Upgrading a railroad

[richg]

New rail for the Pan Am Railway in Northampton, MA. I think the Bach-Man is damiliar with this projetc. The Vermonter is going to be rerouted though Northampton after many years. A couple photos of the project. The new rail will be 136 lb rail.
A new station will be built near the old Union Station.



Turnout for a siding a short way from the station.



I ride a rail trail along side the main.

The Guilford Rail System some years ago bought the emblem and name of Pan American Airlines and the name now is, Pan Am Railway, aligned with Norfolk Southern somehow.

Rich

[richg]

Hi Rail dump truck today dropping a little ballast at different spots. Another machine on rails smooths out the ballast.
This is in Northampton, MA. A rail trail and highway are right along the mainline.



Have to look up this machine. Most of the equipment looks brand new or recently refurbished.



Rich

[richg]

Large scale sectional track. For street crossings to minimize time required to replace track at street crossings. This is 136 lb rail.



Rich

[richg]

A close up of the ties.



Rich

[richg]

One quarter mile long strips of rail put down on either side of the main last year.





Rich

[rogertra]

I couldn't help but notice they seem to be using Pandrol Clips (A UK product) to secure the rail to the ties on the new track and not spikes.

Cheers

Roger T.

[richg]

I couldn't help but notice they seem to be using Pandrol Clips (A UK product) to secure the rail to the ties on the new track and not spikes.

Cheers

Roger T.

Yeah. Lots of them.

Rich

[jward]

there are actually a couple of different styles of clips being used. different companies do things different ways. some are still using the traditional spikes in wood ties.

[richg]

All I have ever seen are the spikes.
This was new.
It was very interesting about two years ago watching the crews pull off each section of rail from the flatcars.
For those who might not be familiar with rcontinuous welded rail (CWR), sometimes referred to as ribbon rails.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_%28rail_transport%29

Rich

[richg]

Pan Am Railway OCS. It went through Northampton back in July.



Rich

[jward]

after the quilford fiasco, it is great to see the old b&m coming back to life. don't know how many realize it, but in the 1990s we almost lost the west end of the b&m including hoosac tunnel. they tried to embargo it and reroute everything over conrail.