Salem Action Alert

LA-2 #349 with 2 empties flew thru the Salem MBTA station a few minutes after 10PM last night. Would drop the empties at Third Ave. in Somerville and then head to Pulverizer in Everett.

-Wayne J.

Prolerizer

LA-2 was resting off Bridge Street this evening. 376 was on the main while two bones were on the runaround track.
John, the guy in the white car wit the wing on back

Pan Am crew in Peabody Square today making repairs to the tracks.

Anybody see Mon. (or Tues) train? It apparently "snuk" in and out without a peep. The cars on
the Gel spur are different. Andy

On Tuesday, there were scrap cars sitting at FX in Somerville so I'm guessing they shot upto Peabody/Salem and back during the day. I noticed the different cars Tuesday evening on my way home but no sign of LA-1 anywhere in the area.

-Wayne J.

LA-2 at Northey Point shoving cars to North St. at 12:35 AM. Will can either at North St or at Rousselot in Peabody.
Andy

When was the other leg of the wye in Salem removed? I saw a picture the other day of a B&M commuter train (early 50's) on the curve and the caption said the train was in route to Danvers.

That leg of the Y was there up through the 80s. It was used when the Salem/Beverly bridge burned, so it was removed sometime after that when the new parking lot was built.

A photo:

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... highrail55

LA-2 PAR 376 at North St. Yd. at 0225 hrs. Will can at "Eastman" Allens Ln. Peabody. Andy

Where was the entrance to the parking lot before the wye was removed?

Also, why is the section around Salem only single tracked?

Single track because of the tunnel. There was a study, that I donated to the Walker Collection at the Beverly Historical Society, in about 1905 to double track it. When it was finally rebuilt 60ish years ago it would have been hugely more expensive to double track it then.

John, the guy in the white car with the wing on back

theseaandalifesaver wrote:Where was the entrance to the parking lot before the wye was removed?

There was no station there at all until 1987. The old one was south of the portal at Mill St., but had steep stairs built onto the portal walls so it was nearly impossible to modify for accessibility. They opted to move it north-of-portal at the wye, which at that time was just a barren dirt patch after the small B&M yard and roundhouse were demolished in the 70's.

Origionaly the parking lot was in the middle of the "Y" but the leg going towards Peabody was out of service you drove over it to get to the lot. 20 years ago I used to reverse commute from Salem to Rockport and the track was still in place.

Peter