W. Cambridge Freight Yard Demolished?

In the past few months I have sadly watched the ties pulled up from the ledgendary west cambridge freight yard. It was made up of a small series of sidings parallel to the Fitchburg Line commuter rail tracks in the Alewife area of cambridge,MA. Tons of anceint B&M and Guilford cars were frequently held here with lots of historic hobo markings and interesting graffiti art. My question is: Does anyone know what the plans are for this yard, and where have the cars been re-located to that once sat on these rusty tracks???

Freight yards and excess track are routinely demolished by Guilford Rail System/Pan Am Railways without further intent for plans other than to save costs and recover scrap value of rails, tie plates, and rail spikes. The cars will find a home on dead sidings in other systemwide freight yards.

The tracks you are talking about were only a small part of what was once a very busy freight yard that encompassed the whole Alewife station area. Those tracks served the COOP lumber yard, and as a run-around for local freights to return to Ayer from the Watertown Branch. The run-around was called the Telephone Track. The COOP lumber yard has re-located to Billerica MA, and the Watertown Branch no longer sees service. Prior to 1980, that whole area where Alewife Station and the office park are was an industrial area with steel companies and scrap yards, and a large WR GRACE chemical plant. It was a very gritty-looking area, it looked completely different than it does today. There was no Whole Foods Market or Bertucci's, just a run-down ZAYRE department store and a Stop &Shop, along with Fresh Pond Cinema, which was an "adult" movie theater back then. My how times change.

With the demise of the Watertown and West Cambridge yard, is there any more freight activity east of Veryfine in Littleton?

Dave

davidp wrote:With the demise of the Watertown and West Cambridge yard, is there any more freight activity east of Veryfine in Littleton?

Dave

No. One of the Ayer locals might go to So. Acton to run around their train after working Veryfine (now Kraft), but there aren't anymore local customers, lineside or on the branch. It wouldn't be impossible though for some freight to someday go through moving cars to or from Ayer, if needed, but the current routing for Boston area traffic to PAR's Freight Main is back and forth to Lawrence. There have been some rumours afoot about NS getting into Moran Terminal in Charlestown someday, but that might end up being over the NH Route.
West Cambridge was worked by road freights back when I remember riding by it on the B&M commuter trains in the 1970s. There was enough local traffic to justify the yards' use. There was a lead off the cut-off that westbounds could use, and I can recall an eastbound holding us up at Hill Crossing for awhile making a set-off. Even as late as that era you could ride by a number of heavy industrial customers, especially in Waltham that still used the railroad, as well as some bussiness off of the Central Mass.
I always thought the freight bussiness began a steep decline in that area after the T bought the route, but that's just my impression; there may have been more to it than just that.

I'm trying to find this at Live Search. What roads are near the Alewife area?

thebigham wrote:I'm trying to find this at Live Search. What roads are near the Alewife area?

Alewife is located SW of the intersection of Mass. Rtes 2 and 16.

Thanks cpf354. I hadn't considered the local using the storage siding at South Acton to run around. That said, though, its been a couple of years since I last saw a feight pass through Boxborough or West Acton.

As far as I know, through freight service on the Fitchburg line into Boston hasn't been possible since the reconstruction of Porter Station with high level platforms (clearance issue). After that project was completed a local from Ayer served both ends of the Watertown branch as well West Cambridge, where until a couple of years ago you could generally see a few freight cars opposite the T facility, presumably for transloading. Beyond that, I think everything else was gone by the early '90s. Prior to that I seem to remember there being one customer in West Concord, and the occasional interchange car for the ST trackmobile and later BCLR operation of the ex-NH Lowell Branch to North Acton.
I worked in Waltham in 1982, and again 1985 - 2001 with a couple of brief interruptions. In 1982 I remember seeing a bluebird GP-9 delivering a couple of cars to the last customer on the Central Mass near Lexington Street, but by 1985 the line was clearly out of service. Deliveries to Quincy Market Cold Storage at Bemis on the west end of the Watertown seemed to continue at least until the late '90s. Anyone remember any other Fitchburg line customers receiving cars in the past fifteen years or so? Unfortunately, that kind of local railroading is just about a thing of the past in this area.

Dave

davidp wrote:With the demise of the Watertown and West Cambridge yard, is there any more freight activity east of Veryfine in Littleton?

Dave

Who said the Watertown was dead?

Watertown is dead. There are saplings growing in the middle of the rails and a ballast spreader with weeds creeping up it near newlyweds.

^It's a damn shame.

davidp wrote:As far as I know, through freight service on the Fitchburg line into Boston hasn't been possible since the reconstruction of Porter Station with high level platforms (clearance issue).

Porter Square station doesn't have full high platforms, only mini-highs.

When I lived on Kent Street in Somerville, from 1984-92, I saw freight traffic to and from Catania Spagna.

Although the B&M and it's successors (Guilford, PanAm) have "perpetual rights" to provide freight service on any of the former B&M lines that were sold to the MBTA in the 70's, it is discouraged by the MBTA, and they have the right to route freight any way they see fit. An ST crew cannot "pick" the way they want to go to Boston. Nowadays, ST just leaves an engine in Boston and a crew will taxi down from Lawrence to service the few remaining customers in the Terminal area around Charlestown. That way, they stay out of the way of the commuter and Downeaster traffic, and they just have to use the main line once a week or so late at night to swap the engine and bring cars down from Lawrence. So, the only remaining "road freight" to Boston is DOBO. It is sad that Boston is now pretty much incapable of supporting any kind of heavy industry that would need frequent rail service.

I worked in Waltham in 1982, and again 1985 - 2001 with a couple of brief interruptions. In 1982 I remember seeing a bluebird GP-9 delivering a couple of cars to the last customer on the Central Mass near Lexington Street, but by 1985 the line was clearly out of service. Deliveries to Quincy Market Cold Storage at Bemis on the west end of the Watertown seemed to continue at least until the late '90s. Anyone remember any other Fitchburg line customers receiving cars in the past fifteen years or so? Unfortunately, that kind of local railroading is just about a thing of the past in this area.

Very interesting. I always wondered when trains officially stopped running on the last segment of the Central Mass. I know it wasn't formally abandoned until the mid 1990s, but I figured trains stopped using it long before then.

I have a picture of a Guilford freight at the large cold storage warehouse at the end of the Bemis branch, which I shot in September of 1998. I'm guessing that was probably towards the very end of service on that branch. It's amazing how much that area has changed in recent years. I never thought that entire complex would be demolished in just a few years. Hopefully the Watertown Branch will not be completely erased...

Do you mean the two B&M boxcars are gone from the post office? I'll have to take a peek...

The whole thing is sad... look at where the line runs, and how populated it is. Think of the commuter possibilities. Same with the Minuteman Bike Trail. All those cars on Rt2 and Rt 95... the people commuting to Hanscom... BRING BACK THE TRAINS!!!

I also think it is sad we let so many businesses either leave the area... or leave the country...

What REALLY gets me is that I live right down the road from West Cambridge! I could WALK to a cool train spot! Oh well...

JD