Today in Northampton, MA. Pan Am Railway. In the future, Amtrak will be coming though here.
Rich
All except the last photo are not close enough to tell for sure, but it looks like jointed rail is being replaced by continuous welded rail.
Yes, it is welded track. the one sort of close up, the worker is welding in the next section. The posted photos cannot be enlarged quite enough. I can easily see the details when looking at the camera media.
Rich
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Thanks for the interesting pictures, Rich. Is this new track for the Vermonter?
John
Yes it is. There will be a new station on Holyoke, MA and Northampton, MA. No idea where the stations will be yet as they will need bus and taxi service space. The last I heard, service through Amherst will be eliminated. From Springfield, MA up to I think Greenfield, MA will be double track.
Pan Am Railway and I think Springfield Terminal still use the single track now. I use to see ST at times.
Rich
Rich,
Thanks for the information.
John
Rich; as the rail is laid and surfaced have you noticed the freights still using the route are going at higher speeds ? ie are taking advantage of the better track even before AMTRAK?
This just started very recently. Maybe a couple weeks ago. This year I have clocked the freights at about 20 mph max as I ride my bike along Rt 5 from Easthampton up to where it goes single track in Northampton along side a rail trail, the former New Haven/Northampton line. At that point, I carry my bike across the tracks to pickup another rail trail into Hadley. This will all be fenced off in the future from what I have heard so far. Right now, many walk across the rails at many points there is so little rail traffic.
Many, many spike heads on the sleepers are up about a half an inch from the rail flange. Many sleepers have to be replaced. At the gaps of the old rail, many of the rail ends are slightly bent down and you can hear a lot of loud clicks as wheels pass over the gaps. The road bed needs a lot of upgrading.
Rich
In other Vermonter-related work New England Central cut in the new CTC section from Windsor VT to Roxbury Sub MP 18.5 last Saturday. Most of this (up to MP13) was ABS before, with new signals protecting the White River Jct VT yard, and locks or position detectors on all mainline switches.
My understanding is that a new station is planned for Greenfield, with a new platform at Northampton. Holyoke is still only a proposal. The state of MA is working to purchase the line from Springfield to East Deerfield from Pan Am (Southern). Included in plans is restoration of signals, connecting the interlocking islands at East Deerfield, Greenfield, Northampton south and Springfield.
Rich; my understanding is that ties need to be replaced before new rail is laid because the bad ties and ballast will cause new rail to be prone to fracture due to un necessary bending. So what is the order that this work is being done ? Mudchicken can elaborate but the order I have always seen it done is drop some ballast, tie replacement, some surfacing, new rail, more ballast, final surfacing, ballast regulating ?
Before installing welded rail on a deteriorated jointed rail right of way, the road bed needs major work, The jointed rail will have many ‘low’ spots where because of the impacts as the wheels cross that joint, some joints have better foundations than others - however, just putting welded rail in place of jointed rail will not change the ‘low’ spots that the jointed rail created. Those low spots, if not repaired, will become failure points for the welded rail in the future. To effectively install welded rail, the track has to be improved from the sub-grade to the rail head - including ballast and ties. The rail itself is just the cherry on top.
On the NECR, which had better ties to begin with, the order was rails, ballast, ties. On the former B&M in Mass north of Greenfield a fair number of ties were replaced this year to allow the rail to be relaid. After the rail is in the rest of the ties get installed, then ballast and finally tamping, alignment and cross-leveling. At some point any required new switches get cut in, along with signal system insulated joints. As counter-intutive as this order seems, it results in the end in the new rail being spiked to the largest possible number of new ties. Needless to say, speed limits won’t get changed until all of the work is finished.
In B&M days there were a couple of short 50/40 (Freight/Passenger) MPH segments, with a lot of 40/30 and even 30/30 sections from between Springfield and White River Jct. Currently funded plan for the Vermonter’s route ignoring local speed restrictions calls for 59/40 from the Canadian border to mile 18.5 (just west of White River Jct), 79/60 from 18.5 to Brattleboro, 59/40 from Brattleboro to East Northfield (unless the 9 mile segment is treated as a single block, since there is a controlled switch at East Northfield…) then 79/60 all the way from East Northfield to Springfield. Rules change between NECR and NORAC at East Northfield.
In the 3rd photo, that appears to be an oxygen-acetylene cutting torch he’s using - note the hoses leading from the car over to him. Most likely he’s either ‘blowing’ a hole in the rail to attach a chain or a hook to secure the rail to the existing track structure to provide the resistance to hold the next string of Continuous Welded Rail in place while the train moves ahead out from underneath it, or else he’s cutting it to approximate length or a piece off the end to match up with the previous rail that’s been dropped - though that would be unusual before the actual installation of the rail, perhaps there’s a grade crossing or turnout (switch) nearby that necessitates some shorter pieces of rail.
- Paul North.
What an interesting way to express it.
Rich,
As Paul noted, the guy with the torch is either trimming the end of the rail, or attaching a chain to hold that section in place…you would spend hours trying to oxy/acetylene weld rail and never get it strong enough.
Keep an eye peeled for them to start doing the boudette welds, and have your camera ready, especially if it is close to dusk, it is a serious light show!
(http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k143/edblysard/welding012.jpg[/IMG)]
Watch for them to do something that looks like this…
(http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k143/edblysard/welding007.jpg[/IMG)]
Which ends up looking like this….
(http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k143/edblysard/welding022-1.jpg[/IMG)]
The weld ends up being stronger than the rail, it is very uncommon for this type of weld to fail.
Keep up the good reporting, this forum needs stuff like this!
Not sure why the photos didn’t post in the above, but here they are.
Now I understand why welders need so much track time when they are making a thermite weld. 15" to set up and make the weld, 1’45 to grind the slag and over-weld away!
I did find it interesting that no roadbed work is bing done yet. No other equipment in the area for roadbed work.
Coal shipments to a power plant nearby had been stopped in the past because of the track issues. About a half mile from this spot. The coal had been dumped in Springfield and trucked to the plant though I have heard of coal shipments this summer.
There is a turnout a short way from where the work was being done. No idea if a section is just being replaced.
Rich
If you do get to see them do the thermite welds, be sure you have your sunglasses with you.