Cape Flyer

Trolley service from Hyannis to P-Town? Sounds good to me. Maybe they could borrow and restore the ex-P&B car we have at Seashore.

Build an EL over the mid-cape highway...

MBTA3247 wrote:Trolley service from Hyannis to P-Town?

No.

Even if it were politically possible to tear up the Cape Cod Rail Trail and make it a rail line again (spoiler: it's not), reactivating to Provincetown wouldn't make any sense. The ferry would still be a much faster way to get from Boston to P-town, and there's no way there'd be enough intra-Cape traffic to justify it. Also, they can't realistically even get the CCRT to P-town because the ROW is pretty much obliterated north of Wellfleet.

Are we talking about the Falmouth Branch or the "Cape Cod Main Line"? Could rail + trail work from North Falmouth >> West Falmouth >> Falmouth?

As for the "main", much has been subsumed by the mid-cape highway and the rail trail.

BandA wrote:Are we talking about the Falmouth Branch or the "Cape Cod Main Line"? Could rail + trail work from North Falmouth >> West Falmouth >> Falmouth?

As for the "main", much has been subsumed by the mid-cape highway and the rail trail.

On the Falmouth Secondary a Rail + Trail is under consideration from North Falmouth to the Cape Cod Canal. Bike path activists have tried to get the tracks removed to do so, but fortunately the rail line is still active and has no chance of being shutdown for a bike path. I doubt you would ever see Railroad track's being put back in to connect to Falmouth as Turkington made sure that wasn't going to happen. The Falmouth Station was renovated last year and the main parking area for the Steamship Authority is right next door making the area a central transportation hub, which would make the return of a rail link the next step you would think. So traffic congestion will continue to grow and they will have to choke on it because Turkington made sure the rails were removed when the Falmouth bike path was extended to North Falmouth.

Falmouth Secondary to Otis wrote:

BandA wrote:Are we talking about the Falmouth Branch or the "Cape Cod Main Line"? Could rail + trail work from North Falmouth >> West Falmouth >> Falmouth?

As for the "main", much has been subsumed by the mid-cape highway and the rail trail.

On the Falmouth Secondary a Rail + Trail is under consideration from North Falmouth to the Cape Cod Canal. Bike path activists have tried to get the tracks removed to do so, but fortunately the rail line is still active and has no chance of being shutdown for a bike path. I doubt you would ever see Railroad track's being put back in to connect to Falmouth as Turkington made sure that wasn't going to happen. The Falmouth Station was renovated last year and the main parking area for the Steamship Authority is right next door making the area a central transportation hub, which would make the return of a rail link the next step you would think. So traffic congestion will continue to grow and they will have to choke on it because Turkington made sure the rails were removed when the Falmouth bike path was extended to North Falmouth.

Interesting clause in the deed transfering the bike path and the branch ROW from the MBTA to MassDOT. Book 3498 Page 92. This is page 101. Recorded: 06-11-1982.
EDIT for clarity 2107EDT 26 May 2018

The above described property was conveyed to the Grantee subject to a reversion, if within six months of the date of delivery
of the deed, the Grantee had not presented to the United States Railway Association a realistic detailed plan and schedule with
all required Governmental approvals, for the development of the property for use in rail passenger service.

Can't read that. Sorry.

bostontrainguy wrote:Can't read that. Sorry.

The above described property was conveyed to the Grantee subject to a reversion, if within six months of the date of delivery
of the deed, the Grantee had not presented to the United States Railway Association a realistic detailed plan and schedule with
all required Governmental approvals, for the development of the property for use in rail passenger service.

Unfortunately the Barnstable Registry Of Deeds, unlike Middlesex County, charges you by the page to print with out the
"not an official copy" watermark. I added this clarification to the above.

FWIW, I just noticed that the server's time stamp is on standard time..

So, transfer to MassDOT had to do with expected Amtrak service??? And if they didn't come up with a plan within six months the "T" can take it back??? Was this a backdoor way to send some state money to the T, by having one agency buy track from an authority? Doesn't matter much anymore as the T is now under MassDOT.

-- confused

The Cape Cod and Hyannis did run passenger service to Falmouth a few summers in the mid 1980s. I remember staying a couple of weeks in a cottage in Grey Gables, close to the bridge, and being disappointed that the passenger trains to Falmouth shown on the 1985 schedules didnt run in 1986. That service was part of the state-subsidized service to Braintree (which I was finally old enough to ride by myself, according to my parents, in I think 1988, when the subsidy was not renewed, or at least didnt kick and and start service until too late in the summer for my planned trip down to see my grandparents in that cottage. (Sheds quiet railfain missed chance tear.) Anyway, the service in question may have been that service, basically hiring a tourist railroad to offer actual transportation service.

Anyone got any ridership counts from last weekend? How did they compare to a year ago?

332 on the first train out of Boston. I think it was 160 for Saturday, 93 for Sunday and 20 for Monday

D

Twenty? Wow.

BandA wrote:Twenty? Wow.

How many seats does each coach have? How many coaches are on each train?