Pan Am Worcester Main Line

For those who may not have heard it yet, the old B&M Detector Mileage 7.8 for Temple Street/Rte. 140 is now CSX Detector Mile Post 18.2. It came on at 0915/06-28-2023 and gave a no defects to 230 total axles and called itself out at 0917. 1 later, M426 with CSXT 483 -- which had been told to tie down by D-1 in a 0227 convo cuzza no recrew -- acknowledged.

CSX Northern New England Railfan Facebook page has a post and photos of woods being cleared near the Mill Street crossing in Lancaster to reveal a long-forgotten, somewhat burned and fully decrepit B&M station. I am certainly in no position to know or speculate why, but the consensus among commenters there is CSX will tear it down to reduce property tax assessment.

Query if the RR owns that station property. I have my doubts. I recall in the early 1980s that station building off mill st being used for storage by a carpet business for a while. The building is in decrepit nuisance condition whoever owns it.

There is another station up a center bridge road that also has a station building that’s in much better shape. That one is pretty close to the tracks. I’ve long been of the understanding that the center bridge road station is privately owned and not by the RR

If you look at the Town of Lancaster Assessor's GIS Map, it shows the property the buildings sit on as part of Railroad property. Keep in mind these maps may not always be 100% accurate, sometimes more detailed investigation is necessary.
The map also shows that as you have stated the building on Center Bridge Rd is privately owned.

Another thing to keep in mind is the railroad may own the land underneath but there may be another physical property owner or lease on top. Case in point in the town I live in: The State owns the land underneath the old train station (by way of the B&M when it was abandoned) but the town owns the building itself.

Lancaster did well for itself if in fact they got Mellon to pay property taxes on that junk heap of an albeit historic for rail fans building for nearly 30 years

I had time to drive around today a little bit. It looks like rail stopped being dropped somewhere between Still River Depot Road and Deport Road in Harvard. Tie plates stopped being dropped at Depot Road. Several Corman trucks parked at Clinton station along with MOW equipment on the Clinton East end of the siding. Panels built for several grade crossings are at most crossings.

CSX's ownership ends (and PAS' begins) at Depot Road / Harvard effectively so that would make sense.

The decrepit station would be Thayers (South Lancaster). Here's what it looked like in March 2022:


The other structure, the former Lancaster freight house, is indeed privately owned.

South Lancaster was the junction of the ill-fated Lancaster and Hudson RR, the only train to ever run over it carried officials inspecting the work. Completed 1872, rails taken up 1899.

I don't think I've heard of that railroad before - what happened to cause it to go unused for almost 30 years?

Wikipedia link-----https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster_Railroad

If you are interested in the history of the Lancaster RR and surroundings, it is well worth finding a copy of the 2d edition of “the central mass” published by the B&M rr historical society. It looks to be available on amazon still. Super informative book
Book mostly covers the central mass of course by has 2 pages with detailed discussion of Lancaster RR plus the only photo I’ve ever seen of it.
Parts of the right of way are I believe still visible off mill st extension in Lancaster and rt 85 between Bolton and Hudson

Staged 136lb CWR, tie plates, and 136lb crossing track panel at Still River Depot Rd as of Friday afternoon 7/7/23.

Given the 8 transition joint bars on the track panel, that must go in first
Could you tell if the cwr was new or relay?