Danvers Station Restoration

I'm new to this forum although I have visited several times. Haven't seen anything about the Danvers Station here yet. There's a group called the Danvers Plains Train Station Project Committee that is going to relocate the station to a location near it's original location on Essex St in Danvers. This is the only surviving station of 9 that once graced this town. For more info contact the Danvers Preservation Fund, Inc., PO Box 2088, Danvers, Ma. 01923.
They plan to completely restore the station. Wouldn't it be great if hey can set up some equipment outside on the tracks? (there's a lot of track still in place around town!) They are, of course, looking for donations.

Hey. I'm also sort of new here. I'm Matt, 15, and love this stuff. Although I am not aware of what this station looks like or where it is, I think that it would be great to set up equipment in front of the station. I was hoping that they would do the same thing in my town in Wakefield MA on the now abandoned former B&M and Reading Branch. Do you like the Conway Scenic Railroad?

Best Regards
Matt D'Arco

The Danvers depot project got held up when polutants were discovered in the ground where the building was scheduled to be moved to. The old 2 stall engine house used to stand there many years ago, and "bad things" must have gotten into the soil beneath it. The group is trying to resolve this thorny issue with the environmental agencies. Stay tuned.

Has anyone heard anything new on this project? It has been quiet for quite some time. can they use some help on the project? Thanks

The land where they were going to originally locate the depot to is no longer available. The bank that owns the site originally was going to give the spot to the Danvers Depot group, but once they heard that the land it was to sit on was enviromentally unsound (see Steam's response about the land above), they took the offer back. The bank did not want to deal with any of the liabilites. Now the group is back to square one and several options have been discussed. One is to move the depot to a protion of land that the Town of Danvers owns near where the freight house is currently located on Hobart St. This of course is just discussion and I'm not sure if the Town of Danvers would be open to that. Until a site to move the depot to can be arranged, then everything is in limbo.

Does anyone have pictures of any of the old Danvers stations and/or locations of where they used to be and where the lines went to?

Thanks,
Catie

Catie,

As far as getting old photos of the stations in Danvers, there is a great site with historic photos of most Massachusetts stations, as well as some recent ones too. I'll try to find the exact link, but if you google "Massachusetts Railroad Stations", it should be one of the top hits. I'm very interested in this area as well, particularly the old Newburyport Line. I'm actually going to be doing some photography there this weekend.

There were at one point 9 different stations within the town boundaries (ironic that today there is no train service at all). Here are their names and the line they were on:

Newburyport Line:
Collins Street
Tapleyville
Danvers Jct.
Danvers
Putnamville

Essex Railroad (Known as the Danvers Branch in later years
Waters River
Danversport
Danvers
Danvers Jct
Ferncroft
Hathorne

The Newburyport Line branched of the Western Mainline at Wakefield Jct, and ran through Lynnfield, Peabody, Danvers, Topsfield, Boxford, Georgetown, Byfield and Newburyport.

The Essex railroad served Peabody, Danvers, Middleton, and Andover. Most of this line was abandoned in the early 20th century, but Danvers continued to be served by this line from Salem.

If you can, get a copy of Ronald Dale Karr's book "The Rail Lines of Southern New England." It's a great resource for any New England railfan.

I hope this helped.

Thank you very much! I'll check this out ^^ If I had lived back in Danvers at those times, I would've had a stop in my neighbourhood.. that would've been convenient

Catie

Yeah, Peabody and Danvers had several rail lines within the town lines, as well as many stations. it seems hard to believe today, but it makes for lots of fun exploring. There's a lot to see if you know where to look. Kind of sad that none of the lines survive today.