Interesting Consist Discussion for the North Side

dth9269 wrote:Pan Am #610 headed inbound at West Cambridge this morning, ~9:30AM, pulling two flatbeds and two new bi-levels (#18xx and #18xx+1...I didn't make a note of them). Then #601 just passed here headed outbound toward Fitchburg, all by itself, ~3:50PM.

The bilevels were marked as MBTX, via sheets of paper taped inside the door windows.

Dan

Likely the 1803 and 1804 that were mentioned by ns as having arrived in Selkirk the other day.

beanbag wrote:

dth9269 wrote:Pan Am #610 headed inbound at West Cambridge this morning, ~9:30AM, pulling two flatbeds and two new bi-levels (#18xx and #18xx+1...I didn't make a note of them). Then #601 just passed here headed outbound toward Fitchburg, all by itself, ~3:50PM.

The bilevels were marked as MBTX, via sheets of paper taped inside the door windows.

Dan

Likely the 1803 and 1804 that were mentioned by ns as having arrived in Selkirk the other day.

Those would be the ones!

Very late report here, since this is leftover from this morning. About 7:30 am Monday at North Station, fellow rr.net member Diverging Route and I saw an unusual set departing from track 10. Too far away to see numbers, but it looked like a GP40MC, an F40 rebuild, a 700 or 900 K car (didn't look like it had destination signs), and a 1600 cab car (I think the one with the "Boston Strong" banner). Not sure if this was just a detour move heading for Ayer and Worcester, as I don't recall seeing those going into North Station normally. Anyone else happen to see this one?

octr202 wrote:Very late report here, since this is leftover from this morning. About 7:30 am Monday at North Station, fellow rr.net member Diverging Route and I saw an unusual set departing from track 10. Too far away to see numbers, but it looked like a GP40MC, an F40 rebuild, a 700 or 900 K car (didn't look like it had destination signs), and a 1600 cab car (I think the one with the "Boston Strong" banner). Not sure if this was just a detour move heading for Ayer and Worcester, as I don't recall seeing those going into North Station normally. Anyone else happen to see this one?

Good eyes, OCTR202! While passing BET around 7:20am, Diverging Route saw this set sitting in the yard with its headlights flashing (track adjacent to the Fitchburg outbound). Diverging Route's conductor mentioned he saw it an hour earlier, same place, doing the same thing.

Nothing special just the extra move to the southside, 1136 and 1074 were the ponies with a few coaches trailing.

This morning around 9AM at North Station on track 3 was one of the strangest consists I've ever seen... Two locos and two coaches.

1001 - 639 - 1628 - 1031
(1031 was on the inbound end)

What on earth would that be doing?

Sounds like the firefighter training consist.

Interesting they didn't put a Rotem on that.. You'd think with them being the newest cars on the scene, firefighter training and familiarization would be an important item on the to do list.

There are only three Rotem cars that can be out on the road. Unless the training was at BET then it cannot happen. But a 900 K car with electric doors would work, they are very similar minus Stryker Chairs.

Just after noon today we had a parade of odd vehicles (MOW special purpose stuff, I'm guessing) heading outbound at West Cambridge. Interestingly the lead vehicle didn't trigger the crossing gates until it was about halfway across Sherman St., moving at a crawl.

dth9269 wrote:Interestingly the lead vehicle didn't trigger the crossing gates until it was about halfway across Sherman St., moving at a crawl.

It probably wasn't the lead vehicle at all... it was probably one of the pieces later in the gang. Not all MoW equipment will complete track circuits - in fact most won't.

For example... http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,695223

Also, crossing control circuit blocks usually start fairly far away from the crossing itself. The particular piece of equipment that made the connection could have been 1/4 mile or 1/2 mile away - unless it was a closer one that had a switchable shunt which the crew activated at that moment.

The second movement involving Amtrak coaches today...earlier this morning I saw one Amtrak and 3 MBTA coaches being pulled inbound at West Cambridge, and just now (12:45PM) the MBTA #3249 engine was pulling three more Amtrak coaches and Amtrak locomotive #204 (or #240? or some other numbers entirely, perhaps) inbound.

You spotted the Geo Train and then a normal equipment move.

Doubleheader in service tonight...I think it was 1007 & 1002 paired up on track 10 about 5:30 Wednesday evening.

octr202 wrote:Doubleheader in service tonight...I think it was 1007 & 1002 paired up on track 10 about 5:30 Wednesday evening.

Two screamers.. Hope that engineer had top notch hearing protection.