Q re: 2nd track on Framingham line past Beacon Park

It would seem that one of the bottlenecks to expanding T train frequency on the Framingham/Worcester line is lack of a 2nd track between CP3 (?) and CP4 past Beacon Park and enabling trains to serve Yawkey station from both exisiting tracks east of CP3. I dont' ride the T a lot but I have been on trains that have had to wait for opposing moves through this area. At any rate, a few weeks ago I rode a wb T past Beacon Park and noticed that one of the yard tracks near the main line was rusty and out of service. Is there a possibility that CSX is giving up a yard track to permit such a double tracking of the passenger rail main line here?

no because CSX uses that track to build trains or uses it as yard storage

If you are referring to the short stretch under the Mass.Pike viaduct, that is referred to as "Lower One" and for the most part isn't used, but is often used to store cars and or equipment so that a regular yard track won't be tied-up. Some examples: back in the early 1990's the last 4 F units sat there for a month or two. A couple years ago the FRA T-2000 SPV was parked there over the weekend.

This short stretch of track would not make a difference in meets, especially since it would cause many delays while reconfiguring the interlocking @ CP-3.

Also, just because there is rust on the rail doesn't mean it hasn't been used in a long time. Any time it rains there will be a bit of rust on the rail for a day or two until the first move passes over it.

The rusty Beacon Park yard track I was referring to was well west of the Mass Pike viaduct. It was the 2nd track north of the mainline and, IIRC, as we were speeding by (on the last Thursday of April) it looked like a switch had been removed toward the tower end. Or maybe it was in the process of being replaced? I didn't see any evidence of work going on, though. The track next to the mainline was rust-free and looked active.

That would be track #2 in the yard. Since there are only 12 tracks in the yard other than flexi-flo and the three TV tracks, all are needed. They must have been working on the switch or something.

I was down their today, that trash train i think it is with the Grey Containers takes up alot of space and sticks out quite a bit

OK, thanks for the info. I didn't think it would be that easy to double track this stretch of track given how small/congested Beacon Park yard is.

GP40MC 1116 wrote:I was down their today, that trash train i think it is with the Grey Containers takes up alot of space and sticks out quite a bit

Trash is the biggest business nowadays......and the railroads love it because nobody will complain when the cars are late getting to where they are to be dumped because it's not worth as much, lol.