Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

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Arlington said:
Here's a labeled crop from Javier's picture. I should have noted that the rails have a special sytem to span the gaps between gondolas (including when parked on a curve)
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That is just, like the coolest thing I've seen in a while.
 
LOL: "Herzog" should totally be a character in Thomas the Tank Engine's crew on Sodor.

Incidentally, in some (most?) of these photos, it is being used to *deliver* ballast stones to the site (dumping them down into the trench where the drainage system is being installed)
 
Javier said:
More HerzogView attachment 923View attachment 927
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Nice shots that show:
1) How "not tall" the train is--probably about the cross-section of a Red Line / standard HRT train when the digger is stowed. It seems purpose-built for transit construction.

2) The red-colored "bridge rails" that span the gaps between the cars, allowing the train to flex and the digger to drive the whole length.

3) A good view of the digger's bogie: its pulley-like wheels and drive system
 
Arlington said:
MBTA Green LIne Flickr Feed has a great series of October progress photos from all long the line
Start here (and work "backwards in time" by clicking the right arrow)
And their official album
www.flickr.com

Green Line Extension

GLX geotechnical drilling operations are underway. Full-scale construction set to begin in 2018.
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
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Arlington: Take a look at the pix related to work for the past 12 months -- very impressive progress has bee made
Once this thing got settled as to what they really had to do to deliver a working Green Line in the midst of a working CR system -- they've been doing it

GLX -- Would make a great TV show for the HGTV or DIY network:
Every one of the successful reno shows my wife watches has some very visible woman leading the work with some "kinda shtick"
Something to the order of: an obviously "Somerville Studette" -- "Big Angela & Da-Track-Job"
Where for each episode Big Angela could hoist a jack hammer or a sledge and tell the guys what to do
 
statler said:
I would watch the hell out of a "This Old House" style (NOT HGTV) show about large scale public works projects.
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Statler -- we could argue about the specific format and vehicle -- perhaps the Discovery Channel or even Smithsonian --- I don't think you could get PBS to be interested
 
Yeah, I wouldn't care who produces it, just as long as it is documentary style, not personality/contest based.
 
Amazing to see that portion of the project change. When the hill was bare, the Homans building being demolished, and the high school was still in its early phases of renovation and expansion, the scale of the two projects combined was really apparent.
 
stefal said:
Amazing to see that portion of the project change. When the hill was bare, the Homans building being demolished, and the high school was still in its early phases of renovation and expansion, the scale of the two projects combined was really apparent.
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SHS -- Somerville High School for those who are not cognoscenti
 
Are they taking advantage of the construction to improve the commuter rail line in any way?
 
Drainage and retaining wall work (plus normal rail replacement) but I don’t recall any upgrades to it being discussed. But since speeds are already limited by geometry, not much that can be done. Outside the work zone itself, they are using weekend shutdowns to install PTC
 
Lowell line was separately getting new crossover locations (with new signals), new Positive Train Control (PTC). The locations seem chosen to facilitate mid-day single track operations between Washington St and Tufts. (The old crossover was near Ball Sq)

Phase 1 of GLX (mostly bridges and some demolition) didn't improve CR, but it did improve CR bridge under clearance & drainage and sound walls near Ball Sq.

Lowell Line had long had well-maintained continuous welded rail (CWR) capable of fast smooth travel.

The shutdowns this fall are a two-fer: finishing the PTC installation and allowing the Herzog digger-gondola train free reign (except if & when the Downeaster goes by)

So let's say that things got better, but not in any way the typical Lowell Line Commuter would experience.
 
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statler said:
Yeah, I wouldn't care who produces it, just as long as it is documentary style, not personality/contest based.
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Statler -- Problem is that to get sponsors interested these days you need personalities --- the sponsors want "influencers" on Social Media
Even the science documentaries on Nova now most often start with someone growing up finding dinosaur bones as a hobby before becoming a paleontologist ["Rise of the Mammals" -- about the first Million years after the BIG Asteroid]. On top of the lead person [the pro] they threw-in the accidental discovery of a mammal fossil by a Denver Museum volunteer which led to the "Rosetta Stone" of that first important period of time.

So to do the GLX justice and yet have the required "Personality" -- you need someone like "Big Angela" -- with some kinda "Shtick" -- sad but true

Think "Mike Rowe" of "Dirty Jobs" or the guy who was a professional rigger who spent a couple of years hanging on and climbing on various kinds of construction and maintenance projects around the world on some Discovery Channel company program
 
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