, browsing the G&U Wikipedia entry this morning showed a recent edit to the G&U's locomotive roster, #1501 an F7A!

The G&U railfan site has also updated the roster to reflect the change.

http://people.rit.edu/njp3545/graftonup ... roster.php

Which gives the additional info that the unit in question is ex-Adirondack Scenic Railroad #1500.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopi ... x?id=70529

Something to drag the business car around? If so the G&U will need to come up with a passenger livery for the F unit - the mind reels at the possibilities.

It's getting interesting again!

-Mike

Maybe some scenic rides are in order. Such runs could be used for crew training and familiarization.

danm41 wrote:Don't recall - may have posted this months ago, but in case I haven't, I thought some of you would be interested in knowing that in addition to the short Gordon Hopper history of the G&U that's online, he wrote one that's about 160 pages. It's typewritten with photocopier pictures, but lots of good info. It was given to me a couple of years ago by Milford history guy, Paul Curran. I've made copies and given them to the Bancroft Library in Hopedale and the Upton History Museum.
danm41 http://www.hope1842.com

-- Thanks to a kind benefactor, this same Hopper G&U history is available for inspection at the Grafton Historical Society also. They are closed for the month of July due to renovation, but are normally open every Sunday , through-out the year from 2-4 pm. There are also other G&U RR items available for research during your visit. Also, there is a wonderful North Grafton Railroads display available for viewing while you are there. Come , visit .

CurrentResident wrote:So, browsing the G&U Wikipedia entry this morning showed a recent edit to the G&U's locomotive roster, #1501 an F7A!

The G&U railfan site has also updated the roster to reflect the change.

http://people.rit.edu/njp3545/graftonup ... roster.php

Which gives the additional info that the unit in question is ex-Adirondack Scenic Railroad #1500.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopi ... x?id=70529

Something to drag the business car around? If so the G&U will need to come up with a passenger livery for the F unit - the mind reels at the possibilities.

It's getting interesting again!

-Mike

F unit?? sweet!

Just notice that the G&U has their website up: www.graftonuptonrr.com

Lots of good info.

I have recently moved all my Grafton & Upton Railroad photos to a new photo service. The new web page and photos can be found at:

http://dmwenc.zenfolio.com/f641446962

Dan

jimw wrote:Just notice that the G&U has their website up: http://www.graftonuptonrr.com

Lots of good info.

Looking at the map, once the whole line is in working order, we basically have one of the smallest trunk lines in the country. From the looks of it, G&U will act as a short cut between CSX in the north, and in the south. Very interesting, and my applause to Mr. Prescoli. They do have a nice banner on that website. Any idea who took the picture.

I got a 20 that says.....Tom Nanos took that one....

Actually, the photo on the front page of the official G&U web page, night shot was mine. The lumedyne lighting was courtesy of two other rail photographers. There were several other rail photographers there for that evening, photos taken with permission of the GU of course, and permission to be on property was authorized.

I also used that night shot as the cover of my 2011 Railroad Calendar, Featuring the G&U. The GU also used several of my photos for use in thier marketing brouchures and web page.

Dan
http://www.photographybydmwenc.com