Haverhill Line Upgrades (Western Route)

jbvb wrote:Arlington, all I've read about the overall design was what someone on [email protected] heard from a foreman on site back in May.

Just to prove it, this evening I see that the track laying crew has continued on past the former Track 17 switch at CP AS, which I (and probably most other observers) thought was their destination. Ties and one rail now reach Andover St. itself, but there's no evidence of what might be done about the grade crossing. At the other end of the job, ballast has reached the new station platform. Ditching and backfilling continues under So. Union St. at the west end of the yard. Nothing else visible.

Thanks for this! This at least helps understand the meaning of what *is* out there, like this old Boston Globe article (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... o_upgrade/) in which they report:

The double-tracking project would reduce the single-track miles on the line from 14 to 8. The project, expected to take two years once it gets underway, also involves installing new signaling equipment at Andover Street in Lawrence and Lowell Junction in Andover.

The second project calls for installing new track circuits, power circuits, and signaling equipment, and improvements to seven grade crossings.

So that first paragraph, above, suggests that they'll in fact cross Andover Street and give it a new *crossing* signal, whereas the other signal project (in the second paragraph) seems to refer to the train-control sort of signals.

I've created a Google map that anyone can edit for this project. Tracing a line exactly 6.0 miles long permits double tracking to start in the middle of the junction at Lowell Junction, Andover and extend all the way to the north side of Andover St in Lawrence.

Here is a link to the Google Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Cuie

If you don't like it, feel free to make it better. One thing I couldn't do is tell where mileposts are from an aerial view. , so I had to just assume that when they say "6 miles" they mean *exactly* six miles, and then fit the curve as best I could to the right of way.

Originally, the word-of-mouth plan ended the double track at about MP 21, about where Dascomb Rd. meets Andover St. N (RR east) of Ballardvale on your map. Since the project started, the only evidence for this has been a day or two's bulldozer-scraping and stone dumping between that point and the Central St. underpass. Of course, work to date been more focused on keeping the crew employed than getting anything done promptly. I'm sure there are gating issues, at a minimum the underground pipe/manholes by Rt. 28 in Andover. But it's been 40 years since anyone who's concerned with what employees cost has put 10 of them on lining bars out in the open where there's room for power equipment.

Today there are a tamper and a track-aligning machine on Track 17 between Frost and the new station. The loader and a hi-rail 10-wheel dump are spreading ballast, which has reached as far as the old station. The assembled track stops about 100' east of Andover St. without connecting to anything. A Guilford crew is assembling track in the yard on the roadbed of the track torn up in the chemical derailment. The ditch hasn't been completely backfilled at the overpass west of the yard. No activity between Shawsheen and Andover.

Will the additional tracks being laid through Andover be configured with the existing Mile Post 22.3 Talking Defect Detector on 161.160 Mhz?

michael_m_rubino wrote:Will the additional tracks being laid through Andover be configured with the existing Mile Post 22.3 Talking Defect Detector on 161.160 Mhz?

No indication yet. The signals on that stretch are post-WWII B&M searchlight type. It wouldn't surprise me if they get replaced with modern 3-lens units, possibly with different block boundaries. The detector needs to be where it will see the freights, so they might install another at the same location. If they're feeling cheap, they'll move the one they have to single track between Lowell Jct. and the new interlocking near MP 21.

As the ground gets ready to freeze, we have: Somewhat unevenly ballasted but lined & tamped track from Frost to the Salem St. overbridge just E. of AS. Ties and rail past, but not connecting to, AS interlocking and stopping short of Andover St. A new or re-mounted searchlight head on a short mast (about 5' above the rail) facing W. on the yard exit at Andover St. The 2nd yard track E of the old EB (torn up in the derailment a few years back) is still jointed rail but the new stone ballast and lining/tamping work is completely out of character for a GTI yard and a crew was working on the E. ladder turnouts. The little dozer is now parked on the old EB roadbed W. of the Central St. underpass in Andover and erosion control has been installed from there to where I'm expecting "Vale" interlocking to be installed.

They've had 8 more days (although only 4 or 5 working days)...anything else to report?

I did end up with a left-side ride this Monday on #212, it looked like from the cemetery crossing down to the end of proposed/planned double track that the welded rail had been shifted to one rail on each side of the new trackbed - not sure if that had been reported earlier, but that was the first time I'd noticed it as I normally don't ride any trains through that area in daylight this time of year.

Anyone notice that the ceremonial double track by the cemetery crossing has been removed!

Did they need it for another ceremony somewhere?

sery2831 wrote:Anyone notice that the ceremonial double track by the cemetery crossing has been removed!

Ceremonial double track? explain please...

They had a groundbreaking ceremony at the cemetery crossing in Andover back in March or April (something like that). For the ceremony, they "installed," or rather just laid on the ground, a section (maybe 40 or 50') of panel track on the second track bed. Within a few days of the groundbreaking, the heavy machinery departed, the track sat, and nothing but some token grading happened south of Lawrence until sometime in October.

Will this double tracking allow Haverhill trains to not need to switch over to the Lowell Line at Wildcat in the near future?

No its all taking place north of the Wildcat branch (which connects the Lowell and Haverhill Lines). The line is entirely single tracked from Reading station to Lawrence Station (for main track purposes). The current plans are simply to add double track from north of Ballardvale up past Lawrence yard and station, which will alleviate congestion on that section which is used by commuter rail, Amtrak and Pan Am.

In a lot of respects, should commuter rail to Plaistow ever happen, it would be good to see more, not less, Haverhill trains routed via the Wildcat and the Lowell Line, as it is a significantly faster ride for commuters from the Merrimack Valley than an all-stops local through Wakefield and Melrose.

This project has no connection to the other single-track section of what is today the Haverhill line - the Orange Line corridor through Malden. That one would require the careful application of much larger sums of money to rectify.