Sat
27
Oct '07
For the past few weeks we have been talking on the Quincy repeater about the first trains to run on the restored Old Colony service to Greenbush. W1BT was set to ride the train. K1LWI and I took pictures at different stations in order to record the moment. The train was powered by MBTA F40PH 1029 and F40PH 1074. They had a large crowd of persons that purchased tickets from the Scituate Historical Society for a special excursion to South Station, today. I could not believe the amount of people that waited to embark for the trip to South Station.
This was a very large crowd. The train departed promptly from Greenbush at 11:26 AM. Even the usual cast of characters from MBTA management were present to provide rude and hollering disservice.
A lot of work remains on the Old Colony project. All of the track work has been completed. However, many of the stations have remaining projects. Most of the stations are incomplete. The small things that matter are far from finished. Items remain such as numbering all of the slots on the parking payment boxes. Various signage are missing. Much of the landscaping projects were in progress, TODAY. The traffic light at the crossing of the railroad in North Scituate is still not completely set up. The rotary at the driftway is still not resolved.
Plus, the MBTA expects service to start on October 31st. Did anyone ever conclude that such a date would fall on a Wednesday? They will offer a free train on that day. Why couldn’t they try to start the service on a Monday? Why didn’t they give the riders a few days of free train service ala the introduction to the Kingston and Middleboro lines?
The above is a shot of Greenbush special running underneath Route 3A and approaching the historic village of Hingham. Do you want to see the tunnel?
N1EY
Here is a picture of the BNSF train rolling past Monolith. This plant manufactures cement. You do not see many large concrete plants adjacent to railroad operations in the United States. I have seen the operations in Ireland; concrete shipments form a large part of the total freight operations on their railroad. This concrete plant is unique and serves most of the California area. It obtains raw material and ships primarily by the railroad. Otherwise, it might now have been able to survive in its’ location or maintain its’ illustrious salesbook. It is kind of an odd sight as you drive down the road and hardly see anything but open desert landscape running through the mountains. It is pretty serene but Monolith breaks up the monotony. The sun was against me for this shot but I tried my best. I hope that you like it. I usually try to take these shots in order to have something on file. I find it is better to have something than find oneself lacking. Anyways, there is not much out here, but lots of people travel up and down the highway. I would dare say that there would be an interest for a high speed train service, if they actually build it. There has been some talk about building the railroad, but the costs of railroad have always been held as prohibitive. Yet, the highway pass through the mountain range was very expensive in comparison to other highway projects. I think that a railroad built for speed and lots of extra capacity would eventually be reviewed upon as very favorable and economical. One of the features of the freight pass through the mountains is the loop. The trains actually loop over themselves due to the need to obtain elevation. I do not anticipate the high speed passenger train service utilizing such a system, but it could be possible.
of this and I asked KB1PBT if he had stopped in Yuma, this year. According to KB1PBT, Yuma is a nice town. I’m sure they would not want actors running on a rampage through their town. Anyways, I should note that it also has a bike rack. Those items are suspiciously missing from a great majority of the MBTA bus fleet. They actually get used in California, too. I don’t think that people in Boston are interested in using bicycles. I could be wrong, but I tend not to be wrong…
pped system. They also create bottlenecks with the street running in a congest downtown area. I should also note that the Metro is an authority that traverses county and municipal borders. However, there seems to be very little co-ordination with local bus service, which is often provided by a separate municipal based bus service.Ê The municipal bus service in Long Beach was a little weird.Ê They actually had a free service branch that connected to the blue line in downtown Long Beach.Ê This foto is shot in downtown Long Beach near the terminus of the Blue Line.Ê Around the corner is a stop for the bus service.Ê The bus service provides free bus service for locals that is very similar to a local bus service that requires payment.
te trains out of the LA basin via the new Alameda Corridor. The Alameda Corridor is a public authority that constructed a new grade separated right of way. It is also making improvements such as grade eliminations in various spots along the UP and the BNSF. The container traffic out of LA is voluminous. So, they are working on streamlining the process and reducing energy usage. The primary focus on the reduction of energy usage is to achieve economic productivity with less pollution. The W would be proud.
So, I went to meet them. They were very friendly at W6RO. The club has a great call sign. It does not sound too bad in either of cw or ssb modes. They also dressed to impress at W6RO. I was reminded of how sloppy I had dressed aboard K1USN. I once stopped by in full bicycle gear. I met another ham from Scotland as well. One of the hams from the club was very
familiar with railroading from California. I had a great time chatting with the bunch. Hams are every where! I tell ya!
Leave a passing comment »