Haverhill Line Upgrades (Western Route)

Signal gang digging and cabling E of Andover St., track gang assembling the closure rails of the facing pont turnout in the E track W of the street today. Surveyors figuring out how to do the track relocation at LJ's E wye turnout.

All I think we're going to get this year is 2nd track AS - I495. The manhole covers are untouched, and the easterly track from Frye to I495 is still B&M jointed rail. It seems to take about 6 months to do one tracks worth of the river bridges, so we won't have both till November or later. They've still got several turnouts to assemble for AS and I495. Maybe in service before September? AS - I495 will improve timekeeping and reduce the need for schedule padding, but don't look for more than 5 min. on a DE schedule. Alas, the easiest thing for them to do is have an outbound DE overtake an outbound MBCR train between I495 and Bradford, which will break a connection I make use of.

Thanks for the update! I think it's still possible to get the work done in Andover in fairly short order if they put their minds to it!
Let's hope.

A couple of questions:

Anybody know the crossover speeds for the new ones going in? I think a #24 crossover allows for 50 MPH.

There used to be a set of signals on the old Eastward main in Andover under the Rte. 28 overpass. They were the approach signals for Andover St., I believe. Are they still there?

Anybody know the official name of the control point that's going in by I-495?

Within the past hour I was looking into the possibility of taking the first Downeaster from Boston to Portland on Sunday, March 24 and coming back on the last train in daylight that day. I found all the possible trains marked cancelled, with no explanation in sight. I finally called the Amtrak 800 number, asked for an agent, and eventually was told that Downeaster service was cancelled March 23 and 24 because of bridge work on the Western Route.

Does this refer to the big bridge over the Merrimack at Haverhill?

Thanks in advance for any information.

No, I believe it's the Shawsheen bridges we're talking about here. MBCR is indicating a Haverhill Line outage that weekend on the Reading to Haverhill section, as well as something on the Lowell Line (NH Route) in the Woburn-Boston end.

http://www.mbcr.net/customer%20service/ ... _Mar13.pdf

Rockingham Racer wrote:Thanks for the update! I think it's still possible to get the work done in Andover in fairly short order if they put their minds to it!
Let's hope.

A couple of questions:

Anybody know the crossover speeds for the new ones going in? I think a #24 crossover allows for 50 MPH.

There used to be a set of signals on the old Eastward main in Andover under the Rte. 28 overpass. They were the approach signals for Andover St., I believe. Are they still there?

Anybody know the official name of the control point that's going in by I-495?

There are no signals in that area now...certainly nothing visible from the station or any of the overpasses (Main St/28 and Harding St). I believe the closest signal before you get up to Frye is at the cemetery crossing.

octr202 wrote: There are no signals in that area now...certainly nothing visible from the station or any of the overpasses (Main St/28 and Harding St). I believe the closest signal before you get up to Frye is at the cemetery crossing.

Right... even if they get the eastern end of the new main hooked up at CPF-AS, they need to put some signals on the new JK switch,
regardless of the iterim or final configuration of CPF-Frye,.... unless that track will always be considered part of the yard.

Dave.

Regarding Service on March 23-24, it appears they are running some Downeaster Service
between Haverhill and Portland and Portland and Haverhill. Run those points on Amtrak.com
for details. Then I believe the MBTA will be running buses between Reading and Haverhill
and Haverhill and Reading. This would mean using the MBTA between Reading and Boston
and Boston and Reading. I believe that the Downeasters connected with the MBTA buses
from and to Haverhill, although I never saw any posts that anyone rode that schedule.

Look for the www.amtrakdowneaster.com site to post the details on this service probably
by March 18th or so.

jbvb wrote:Signal gang digging and cabling E of Andover St., track gang assembling the closure rails of the facing pont turnout in the E track W of the street today. Surveyors figuring out how to do the track relocation at LJ's E wye turnout.

All I think we're going to get this year is 2nd track AS - I495. The manhole covers are untouched, and the easterly track from Frye to I495 is still B&M jointed rail. It seems to take about 6 months to do one tracks worth of the river bridges, so we won't have both till November or later. They've still got several turnouts to assemble for AS and I495. Maybe in service before September? AS - I495 will improve timekeeping and reduce the need for schedule padding, but don't look for more than 5 min. on a DE schedule. Alas, the easiest thing for them to do is have an outbound DE overtake an outbound MBCR train between I495 and Bradford, which will break a connection I make use of.

Thanks for the update.

5 minutes off the Downeaster's total trip time to Boston from Portland would still be somewhat noteworthy. Hopefully its just the beginning of more to come.

On the subject of the bridge reconstruction itself, at the Lowell Jct bridge you can see (from the train) the new steel arches that have been fabricated. When I rode by Monday night, several were in various phases of assembly in the area railroad east of the span. Less able to tell what construction methods are being used at the other bridge.

The eastern span (near Central St. is somewhat easily visible now from nearby roads. On the west (railroad north) side, you can get a reasonable view (though not up close) of the worksite from the sidewalk on Red Spring Rd (at least until the leaves grow back this spring), and on the other side there is a park (natural area) on the NE corner of Lupine Rd and Central St which is open to the public. Once all the snow is gone, there should be a couple visible trails down the the river's edge, and can give something of a view back up towards the other side of the bridge. Probably best to park on Abbott Bridge Rd (across Central St). Info: http://www.avisandover.org/lupine.html

There's also a nature preserve on the geographic west side of the railroad near the Lowell Jct Bridge, although I've yet to make it down to that one - maybe once the mud recedes I'll try that one. Info: http://www.andovertrails.org/polehill.html

These areas are open to the public, but note that parking is limited to on-street only in most cases, please be mindful of residential streets that you are parking on.

At I495 (about 1/2 mile W of the original JK), signals are up but not in service, and at least two turnouts are partly assembled. From their locations, it appears it will be a pair of crossovers with the switch into the extended yard lead between them. The former EB past the yard has been entirely rebuilt with welded rail and rock ballast, implying it will be main track. I can't yet tell if there will be any connection between the yard/Track 17 and the main tracks at AS when work is complete.

Posters describing DE service 3/23-24 have been put up at Haverhill. Haven't noticed anything from MBCR yet.

jbvb wrote: I can't yet tell if there will be any connection between the yard/Track 17 and the main tracks at AS when work is complete.

If there isn't a connection from the yard to the mains at Andover St., that will means everything to/from the east will have to use Frost, I suppose. Less operational flexibility for sure.

This is going to sound a little crazy but Trainriders Northeast has posted on their website that NNEPRA is projecting a return to a 5:40PM time slot on April 1 for Train #687. Not sure if this implies completion of a certain phase of construction or not, to me it seemed to.

Back in the day, you could go from 4 partly-assembled turnouts beside the RoW to 7 newly operational turnouts and a new track across Andover St. in two weeks if you didn't mind paying 25 track workers on two shifts through next weekend, and a dozen or more on the signals till it was done. The crews that fixed bombed interlockings might finish before Monday's rush hour. But I'm not holding my breath.

Instead, I think the MBTA and NNEPRA are going to sacrifice a little schedule padding once the risk of serious snow is minimal - a 5:40 687 *ought* to reach WJ ahead of 233 most days. And the bridge speed restrictions will probably be relaxed once the track shift takes place. When the weather gets bad again, at least AS - I495 will be available, maybe more.

jbvb wrote:Instead, I think the MBTA and NNEPRA are going to sacrifice a little schedule padding once the risk of serious snow is minimal - a 5:40 687 *ought* to reach WJ ahead of 233 most days. And the bridge speed restrictions will probably be relaxed once the track shift takes place. When the weather gets bad again, at least AS - I495 will be available, maybe more.

Makes sense. All the more reason to believe that the trip times will improve once the full project is complete. If all of the latter is correct that's very encouraging.

This morning signalmen working at the old Lawrence Tower location E of Andover St. and track gang assembling crossover frogs W of Andover St. Nothing happening at I495, though some prep was done last week for assembling more turnouts. Crews working on both Shawsheen bridges; it looks like they've buried the steel girders at the LJ bridge. Buried steel gives me this "not really built to last" feeling, but I doubt I'll live to see the next round of speed restrictions.

Odd sight Saturday: About 1PM I passed WJ on I-93 and saw an MBCR trainset led by an F40 W of the signal on the line to Reading. It didn't appear to be moving. AFAIK everything E of Reading was supposed to be buses that weekend.