Mystery Tracks in Amherst

I recently discovered this image on Wikimedia Commons:



(Full size: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... usetts.jpg )

They're hard to see, but there is definitely a set of tracks down in the brush to the right.

I managed to trace the location to the middle of the new south athletic fields at UMass Amherst: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=4 ... 8&t=h&z=17

On a 1962 aerial view, it shows a clear ROW, with a bridge over the stream to the west: http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials. ... &year=1962

No map of reference I've seen indicates a rail line through that area. The Central Mass is a solid mile to the south. Was this a trolley line?

Amherst was among the towns served by the Connecticut Valley Street Railway, which was chartered in 1900 and had abandoned service in 1924. Any abandoned ROWs would have had their rails lifted for WW II "repurposing," so it may have been a steam-road stub that didn't get included on the UNH topos, which wasn't especially unusual. What's now UMass-Amherst didn't get really big until post-WW-II G.I.-Bill enrollees started showing up, and that may have prompted a large central power plant in need of coal. There may be some archive at U Mass, mebbe even through an online request, that has more and better info.

The linked picture actually appears to show a road parallel to Tilson Farm Road and extending from the coal unloading facility in the post I've linked to below. The post also has a link to Google maps, in which you can see how looking down the road from West to East you'd see the white building on the left and the conveyor ramps.

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... w=previous

As for the image from NETR, it's hard to tell but to me it looks like a ramp bringing a dirt road up to the grade of Rt. 302 just south of the Athletic fields.

Noah, it appears you're correct. The coal unloading facility matches the images perfectly. I'll correct the description of the photograph on Wikipedia.

They were still bringing in coal to UMass not that long ago...Past 2000...

Not sure what is in the athletic fields, but its nothing to do with the NECR. The place is a coal unloading facility and we delivered there until I believe 2009.

UMass now uses a natural gas facility to produce steam for heat. It is located near the Amherst sewer treatment plant near 116. The old, old coal powered plant was right in the middle of campus and the coal would be trucked from the railroad spur to the plant. it was used until sometime in the past 10 years. The old plant I believe was also coal powered and located right next to the spur, but the plant was never used and the old, old plant was pushed back into service

As far as the athletic fields go, I believe this is an old road that pre-dates UMass. It lines up perfectly with Stockbridge Road in Hadley on the other side of Rte. 116. From what I can tell this road looks like it ran from Amherst to North Hadley, but with the construction of the Rte. 116 Bypass it was cut off, and further UMass construction destroyed the rest of the road in Amherst other then a short bit by the Treatment Plant. It might not have been a major or even minor road or anything, the valley is full of dirt paths running through farm fields that are really undeveloped town roads.

As far as I know, the nearest tracks to those fields would have been the trolley line that ran along North Pleasant St though what is now UMass, although it wouldn't have been UMass back then!

And the less said about the stream plant by the NECR the better! Or rather more should be said about it, since it was a huge waste of money. Let this be a lesson to us all: Don't build a steam heating plant at a substantially higher elevation then the buildings you are trying to heat!

One sad thing about the trolley line is that the old trolley shelter has just been torn down in UMass.

Speaking of old things and trollely and railroad lines in the Republic of Amherst. How many folks remember the Mass Central thought balloon around 1976 to offer trolley service from Northampton to Amherst with a leg to U-mass along with freight service to folks in Hadley and Amherst on the old Wheelwright Branch??? The proposal was not on the table very long, mainly because there surprisingly was zero interest. I wonder if it would/could have flown today? Me thinks that it would have turned out to be a lot more useful than the bike path.

Red Wing wrote:UMass now uses a natural gas facility to produce steam for heat. It is located near the Amherst sewer treatment plant near 116. The old, old coal powered plant was right in the middle of campus and the coal would be trucked from the railroad spur to the plant. it was used until sometime in the past 10 years. The old plant I believe was also coal powered and located right next to the spur, but the plant was never used and the old, old plant was pushed back into service

The plant is still there, however, they are in the start of demolishing it. I just delivered to the campus yesterday and the receiving area is in the middle of the work zone.