How One Bridge Dictates Railroading on Cape Cod | The Canal Rail Bridge Explained

[@BostonByRails]

What do you rate the Cape for Railfanning? I say 7/10

[@AMTK2001]

I'd say 6 because of frequency

[@railroad9000]

7/10 s a good number!

[@RaisedLetter]

7/10 sounds reasonable. I would give it more if they had more trains running.

[@georgemurphy2579]

10... clarity and communication... Thanks for imparting some new information today. We never stop learning.

[@portalman1677]

Not long before the bridge gets lowered, you can always see 2 coastal boats go out in each direction to stop boat traffic before a loud horn announces the bridge is being lowered.

[@BostonByRails]

Woah, this is really interesting. Thats a cool little detail I never noticed, thanks for informing me!

[@F40-RULES]

It’s harbor master police boats. They stop traffic on the traffic light less side of the canal.

[@ChrisCebelenski]

Sounds expensive - I've watched a few lift bridges in the past (mostly Portland OR) and never saw this happening. The canal can have nasty (wicked!) currents tho, so maybe it takes a bit more effort. But that kind of attention will surely limit how many times the bridge can lower.

[@MIkey2008g6]

It's actually 1 patrol boat. It always goes to the side where the tide is coming from

[@winstonmcfinston]

Boats>trains

[@highline64]

Good to see these rails still being used and maintained 😊

[@ProfessorPancakes420]

Uhh... maintained??

[@henryjpridejr]

I've operated those fl9's on metro north railroad back in the 2000's on the waterbury and wassaic beautiful engines

[@erie910]

In diesel mode, are they any different to operate than F/FP7 units? What brakestand do they have?

[@hirampriggott1689]

I remember seeing those.

[@miked7745]

I just imagine some guy in Wisconsin sitting with his feet on his desk with a coffee in his hand being inconvenienced when a call comes in asking to make a switch on some track all the way in Mass.

[@BostonByRails]

Right?! 😂

[@barvdw]

Isn't most of UP controlled from Omaha, NE? I mean, if it's distance-controlled, it doesn't really matter if they are 10 miles away, or 100. I suppose there are technicians based more locally to intervene in case of a failure.

[@royreynolds108]

I am sure this is not the only rail line the dispatcher controls. There are numerous bridges a dispatcher opens and closes by remote control of the bridge controls including signals for trains and boats as well as the operation of the bridge. Most of these locations have radio contacts with marine traffic and video of the water traffic and rail traffic.

[@MIkey2008g6]

Dispatcher has no control over the switchs. It is either requested by a crew member by means of a button on the home signal, or controlled by the tower operator in buzzards bay

[@timcoyle50]

As a kid and teen we camped at the canal camp ground in the late 60s and always wondered that bridge!

[@adamchristman9761]

Great video! I rode the Cape Flyer and one of the CCC Brunch trains Sunday of Labor Day weekend, and riding the train from Boston to the Cape was really neat. NJ Transit could have a service like this directly from say Newark Penn to Point Pleasant directly and they would probably do well on ridership. Oh well.

[@williamlloyd3769]

Looks like a fun trip!

[@MatthewMello]

Cape main is owned by MassDOT and operated by Mass Coastal. Mass Coastal won the state contract about 20 years ago now over Bay Colony Railroad.

[@cryorig_transit05]

I feel like Sandwich station should be served by the MBTA. people without a car can get to places.

[@JonFromRhodeIsland]

Fantastic video and channel. Instant subscribe. Thank you!

[@joehoffman5308]

Great video. Love seeing the FL9's. Got a cab ride in one when I was 8. My neighbor was an engineer on the Harlem line.

[@hvacrnortheastern2110]

Awesome video l been going to the Cap since l was a kid never knew that the bridge lower and rise the structure.

[@boweandrew3]

Fascinating video

[@barrettwbenton]

Well, okay: as a born/raised Noo Yawker, you had me at the video thumbnail with that McGinness-liveried FL9…wasn't expecting that at all. You kept me with the rest of this fascinating video of this unknown-to-me Cap Cod operation, which looks terrific on multiple levels. Been to Boston a handful of times, but now need to plot a trip to see at least a bit of this in action. Excellent video (including the intro).

[@BostonByRails]

Im so glad you enjoyed! It sure is an interesting operation, made all the more better by these historic pieces of equipment

[@joeyzucchini]

I can see this bridge from my house. Beautiful bridge. I always love to catch it when it's going up or down and then guess whether its the dinner train or the trash train going across.

[@microproductions6]

It's funny, on Google Maps the SEMASS facility has a West Wareham address but according to the town borders it is in Rochester.

[@ZachTrax17]

Nice vid. At Canal Junction on the Cape Cod side of the bridge, the Falmouth Line branches off and sees regular freight service to a C&D facility. While the line was threatened to be shut down by pro bike trail activists in the past few years, that has been confirmed to not be happening, and the line is even going to be expanded to a military base further down the line according to a Mass Coastal MoW employee.

[@Capecodham]

What is a vid?

[@paulcastillo1310]

Great video

[@NewEnglandRail]

Nice Video!

[@portalman1677]

I remember as a child going to water wizz one day looking over to the tracks and seeing 2 steam trains yes STEAM trains coming down the tracks from the bridge.

[@owentherailfan564]

i belive that was when they tried restoring a steam locomotive in the late 90s but it never ended up happening

[@portalman1677]

@@owentherailfan564 All I remember is BOTH engines were actively running not being pulled by diesels (this was early 00s)

[@tylercummins1070]

I was there today catching the new MBTA Heritage unit 1129 leading the cape flyer and yesterday I saw 1129 trailing and the dinner train!

[@TrainDisasterDocumentaries]

very informative

[@cadillacnan]

Cool stuff

[@XLProductionsAJR2024]

Bro! Invite me one day to that! I see to see that! Awesome video! How’s life for you?

[@NorthSanman]

On a trip to the Cape on Thursday, August 22nd, I heard train horns and the engine of what sounded like an MBTA train when I was at Fisherman's view in Sandwich, Mass.

[@Xe99]

Awesome video thank you. Could you do a deeper dive on that cape cod garbage train.

[@peterb4871]

Nice video

[@hirampriggott1689]

Digging the New Haven FL9.

[@SteamCrane]

When the FL-9's were originally built, they had a strange air whistle, mounted where the air horns are now. Looked like a small radar antenna. What happened to them? I bet some of them are in collections. One FL-9 ran on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway south of Cleveland OH for a year or so. Wonder whether it was one of these?

[@tracynation2820]

Super. 💙 T.E.N.

[@andrewmazzarini2742]

The CapeFlyer's pace on the Cape is so slow, when I went to film it myself, I caught it crossing the bridge, booked it down US-6, and managed to catch it pulling into Hyannis. To be fair, this *was* a Sunday morning, so it's not exactly the most practical plan for every situation Also, why is the dispatch for the Cape in Wisconsin?

[@RedSkeletonGames]

It would be awesome to see NH locomotives pulling NH schemes railcars. But don't get me wrong, it's cool to see the diversity in liveries

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

I would agree fully if it was the New Haven's pre-McGinnis paint scheme.

[@Capecodham]

NH=New Hampshire?

[@RedSkeletonGames]

@@CapecodhamNH = New Haven, short for: New York, New Haven, & Hartford

[@Capecodham]

@@RedSkeletonGames What did you do with the time you saved not typing ew aven?

[@RedSkeletonGames]

@@Capecodham I took that time to explain one of the simplest things to a simple minded person.

[@TheVicarstownSentinel]

Ahh, my old stomping grounds. Used to eat pizza w my mom out by this bridge. Maybe this is where our thing for having pizza by the sea came from.

[@ZachTrax17]

A third FL9 is due to be restored by the Mass Coastal Railroad and painted into Mass Coastal’s maroon and black paint scheme after it was found abandoned in southeast Massachusetts. Last I saw of it was on August 17th, 2024 at Hyannis Yard during Cape Cod Railfan day.

[@appleintosh]

How does a locomotive just get found?

[@royreynolds108]

@@appleintosh They get parked out of the way somewhere and are forgotten about. Sometimes trees and brush grow up around them. Buildings may get built close to the track inhibiting sight of them particularly if the buildings are not on railroad property.

[@danmur15]

Hearing the Cape referred to as an island set off my fight or flight lmao

[@BostonByRails]

Haha I get it. I was born on the cape and lived on Nantucket for the start of my life. I obviously see Nantucket as more of an Island than the cape, but I referred to the cape as an Island just because its separation from the mainland is pretty drastic transportation wise

[@risksrewardsrelics51]

@@BostonByRailsThe Cape’s separation from the mainland is solely due to the man-made canal. Not too many people actually consider it an island.

[@filanfyretracker]

that bridge runs the complete opposite to some in North NJ where apparently during rush hours some bridges will refuse to open so the boats have to wait. But that is due to the sheer volume of trains in the morning and evening.

[@nickleonardo5474]

Awesome video but I have a video of the energy train going over the Cape railroad bridge

[@zoomanx9661]

Looks like the train that hit that man in the first Superman movie

[@microproductions6]

What type of crossing would make sense for more frequent service? Seems like a bridge would require sections before the canal to be raised in the same way the two road bridges are, so maybe an underwater crossing? There seems to be enough room on the north side of the canal for a tunnel entrance but on the south side it would require moving or re-doing in some way the tracks that are there.

[@Gfysimpletons]

Chicago has them also

[@MarcelosalivaTRENESArg]

Excellent video my friends awesome 😮like and Greeting 🙋🏻‍♂️ 🙋🏻‍♂️ from Argentina 🇦🇷 suscribete

[@scj643]

Fun fact. I can take any MBTA train for free due to being visually impaired. I wonder if it applies to the cape flyer

[@FlanneryPoon]

Wow I could watch this 🫵 for hours 😌

[@marengtech313]

So odd to see an engine with 5 axles, pretty rare.

[@barvdw]

If the Army Corps of Engineers doesn't want to lower the bridge too often, why haven't they imposed the construction of a wye connecting the 2 branches? As the passengers don't even see the lowering of the bridge, it's not even a part of the attraction... And if they don't want to lower the bridge more than X times a day, if they don't need the bridge to change branches, they might be able to increase frequency (I'm wishfully thinking, yes).

[@matthewfoster1307]

The previous operator of the line, Bay Colony, received money to do that from the state in the 1980s but it never came to fruition.

[@JaredEisenhower]

She was disgusted he couldn’t tell the difference between lemonade and limeade.

[@Hobbytrem]

Was that locomotive an EMD GP9?

[@mxg75]

Seems like the bridge operation you filmed could be avoided if they built tracks to connect the two lines on the Cape, creating a wye with one leg reaching over the bridge. Unfortunately, that connection would probably require bulldozing some homes.

[@royreynolds108]

I just looked at Google Earth. Depending on how sharp a curve that equipment is capable of operating over, there is one large house that would be in the way. IF, the right of way could be acquired that would not take a house, a route is feasible but it may require a crossing with the Falmouth line to make the connection and the curve to be not overly sharp. This curve would be in the range of 10 to 12 degrees although Amtrak uses 16-degree curves at Jackson, MS on the old IC line by the station. A 16-degree curve has a radius of 359.265 feet while a 10-degree curve has a radius of 573.686 feet. That is a big difference. The Great Smokey Mountain Railroad has a couple of 14-degree curves of 410.275 feet radius.

[@Capecodham]

filmed, they use film?

[@djemergenceex199]

After living on the Cape for 10 years, we finally decided to take the scenic railroad trip from Buzzards Bay to Sandy Neck and back. Somewhere along the way, I'm guessing in the Sandwich area, I noticed an overgrown spur, with some sort of old railroad boxcar on it, also completely overgrown. Has anyone else seen it? Im having a hard time finding it on Google maps because it was so overgrown and tough to see. Anyone know what Im talking about??

[@alsehl3609]

Why do the train cars appear so much longer in length than on other videos of passenger trains elswhere?

[@BostonByRails]

Not sure!

[@barrettwbenton]

Camera perspective, I'd imagine.

[@joshw1687]

Why is the dispatcher in Wisconsin

[@BostonByRails]

From what I have heard it is Gennesee and Wyoming who have a dispatching branch based there that does dispatching for shortlines such as this

[@postalfnj]

I thought the energy train doesn't go over the bridge anymore

[@JohnHallgren]

At 1:12 , you said it takes the trash “off the island”…um, no…it’s the Cape! The islands are MV and Nantucket. At 4:22, you said the excursion train “turns around”…actually, I believe it simply reverses direction which explains why there’s an engine at both ends…there’s no place up there to actually turn around, AFAIK. At 9:39: you said “Otis Air Force Base transfer station”…it’s actually the Upper Cape Regional Transfer Station located at Joint Base Cape Cod.

[@johnandrus3901]

Semantics, really. Turns around, reverses direction, goes back, whatever. It all comes down to the same thing, really.

[@JohnHallgren]

@@johnandrus3901 no, it’s not semantics and it’s not the same thing…because turning around and reversing direction are TOTALLY different operations! When you drive into a typical parking space, you put vehicle in reverse to exit, you do NOT turn the vehicle around, ok? Turning around requires the vehicle or train to ROTATE 180 degrees. This does NOT occur here!

[@johnandrus3901]

@@JohnHallgren Does it really make a difference? It arrives and then leaves in the direction, from whence it came. Whether they wye it, turn it on a loop or the engineer changes ends, it is still going in the opposite direction. Either way, I'm not here to nit-pick, just enjoying the video. It is a non-issue.

[@JohnHallgren]

@@johnandrus3901 yes, it certainly makes a difference! Because as I have repeatedly said, the two ways of completing the direction change are NOT at all equivalent so the terms MUST be used properly to be an accurate video. Do you put your car in Drive to go backwards? I doubt it. Not the best analogy but it’s a similar concept.

[@royreynolds108]

JohnHallgren Why Cape Cod is considered "an island" is the canal. The canal forces road vehicle traffic to traverse a bridge over the canal to access the Cape Cod area. That was the explanation I remember.

[@BillWendell-y5c]

Get you there in comfort. have you ever ridden in a T cattle car? It's just brutal. PS trains ran to PTown.

[@BillWendell-y5c]

PS Killer sound!!! And the Pad Thai near the bridge is awesome. Wash it down with a can of lychee juice. Buzzards Bay side. Watch the Army's Navy ( really!!!!! ) arrest the jetskiers and surf sailors ( verboten ) shake down partying boats, sail boats sailing ( its motor only) and speeders. Fun Fact spend some time there and the canal's patrol boats leave a huge damaging wake. Don't miss the museum!.

[@Capecodham]

film? You use film?

[@haywoodyoudome]

Go play in traffic.

[@Capecodham]

@@haywoodyoudome keyboard warrior.

[@bigbilly7865]

🚆🚆🚆🚆🚆🚆

[@jamesbelbin6343]

Go bucs!

[@ChrisCebelenski]

Great subject for content - not a lot out there on the bridge. Pet peeve: "One of the most unique..." No! Unique is binary, it is or isn't unique, there's no degrees of unique. Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Plus feed the engagement algo, ya know.

[@postalfnj]

Useless trains use the bridge

[@stubbsjw17]

first

[@Capecodham]

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