Boston Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

This place is lit beautifully at night. Hard to get a photo tho...
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

F-Line to Dudley said:
You seem to be hopelessly confused on your theories of evolution vs. stages in the average life cycle of an insect. That's called "moulting". Moulting is execution of a pre-programmed growth strategy. Real estate owners don't just sit absent-mindedly on their property in complete awe and befuddlement that natural selection and pure chance chose to evolve it into a slime mould instead of a super-intelligent race of flying half-unicorn/half-velociraptor with night vision. They are generally out to make a profit and/or recoup a loss, which requires some sort of business plan and attempt at execution therein.


Which reminds me...when exactly was the "strip mall" interregnum for Kendall Sq.? That moult where it had the Marty's Liquors superstore next to the Job Lot next to the used Chevy/Geo emporium on the Broadway Automile must've passed in (*snap*) the blink of an eye.
Click to expand...

F-Line -- give it a rest you are not WFB on Firing Line

As to Kendall -- do you remember the "gritty urbanism" phase when the Gas Holder loomed over everything

Screen%20shot%202013-01-08%20at%201.38.43%20PM.png

circa 1960


and I believe that the lot on the opposite site of 3rd street [where Volpe stands today] was a used car lot -- at one time the site had been industrial as it was right on the Ol Broad [unPC if there ever was a name] Canal :cool:

a few more here to refresh your memory from the same collection

http://wgbhnews.org/post/greater-boston-video-kendall-squares-tech-boom
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

BeeLine said:
https://flic.kr/p/Arrp5N
https://flic.kr/p/AtBQHP
https://flic.kr/p/AtC1Sr
Click to expand...

Beeline -- great update in pix on the CR Station

according to the BBJ the station which had a ground breaking in May of this year is well on the way to completion
New MBTA Commuter Rail station along the Framingham/Worcester line ending in South Station, expected to open in the latter half of 2016
Click to expand...

Just goes to show what can happen when vision and resources [aka the Man with the Plan] are given some freedom to act -- too bad government seems to require so many remedial lessons
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Real construction progress on the station:

Main station area west of Everett Street. I believe the platform will be in the cleared area and the new westbound track where the trench is:


East of Everett Street:


Old and new ties sitting by Guest Street:


My images from Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike license.
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

From 11/14

 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Nice to finally see some progress. Remember, this station was supposed to open 'in 2014'. But then it turned out that they didn't know how to even get started.
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

today
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

https://flic.kr/p/AGLkJc
Looking E from Everett street bridge.
https://flic.kr/p/Bd3Gvo
Looking at the area where the platform entrance to the NB HQ will be built. New utility track taking shape on the right. Platform will be where the green fencing is located.
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Wow, did not realise we were still laying wooden ties. Are track panels with pre-cast concrete ties not a thing or does it not matter much since it's just a temporary fly-out track to accommodate work?
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

DigitalSciGuy said:
Wow, did not realise we were still laying wooden ties. Are track panels with pre-cast concrete ties not a thing or does it not matter much since it's just a temporary fly-out track to accommodate work?
Click to expand...

We like wooden ties. Not fancy but very effective for our needs and speeds. They tried concrete ties when the Old Colony Lines were rebuilt in the 90s and the ties were badly manufactured. They all degraded badly and every single one of them had to be replaced with good ol wood a few years back at great expense.
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Semass said:
We like wooden ties. Not fancy but very effective for our needs and speeds. They tried concrete ties when the Old Colony Lines were rebuilt in the 90s and the ties were badly manufactured. They all degraded badly and every single one of them had to be replaced with good ol wood a few years back at great expense.
Click to expand...
Yes, as I understand it, part of it is simply that the USA has a big forestry industry that is capable of supplying quality wood in a way that Europe & Asia do not (they buy a lot of their lumber/biomass from us), and the USA has big freight RR industry that ensures huge economies of scale in quality & affordable wood-tie production.

And the other part is how "rookie" low-volume (andlow-bidder) concrete ties interacted with our freeze-thaw cycles in Mass.

And finally that track rating (for speed) depends on what fraction of ties are "good", not what they're made of(at least up to 110mph) Super-high fractions required for 125+ HSR mean that concrete can save a lot on downtime and replacement (assuming they're well made).
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

My understanding of it is that concrete ties are really hard and time-consuming to replace and that they do not wear well around here. Wood lasts a long time, even though it may not be truly sustainable in the future.
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

timsox6 said:
My understanding of it is that concrete ties are really hard and time-consuming to replace and that they do not wear well around here. Wood lasts a long time, even though it may not be truly sustainable in the future.
Click to expand...

T, Amtrak, and Metro North have all had traumatic experiences with bad batches of concrete ties failing all at once. Remember the Old Colony tie replacement shutdowns last year? They last a long time IF the concrete mixture is precise and water-tight. If it isn't, they start failing en masse. And unlike with wood ties where they start splitting at different rates at no ill effects to service reliability or safety if the number of bad ties stays below X per 60 ft. of track, a corroding batch of bad concrete ties will all fail the same way at the same time and FUBAR service.

It's an inherent risk with concrete, but the freeze-thaw cycles here in New England exploits the risk earlier and more suddenly if there's any flaw. That's why Northeastern RR's shy away from them where uniformly warm or cold climates not prey to the constant daily freeze-thaw are adopting them at higher rates.


And, yes, wood aggregate is way cheaper in this region than elsewhere. Plus old ties have recycling value to recoup when they're pulled up and decontaminated of the creosote they're soaked in. Given the way Northeastern RR's got burned by bad concrete, it's an "Ain't broke, don't fix it" choice rather than an anachronism. I doubt they'll be changing materials unless there's some new Jetsons Shit tie composite made out of recycled plastic or whatever that's water-tight, as strong as concrete, lasts many times longer than wood, and proven enough out in the wild that the unit price comes crashing down to something affordable. If such a thing exists today it's not widely used or longevity-tested enough yet, and will take 20 years to get deployed in enough scale to bring down the price.
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Is the NB Factory store expanding at all with all this?
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

New Balance is set to reveal its Boston Landing housing designs today and go before the BCDC tonight.

295 apartments spread over 290k sf. One wing with street-level retail, 2nd-floor parking, and 4 floors of residential. Another with street-level retail and 16 floors or residential. Apartment versus condo TBD. Total of 16k sf of retail and 149 residential parking spaces.

A 17-story building here will be significant.
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

jass said:
Is the NB Factory store expanding at all with all this?
Click to expand...

It already moved from Life Street to Market Street as part of this project; which I believe was an expansion?
 
Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

JumboBuc said:
New Balance is set to reveal its Boston Landing housing designs today and go before the BCDC tonight.

295 apartments spread over 290k sf. One wing with street-level retail, 2nd-floor parking, and 4 floors of residential. Another with street-level retail and 16 floors or residential. Apartment versus condo TBD. Total of 16k sf of retail and 149 residential parking spaces.

A 17-story building here will be significant.
Click to expand...
Good stuff. From the article:
113015bostonlanding003.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top